Podcast Summary: "Romantic Homicide"

Podcast: That's So Criminal (The Daily Wire)
Host: Lynden Blake
Air Date: May 6, 2026

Episode Overview

In this gripping episode of "That's So Criminal," investigative reporter Lynden Blake explores the shocking murder case of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez and its disturbing connection to rising music star David Anthony Burke, known professionally as "David." The episode unpacks how a chart-topping artist became the alleged perpetrator of one of the most gut-wrenching crimes in recent memory, with details that blend celebrity, obsession, and chilling premeditation.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction to the Case

David, a popular musician behind viral hits like "Romantic Homicide" and "Here With Me," has been arrested for the murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
The arrest shocked both the music world and the public due to the singer's recent success and the grisly nature of the crime.
Lynden Blake sets the stage by highlighting the disturbing irony in David’s song lyrics and their newfound context given the crime.
- Quote: "Here are some of the lyrics... 'In the back of my mind you died and I didn't even cry...'" (02:00)

2. Timeline of Events

A. Relationship Between David and Celeste

David (18 at the time) had known Celeste (11 at the time of meeting) since 2022, starting a relationship when she was 13.
Celeste was reported missing twice during their involvement: February and April 2024.
Despite her young age, Celeste traveled with David internationally (London, Las Vegas, Texas to meet his family).
David provided Celeste with a new phone after her parents confiscated hers, orchestrating this by paying a classmate $1000.

B. Breaking Point and Threats

Despite an apparent breakup in November 2024, they continued illicit contact, including discussions around pregnancy and abortion.
Celeste began threatening to go public with their relationship, feeling betrayed by David’s other romantic involvements, which prosecutors allege became the motive for her murder.

C. Events Leading to the Murder

April 22, 2025: Major fight before David’s first studio album release.
April 23, 2025: David orders an Uber for Celeste, who travels at night to his Hollywood Hills home.
That night, prosecutors allege David stabbed Celeste multiple times, leaving her to die, then attempted to create an alibi.

D. Aftermath and Cover-Up

April 24, 2025: As his album launches, David purchases a shovel via Postmates.
In the days and months that follow:
- Orders two chainsaws, a body bag, heavy-duty bags, an inflatable pool (used to contain blood), and a burn cage, all under a fake name.
- Dismembers the body; Celeste's torso and head are found in a cadaver bag, limbs in a garbage bag, and all stacked in the front trunk of his Tesla X.
- Her body remains in the vehicle for months.

E. Discovery and Arrest

The Tesla, parked nearby, drew attention due to the smell and insects.
September 8, 2025: Celeste’s remains are found, a day after her 15th birthday.
David continues performing, seemingly unaffected, until LAPD executes a search warrant and ultimately arrests him April 16, 2026.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On the grotesque contrast between public persona and private actions:
- "He has an album coming out, his career is about to pop off, and he is following suit with his engagements that he has planned for the rest of the week... At this point Celeste's body is still at his mansion..." (10:55)
Evidence of Premeditation:
- "On May 1, a couple days later, after the album released, he ordered two chainsaws on Amazon under a fake name. May 5, he orders a body bag, heavy duty laundry bags, and a blue inflatable pool..." (12:01)
Rationalizing Suspicious Odors:
- "[David brings] up the foul smell in his home and tries to blame it on a dump... A decomposing body does not smell like you just went and took a number two... It is so assaulting. It is so insulting that this is literally indwelling the space." (14:41)
Chilling Visualizations:
- "I'm going to paint a picture here... Look how small [the Tesla trunk] is. This is where the 14 year old's body just stayed and decomposed. So tiny. That just gives you a visual of how frankly cut up she was and just stacked on top of each other." (13:35)
Legal Charges Explained:
- "Now David faces one count of first degree murder under special circumstances... lying in wait, committing a crime for financial gain... and murdering a witness in an investigation. David is also charged with the mutilation of human remains and sex abuse charges of a child under the age of 14." (19:00)

Timelines & Timestamps

| Timestamp | Subject Segment | |---------------|---------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:04 | Introduction; David’s rise and first mention of allegations | | 03:00 | Details about the initial investigation and Celeste’s background | | 06:00 | Relationship timeline, travel history, and David's behavior | | 08:30 | Escalation and threats from Celeste to go public | | 10:20 | Night of the murder; actions taken to cover up | | 11:30 | David's interviews and public demeanor post-murder | | 12:01 | Acquisition of tools for body disposal | | 14:41 | Roommates and streamers react to house odors | | 17:38 | Public performances post-crime; continued normalcy | | 19:00 | Charges and state of the case | | 20:40 | Case conclusion and updates |

Case Status & Final Thoughts

David has pled not guilty. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 26, 2026.
Investigators have discovered 40 terabytes of digital evidence.
Lynden Blake promises continued updates, focusing on justice for Celeste Rivas Hernandez.

Conclusion

This episode delivers a chilling, meticulously reconstructed narrative of a true crime case that melds modern celebrity culture with age-old abuses of power. Through compelling storytelling and a careful recitation of court evidence, it paints a horrifying portrait of a promising artist's descent into predation and violence, and the painstaking steps law enforcement took to build their case.

Memorable closing quote:
"We’re going to keep following this case and let you know of any updates as we look to see if justice will be served for 14 year old Celeste Rives Hernandez." (20:44)

Transcript

A (0:04)

A singer at the top of his music career accused of murder.

B (0:07)

I played with her in the car, she was like, David, this song is too violent. You're talking about killing people in your music. No, not my son. I was like, wait, I might be on to something.

A (0:15)

Correct.

B (0:16)

So I dropped it right after that and it went crazy. TikTok viral. Million views overnight.

A (0:23)

What police found inside of hitmaker David's garage in the online paper trail that linked a missing 14 year old to the Hollywood Hill's home. This one made me sick to my stomach. Let's get into the details. I'm Lyndon Blake and you're listening to. That's so criminal.

B (0:49)

That's so criminal.

A (0:51)

There has been a bombshell arrest in the case of murdered 14 year old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. And the guy now behind bars just so happens to have a hit song called Romantic Homicide. You may not know his name, he goes by David on stage. Real name David Anthony Burke. But if you've spent any time online over the last several years, you know his music. One of his biggest hits, like I just mentioned, Romantic Homicide. Here are some of the lyrics of the song. In the back of my mind you died and I didn't even cry. No, not a single tear. If that song doesn't ring a bell, which now looking back at these lyrics, it is eerie. There's this other song that went mega viral called Here with me, a lovely song that I feel like was on every single TikTok for about six months. Any lovey dovey TikTok you saw, this song Here with Me was behind it. So this guy on the up and up in his career. I now have what the prosecution laid out as evidence against David before this preliminary hearing that's coming up in a couple of weeks and it is disturbing, it is shocking and this all happened in the last few weeks. But the body of 14 year old Celeste was actually found last September. September 8, 2025. And it took quite a few months for an arrest to be made in this case. But now it seems like the prosecution has done their due diligence. They have their ducks in a row. So let's get into this. So what the prosecution is saying is this was an alleged murder to silence this 14 year old girl. David had been in a sexual relationship with Celeste since she was 13 and he was 18. They have known each other since she was 11 years old. This is a child of a middle schooler and during this time where all her friends are going to school, just having fun, maybe getting a cell phone for the first time, I mean, doing what you do in middle school, Celeste was running away from her home multiple times to David. They met in 2022. So during this time frame, from 2022 all the way to the end of her life, she was reported missing twice by her family. She was reported missing to the Riverside County Sheriff's Office for the first time In February of 2024, then again in April of 2024, a year before she was allegedly murdered by this singer. During this time, David, like I mentioned on the upswing of his career, he was a hit maker. He was releasing songs. Just to put in perspective of where David's career is at right now while all of this is going on behind the scenes, the weekend before he allegedly killed Celeste, he performed at Coachella, arguably one of the biggest festivals in the world. It was his debut Coachella. He was attempting to do backflips on the stage, entertaining the crowd, having the time of his life. It wasn't but just three days later, the next week, when he allegedly took a teenager's life. One of his songs, feel it was for the series Invincible. He had a hit My House is Not a Home. This is all while traveling the world in his budding music career with a then 13 year old Celeste. Celeste, when she was just 13, went with David to London to write an album. She went with him to Las Vegas. She even went with David to Texas to meet his family. Thirteen years old, this is a middle school child because she was reported as a runaway multiple times. Police eventually go to David's house in Hollywood and they ask him, do you know how old Celeste is? David said, no, I had no idea. She was a minor. But he had a yearbook photo of the 13 year old on his phone. There was also these explicit photos on his phone confirming their sexual relationship. I mean, LA County District Attorney Nathan Hockman called this situation a parent's worst nightmare. And it is you have this young, innocent child that somehow met this singer that she probably thinks is the coolest person in the world and she's in love with him. She thinks she's in love with him and he's sitting there grooming her at her most vulnerable age where she's trying to figure out who she is and he's abusing her sexually and taking her away from her family. This is horrible. There's still no indication of how these two even met. She was 11. So young. After the runaway incident, Celeste's parents, they took her phone away. Naturally, you're not going to talk to this man anymore. What did David do? Remember, he's making music, he has money. He drives to her middle school, pays one of her classmates $1,000, which, to a middle schooler, I mean, that's like a million dollars to give Celeste a new phone. So he pays $1,000 to this classmate, gives Celeste a new phone so he can talk to her. Not normal controlling behavior with a child. At the end of 2024, in November, the two break up. The prosecution claims, though, they were still talking, they even still had sexual relations. And their texts involved talks about pregnancy, abortion, plan B, pills, all of this going on post breakup. So Celeste is probably thinking they're going to get back together. I mean, she is so young, and this person who has fame and who's gaining all this money is giving her the time of day and is probably telling her how much she means to him. So in 2025, why did David go from having somewhat of a relationship with Celeste to allegedly killing her? Well, prosecutors say it's because Celeste actually threatened David to take their frankly illegal relationship public because she was finding out David was with other women and she was getting jealous, obviously, because they're still having sexual relations, they're still talking all the time, and she is saying, hey, this isn't cool with me at 14 years old at this point, I don't like this. I'm going to tell everyone you've been grooming me since I was 13 years old. Since I was 11, actually. Since I met you. And ruined his music career. If this would have gotten out when it did. Early 2025, as David's getting ready to release his first studio album. I mean, this. This is something that would have ended his career. He is over 18 years old. She is a child, and she was done with it. The fight that really set everything off was on April 22, 2025. This is two days before that first studio album was set to be released on April 24, 2025. He has multimillion dollar deals on the line here with the release of this album. The next day is April 23rd. They're still talking. This is the day before his album release. David goes, you know what? I'm going to order an Uber for you, Celeste, to come to my house in the Hollywood Hills. This is on a Wednesday night. Celeste has school the next day, but they're fighting right now. And she takes the Uber at 8:40 at night to go to his home. The Uber dropped Celeste off at 10:10 that night. She lived about an hour and a half away from David's home. According to the prosecution, that day, April 23rd, would now be the last day anyone saw the 14 year old alive. Celeste gets to David's house a little after 10. And that's when prosecutors say he stabbed Celeste in her torso with a sharp object multiple times. And he sat there as she bled out and died. This is what some legal experts are saying, make this alleged murder premeditated. Because that night he drives and starts trying to create this narrative that he didn't know where Celeste was. He leaves his home after he allegedly murdered her, and then starts calling her phone, asking where she is. Where are you? He drove all the way to Santa Barbara county, an hour and a half away, and stayed out all night, eventually returning home the next morning, less than 24 hours after he allegedly killed a teenager. On April 24, he goes and does a radio interview because it is album release day. David did an interview after brutally murdering a teenage girl, allegedly, and sitting there and watching her die. You know when these crimes happen and you're looking for someone and you're saying, did anyone start acting odd around you? Did you notice anyone's behavior change? They become kind of shut off. Not David. He has an album coming out, his career is about to pop off, and he is following suit with his engagements that he has planned for the rest of the week. At this point, Celeste's body is still at his mansion in the Hollywood Hills. On April 24, the day of his album release party, David allegedly starts ordering the tools that he needed to get rid of her body. According to the court documents I was able to get from Los Angeles County District attorney's office, on April 24, David ordered a shovel from the Home Depot. It was delivered via Postmates. Then he goes to his album release party, all on the same day, April 25, his album the Withered is out to the world. So he starts his press tour. That's what you do. Your first studio album. You're about to be in front of every single radio show, every. Any show that will have you on to promote your new Release. So on April 28, he goes on the Zach Sang Show.