← Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
CLOSING IN: REPORTS D4VD FINALLY VIEWED AS SUSPECT, TEEN CELESTE'S BODY IN TRUNK, HAD "HELP" DISMEMBERING
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This is an Iheart podcast.
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A
What do you think makes the perfect snack?
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C
Hmm, it's gotta be when I'm really craving it and it's convenient.
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A
Could you be more specific when it's cravenient?
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C
Okay, like a freshly baked cookie made with real butter, available right down the street at a.m. p.m. Or a savory breakfast sandwich I can grab in just a second at AM pm.
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A
I'm seeing a pattern here.
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Well, yeah, we're talking about what I.
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Crave, which is anything from AM pm.
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What more could you want? Stop by AM PM where the snacks and drinks are perfectly craving and convenient. That's cravenience ampm. Too much good stuff.
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Crime stories with Nancy Grace closing in. Reports are surfacing that the musician D4VD, known as David, David Anthony Burke, is finally being viewed as a suspect in teen girl Celeste's murder. Her body found in his Tesla trunk. And amidst more reports, the killer had help dismembering the little girl. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for being with us. Yo, wait. Hey, wait, wait. Oh, look it. Answer that one. That's so mean if you don't answer.
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D
We don't even know really when Celeste.
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A
Was last seen alive. We don't know how long she was dead for. We don't know how Celeste died. We know that she was dismembered, but how did she die?
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E
It's obviously a homicide.
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A
Reports emerging from sources within the LAPD that musician David Anthony Burke, aka D4VD David, is finally being viewed as a suspect in the murder of teen girl Celeste's death. As we all recall, her body found largely decomposed in his trunk. That vehicle Moved and moved and moved from one spot to the next within a ritzy neighborhood. Why? Because we know the owners of those mega mansions would report the filthy car as being parked outside their home. So someone was moving and moving and moving the forbidde Tesla inside Celeste's decomposing body. What has changed? What has happened? Why is D4VD David now reportedly being viewed as a suspect? Will this result in murder charges? How can this be without a toxicology report as of yet? But to Dave Mack, crime stories investigative reporter, what I consider to be really validating what many court viewers knew, that D4VD is being considered as a suspect, although it has not been officially announced, is the change in the timeline. Now we are learning that police sources believe Celeste was killed back in the spring. And bombshell tonight, police also looking at a road trip taken into a remote area, area by D4VD in the spring where he stayed in that remote area for hours before returning back. I can only assume this information is coming from his nav system. Or is there a rat within Burke's camp? Because tonight I definitely smell a rat. Let's start at the beginning. Dave Mack, what do you know?
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D
Well, Nancy, we know that D4VD took a trip to Santa Barbara county, which is about 100 miles from the house that he was renting and taking about two hours to drive. Okay, so he takes this drive in the middle of the night in the spring of this year, and he stays there for a couple of hours. Now, they say remote area of Santa Barbara. You've ever been to Santa Barbara? Remote area can include probably 80% of the surrounding area, big area. And you can actually be there and not be seen for a long time. He was there for hours. Now they're also saying they believe. I talk about the police investigation is saying to this source they believe Celeste died sometime in the spring of 2025. So we have Burke driving in the middle of the night to Santa Barbara county in the spring of 2025. And we have them saying Celeste died in the spring 2025. That's for starters, Nancy. This is a bombshell.
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A
That is major Dave Mack. I know that the headlines all across the world are D4VD. David Anthony Burke is finally being viewed as a suspect, although LAPD is not confirming that to me. The real bombshell tonight is that we believe she was killed back in the spring. What efforts were being taken by those within D4VD's camp to conceal her death, pretending she was still alive. That's what we're Looking at tonight, this is a major change in the investigation. Dave Mack, straight out to Professor Forensics, Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon and star of a hit with new series Body Bags with Jo Scott Morgan. Joseph Scott Morgan joining us, death investigator who has investigated literally thousands of deaths, not just homicides, suicide, natural causes, accident, unexplained and of course homicide. This is very confusing to us on the outside looking in. Joe SCOTT but the reality is I'm sure the medical examiner, when he she saw the remains could very likely state, oh no, this child has been dead since the spring. You know, we were working off a timeline putting her alive as late as September. So what would be the difference? JOE SCOTT I know this is a tough question. There's a lot of variables in Celeste's decomposing body. And guys, I'm sorry that we are talking so analytically and clinically about a little girl, Celeste, but this is what the trial will boil down to if there ever is a trial. Her decomposed remains. JO SCOTT if her body had been decomposing since September as opposed to the spring months before, what would be different when the medical examiner opened those bags?
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E
I'll tell you precisely, and this is one of the reasons we still don't have a cause of death, is the fact that put this in as delicate terms as possible, the tissue remaining on her body would have the consistency perhaps of jello. All right? It will have broken down to a point where some of her remains will have been liquefied to that point if in fact this new timeline is in effect. And that's going to impact a variety of different areas like say for instance, Nancy, we're looking for soft tissue trauma like contusions or even to a certain degree things like sharp edged weapons or even bullet defects that's going to compromise your ability to visualize those things. So you have to be reliant and not going to slow down.
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A
Please slow down. JOE SCOTT yeah, can I put it in regular people talk?
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E
Yeah, sure.
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A
I don't see it so much as Jello is more like did your children ever make slime? Slime is that gooey junk children made. It's a little fun. Thicker than Jello, but when you pick it up, it's goo. Thicker than Jello. I think what you're saying is that if her body had been in that trunk since the spring, she would be gelatinous like goo. And therefore if she had decomposed to that point, you listed several things. I'd like you to go back over it again, if you don't mind. If that is the state of her remains, how in the world can we find a knife mark, a bullet wound, a soft tissue marking such as a bruise or a subcutaneous hemorrhage? It's all gone.
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E
Yeah. We retreat back to this idea of doing X rays. And what you're going to be looking at potentially, Nancy, is insults to the underlying skeletal structure. Okay? So if you think about, like, if we talk about a knife wound, for instance, it's going to be, you know, knife wounds, just like projectiles fired from a weapon, actually have a wound track where you follow kind of the hemorrhage line that goes. What you're hoping for in a case like this is to see if there's any kind of indwelling trauma on the surface of the bony structures. And that can easily be documented, Nancy, when they would have removed these bags and everybody needs to really grab hold of this, they would have X rayed the contents of these bags ever before they actually removed the remains from the bags to this point.
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A
Let me see him.
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E
Don't really.
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A
Let me see him. Hold on. So, okay, here's another thing. Everybody on the panel, hear this. Joe Scott, stay with me. According to a source within the lapd, it was obvious when they saw the bags that she had been dismembered. Now we are left to interpret that. So dismembered she was, according to the source. So, Joe Scott, you're telling me that when we get the body to the morgue, and remember, they likely take the body out of the Tesla, load it on to the morgue vehicle. So it's getting jostled, gets to the morgue, you're saying before her remains are removed from the bag and or bags? Yep, They're x rayed in inside the bag.
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F
Why?
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E
Yeah, inside tube. Because you don't want to lose anything, Nancy. That bag is essentially all you have that's holding everything together at that point. And I've had cases like this where the bags have actually ruptured. That's a total nightmare for you. And can I point out one more thing, Nancy, because I was just talking about sharp force here, and I don't know that that's involved. I do know that if we're talking about dismemberment, that sharp force, post dismemberment in the post mortem state, that means after death, sharp force is involved in that. So this even further complicates, you know, how do you delineate between what happened prior to death and what we call the anti mortem state and what happened after death in the post mortem state. This just kind of doubles the problem here for LA County Coroner and they've got a great staff, they see all that.
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A
Well, I gotta make a note of that. And I'm gonna come back to Joanne Nieves on how I believe they're gonna determine if it's postmortem dismemberment or an injury while she's still alive.
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E
Yes.
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A
I told you, I smell a rat. Somebody's gonna be singing, if not tonight, in the near future. Because we know, according to the leak, he, the killer did not do this alone. He had to have help dismembering the body. According to the report, in a state of her remains. Joe Scott, if she is in fact dead since the spring, which coincides with that late night trip out to the remote area near Santa Barbara, you're going to have to have a witness, you're going to have to have somebody racked. Now that would be the nature of her remains if she was killed back in the spring. Okay, now how would it differ if she was killed in September, which is what we were led to believe. And I want to tell you one of the reasons we were led to believe that, Listen, from the time it.
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E
Was moved to that last spot, which is on bluebird, so on July 29th, when I saw it, that was like 11 in the morning. Later that evening they begin the tour and they actually leave that evening for San Francisco for the first show.
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A
So there you go to Moses Castillo joining us, private investigator for the d' Ordullian Law Group, former supervising detective from lapd. I bet they are spinning like a top over this leak tonight. That's a whole nother can of worms. That's their problem. I'm concerned with the timeline. We were misled, not on purpose, but because of when the car, the Tesla, was first parked on that street. That was a different date. It was not back in the spring. It was much more recent. And many people naturally assumed that is when the death of occurred. But we're wrong. We're wrong. And now we're learning that authorities believe this child was killed all the way back in the spring. That changes everything, Moses.
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G
Yes, absolutely, Nancy. I think the police are going way back to the very first time she was reported missing and trying to establish a timeline who saw her during that time period, who saw her shortly thereafter. And they're following every GPS data on that Tesla and that's how they found that area about Santa Barbara County.
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A
What do you think about the leak? Moses Castillo, this is your department. You were years with the lapd. Why is this leaking now?
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G
Well, they want to share the pot. They want to get the attention out there because maybe they reached the point in their investigation where they need help from the public. Like you said earlier, there's a rat. Somebody out there has information that could help the detectives. So solve this case and bring justice to Celeste and her family. And that, I think, is a strategy that is in play here.
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A
Listen.
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F
Shocking new information from Fisher. Celeste was in contact with a family member in early July, weeks before the Tesla was parked on the street. PI Fisher is baffled that Burke has not made any public comment about Celeste's body being found in his car and hasn't offered condolences of any kind. Burke's tour continued after the car was towed and body found and and was only canceled when the remains were identified as Celeste. So far, the police have no suspect or person of interest.
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A
Dave Mack joining us, Crime stories, investigative reporter. That report was based on information we believe came from members within D4VID's camp that Celeste had been in touch with her family. That has not been verified with the family. Which leads me to wonder, has there been a gigantic ruse to suggest Celeste was still alive when in fact she was dead? Much like the Gabby Petito ruse affected by Brian Laundrie and remember when he was coming across the country in Gabby Petito's van, texting her family, as if his Gabby Petito and this contact that was allegedly made by Celeste to her family. We don't know if it was a message, a text, an email. It could have been anything or nothing. So are we looking at the possibility this child was killed in the spring and then a cover up ensued, making people believe she was still alive? That's evil. Dave Mack.
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D
Nancy, I think they went so far as to use. Remember the concert in Silver springs, Maryland on August 24, where there was a Celeste Rivas lookalike that was in the backstage area up on the balcony, looking down on the concert, dressed in the same clothing that has been described as was on the dismembered remains found in that Tesla? I think this is part of that story. See, they're trying to put it out there saying, see, she's there. She's. She was at that concert. But in reality, we don't have confirmation that she talked.
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A
You know what else, Dave Mack? All along there were people online saying, that's not Celeste, but she was wearing Celeste's tube top and Celeste ripped jeans. She had her hair done like Celeste from the get go. And we're showing you the video there and in the circle there is either Celeste or Celeste lookalike. But it seems so far fetched that it would not be Celeste. Look at this. We were warned there were red, red flags ringing, bells of alarm, people saying that's not Celeste, you know. To Dr. Geralyn Utter joining us, clinical psychologists specializing in cases just like this. She is the author of Maintaining Philly Survival Hope and Resisting Drug Addiction and so much more. Doctor, thank you for being with us. That would be quite an elaborate cover up, would it not?
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H
Absolutely. It would be very, a very elaborate cover up. But when you look at this situation with David or D4VD, however you want to reference him, there is a lot of image protection. This is a young person that he was involved in, that was a child, that was a minor, he's an adult. And he's also trying to make way of this big music career. So it's elaborate in the sense that he's trying to protect himself and his image and the people around him are also trying to do that. Another thing that I just want to mention, Nancy, is the Tesla, the abandoned Tesla is a huge red flag. Think about it. If he had any type of relationship with Celeste at all, any innocent person or person that had any type of empathy or remorse, at least, at the very least, offer condolences to the family. There's a lot of emotional flatness. There's a lot of what we call emotional compartmentalization where this is classic avoidant behavior because he's trying to protect himself and his image. He doesn't really care potentially about, you know, what's happened to this poor girl. So when you look at it from a psychological perspective, you see secrecy, you see emotional flatness, you see emotional compartmentalization with the main goal as to protect image.
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A
Well, also to you, Dave Mack joining us, Crime Stories investigative reporter. Speaking of a cover up, did you see the photos we're just showing? There was a lengthy track record of covering up because in most of the photos in which Celeste was featured, she's covering her face. She what other girl? 13, 14, 15. Do you know that typically covers their face in photos that are going to be posted time after time after time. A pocketbook, a hand, an iPhone, you name it, that was intentional. So the covering up has gone on for a long time. That right there is taken from a video which was then deleted.
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D
From what we have found in looking into this investigation, there's no clear shot of Celeste Rivas with Burke at all. She's always got a hand up. There's always something blocking our view so we can't identify her. And I'm telling you, this is so heavy handed when you actually break it down you're going why didn't we see this earlier? Because they knew. I mean Burke's 20 years old. We've got a girl here that turned 15 after her body was found in that Tesla. So back it up and you're looking at There are some people who believe that the relationship between Burke and Celeste began when she was 12, Nancy and they have been practiced at preventing her from being photographed clearly with Burke ever since.
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A
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, Joanna Nieves joining us, the veteran criminal defense attorney, founder of the Nieves law firm. A lot happening tonight. The timeline change is a massive, massive difference than what was thought before and it changes all of the evidence. But Joanna Nieves, here's the thing. Isn't it true when you've got a crime bad enough to defend, it's hard enough. But when you have an elaborate cover up trying to make it look as if Celeste was still alive, a lot of people probably knew about that. That's not easy to cover your tracks for that many months. If that is in fact true, that could be the killers undoing the COVID up.
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I
Absolutely, Nancy. I think the thing is it would definitely be a major conspiracy for people to be participating and taking acts to cover up a crime in that fashion if there is evidence to support that. Right now what we have is a tight lipped law enforcement agency that isn't releasing a whole lot of information and the reports that are going around are the suspicions and the hunches and what could possibly have happened. But the prosecution can't convict on the hunch. And we're just wanting to see. We need to see a bit more evidence to support any of those type of allegations. Whether it's a huge.
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A
You want more evidence than a dead body decomposing in his trunk.
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I
Yes, because we still don't even know like you were talking about with the anti mortem and post mortem injuries. We don't know whether or not there were injuries to that body that would support that a crime of murder was actually committed. If all of these are post mortem wounds, if anything like that is found, we can still argue mutilation, transport, concealment of the body. But are we really going to get to the crime of murder and whether or not D4VD is actually the person who committed that or does he his.
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H
His.
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I
The nature of the involvement in the crime. Maybe it was limited to a potential cover up and an involvement, maybe knowledge. But who committed the act if he's actually named a suspect and investigated for that crime?
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F
The LAPD has been working on a timeline of activity for Celeste and Burke. And an insider with the police investigation says they've been able to determine that in the spring of this year Burke took a secret trip in the middle of the night to a remote area of Santa Barbara County. Burke remained in the area for several hours. Bloody remains are found in a vehicle registered to you. Yet you continue on this world tour like nothing was found in your car.
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A
How could somebody put a then 13 year old little girl in a truck trunk and leave the car there for weeks on end as Burke becomes a.
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F
Suspect in the possible homicide of a child. Police say it is likely Burke had help in dismembering and disposing of Celeste's body. Burke still has not made a public announcement about Celeste being found in his car. And after initially saying Burke was cooperating with the investigation, the singer has not been cooperative during the last two months.
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A
Bombshell tonight. According to sources within the LAPD says KNBC D. Fourfidi, AKA David Anthony Burke is being investigated as a suspect in the death of teen girl Celeste Rivas. We are also learning, contrary to prior reports that he has not been cooperative throughout the investigation. And I'm just curious, does it have anything to do with this? Not at all. My dad is a litigator for a law firm. My mother was a teacher back in the day. She doesn't do it anymore, but she does notary now. That is From. And the writer is on YouTube, so, I mean, think about it. To Moses Castillo. Joining me, former lapd. You got a trial lawyer for a dad, according to Burke himself. And a notary as a mom. I guess they did tell him to shut his pie hole. He hasn't said a word. Now, what can be used at trial are all actions, behavior patterns before, during, and after a crime. Under the law, of course, a defendant has a right to remain silent. But if she really went missing all the way back in the spring and he never said a word, that's damning. Do you agree?
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G
Absolutely.
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E
I agree.
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G
Not only him not saying anything, but his actions of transferring. There's some reports of he's transferring his properties to his mom under his mom's name. What does that tell you? That he's afraid of contentious civil litigation, of a wrongful death lawsuit. So all that points to a consciousness of guilt in my mind. And as he. Every day there's justice delayed, there's justice denied. And we need to fight for transparency. And we need this done so that we could get whoever is responsible accountable.
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A
Well, I appreciate that sermon. I do. But what I'd like to point out, Moses Castillo, is that every day that goes by, we lose evidence, we lose witnesses, Evidence is cleaned away from the home. I heard that. It's been professionally cleaned. Now all that evidence is gone. To Joe Scott Morgan, joining us, death investigator Joe Scott. The dismemberment of a body is no easy thing. And I wonder where the body was dismembered. We know LAPD combed D4VD's mansion. We've had cases. And you and I have investigated them and covered them. Where you actually see on camera, on surveillance video, someone taking a body out of the home, We've watched that. Including the body of a teen girl. This is video of a little girl, Miranda Corset out of Florida. You see her walking into the murder defendant's home being carried out in a blanket. Does surveillance video around the home, the mansion of David Anthony Burke, show the last time Celeste Rivas left his home? Like Miranda, did she walk in and get carried out? And if so, when? And this is not just about Burke's video. What about neighbor's surveillance video? Don't forget his Tesla has 360 degree cameras. Who loaded her in the trunk? Or has the info stick been removed from the car and destroyed? Was the body dismembered in that mansion? Or was it taken out to, for instance, a remote area outside Santa Barbara and dismembered To Joe Scott Morgan, don't you think there would be evidence inside the mansion if the body was dismembered there?
- [30:21]
E
Yeah. And we still don't know, you know, what they have found. And so here's, here's what you're looking at with, with dismemberment, Nancy, one of the things that's always left behind is going to be obviously blood deposition. Now that can either be with velocity. Say I've worked cases involving like power tools and it distributes much like a firearm would. Okay. Also, you're going to have things, elements like bone dust that people don't think about, just like sawdust that's created with bone. One thing that you do need though is you need privacy. You need generally an electrical source, unless you're using hand tools. And you do not need to be bothered in any way while you're doing this. The individuals that would have been involved in this process would have also be covered in tissue themselves. So it's a big, big mess. It's even bigger, say for instance, in cases we've covered where it's a bludgeoning or just a straight up stabbing. Because now you're going even further. I think one of the questions that I have, was there a place that she could have been taken either in the postmortem state or the anti mortem state to facilitate this? And also if they had panicked, for instance, after they started this process, if she was stowed in another location and then brought back and the Tesla happened to be the spot that they landed on. Okay, we're going to put her in the Tesla. After we've had her in this location, the body begins to become foul. They can't keep her in the house any longer or at some other isolated location where she can be found. So there's a lot of movement that's going on here and it's going to be very, very difficult to track this. The big thing is looking for trace evidence back in that primary residence. And then if they can locate that location out in Santa Barbara county somewhere, is there anything that of value there that may have been left behind?
- [32:26]
A
You know, I've been thinking about the condition of her body. Those mansion photos were from our friend Harvey Levin over at tmz. I would imagine since soft tissue is the first thing to go, that there's no way we're going to be able to determine from the petechia in her eyes whether she was asphyxiated. No, wait, that's gone. Wouldn't you agree?
- [32:50]
E
Yeah, to a certain degree. I have seen petechiae in advanced decomposition. Nancy, I gotta make a confession here. There's something that's just like, eating at me right now that I'm thinking about what I'm really concerned about in this case from a forensic standpoint, and that's going to be her tox. How are you going to land on an answer relative to tox? And if you can give me a little latitude here, one of the things that we do in cases of advanced decomposition, you know how we were talking about how the body begins to break down, we talked about, about this kind of gelaginous state that the body might be in. One of the things that's rather robust that you can go to is actually the liver and to a certain degree the brain as well. What we do is that what remains of the liver and the brain, we will take, take samples of that and literally spin it down to the point where it liquefies. We can actually draw that up, Nancy, and get what's referred to as a qualitative finding. Like, were there any drugs in her system, Talking meth, coke, you know, the standard panel that we run in the medical legal world. Now here's the problem. You're not going to be able to get a quantitative amount, you know, which is what we're looking for. If we're thinking about od, for instance, you can merely get a qualitative amount, and that says that these drugs were present. And the question now is, how in the hell is a young girl like this getting access to these substances that is under the direct care of an individual, that is an adult in her life. Remember, she's not been with her family, so how is she getting access to these drugs?
- [34:40]
A
Okay, let me boil down what you just said. Harsh reality is, even when a body is, for instance, mummified from being out in the desert or in some other difficult terrain, and the body literally dries up. Yeah, the internal organs, such as the liver, can be put in a blender with some form of liquid, such as saline, maybe. Yeah, centrifugal and liquefied, you basically making a smoothie out of the internal organs. And from those organs, talks can be conducted. Toxicology labs can be conducted on that. So even if her remains are, as you said, jello, if she's been dead since the spring, even so, that test can still be run, but you're saying you can't get a quantitative amount, which is the possibility of an overdose. You can't tell how much of it is in her system. You can just determine it is in her system. But you Know, I got a problem with what you're saying. Here's the problem to Dr. Geralyn Utter. We keep hearing discussions of maybe she OD'd. Why are we hearing that? If this was an accidental OD and anyone hoped to save her inside D4BD's mansion, they would have called 911. We don't want to think she was intentionally murdered. So we all come up with, oh, it was likely an overdose and they panicked and got rid of her body. Excuse me, panicked and dismembered her body and left it in a trunk. That's not what people do when you want to save someone's life. When someone has an accident. So reminiscent of little Kelly Anthony. When Topnot Casey Anthony wants us to believe Kelly died in the pool and then her dad decided, oh, let's just put her in a trash bag and throw her in a swamp. That's a great idea. Instead of trying to revive her or have a funeral. That's total bs. So why do we want to believe this was an od?
- [36:51]
H
Because it feels better that way psychologically, Nancy. I mean, this is D4VD. Or David, whatever you want to reference him as, he was somebody that was coming up in the ranks. He was beloved, he had a following. It feels better to have to think, oh, this was an accident. I don't want to have to wrap my head around the fact person that I love and I admire and whose art or music I like did something like that. The other thing, when it comes to overdose, to your point, if she had an accidental overdose, you would think that people would rush right away to call the police. Sadly, we don't it as often as we'd like to see it, because people panic. And usually what they'll do is they might drive to an emergency room and just kind of drop someone off, or they might move her while she's still alive and overdosed and put her on the sidewalk. Sidewalk. And call to your point, the fact that we moved to dismemberment really just, you know, it kind of makes you think, hey, maybe there was more foul play, not just simply an overdose. Your earlier question. We believe that people are capable of doing evil, evil, terrible things. And again, someone who was an artist, that was coming up through the ranks. Another thing we want to think of is she is a child, she is a minor. So there's so many layers to self protection, self preservation and protecting his image, potentially, that are involved in a case like this. But to your point, if it wasn't overdose, there were 10 million other things that could have been done to protect, quote, unquote, him and his camp while also trying to get this young child help.
- [38:19]
F
Shocking information uncovered by the LAPD has the investigation spotlight finally pointing on Burke. Investigators have developed new information that leads them to believe Celeste likely died in the spring of this year. And the death is being tentatively treated as a possible homicide. But officials are waiting on an official cause of death from the medical examiner.
- [38:41]
A
All I need is one witness, one witness to crack one of Burke's insiders to tell the truth about the night Celeste died. We will get answers as to what happened to Celeste Arrivas bombshell tonight. According to sources within the LAPD, D4VD, aka David Anthony Burke, known as David as a musician, is finally, finally being considered as a suspect in the death of a little girl, teen girl, Celeste, found decomposing in his vehicle. The bombshell, not that he's being considered a suspect. Reportedly many people already considered him a suspect or at least a POI person of interest. But the timeline, this is a seismic shift. Now we are learning police believe this little girl died back in the spring, not in the fall, not in September when her body was found, but many, many months before that. I'm going to circle back to Jo Scott Morgan with the possibility she was dismembered in the desert outside, in the terrain outside Santa Barbara. And what that would mean forensically. If dirt or soil could be found in that Tesla truck from that area, what would that prove? But here's one of the reasons the timeline was off. It's a little weird to see a car that I haven't seen here for a long time had a big dent on it, had a Texas plate on it.
- [40:22]
E
So all a little odd.
- [40:24]
F
One neighbor says the distinct looking Tesla was parked on the street for some time in front of the house that was searched and later in two other spots on the street. The vehicle stood out because it has a Texas plate and a big dent.
- [40:38]
A
From our friends at WABC. Crime stories with nancy grace, Out to Dave Mack, crime Stories investigative reporter. This is a seismic shift, the timeline and it opens up the possibility that there was not just a murder, a cover up, but a very long cover up that lasted for months and was quite elaborate, suggesting that Celeste was still alive, thereby hiding the fact that she was dead and dismembered. So, Dave Mack, regarding the COVID up, regarding the trip out into a remote area, you've studied the map, what area are they referring to? What is the most obvious remote area outside Santa Barbara, the one I'm looking.
- [41:40]
D
At Nancy, is Santa Valley, which is a terrain that is it's difficult to drive a car in. You're going to do a lot of hiking to get around there. It's underdeveloped and it is an area that really and truly could be a place where you could be left alone for a long, long time. But Nancy, I want to you mentioned the COVID up. Okay, think about this. When you're looking that long game that includes the staged Celeste look alike at the concert in August. Think about his new album Withered was coming out April 25th. They're not saying Celeste was dead in early spring. As we look at this whole thing where they're always blocking her face so you can't see how she looks, can't identify her. I hate to say this. Did they plan her death so that they could get her out of the way as the new album came out and he goes on his first world tour and they replace her with a and stage the whole thing to justice?
- [42:43]
A
Scott Morgan try to erase Dave Mack's wacky conspiracy theory. Although frankly, you know what, so much has changed in this case. Maybe it's not that wacky after all. Jo Scott Morgan, let's talk about that rugged area. If she was dismembered there with help and I'm curious why le law enforcement is saying that the killer had help dismembering her. That's another can of worms. But what would you expect to find on her body on those bags and possibly in the Tesla trunk.
- [43:20]
E
Yeah, you, you had mentioned earlier, you know, you begin to think of and there's an area within forensics where we have forensic geology where we begin to take a look at soil samples and that's contained within the trace evidence area at the state crime lab. So you actually can compare soil that is say for instance, if you're talking, you know, this house is where he was renting is essentially adjacent to Chateau Marmont, the famous place where Belushi died and all of those things went down all those years ago. Well, that geology in that area, the type of soil there is completely different than say this area where he is alleged to have gone. I got one more for you, Nancy. Remember, what are they saying? They're saying that there's a chance she may have gone missing in the spring. Guess what happens in the spring. You've got new bloom going on. So the flora that is all of the plant life that is out in that area, there's a high potential that those species are completely different than you're going to find back in more coastal areas around la. So in this bag, not only are they going to be looking for soil sample, they're also going to be looking for any kind of pollen that's on the body. That's another area with, with forensics that we look at relative to this. So there's a lot of evidence if, if they have taken their time with each one of these bags with her body, any clothing that have may have been on there. There's a chance that you can harvest information there that might tell you about her path, at least from geographic standpoint.
- [45:03]
A
I want you to see a live stream video of D4VD, David Anthony Burke and Celeste, which has recently resurfaced. Watch. Hey, wait, wait. Oh, look it and see that one? There's so many.
- [45:15]
E
You don't answer.
- [45:16]
D
Which one?
- [45:16]
A
Which one?
- [45:16]
E
Which one?
- [45:18]
A
What's good? De Big family. Oh, thank you. Mitch Mitchell. Congio.
- [45:24]
I
I gotta sign with him.
- [45:25]
E
If you even.
- [45:26]
I
We are we.
- [45:27]
E
We need to delete this.
- [45:28]
A
Are we M. Can we delete all VODs and then as soon as the.
- [45:31]
E
Stream ends, delete the stream too?
- [45:34]
A
You know what that tells me? That again is a live stream video of David Anthony Burke and Celeste which resurfaced that D4VD. David Anthony Burke is very aware of any incriminating evidence. He knows to delete it, get rid of it, don't let it stay on the air. We know that there was a long history of covering Celeste's face whenever they were photographed together. What else, if anything, would he cover up? And I want to address something Joanna Nieves, veteran trial lawyer, said. She said, well, you know, if the body is so decomposed, we may never know COD cause of death and therefore we won't know whether this was a murder. I want you to imagine something, Joanne. Go to the back recesses of your mind and imagine a sinking ship about to go under in a turbulent storm. Imagine rats. Rats. Rodents running across the deck of the ship not knowing what to do. A sinking ship with rats running across the deck. You don't think one of those rodents will grab onto anything to save its own skin? Yes. Somebody within the 4 Vidi's camp knows exactly what happened. And we have learned from private investigator Steve Fisher, who can no longer comment, I imagine because he's going to be a witness that he saw who was driving the Tesla. Parking it here, parking it there. Was it D4VD? I guarantee you he had a minion do that. A friend. And that friend knows everything. There were multiple people living in that mansion, someone is going to try their best to save their own skin, like those rats on the ship deck. And they are going to rat out on David Anthony Burke.
- [47:36]
I
Pressure bus pipes. And I agree with that. When your life and your livelihood is on the line, it is not difficult to apply the pressure and get somebody to break. Now, will that confession or, you know, that big reveal actually point to D4VD? That still remains unreal, unknown. You know, maybe he is aware. Obviously there is something going on, that there is a level of awareness and knowledge, but what we don't know is who the actual culprit was of what happened to Celeste.
- [48:12]
F
Investigators have made contact with several people involved in the case, some more involved than others, but all in some capacity that leads detectives to believe they are certain they're going down the right path for a suspect. And even with the new information about the investigation, no one has been arrested and the investigation is ongoing.
- [48:32]
A
We here at Crime Stories would be remiss if we don't ask questions about Celeste Rivas parents. How can she be missing all this time, even possibly dead since the spring? And they alerted no one. How much, if any, blame is attributed to them? Where was Mommy? Where was Daddy? Tonight? This investigation is ongoing. The police need your help. If you know or think you know anything, whether you are within D4VD's camp, whether you're a neighbor, whether you saw them together, anything, please call LAPD. 213-486-6890. Repeat, 213-486-6890. We remember an American hero, Officer Jeremy Hall, Virginia Department Corrections. Killed in the line of duty. He leaves behind a grieving family. American hero Officer Jeremy Hall. Nancy Grace signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an I heart podcast.