Why two of Celeste Rivas Hernandez's fingers were missing is a question prosecutors answered in a court brief most people covering this case have skipped past. Tonight we don't skip past it.
Start with the timeline. At 12:04 in the morning, from a desolate road off Highway 154, David Burke's phone called Celeste's number, hours after prosecutors say she was already dead. An LAPD criminalist described spraying Bluestar across the garage, getting strong reactions on rubber mats, the bricks underneath, a rowing machine, a tarp, a cord, and a bag of wipes. All presumptive positive. Blair Berk, for the defense, got that same criminalist to admit under cross-examination that none of it can be called definitively blood, and pointed to two chainsaws that were never swabbed for touch DNA at all.
Then the hearing's final and heaviest session. A medical examiner testified Celeste died of two sharp-force wounds and had been dead for weeks before she was found. A detective walked the court through her phone, messages tracing to when she was eleven, close to fifty images investigators labeled illegal material involving a minor, and texts from January 2024 indicating she was thirteen and pregnant.
Her mother cried in the courtroom gallery. Her father stared at the floor. Burke has pleaded not guilty. A judge decides soon whether this case reaches a jury, and tonight we walk through everything the state has put on the record so far. None of it is settled tonight. A judge still has to decide if it goes further.
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This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.
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