D4vd: Who Failed Celeste Rivas Hernandez Before It Was Too Late

May 02, 01:00 PM

Subscribe

Celeste Rivas Hernandez was reported missing three separate times. She was fourteen years old. She had braces, long curly black hair, and weighed seventy-one pounds when her dismembered remains were recovered from a Tesla registered to the singer known as D4vd. The autopsy sat sealed for months. When it was released, it confirmed she died from penetrating wounds to her torso. Someone should have found her sooner. Someone should have been looking harder.

David Anthony Burke, 21, faces first-degree murder with special circumstances that put the death penalty on the table. Prosecutors allege continuous abuse of Celeste beginning when she was thirteen, exploitation material on his phone, and a motive built around protecting a music career she allegedly threatened to expose. Over forty terabytes of digital evidence have been identified. Three separate grand juries were convened. None indicted him. The DA filed a criminal complaint.

Burke has pled not guilty. His defense team says the evidence will prove his innocence.

Trial attorney and former felony prosecutor Eric Faddis breaks down every pressure point in the felony complaint — from whether the financial-gain special circumstance can hold to why defense attorney Blair Berk is forcing prosecutors to show their evidence as fast as possible. He explains what Burke's carefully worded denial actually sets up, and why the absence of a grand jury indictment after months of proceedings may become the centerpiece of the defense.

Retired FBI Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program Chief Robin Dreeke takes listener questions on the year that passed between Celeste vanishing and Burke's arrest, the systems that had a chance to protect her and didn't, and what the scale of this investigation reveals about what is still sealed.

Celeste's family has asked for privacy. Their attorney has said they are committed to ensuring her voice is heard and her memory honored. She deserved better than what happened to her. She deserved better than the system that was supposed to find her.

Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/

Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/

Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod

X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod

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.

#CelesteRivasHernandez #JusticeForCeleste #D4vd #DavidAnthonyBurke #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #CelesteRivas #DeathPenalty #BlairBerk #TrueCrimePodcast