← Drop Dead Serious With Ashleigh Banfield
Drop Dead Serious With Ashleigh Banfield
HAUNTING Surveillance Video of Celeste Emerges & TICKETS PILED UP on D4vd’s Abandoned Tesla
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- [00:00]
Commercial Announcer
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- [00:31]
Charles Ledebodier (TMZ Reporter)
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- [01:05]
Ashley Banfield
Hey everybody, I'm Ashley Banfield and this is drop dead Serious along with Atlas Banfield who's become a regular fixture. If you are listening on the podcast, check out the YouTube show because my 15 year old goldendoodle joins me in the studio for every single show. He's not always in front of the camera, but when he is, we like to show that he a very supportive cast of characters in the production of this podcast. Today I am continuing this incredible case that everybody's talking about. It is the death of a teenager, a young teenager named Celeste Rivas Hernandez and the rising star named David Anthony Burke, better known as David and his singer stage name is spelled D4VD. And the teen of course has made a lot of headlines because she was found dead in the trunk of his car. That's a fact. You can't get around that if you're just jumping into this case or if you want the full backstory or the timeline because you may have forgotten bits and pieces and trust me, it's a lot. I get it. I have put together a playlist with all of our coverage about David and Celeste and this extraordinary mystery. That's to say the least, I can tell you this. Celeste was found dead in his trunk. Celeste and David were a couple. Celeste was only 14 when she died, most likely, and David is 20, which is not good. So tonight as I record this, it's Friday, September 26th and under any circumstances, like any other circumstances, that singer David would likely be spending this Friday night exactly the way you would expect for a 20 year old platinum selling multi millionaire just coming off a two month tour. Tour. Think clubs and friends and fans and Parties and outfits and music. Maybe even one of those regular big old blowouts that the neighbors said happened pretty often in that $20,000 a month mansion that he was living in in the Hollywood Hills. But tonight, that party house is dark and it is empty. And it may be a crime scene. Right? It certainly was the scene of a raid. And David himself has not been seen in the LA party scene for weeks. He hasn't been heard from publicly either for just as long. And why is that? Because the young dead girl, Celeste, who was just yesterday confirmed to be the very same Celeste that the singer once wrote a love song about, she's the same girl he appeared with on live streams. And she's the same girl that he and his friends partied with in la. Yes, that girl. That girl, the same girl he was involved with romantically, even though she was only 14 at the most, was decomposing in his trunk. It is more than likely, though, that Celeste could have been 12 or 13 when this relationship began with David, when he was 17 or 18. Again, facts that are not good. In this episode, I'm breaking down the very latest details, beginning with the one detail that may have gone unnoticed so far in the story. And I'm going to say it again. David has not been charged with any crime. He has not been named a person of interest. He has not been named a suspect, that's for sure. And all the while, the LAPD has been unusually tight lipped about this case. But yesterday, that would be September 25th, Chief Jim McDonnell of the LAPD did an interview, and whether it was deliberate or not, he said this. Certainly whenever you investigate a homicide, the.
- [04:52]
Steve Fisher (Private Investigator)
Detectives look at all of the associated issues as well.
- [04:56]
Ashley Banfield
In this case, that's something that they.
- [04:58]
Steve Fisher (Private Investigator)
Would be looking at.
- [04:59]
Ashley Banfield
Did you catch that? Did you catch the nuance of what he said? Because there were some key words in that sentence like homicide and quote, unquote, associated issues. I don't hear associated issues very often, but let's start with homicide, because you probably know, since you're true crime fans, that homicide means death at the hands of another. It does not mean an overdose or an accidental overdose or suicide. It means someone did this to her. That's the first time we're hearing that. Right? And as for the associated issues, that certainly could refer to the fact that David's friends confirmed that he was in a romantic relationship with a girl who was only 14. At this point, Celeste's cause and manner of death are listed as deferred. But if victim and boyfriend make up two Key parts of this puzzle, the third part has to be the abandoned two year old Tesla, $104,000 Tesla at that, in which the girl's decomposing body was finally found 18 days ago, September 8th. I spoke with a private investigator who specializes in missing persons cases and he got his hands on the paper trail from the very first ticket that went on the Tesla's windshield to the end of the line at the impound lot. He learned that fed up, neighbors called the police about the car on August 26 and an officer came by the next day and left a ticket on the window because that's what you do. And then a second ticket was issued on September 3 and the car was finally towed away on September 5, three days before it became a key piece of evidence in what is now being called a homicide. Steve Fisher is the man behind that pro bono detective work and he talked to me earlier on my News Nation show. Banfield Shout out 10 o' clock Eastern on news Nation. I do a true crime show every night. Here's my conversation with the private investigator who sleuthed himself right into getting the accident tow report and knocked on a bunch of doors where that car was abandoned. Tell me about the tow report that you were able to obtain and some of the information that you learned from the report.
- [07:16]
Steve Fisher (Private Investigator)
So you know it was first called in by a neighbor on the 26th and the only note that was on it was when they asked for any identifying information besides the license plate, you know, they noted that there was a large dent in the back and you know, it was curious that there wasn't an odor mentioned. Now that doesn't absolutely mean that in the conversation with the agent, you know, they didn't mention that and it just didn't get reported. But you know, in la, officer, a traffic officer has to come out at least three times before they can tow it. On three different days they have to chalk the tires, make sure it hasn't moved because it is legal to park on that street. So you know, as far as what was gathered from that, it was, it was nothing regarding the smell or anything, but for it to get towed from that area, considering there is no parking restrictions, it had to be there quite a while, I think.
- [08:11]
Ashley Banfield
Well, let's talk about that because not only did you get your hands on the towing report with all the information it yielded, but you also knocked on some doors and you found some of the neighbors who indeed knew about that car and knew how long it had been there. What did they tell you?
- [08:27]
Steve Fisher (Private Investigator)
You know, I talked to someone that, you know, nobody wanted to be on the record. But they said that they believe they're certain the car was there more than a month. There was somebody else that said that the car had moved around a couple of different times. But that's going back as far as May it had been moving around. And you know, from those, those, those photos, those photos actually were embedded with the ticket that was taken. So when the, they provided the ticket on the third, they give images, you know, in case it goes to court and they can back it up. They're really high res images. Zoom into them and I mean that dirt is caked on that car. So I think it's, I think that car got dumped a lot earlier than a lot of us think.
- [09:08]
Ashley Banfield
Yeah. And I'm just looking at the pictures at the same time you are on screen and our viewers are seeing it too. One of the things I noticed with the caked on dirt is that you would not have been able to drive it with windshields that caked. It would have been really hard to drive. So. And I'm just so sad when I see this car parked here. Cause you know that she's in the trunk in this image and it's so sad. Yeah, it's just, it's extraordinarily sad. It's not just a parked car that's getting a ticket and getting towed. It's a tomb where a girl had been decomposing, you know, day after day after day. But it's interesting, you say a month, but then it's also interesting, you see the police came back three different times and chalked the tires. What's the protocol for them? Why didn't they tow it the first day they were called?
- [09:55]
Steve Fisher (Private Investigator)
So they're not allowed to tow it unless it's documented that it has not moved in 72 hours. So now when they came out on the 26th or they got called on the 26th, they came out first on the 27th. That happened to be Labor Day weekend. So you know, it got, it wasn't until the third, until Labor Day was over, they came out the second time. But, but by ordinance here in LA county and I do very familiar with this because I live in the area, you know, you have to move within 72 hours if it's called in as abandoned. Has to also have other factors such as it appears to be abandoned. If this car was clean, it wouldn't have been towed.
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Ashley Banfield
Yeah, the fact that, you know, the first call came in and eight days later it was towed each time they Came out and established the 72 hour rule and had those. Those three that they have to have. Did the neighbors that you talked to say anything else about other than. Yeah, it's been here for about a month. Did anybody say it smelled?
- [10:55]
Steve Fisher (Private Investigator)
Not that I talked to. I know that there has. I've seen reports that somebody. But not that I talked to. However, the street that it's on and I don't know if this was done on purpose or not, but the street Bluebird is just this little street with about six houses on it that kind of makes a semicircle that wraps from one end of Doheny to meets back up Doheny. So it's not a super traveled street. Now Doheny is. So you drive by it. But where it was is kind of like a strategic area where there's only. See that road right there wraps around to the right and then it connects again to the main road. So there's not too many people that will walk by. And these hedges on this house are so high that it really takes out people walking on the other side of the vehicle. So I don't know if it was actually done strategically. But if you're going to leave it somewhere else, it's a good place to leave it as any.
- [11:45]
Commercial Announcer
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- [12:14]
Charles Ledebodier (TMZ Reporter)
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- [12:44]
Ashley Banfield
Well, the curious thing is. Listen. And this is a sort of a weird topic, but I have a septic field and a septic system and I've grown up that way. And I know that when the winds shift, it doesn't matter what kind of hedge is nearby. It doesn't matter if it's 30ft away. You can smell those odors. And I'm just wondering if anybody on the other side of the hedge or across the street, you know, or within, say, 50ft of where that car was parked had noticed that smell and wondered what it was. Because I believe the only report we had about that car was that somebody thought a dead animal was nearby.
- [13:19]
Steve Fisher (Private Investigator)
Yeah, and I'll bet you now, in hindsight they might. But I think that, you know, without this happening, you walk by a car, it's the last thing you think is that somebody's in the trunk, you know, deceased. And so you probably chalk it up to a bunch of other things, like set a sewer line broke. I mean, it's LA stuff like this happens a lot. I mean. I mean, I'm talking about like sewer lines and whatnot. And there's a lot of construction going on in that area all the time. So you could chalk it up to, you know, they hit a line or something like that. I mean, really, the last place people go is there's a body in a trunk. You know. Now, of course, now that we know that happened, it's easier to think that way, but, you know.
- [13:58]
Ashley Banfield
Oh, yeah, hindsight's 20 20, you know, but I'm going to ask you about the damage on this car because you've got a lot of insight into something we haven't all noticed in the video. But before I that, I want to ask you about this location. I thought it was blocks and blocks away from David's house. It isn't?
- [14:15]
Steve Fisher (Private Investigator)
No, no, no. I'd say it's probably 150ft to Doheny Place, which he's on from the rear of, you know, from the trunk of that vehicle, because he's the first spot. He's there parked on the first spot there. It's very close. In fact, on a weekend, it, you know, I could see him, somebody parking there because there wasn't street parking on history, because his street's very small.
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Ashley Banfield
Like it's one street over from where his house actually is, half a block.
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Steve Fisher (Private Investigator)
You know, because his street is really kind of like, almost like an alleyway. It's not an alley, but it's. It's really a half of a regular block because the way the neighborhood's split up, it's. It's very close. You could throw a rock at it.
- [14:56]
Ashley Banfield
It's unbelievable. It almost makes you wonder if the smell might have even reached the front door of that mansion. Let me ask you about the damage. I didn't notice damage in the towing and in the drone video. But what did you know about.
- [15:12]
Steve Fisher (Private Investigator)
Well, I didn't really know until I saw these photos. And this car, this is a 2023 model X100. And he paid $104,000 for this. I've seen the invoice and it's just beat up. I don't know what they've done to this car, but I mean, all the wheel wells are. Have got damage. And I'm not really a car guy, but those side fenders on the other side are off. There's huge dent in the rear. The guy parking also noticed front. Right. So it's. I don't know what happened to this car because I've seen, you know, like for instance, I found a Google Maps image that were happening parked in front of the house. Right. The street view. And it does not look damaged there. So I don't know when this happened or how it happened, but it. It almost looks like it's been off road.
- [16:01]
Ashley Banfield
You know, originally we all thought it was a Model Y until this video showed the door handles. And the door handles apparently are the giveaway for the Model X because they're angel wing doors. They go up inst instead of out. And so the reports are all changing. I mean, every official report that we saw was a Model Y. It looks very much like a Tesla I have, which is a Model Y, but apparently it is this Model X. And I can tell you one thing, my Tesla was not 104,000, so this is a really souped up version. Mine was like a fifth of that. Honest to God. I can't believe it.
- [16:35]
Steve Fisher (Private Investigator)
Yeah, the X has got a larger frunk too. It's 6.6 cubic feet as opposed to 4.2 like the model Y. So kind of explains how she might have fit in there as well.
- [16:45]
Ashley Banfield
Well, that's a. That's a very sad fact that I'll end on. Gosh, I thank you, Steve. Really great digging. I appreciate you doing that. Please come back and talk to us again because I know that you're still watching this story and digging on this story as we all are. Appreciate this.
- [17:00]
Steve Fisher (Private Investigator)
Thanks for having me.
- [17:01]
Ashley Banfield
When police found the badly decomposed remains of Celeste Rivas Hernandez in the trunk of her very rich boyfriend's Tesla, it certainly kicked off a spiraling mystery two and a half weeks ago. Again, I'm recording this on September 26th. Now, TMZ has obtained video from the disappearance of Celeste in March of 2024. It was captured by a surveillance camera just down the street from Celeste's home. And that's of course, in Elsinore, Lake Elsinore, California. So if you're looking now, you can see There she is, 7 o' clock in the morning. It's Tuesday, March 19, 2024. Where she's going and why she starts to break into a run is unclear. But one thing is certain. This minute long video is critical to what came next in her young life, as is personal information about Celeste herself, which comes from the man who owns the cameras. I'm going to tell you about that in a little bit, but it's really important because the guy with the cameras owns a liquor store, but it also is a convenience store and Celeste was a regular and so he got to know her. And the things that he told TMZ about Celeste were nothing like I expected. Again, I'm going to share that with you in just a moment. But here is my conversation that I had on my News Nation show with Charles Ledebodier from tmz. Charles, tell me about this video, when it was taken and the significance of the date and time.
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Charles Ledebodier (TMZ Reporter)
Well, the video that we obtained from a. This is surveillance video from a liquor store in Lake Elsinore, California. The date is March 19, 2024. What's significant about that date is this was around the time where. What we've heard now from several people who have known, who knew Celeste is that she was a runaway and that in early 2024 there were multiple times that she ran away from home. This would have been either the second or third time we're trying to figure that out, that she ran away in March. There had been. The first time had been in January. We've talked about it, that the police found her in Hollywood and brought her back to her family. But in March she took off again. And we know this because her sister went into this liquor store and asked the owner if he had seen her come into the store, did he have any surveillance video that might have shown her or where she went. He went back and looked at his cameras and he did see this video which shows Celeste walking down the street, walking at first, but then running. And she's running toward someone. Now you lose it in the video because she gets too far down the street and you can't make out the vehicle. But the, the owner of the liquor store who we spoke to told us there was a car waiting for her there. Now, he couldn't make out what kind of car it was, couldn't make out a License plate or anyone that was in the vehicle. Obviously, the thing that comes to mind that people think about is, was it David? Was it David waiting for her?
- [20:23]
Ashley Banfield
Did he see her get into the car?
- [20:25]
Charles Ledebodier (TMZ Reporter)
He said, she absolutely got into a car. But, you know, he doesn't know who it was. But we know from, you know, the teacher, Celeste's teacher at the time, said that one of the times that she came back after running away, she was telling people that she had been in Hollywood and that people were aware of this friend or boyfriend, David, that she was hanging out with when she was in Hollywood. So the date, March 19, it just shows that this was something that was going on, that she was running away and coming back or being brought back.
- [21:02]
Ashley Banfield
I'll tell you, I zeroed in on a couple of, like, details. One of the details was that at 7am and I thought, what on earth could be going on in her life at 7am that this would cause a problem. And her sister would eventually ask for this video that day. And then I thought, well, that's usually a school bus pickup. You know, a pickup time. So is it thought that maybe she left home ostensibly to go to the school bus, didn't get on the school bus. Eventually, when she was reported as truant, maybe her sister started to ask, oh, I wonder if she ever did get on the school bus, and found the video showing that she didn't.
- [21:38]
Charles Ledebodier (TMZ Reporter)
Yeah, that is exactly what happened here, Ashley, because the liquor store owner told us he was aware of Celeste and several. Most of the kids in that neighborhood. Again, this liquor store is on the end of the block where Celeste's family lives. And he said that all the kids, when they would get off the school bus or even when they were getting on the school bus, they would come into his store to buy, you know, drinks or candy, snacks. And so he spoke to a lot of the kids. He knew Celeste, and he told us that, you know, as far as he knew, there was no know of any, like, trouble at home or that she was in any jeopardy or anything that he knew of. We have been told by law enforcement sources that they described her home life as troubled. But he said he was unaware of any of that and that she was just another one of the kids in the neighborhood who would come and go.
- [22:36]
Ashley Banfield
I'll tell you what, something else I zeroed in on in the video, as you mentioned, she's walking, then running, then walking, then running. She passes another woman, and it's hard to make it out, but when you zoom in, you can see that that Woman turns around and looks at her as she passes her. Now, the only reason that somebody would do that is that something stood out. Maybe she was crying, maybe she was upset, and that's why the woman's. But you can clearly see the woman spin around because you can see her purse on her opposite side comes into view in the camera. So it's just one of those clues where you wonder, why did that woman take such note as Celeste passed her?
- [23:16]
Charles Ledebodier (TMZ Reporter)
I did see that and I. The way I took it was that this was probably someone in the neighborhood who. Who knew Celeste and maybe was wondering where was she going. You're right. Maybe because we can't see Celeste's face. She's wearing, you know, this black hoodie. But maybe it is that she was upset and that was the reason she turned around. But clearly there was something about Celeste either that she was familiar with or that was outstanding to her on that particular morning. Yeah. So there are clues here. Again, you know, we have, you know, producers in the area trying to find out more information from neighbors who may have, you know, like we said, people have been very tight lipped. And part of this, I think, part of the reason that certainly people in David's world and maybe even in Celeste's world, why they're not talking so much, again, has to do with this, the fact that she was so young and that it does. When, you know, we've been talking about this, you look back on this and you go like, how did nobody realize that there was a 13, 14 year old girl hanging out with people much older than her and that nobody said or did anything?
- [24:26]
Ashley Banfield
I'll tell you something else we've heard is that it sounds from Celeste's name that she was Hispanic and that there is concern among a lot in the Hispanic community to stay under the radar right now. Don't cooperate, don't be out front, don't answer questions, don't talk to reporters. There's a fear that there could be an ice implication. So this could compound the, you know, the information gathering, not just for reporters, but maybe even for the. For the police. Let me ask you about the store owner. I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing this right, but it's either Eli or Elina Daff. And TMZ was able to speak with him. What does he know about Celeste?
- [25:01]
Charles Ledebodier (TMZ Reporter)
Ellie, his name is pronounced Ellie. And what he told us was that he communicated with her when she would come into the store. She seemed like, you know, a regular happy teenager. He didn't know her well enough to. There was nothing he said that he could denote was like that she was sad or depressed. Nothing like that. Just one of the kids in the neighborhood that he really only communicated with because they came in to buy stuff. But he didn't say there was anything that he noted that seemed like she was, you know, depressed or upset any more than any of the other kids.
- [25:41]
Ashley Banfield
So I was interested in the one note that he mentioned which was she wasn't a wild girl and she came into the store to buy candy, chips and gum. And that just broke my heart when I saw that. Because that is what a 13 year old kid does. They buy candy, chips and gum, right?
- [25:57]
Charles Ledebodier (TMZ Reporter)
And you think about that like that's what you expect from 13 year old kids. Yet for some reason there was something or someone drawing Celeste to leave that regular teenager life and go to Hollywood to, you know, not be in school and to live a different life altogether. And it is sad because when you hear him talking about it, you're like, yeah, that's where you expect kids to be. And somehow, for some reason, Celeste chose to be somewhere else.
- [26:31]
Ashley Banfield
And I tell you, I fully expected that his assessment, if he even knew her, which it turns out he did, his assessment of her would be she was a wild child because who else runs off three times to the big city, you know, 80 miles away and doesn't come home? So I was just sort of floored when I heard this assessment that he said she was not a wild child.
- [26:55]
Commercial Announcer
From the Cascades to PDX to your kitchen. We recycle like we live here. That's why governments, brands and recycling companies are all joining together to bring change, to make recycling better. As in trusting that your recyclables end up in the right places to be made into new things and having brands help fund the cost of recycling. You can find the Latest updates at recycleon.org Oregon From Mount Hood to the bend under your desk. Together we can do this.
- [27:24]
Ashley Banfield
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- [27:40]
Charles Ledebodier (TMZ Reporter)
Yeah, you know what I was expecting actually is that he was going to say that she seemed really sad or something like there was, because we had heard this from law enforcement sources that it was a troubled home, that there would be times she came in maybe even crying, and that she would not be able to hide whatever she was going through. But either she was capable of hiding it certainly in those moments when she was in the store, because he didn't. At least he never saw it.
- [28:07]
Ashley Banfield
I'm going to take another look at the video up closer, but I don't know that I noticed that she had her phone up to her ear. Could you tell at any point when she was in this surveillance video whether she was on her phone?
- [28:16]
Charles Ledebodier (TMZ Reporter)
The parts where she's coming toward camera, I definitely did not see her hand up when she's walking away. It's possible because again, it's a black hoodie. It's hard to say. You wouldn't be able to tell to discern any difference there. So it's, I don't see it, but.
- [28:34]
Ashley Banfield
I don't know if she spent the money at age she's going to this.
- [28:36]
Charles Ledebodier (TMZ Reporter)
Car with someone that she had talked to at some point that I was.
- [28:39]
Ashley Banfield
Thinking she'd be connecting with and maybe saying where are you parked? I'm coming right now. But. But I also thought, gosh, a lot of people talk on their headphones, you know, their AirPods or whatever and they don't have their. But when I was 13 and 14, I didn't even get a Walkman, so I don't know, I don't know about her.
- [28:55]
Charles Ledebodier (TMZ Reporter)
You don't have to tell me. Actually there was no way of communicating with anybody other than you were looking at them face to face.
- [29:02]
Steve Fisher (Private Investigator)
Yeah.
- [29:02]
Ashley Banfield
And I also didn't have the top electronics. I couldn't afford it at that age. And I don't know a lot of 13, 14 year olds that can afford expensive AirPods. But. But then again, I do see some width as well. So that just keeps the mystery going as to whether she was talking to whomever it was she met last. Quick question, actually, second last question. You and I have talked a little bit about this before, but I keep thinking every day something will loosen up with the lapd. But I feel like you're getting the sense that this is one of the most tight lipped cases they've had.
- [29:32]
Charles Ledebodier (TMZ Reporter)
And I'm not sure exactly why, but that is an accurate description. I mean we cover a lot of stories like not like this necessarily, but we cover a lot of stories involving law enforcement here in Hollywood. In the Hollywood area you usually hear something, right? The police forces are too large to not hear something and there is a clear order from someone to make sure that we keep a tight lid on that. They keep a tight lid on whatever it is that they've learned at this point, we've just heard so little.
- [30:07]
Ashley Banfield
Aren't you so shocked? I mean, honestly, this is the kind of case that screams for the public. We need your help. If you saw something on this date or this time or in this window, please call us. Like, tips help. You can ask the people in the Idaho case, the tips helped. And they, they really do bring in a lot of information and good leads. There's been nothing. There's been no request from the lapd, which tells me they got what they need. They just need to figure out what the next step is to make sure.
- [30:38]
Charles Ledebodier (TMZ Reporter)
It'S not a mess and that they're trying to figure out how to connect some dots. I feel like you're right. I think they, they have a lot of information. It has been long enough. And it's, you know, they had the search of the house. Presumably they have the data or shortly would have the data from the Tesla, you know, and they, They've. They've canvassed the neighborhood. We know that. I'm not sure what else they were looking for. I feel like they have a lot of information. They're just trying to figure out how to piece it together to make sure that they don't have a misstep in naming a suspect. I'm sure that by this point, the police have suspects. They have people that they are thinking are connected to this. They just don't want to screw it up.
- [31:23]
Ashley Banfield
Right. The other thing is, do you know if many of those people in the neighborhood had the police ask them for their last month plus of ring cam footage?
- [31:32]
Charles Ledebodier (TMZ Reporter)
Yes, we know that there are people who were asked about, but because of where the houses are on that street, it's very unlikely that someone would have a ring camera unless they have one out on the street. But from their homes, they're usually back further enough from the street that you wouldn't have.
- [31:51]
Ashley Banfield
Yeah, yeah.
- [31:51]
Charles Ledebodier (TMZ Reporter)
So we know they did ask.
- [31:53]
Ashley Banfield
Here's really the last question, and that is that this seems to be another social media, you know, investigation. Is it helping or is it hurting that there are so many true crime sleuths trying to piece together the puzzle?
- [32:08]
Charles Ledebodier (TMZ Reporter)
I think, you know, you said this just a few minutes ago, actually, that public tips help. Right. And there are certainly, and I would imagine the LAPD is people who are looking at. Specializing in social media, combing through some of this material that's out there. It can only help. And, you know, they're. One of the things that I've learned a lot about as we've been covering this story is discord and all, there is a ton of information that is available there in David's communications with his fans and his fans communications with Celeste. Whether or not any of it is going to lead to a location where she was, who she was hanging out with, we haven't seen that yet. But I know that there is so much information out there and if you have people on social media who are digging through it themselves, you never know, one of them might find the thing that, and, and certainly I hope that if they do that they are sharing that with law enforcement. So maybe police are getting those tips anyway or that people who are, are.
- [33:17]
Ashley Banfield
Actually digging into the same things and.
- [33:18]
Charles Ledebodier (TMZ Reporter)
The police also digging into it. I just, I just always wonder whether, you know, police officers who are, are around our age, Ashley, have the savvy, understand the inner workings of things like Discord the way young people do. And I, I gotta tell you, I've been relying very heavily on some of our Gen Z staffers who have been showing me all sorts of things. I'm like, huh, Discord, huh? Okay, tell me more. And there's, I, it's, it's terrifying the amount of information that is out there. But clearly David and his followers and even Celeste, to, to some degree, this is how they communicate. This is where their information is.
- [34:03]
Ashley Banfield
Homicide divisions would be well advised to invest in that kind of, you know, skill set because that's where a lot of the evidence is these days. And hopefully this will be something that will yield something to get some justice for Celeste. Charles Adebodier, I know you have to go. I'm always so thankful. I appreciate it, sir.
- [34:21]
Charles Ledebodier (TMZ Reporter)
Happy to talk to you anytime.
- [34:23]
Ashley Banfield
Sooner rather than later.
- [34:24]
Charles Ledebodier (TMZ Reporter)
Yes, indeed. Thanks, Ashley.
- [34:26]
Ashley Banfield
My thanks to Charles Letbodier from tmz. Boy, are they breaking a lot of news on this story. They're doing such a good job. And listen, usually the only people who need alibis are, are people who are suspected of crimes, right? But as we sit here tonight, and Again, this is September 26th, David is not one of those people. He is not a suspect. Or if he is a suspect or a person of interest, the police are saying nothing about that. But given the fact that his underage girlfriend turned up dead in his trunk in his neighborhood, and given the fact that police have already raided his house and carted off items of interest, he may indeed need an alibi in the not too distant future. And that's where his concert tour comes in, his now canceled concert tour. By the way, David still does have some dates open on his calendar for 2026, because we looked into the lineup for the South American leg of Lollapalooza next March, and David is still listed as one of the acts on the bill. But I would not try to buy your tickets right yet, because as recently as last night, on the 25th of September, tickets were still being sold for David's shows in Australia. But tonight they are no longer being sold those shows in Australia anyway. His availability for future shows could certainly depend on his past shows, the ones leading up to September 8, when police found his underage girlfriend dead in his trunk. She had been decomposing for weeks and some reports say well over a month in that trunk, right up until the police responded to a call from an impound lot that the stench from the car was overwhelming. So where was the singer when Celeste's body was discovered? And maybe more importantly, where was the singer when Celeste was wrapped in plastic and locked into the trunk of that car? Judging by the concert poster, David's withered tour in support of his debut album kicked off August 5th in Delmare, California, on the outskirts of San Diego. And as jam packed as the list looks, it is not, not even a complete list because several shows were added both before the official kickoff and before the remaining dates were scrapped a week ago tonight. So on paper, it looks almost impossible for David to have been involved in whatever it was that happened to Celeste. On paper. But in reality, not so much. We did find some holes in David's schedule windows where he could have traveled back to Los Angeles. But that really raises the question of how David's entourage was traveling, or at least how David himself was traveling. The tour was laid out in geographical order, and that's the way that you would see it if you were hitting cities, say in a tour bus. But nowhere in the articles or the posts is there any mention of a bus. The only transportation ever shown or referenced is an. An airplane and sometimes a private plane, which opens up a lot of possibilities. But there is still the question of time, right? So to figure that out, we cross checked a couple of key resources. Concertarchives.org tracks every show by every artist that you can name, often including videos and photos and even set lists. And we also looked at David's personal tour diary. He has an Instagram account just for his concerts and his travels. It's called David Tour. And what did we find? Back on July 30, David played a show at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco. It wasn't an official tour date and it wasn't even on his Schedule. So maybe, I don't know, could have been a tune up show, you know, to get ready for the tour. He had three days off until his next date, which was August 2nd in Del Mar, also not listed on the tour schedule. And he played there on August 2 and had another two days off, then played again on August 5, leaving plenty of time to get back and forth to Los Angeles, even if by bike. Between the start of his Tour and the first week of September, it looks like David had 13 different days off from his tour. I'm going to list them out. July 31, August 3, 4th, 7th, 10th, 11th, 14th, 18th, 21st, 25th, 27th, 31st, and September 1st. But the only chunks of time where he had more than one day off in a row happened on July 30 to August 2. That's a couple of days right there. Right then also August 3rd and 4th, that's two. And then again August 31st and September 1st. That's another two day chunk. And it looks like we can account for his whereabouts on those last two days, August 31 and September 1. And here's how. On the 1st of September, he posted this photo of himself and his photographer next to a private plane. Pay close attention to what David is wearing in this picture and pay close attention to his hairstyle. Because when we checked his main insta against his travel insta, we found this video of David in the same clothes, with the same hairstyle, telling his fans that he was headed to Houston to see his friend Kali perform. And that video was posted on September 7th. Now, we all know you can take a video on one date and post it on another date. So it wasn't necessarily video from the 7th.
- [40:12]
Commercial Announcer
Right.
- [40:12]
Ashley Banfield
Maybe not shot that day. In fact, what I think it was was shot on September 1st. Just like the picture of him standing next to the private plane, wearing the same clothes with same hair. And in fact, David was performing on stage in Madison, Wisconsin on September 7th. So he could not have been flying to Houston on the 7th. Bottom line, the dead girl's boyfriend had 13 days to himself in the month leading up to the day police found Celeste's body. Which means exactly nothing if he is never named as a suspect or if he's never charged. And it kind of means next to nothing if he is charged and if authorities are unable to figure out when Celeste actually died and when she was stashed in the trunk of that Tesla. If you noticed, Atlas has now decided that he wants to be under my desk. So that's where the Peekaboo camera is now for him, by the way, if you didn't know David the singer a couple weeks ago, but now you do know David the singer. And if you downloaded one of his songs for the first time and became a fan, it is not because of anything his manager or his record label or his PR team did. It's because a dead teenager was found in the trunk of his car. And the headlines are popping. And P.S. you've got plenty of company. Since September 8th, when the remains of Celeste Rivas Hernandez were found, David's overall music streams have doubled to 30,300,000 in the United States alone. And the track with the biggest boost, Romantic Homicide, that's gone from 2.9 million streams to 9.4 million streams in just two and a half weeks. And here's the really weird part. Celeste is making money too. In a weird way, at least in the world of virtual currency. In on some of the more obscure crypto sites that I do not pretend to understand, her name has become a token. Some call it a meme coin. Justice for Celeste. Coins are trading online for actual money. Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth, in fact. But where is that money coming from? And where is that money going to? Where do the tokens come from? And who decides what they're worth? A crypto journalist. And yes, that is a real thing, poses the question, tribute or exploitation? And on that I say the jury is out. So where do we leave off while police are still waiting on a cause and a manner of death? And David Anthony Burke, known as David with a 4, has not been charged, hasn't been named, a person of interest is not a suspect. But the unanswered questions just keep piling up. About the live streams, about the love songs, about the romance between a young teen girl, like really young, and a rising star who's not old, but way too old for her. And also questions about that Tesla abandoned on a neighborhood street until fed up, neighbors called it in. Celeste's story is no longer a missing person's file. It is officially a homicide investigation. Police do believe someone killed Celeste, not that she overdosed or took her own life. No homicide means someone killed Celeste. And the silence from David Anthony Burke is louder than ever. Because if he was her boyfriend, how was he so quiet about this? If he had nothing to do with however Celeste died, how is he not apoplectic? How is he not live streaming? I lost my girlfriend. Well, the fact that she was 14 may have a lot to do with that. Whether anything else is the reason he's staying so quiet. Watch this space. I'm Ashley Banfield and this has been drop dead serious. And thank you so much for being a part of this. I am always so, so honored that you are in this community with me. I'm going to keep following every detail of Celeste Rivas Hernandez's death and the investigation that could change the future for the singer known as David. And if there's one thing I hope I leave you with, it's that the truth isn't just serious, it's drop dead seriously.