The Murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez: The Case of David Anthony Burke, or D4vd: Preliminary Hearing Evidence

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_01] I'm Anya, and today we're going to be talking about a high-profile case out of California involving a young girl and a singer. Content warning, this episode contains discussion of the murder and sexual abuse of children.

[00:00:19] [SPEAKER_01] So, this is a case that has really gripped a lot of people. It's one we've sort of seen unfolding over the months and it's taken a long time to get here, but now that there are legal happenings in the case, we feel comfortable coming in and talking about it.

[00:00:34] [SPEAKER_01] Sometimes when there's a case like this where there's a lot of interest, but not a lot of facts, we feel uncomfortable just jumping on that bandwagon because it's like, what are we going to talk about? We don't have any sources indicating what's going on. Why don't we wait till we have some facts? But in this case, we now have those facts.

[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_01] So, we are talking about the murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez. This is a young girl who was murdered and she was linked, you know, back when her body was first discovered to a young man named David Anthony Burke, known as David, that's spelled D4vd, a musical artist.

[00:01:17] [SPEAKER_01] And I think between the online nature of David and his following, as well as just the heinousness of this crime, this was kind of one that was ripe to become pretty high profile. And so, we're going to talk about the latest legal filing that we got in this case. My name is Anya Kane. I'm a journalist.

[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_00] And I'm Kevin Greenlee. I'm an attorney. And this is The Murder Sheet. We're a true crime podcast focused on original reporting, interviews, and deep dives into murder cases. We're The Murder Sheet.

[00:01:57] [SPEAKER_01] And this is the murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the case of David Anthony Burke, or David. Preliminary hearing evidence.

[00:02:53] [SPEAKER_01] So, this is a disturbing case to talk about. And I just want to kind of say that at the top, it's going to be disturbing details. And I just want people to kind of be braced for that. And we're going to get into what happened. But before we do that, why don't we talk a little bit about those involved? So, the alleged perpetrator in this case, who we will be referring to most of the time we try to refer to, I think, people by their last names. I think we kind of usually go with that.

[00:03:23] [SPEAKER_01] In this case, he's a performer who goes by this stage name of David. But we'll be referring to him as Burke going forward. That is his last name. So, David Anthony Burke was born in 2005. He was born in Queens. A family moved later to Houston, Texas. And he became a Fortnite streamer. I'm old, so I don't really understand a lot of that streaming world. I'm not going to lie. I know Fortnite's like a game.

[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_01] But he started to kind of gain a following when he was making these original songs for his gameplay edits. And he was doing that to mostly avoid copyright strikes. So, when you use someone else's song, they might file a copyright strike. You lose your video. So, he's making his own music for that. And that gained some popularity. So, in 2022, he released the singles Here With Me and the now unfortunately titled Romantic Homicide. And those gained a lot of traction on TikTok.

[00:04:21] [SPEAKER_01] People enjoyed the songs. And he signed with Darkroom and Interscope Records. And so, he's kind of was, you know, often known as a Twitch streamer, but also as an alternative R&B musician. And was starting to see a lot of success despite a young age. So, that's the alleged perpetrator. Now, let's go into the victim in this case.

[00:04:45] [SPEAKER_01] So, Celeste Rivas Hernandez, she was from Lake Elsinore, California. I'm sorry if I'm saying that wrong. And she was born in 2010. So, she was only 5'3". And 120 pounds, last seen in a black sweater, gray pants, a hat, and Hello Kitty sandals. So, she was apparently last seen April 5th, I think, 2024.

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_01] And unfortunately, Celeste essentially went missing a number of times before her final disappearance. So, this is a kid who has run away before. There's been problems there. That's very, you know, disturbing anytime you see that. But, you know, it's a sign that something might be wrong. But she always came back. She was always, you know, found or whatnot or came back.

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_01] And that stopped at a certain point. So, let's go over kind of like the timeline. And this is a bit sketchy. Many of the details aren't quite there yet. But I think it's important to go into before we see some of what we're going to see in this document. It's been reported in media. I've seen that she may have met him when she was only 11. 11 years old. And, again, you know, he's five years older than her.

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_01] He's born in 2005. She's born in 2010. When you're talking about like full grown, full adults, five years is not a huge deal. When you're talking about teenagers, worlds apart. When you're talking about people in their 20s versus people still in their teens, worlds apart. Developmentally, everything. You know, and that's where things become very disturbing with this because of the sexual component. But they're supposed to have met when she was 11.

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_01] And what's being alleged is that at some point when she was a bit older, maybe 13, there begins a sexual relationship between them. So in February of 2024, she disappears from her home. And that is basically like I think it's about like 70 miles away from L.A., I believe.

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_01] So she's reported missing. I don't believe that's her final disappearance, though, because she comes back shortly afterwards. And it's Lake Elsinore. That's how you say it. Lake Elsinore. So then she disappears again on April 5th, 2024. So she's once again reported missing from Lake Elsinore. But apparently her last contact with the family came after that, after that disappearance. So in May of that year.

[00:07:41] [SPEAKER_01] So this is where things get really awful. September 8th, 2025 was the day after Celeste's 15th birthday. That was the day her body was found. It was found. She was found dismembered in the trunk of a car in Los Angeles and was ultimately identified September 16th of 2025.

[00:08:07] [SPEAKER_01] So people quickly kind of the link between her and Burke became pretty clear. People were very much like, why has he not been arrested yet? What's going on? He was obviously had something to do with this. And the thing is, I understand where people I mean, when something so horrifying happens to a young girl like this, a child. It's it's good. And I think appropriate where people are like something justice needs to be served. So I think that's a that's not an unhelpful reaction. I think sometimes people don't appreciate that.

[00:08:37] [SPEAKER_01] If you want people to be held accountable for crimes, sometimes depending on the nature of the case, depending on all sorts of factors, it can take a while to do a proper and responsible investigation in a way that actually can make a conviction stick. And. And I'm not I don't know what happened here, so I mean, like, I guess we'll see as we learn more and certainly we're not saying anyone's guilty without, you know, a trial happening.

[00:09:04] [SPEAKER_01] But I think sometimes police investigations and prosecutions can just take longer than we think. But but but as of now, Burke has been charged with a murder in in California. So what we have here is the people's brief regarding preliminary hearing evidence. We're going to be going through this brief and analyzing it and maybe kind of discussing some of what we're seeing here. So it's the people of the state of California versus David Anthony Burke.

[00:09:34] [SPEAKER_01] And this is in the Superior Court of the state of California for the county of Los Angeles. And the judge on this right now is the Honorable Judge Charlene Olmedo. And. And, you know, so this is we're recording this on April 30th, and currently there is a preliminary hearing scheduled to occur on May 1st, 2026, which is tomorrow.

[00:10:00] [SPEAKER_01] So we're going to cover this. This is essentially going to maybe give us a preview of what that might entail. I don't know if there will be cameras in the courtroom, but, you know, this is something we're interested in covering going forward. So I think, you know, we'll kind of be paying attention to what's happening in that in terms of filings. I'm going to read the initial paragraph in the background facts here. Quote. The dismembered body of 14 year old Celeste R.

[00:10:25] [SPEAKER_01] Victim was discovered in the front trunk of defendant's Tesla Model X on September 8th, 2025. The vehicle had been towed three days prior from. A residence on Bluebird Avenue, which was parked approximately 400 feet from defendant's home at Doheny Place in the Hollywood Hills. Surveillance video and other evidence confirmed defendant was the last person to drive the vehicle on July 29th, 2025, before he left Los Angeles on a concert tour. End quote.

[00:10:53] [SPEAKER_01] So, Kevin, thoughts on that initially. So we're we're linking this car to the defendant. We're also they believe they have evidence for him being the last person to drive it. What what's the significance?

[00:11:08] [SPEAKER_00] Well, the significance is if the body is discovered in a vehicle and the last person other than the victim known to have been in that vehicle is a certain individual. That is pretty compelling evidence that individual might have something to do with this crime or the very least might have some sort of guilty knowledge.

[00:11:31] [SPEAKER_01] Absolutely. So now they describe sort of how this all unraveled and how I think police became involved. Quote, on September 8th, 2025, the manager of the tow yard where the Tesla had been impounded noted the strong smell of decay and the presence of flies coming from the vehicle. He notified Los Angeles Police Department, LAPD, Hollywood Auto Detectives, who determined the Tesla was registered to defend and through departmental resources.

[00:11:58] [SPEAKER_01] At the tow yard, LAPD detectives opened the Tesla's front storage compartment and observed a black cadaver bag covered in insects. Inside the bag, they discovered a severely decomposed head and torso. A plastic garbage bag beneath the black cadaver bag contained the dismembered arms and legs. However, the victim's ring and pinky fingers on her left hand had been amputated and were not found in the Tesla.

[00:12:23] [SPEAKER_01] On September 16th, 2025, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Department positively identified the body from dental records as belonging to the victim. End quote. First of all, just a horrible, gruesome, horrific find. And the disrespect that this young girl was treated with postmortem is unimaginable, just horrifying. It's the stuff of nightmares.

[00:12:52] [SPEAKER_01] But, you know, this is kind of how they're beginning to piece together who this victim is and what's happening.

[00:12:59] [SPEAKER_00] Why don't I read the next paragraph? Pursuant to their investigation, LAPD robbery homicide detectives determined the victim and defendant met in January of 2022 when she was 11 years old. They began a sexual relationship in November 2023 when the victim was just 13 years old and the defendant was 18.

[00:13:20] [SPEAKER_00] Detectives learned the victim had been reported missing to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department by her family, who live in Lake Elsinore, in February and April of 2024. RCSD telephonically contacted the defendant on February 17th, 2024, after they identified a phone number in the victim's phone records that belonged to him.

[00:13:41] [SPEAKER_00] During the call, the defendant claimed he had spoken to the victim last, on February 13th or February 14th of 2024, but stated he was unaware she was a minor or that she had been reported missing. RCSD advised him that Los Angeles Sheriff's Department deputies would be coming to his home. On that day, defendant was living, and they gave his address. RCSD requested the LASD conduct a welfare check at defendant's home.

[00:14:10] [SPEAKER_00] LASD deputies went to the defendant's home that night at 8.15 p.m. and informed him that the victim was a 13-year-old runaway. Defendant again claimed he was unaware she was a minor and he had only met the victim once in person in November 2023. However, defendant showed deputies a yearbook photo of the victim he had on his cell phone, although he claimed to be unaware where the victim was at the time she returned home two days later. What do you make of all that, Anya?

[00:14:38] [SPEAKER_01] So, it's very troubling, and I'll be curious to know what the evidence is for their sexual relationship beginning in November of 2023 when she was only 13 and he was 18. I imagine you could plausibly imagine that there's a lot of digital evidence potentially around that.

[00:14:55] [SPEAKER_00] Refresh your wardrobe as the temperatures warm up without overheating your wallet. Shop our wonderful sponsor, Quince, and get premium luxury for less.

[00:15:05] [SPEAKER_01] Quince is our favorite clothing brand for many reasons. The clothes look great. They feel great. None of that fancy, expensive stuff that stays in the back of your closet because you hate wearing it on some level. These are clothes you'll be excited to put on again and again. Quince's clothing is high quality and enduring. All of our Quince pieces are crafted to last. And perhaps most importantly, you can actually afford these pieces. They're a great price, and they never go out of fashion.

[00:15:30] [SPEAKER_00] Quince doesn't do markups or middlemen. All their products are 50 to 80 percent less expensive than what you'd find at competitors. So, they're affordable without sacrificing quality.

[00:15:43] [SPEAKER_01] This spring and summer, you're going to love wearing their 100 percent European linen shorts and shirts from $34.

[00:15:50] [SPEAKER_00] I love Quince's work shirts. I wear my 100 percent European linen utility shirt in Martini Olive all the time. It's comfortable. It's an elevated version of my usual style, but it looks crisper and more put together. Plus, it's very comfortable as the temperatures heat up. Most importantly of all, Anya loves the way I look in it.

[00:16:11] [SPEAKER_01] Refresh your every day with luxury you'll actually use. Head to quince.com slash msheet for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada, too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash msheet for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com slash msheet. But it's very disturbing.

[00:16:35] [SPEAKER_01] You know, again, like five years between 13 and 18, that's significant developmentally. And, you know, he's legally an adult. She's a child. It's a predatory situation. And him claiming, I don't know her that well and I didn't know she was a minor, but I also have a yearbook photo on her. And then suddenly she she shows back up after this confrontation with law enforcement. It's disturbing.

[00:17:03] [SPEAKER_00] And it's like it's damning.

[00:17:05] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah, it's bad. I mean, it's definitely bad for him. And it's also like, you know, I'm not trying like I'm always very skeptical of these claims of I didn't know how old she was. I've seen pictures of Celeste. She looks like a kid. So, you know. I think 18 is young, too. But at the same time, like. Whatever, like she looks like a teenager, she looks like a little girl to me.

[00:17:31] [SPEAKER_01] But either way, this thing about like, oh, I didn't know how old she was. It's obviously a ruse because you would think if you were a public figure in that scenario, then you'd be like, whoa, you know, I better not do anything with her again. I didn't know she was so young. But, you know, instead, obviously they stay in touch, you know. Want me to read the next portion?

[00:17:53] [SPEAKER_00] Yes.

[00:17:54] [SPEAKER_01] Quote, despite being informed by law enforcement the victim was only 13, defendant continued to pursue her. After the victim returned home in February 2024, her parents took her cell phone away. Defendant drove to Lake Elsinore and paid a junior high school student in the victim's class $1,000 to give the victim a cell phone defendant purchased so they could stay in contact.

[00:18:15] [SPEAKER_01] Throughout 2024, the victim spent a significant amount of time with defendant, including summer weekends at his home in the Hollywood Hills and traveling with him to Las Vegas, London and Texas to meet his family. Text exchanges between the victim and defendant contain references to sex, pregnancy, abortion and use of the Plan B emergency contraceptive. There are also explicit photographs documenting and corroborating their sexual relationship.

[00:18:39] [SPEAKER_01] In November of 2024, defendant and the victim broke up, although they continued to communicate and text messages suggested that they also continue to have sexual relationships, sexual relations. End quote. Okay, it's horrifying. I, the thing that jumps out to me here is like he's bringing her all around to Las Vegas, London, Texas. And no one in his entourage, no one in his life, his family members who met her, nobody's concerned with this.

[00:19:09] [SPEAKER_01] Nobody's saying, wait, why do you have a 14 year old going around with you?

[00:19:14] [SPEAKER_00] Yeah, it raises a lot of questions and it makes me wonder perhaps they were just used to him having this sort of relationship with underage people.

[00:19:25] [SPEAKER_01] Maybe there were, maybe, I mean like, it just, it's like, it's just hard to imagine someone showing up with like a little girl and not being like, who is she and what, what is going on here? Um, and it just, you know, it makes me feel like, um, obviously the person who killed her deserves the most condemnation and someone who is sexually abusing her also deserves that.

[00:19:48] [SPEAKER_01] But it also makes me wonder like what the heck was going on in the minds of these other people who are seeing something like this unfold and just acting like it's okay.

[00:19:56] [SPEAKER_00] I'll read the next paragraph. April 23rd, 2025 is the likely date of the victim's death and when all her cellular activity ceased. The night prior, April 22nd, 2025, the defendant and the victim engaged in a lengthy argument described in detail in their text messages. The messages reveal the victim's jealousy over defendant's relationships with other women as defendant led her to believe they had a future together.

[00:20:25] [SPEAKER_00] She became extremely upset and threatened to disclose damaging information about her relationship with defendant to end his career and destroy his life. Defendant's first studio album was due to be released on April 25th, 2025. He had an emerging multimillion dollar career already in progress. He also had multiple product endorsements which were highly profitable. So basically, this is the motive.

[00:20:53] [SPEAKER_01] So, yeah, because you can say, well, why would somebody in this situation kill somebody? Why would they kill this 14-year-old girl that they're already abusing? They're already engaged in something so risky. What would shift the balance to the point where they kill that person? Well, a breakup would be one thing. But more than that, it's not just about the breakup. It's about the money and the loss of control that the breakup represents. Because they break up, Celeste starts saying, I'm going to start exposing you.

[00:21:22] [SPEAKER_01] And she's enmeshed in this toxic relationship with this man. And for him, he could lose potentially a lot of money by her exposing him. And I can say, I think even in this day and age, I think, you know, listen, like, I think this guy, Burke, was popular with younger people. Again, like, I don't, I never heard of him before in my life, okay?

[00:21:48] [SPEAKER_01] Because that's not, I'm just not in that kind of streaming culture mode. But that doesn't mean he wasn't a huge deal. I think he, it sounds like he was. And I think, though, like, the young people who would be streaming him and enjoying his music, I would imagine that for many of them, the revelation that this guy that they admire, who is a artist they enjoy, is sexually abusing. I mean, let's just be blunt about it.

[00:22:15] [SPEAKER_01] It's sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl when he's 18 and has this toxic, controlling relationship with her. Yeah, I think that would wreck his career. I mean, I think a lot of people wouldn't want to support that, frankly. So he perceives this now as an existential threat, is what the state is saying or the people are saying here. Shall I move on? Yes.

[00:22:41] [SPEAKER_01] Now we're getting, yeah, this is getting into kind of what's the movements, kind of final movements. Quote,

[00:23:21] [SPEAKER_01] End quote. So this is something you and I see, Kevin, now. Like, we see people getting caught with technology, with the cell phones. But then we see people trying to be a little too cute. In the case of the murders of the four kids in Idaho. I'm not going to name that murderer because he doesn't deserve the notoriety. But that individual is somebody who actually did something that sounds smart. He turned off his cell phone prior to the murder so that he could not be tracked, like, location-wise.

[00:23:50] [SPEAKER_01] All that ended up doing was making him look extremely suspicious when other evidence pointed to him. And then suddenly, for some reason, his cell phone just happens to be off that entire time. Right? Right. So in this case, it's something similar where it's like, oh, you never showed up. What's going on? And it's like, that's not really going to fool anyone when all the other evidence. Like, what are we saying then? She just gets, like, randomly abducted by the Uber driver or, like, by someone else all of a sudden?

[00:24:17] [SPEAKER_01] It's like, it doesn't really make any sense, but I could see somebody thinking, oh, this will help me cover my tracks.

[00:24:24] [SPEAKER_00] Let me read this next section. Quote, knowing he had to silence the victim before she ruined his music career she had threatened, very soon after her arrival at his home, the defendant stabbed the victim to death multiple times and stood by while she bled out. At no time did he call law enforcement or 911 or take her to an emergency room to attempt to save her life.

[00:24:50] [SPEAKER_00] Despite knowing she was dead and her family was trying to find her, the evidence will show the defendant lied and claimed he didn't know where she was. In fact, the defendant drove to Santa Barbara County immediately after the victim died, attempting to dispose of her property and destroy evidence. At approximately 11.30 p.m. on April 23, 2025, he drove away from his home as he texted and called the victim's phone, asking where she was.

[00:25:17] [SPEAKER_00] Again, these were acts calculated and planned to set up his defense within a very short timeline after the victim's vicious murder. Victim drove his Tesla north on the 101 freeway to San Marcos Pass Road near Lake Chachuma in Santa Barbara County. He returned home early the following morning on April 24, 2025, before going to a radio interview for the release of his album that week.

[00:25:44] [SPEAKER_00] He sent two additional texts to the victim's phone that day, which obviously went unanswered because she was already dead. After April 26, 2025, defendant never attempted to contact her again. So I think what they're really doing a great job of highlighting there is the level of calculation, the level of cold calculation and how planned this was. That this wasn't some sort of rash act in a moment of madness.

[00:26:13] [SPEAKER_00] This was the result of a carefully laid out plan that just wasn't as clever as he thought it was.

[00:26:19] [SPEAKER_01] Very, very cold, very, very calculating. And yeah, as you said, not an argument gone wrong, but a calculated attempt to get away with murder. And just, yeah, it's certainly not as clever, though. I mean, I think this document so far, it's doing a very good job of kind of really highlighting the people's case. I think ultimately the defense will have their chance to poke some holes in this, maybe say their side of it.

[00:26:45] [SPEAKER_01] I always try to say to people, we don't need to be making up our minds on anything when it's early days. We don't need to check our common sense at the door either. But we certainly don't need to be coming down hard on one side or another. Let's hear everybody out. This is the next part. Quote, Tellingly, defendant subsequently purchased tools to carry out his plot to dismember and dispose of the victim's body.

[00:27:09] [SPEAKER_01] On April 24th, 2025, defendant ordered a shovel from Home Depot that was delivered to his home from Postmates. On May 1st, 2025, defendant ordered and subsequently Amazon delivered two chainsaws to his home. On May 5th, 2025, defendant ordered and Amazon subsequently delivered a body bag, heavy duty laundry bags and a blue inflatable pool to his home. He made these purchases under the fake name Victoria Mendez.

[00:27:36] [SPEAKER_01] On May 8th, 2025, defendant returned to the same area in Santa Barbara County, leaving his home around 1130 p.m. He returned to the area again on May 31st, 2025. This is an isolated site off of SR-154 where the victim's identification was subsequently discovered in January 2026.

[00:27:56] [SPEAKER_01] Additionally, on July 7th, 2025, defendant ordered and subsequently Amazon delivered a burn cage to his home under the same fake name as part of his plan to incinerate evidence. End quote. There's something so disturbing of this young girl's body. I mean, first of all, how scared she must have been when he started attacking her. I mean, this is somebody who obviously we know as adults she was in a toxic, abusive, illegal relationship with.

[00:28:25] [SPEAKER_01] But she obviously trusted him on some level if she was kind of showing up there. Right. Right. And like the idea that he comes after her with a knife is horrifying. But then he's like, you know, lingering around with her body for this long and doing all this stuff to try to dismember. It's just so gruesome and awful. You know, it's like, I don't know. There's just something really heinous about that. End quote. A quote rather. Moreover, defendant took horrifying measures to destroy and discard the victim's body.

[00:28:53] [SPEAKER_01] After placing her body into the blue inflatable pool to prevent her blood from spilling onto his garage floor, defendant used a chainsaw and perhaps other tools to cut off her limbs. Small blue plastic fragments were found embedded in the victim's remains, which were collected by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Department. The fragments were analyzed by the LAPD's Forensic Science Division Trace Analysis Unit.

[00:29:18] [SPEAKER_01] An expert was able to make a physical fit match from the blue fragments to the blue inflatable pool purchased by defendant in May 2025. In order to distance himself from the victim, he amputated her left ring and pinky fingers because her ring finger contained a tattoo of his name. Her fingers have not been recovered. Defendant then placed her head and torso into the cadaver bag he purchased. He placed her limbs into a garage bag or garbage bag, which he deposited into his front trunk, laying the cadaver bag on top.

[00:29:49] [SPEAKER_01] For several weeks or possibly months, defendant left the victim's body to decompose inside his Tesla. He lied to friends, business associates and others who noticed the strong smell of decay in and around his home and vehicle. Before leaving on his concert toward the end of July, he parked his Tesla on the street around the corner from his home. End quote. Cheese. Cheese. It's sick.

[00:30:12] [SPEAKER_00] Yeah.

[00:30:13] [SPEAKER_01] I also wonder, I'll be curious, like those witnesses, what those interactions were like, where they're like, hey, something smells really bad in here, like in what he was saying.

[00:30:22] [SPEAKER_00] I'll read this next section. LAPD served a search warrant at defendant's home on September 17th, 2025, after the victim was identified by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner on September 16th, 2025. Inside the garage, detectives discovered evidence consistent with the dismemberment of the victim's body in the inflatable pool, which contained multiple linear cuts.

[00:30:47] [SPEAKER_00] Several biological samples, which tested positive for blood, were collected within the garage area. That DNA analysis determined that the various samples matched the victim's unique genetic profile. On December 9th, 2025, the medical examiner ruled the victim's death a homicide caused by two penetrating injuries to the torso.

[00:31:10] [SPEAKER_00] On January 17th, 2025, the victim's U.S. passport card was found by a Caltrans worker off State Road 154 in Santa Barbara County. End quote. So the victim's blood is in his garage. That's going to be something that would be very, very difficult for his defense attorneys to argue a way out of.

[00:31:36] [SPEAKER_01] It feels like, and again, this is premature. I'm telling you my initial feeling and analysis about this document. Anything could change. And we do know there are cases where defense attorneys can say, actually, there's a different explanation here or that's not true and here's why. So we have to be open minded. But this is looking like a pretty slam dunk case right now. I mean, would you say so?

[00:32:00] [SPEAKER_00] I would.

[00:32:00] [SPEAKER_01] Because also, like, what's the alternative? Someone I mean, it's not like a situation where she's missing and we don't know that a crime was committed. Someone else broke into his house in his car and did this like what? Okay. The next section, which is briefer than the first one, which was more of a summary of what happened or what the state, the people feel happened. This is the evidence section. So I'll read. We can kind of go through these different pieces of evidence, Kevin, and kind of analyze and discuss them. This is a quote.

[00:32:30] [SPEAKER_01] So the people will present the following evidence at the preliminary hearing, including but not limited to the description of photographs depicting the victim naked, as well as while she was engaged with the defendant in sexual activity when she was 13. As this evidence constitutes child sexual abuse material, CSAM, the photographs themselves will not be presented. While all possible charges that could be proven were not filed, the CSAM proof is of their ongoing sexual relationship while the victim was 13 or 14 years old, end quote.

[00:32:59] [SPEAKER_01] Okay. First of all, horrifying. Second of all, this might be a question that I don't know. I don't I certainly don't know. And you may not know either, Kevin, but it's something that I'll be thinking about. They have the opportunity to file CSAM charges on him. Why not? Why not add more to this? Why not throw that in there, too? If they have pictures of that, then they have certainly evidence of it.

[00:33:25] [SPEAKER_00] Yeah, I don't know the answer to that. We could speculate that you filed the most serious charges. And if he's going to go away, potentially for the rest of his life for the murder, you know.

[00:33:39] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah, I hear what you mean. The next piece of evidence, quote, numerous text messages between defendant and the victim evidencing their sexual relationship, pregnancy, abortion and use of planned BLEE emergency contraception. And messages through March 2025 proved defendant continued to manipulate the victim as she messaged. All we do is have sex and just hang out, man. I want more than that for myself. These messages were obtained from the defendant's iCloud data, end quote.

[00:34:08] [SPEAKER_01] She's also, again, awful. This is a this is a 18 year old manipulating a 13 year old for sex. Like. And again, the fact that she was it's not like he was keeping this necessarily a secret, I think. Pretty quickly, like people, I think, online were even saying, like, I think we saw her in some of his streams. I again, that's not confirmed. But the fact that this document makes it clear that he was bringing her around his own family and they were aware of that, like where was where? Like.

[00:34:39] [SPEAKER_01] Did that not set off any red flags for anybody? And this is the next piece of evidence. Defendant's cellular activity and communications derived from defendant's iPhone and Tesla, which demonstrate defendant's activities from April 22nd, 2025 to April 25th, 24th, 2025, including to Santa Barbara County in the middle of the night after the victim arrived at his Hollywood Hills home, end quote. And again, Santa Barbara is where they found her passport card.

[00:35:09] [SPEAKER_01] Quote.

[00:35:09] Quote.

[00:35:11] [SPEAKER_01] Surveillance video of defendant driving his Tesla on July 29th, 2025 for the last time before parking the vehicle and leaving on tour at the end of July, end quote. OK, so it's like, how'd she get in the back? How'd she get in the trunk there? Quote. Quote. DNA evidence developed from bloodstains collected from defendant's garage, which matched the victim's genetic profile.

[00:35:32] [SPEAKER_01] Proof of defendant's Amazon purchases and deliveries to his residence, including two chainsaws, a body bag, an inflatable pool, heavy duty laundry bags and a burn cage after April 24th, 2025. Proof of defendant's purchase and delivery of Postmates of a shovel from Home Depot to his home on April 24th, 2025. Uber records showing defendant's transaction where he ordered an Uber to pick up the victim from her Lake Elsinore home and transport her to his residence on the night of April 23rd, 2025.

[00:36:02] [SPEAKER_01] Proof of defendant's lucrative career as a singer and songwriter prior to April 23rd, 2025. Defendant had an album release party on the night of April 24th, 2025 before embarking on an international tour in late July, 2025, end quote.

[00:36:18] [SPEAKER_00] So proof that he had the victim transported to his location and proof that he was buying things consistent with him disposing of her body.

[00:36:34] [SPEAKER_01] I mean, what's your take on the case so far as it's been outlined?

[00:36:38] [SPEAKER_00] It's a pretty strong case. Obviously, I'm curious to see what sort of arguments the defense will make, but it's a pretty strong case.

[00:36:51] [SPEAKER_01] This is the conclusion. Quote, This brief is filed to assist the court in understanding the scope and relevance of evidence the prosecution intends to present at the preliminary hearing. The prosecution has issued numerous subpoenas and is prepared to proceed with the preliminary hearing. The defense has had multiple opportunities to request a continuance but has not done so. Furthermore, California Penal Code 1050 requires the defense to provide at least two court days notice to request a continuance.

[00:37:18] [SPEAKER_01] In view of the limited scope of evidence to be presented at the preliminary hearing detailed in this brief, there should be no substantial impediment to moving forward with the hearing as scheduled. Dated this 29th day of April 2026. Respectfully submitted. Nathan Hawkman, District Attorney of Los Angeles County. And it's also signed by Beth Silverman, a Deputy District Attorney.

[00:37:44] [SPEAKER_01] So, yeah, very, very disturbing, very troubled and something that I imagine will get a lot of focus going forward because I think people will want to know how does this one end? What happens? Is justice delivered? What is the, you know, the details of the evidence against him? Does he have any explanations that in his defense of what? I mean, certainly.

[00:38:09] [SPEAKER_01] Evidence of the sexual relationship and this manipulative and toxic and abusive relationship with a 14 year old girl and he sends over an Uber to get her. She's never seen again. Never heard from again. And then he subsequently is ordering all this stuff on Amazon, which is then connected to an obvious dismemberment site in his garage. That's like really bad.

[00:38:34] [SPEAKER_01] That's like definitely a really damning case against him as at least as it's been described. And of course, we're only hearing from one side at this point. Important to remember that. But yeah, I will be curious to see how this plays out. What about you, Kevin?

[00:38:49] [SPEAKER_00] Kevin Yeah, let's definitely keep an eye on this one and continue to cover it as new things develop. I especially am looking forward to discussing with you whatever answer the defense makes and what their perspective is on all of this. Because obviously, when you hear just one side of the story, it's very easy to find it very, very persuasive. Maybe there are facts that we don't know.

[00:39:14] [SPEAKER_00] But at this point, based on what the prosecution, what the state has presented, it's a strong case against this man.

[00:39:22] [SPEAKER_01] It's a very strong case. Absolutely. All right. Well, thank you all so much for listening. We really appreciate it.

[00:39:27] [SPEAKER_00] Thanks so much for listening to The Murder Sheet. If you have a tip concerning one of the cases we cover, please email us at murdersheet at gmail.com. If you have actionable information about an unsolved crime, please report it to the appropriate authorities.

[00:39:48] [SPEAKER_01] If you're interested in joining our Patreon, that's available at www.patreon.com slash murdersheet. If you want to tip us a bit of money for records requests, you can do so at www.buymeacoffee.com slash murdersheet. We very much appreciate any support.

[00:40:11] [SPEAKER_00] Special thanks to Kevin Tyler Greenlee, who composed the music for The Murder Sheet, and who you can find on the web at kevintg.com.

[00:40:21] [SPEAKER_01] If you're looking to talk with other listeners about a case we've covered, you can join the Murder Sheet discussion group on Facebook. We mostly focus our time on research and reporting, so we're not on social media much. We do try to check our email account, but we ask for patience as we often receive a lot of messages. Thanks again for listening.