D4vd's Air Freshener Cover-Up Claims Exposed in Murder Hearing

[00:00:00] Chris Stewart: No visible emotion, no obvious concern. As prosecutors describe David as a cold, calculated killer, he appears detached from the explosive testimony unfolding around him. Beneath his seemingly emotionless expression is the truth. The once rising music star may be the only one in the courtroom who knows what happened to 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. The truth about whether he stabbed her to death, cut her up, and left her dismembered body in his car, as prosecutors allege. Today, prosecutors laid out evidence they say proves their theory that he killed the 14-year-old to protect his budding musical career and went to extreme lengths to cover it up, including the use of a shockingly large amount of air fresheners. We're on the case presented by Law & Crime. I'm Chris Stewart. Cameras and audio recording are not allowed at this multiple-day preliminary hearing in Los Angeles. Prosecutors are trying to prove they have enough evidence for this case to move forward to trial. Now, we are one of the few media outlets with someone in the courtroom, and NBCLA reporter Julia Dang will join me here in just a moment. Now, I want you to take a look at some new courtroom sketches we just got in from day two of this preliminary hearing, per artist Mona Edwards. One of the big points of contention today was how the Tesla, where Celeste's body was found in July of last year, was processed by police. David's high-powered defense attorneys are really taking aim at how evidence was handled, and to this point, it is fair to question how prosecutors will prove that David was the one who committed such a terrible crime and not someone else. Joining us now to talk more about what happened in court today, Julia Dang, reporter with NBCLA. Great to have you here on Law & Crime. A lot to get to today. I just want to first start, though, with David himself. Yesterday, we talked a lot about his demeanor, at times maybe seeing bored as this was going on. What stood out to you today about how he seemed to be acting? [00:02:09] Julia Dang: Hey there, Chris. Great to be with you. It was really the same with David. He was let in first thing this morning when day two of this preliminary hearing started. He was shackled at first. They did take off his handcuffs. That was part of the agreement yesterday after his attorneys made that request for him to be unshackled in the courtroom. He is just sitting there, you know, very still, not taking very many notes, not saying much to his team. There were portions of testimony today where I noted David just staring straight ahead. There really isn't much on his face that we can read. But I did have an interesting sidebar conversation with a courtroom sketch artist. Now, as an artist, obviously, she has this very valuable perspective because she's being paid to draw this guy. She's also sitting in a different location in that courtroom, right? She's sitting in the jury box. So she's looking right at the defendant, David Burke. So we chatted for a little bit during the court break, during lunch, and she said it looks to her like he couldn't care less about what happens. There's kind of a glib manner to how he's moving and how he's interacting with his team and how he's kind of just staring straight ahead. So I asked her, you know, is this typical? You've been through hundreds of criminal trials. You've sketched probably more criminal defendants than you could count. Have you seen this before? And she kind of nodded and said, yeah, yeah, I've seen this. So other people I've talked to, you know, words they've used about David's demeanor in that courtroom, they've described it as false, as sociopathic. We've only heard him speak a couple times, just, yes, your honor, or I understand. And he's dressed in the exact same way he was yesterday. He's wearing that orange L.A. County jail uniform, that jumpsuit. He's got grown-out hair. He's wearing black glasses, and he looks unshaven and, frankly, pretty exhausted. [00:04:40] Chris Stewart: When you think about, like, this is someone who was set to make millions, he was already making millions of dollars, but, like, with this new album that was coming out, he was set to make a lot of money. And you think about that, you know, really, if he's convicted of this, that is all gone. And yet he just has this demeanor about him that I think is surprising to a lot of people. You would also think his attorneys have probably prepared him to how to act, how he should act, as this preliminary hearing goes on. You know, as far as today, Julia, inside the courtroom, there was a lot of evidence talking about what could be presumed as blood. Inside the Tesla, in the garage, there's this blue star technology, and if you've seen pictures of it in other cases, you have kind of this blue splatter on the wall after they put a chemical down. And they say that that is presumably where blood once was. Of course, when you think of Celeste, her remains were allegedly found in the front trunk of this Tesla. But that's not the only place where law enforcement is now alleging where they found blood in the car. What stood out to you about that part of the testimony today? [00:05:47] Julia Dang: That's right. That was the key part of the testimony today from the prosecution's witnesses. So we did start on wrapping up testimony from yesterday relating to financial management and just how much money David was making. And then we heard from a CHP officer who testified about where Celeste's passport ID was found months after her body was found. That was up in Santa Barbara County. And then we heard from two LAPD staffers. They are criminalists. One was the primary criminalist who processed the scene with the Tesla, and the other was involved in the search of David's house up in the Hollywood Hills a couple days after the body was found on September 17th of last year. So this is what was new and what was really interesting, Chris. We haven't heard about this detail before. According to this testimony from one of those two LAPD criminalists, there was actually blood identified in the brick flooring underneath where a car would have been parked. And that was underneath black rubber mats that were laid down on the garage floor in David's house. So what they seem to be painting a picture of here is blood leaking out of David's Tesla, seeping through those rubber floor mats and then seeping down into that brick flooring. I'm hearing that, you know, and sitting right behind the victim's parrots. It was jarring. There is so much evidence in this case that has been unsettling in truly shocking ways that I don't think I've experienced before anywhere. But being, you know, in that courtroom with the victim's parents, I think that that drives home the point that this is about a human. This is about a teenager. This is about a girl who was killed and dismembered. This is about justice for her. [00:07:58] Chris Stewart: It really is. And I just I keep thinking since yesterday about just that moment that I know you witnessed in person of these images that were put up on the screen of Celeste remains and what they found. And not just as jarring as it must have been for you, the members of the media, the members of the public who are in the courtroom. But like here are her parents who were private people before before all of this. And I know her civil attorney has talked about that. These were not, you know, people who were in the limelight prior to all of this happening. And then suddenly you're in the center of this case about your daughter. And then you're looking at these images up on the screen. And some of the evidence that's been brought out to kind of going back to that Tesla was today about air fresheners. And there were 11 air fresheners that were found, which that's a lot of air fresheners to have in your car, to be to be blunt. Yeah. How did that tie into what prosecutors seem to be laying out about how that vehicle was used in what they're accusing David of doing? [00:08:54] Julia Dang: I'm glad you bring that up because that was what really stood out to me, Chris, during testimony from the first LAPD criminalist we heard from today. There were at least 11 air fresheners found in that Tesla by the time this criminalist was called out to the Piper technical scene where the car was towed to from the Hollywood tow yard. At least 11. And here's the detail that caught my attention about where in the car those air fresheners were found. They were not just in the interior. They found them in the center console. They found them in the back seats. They also found air fresheners in the front trunk. So this isn't just about how Celeste was killed, how her body was then mutilated. This is also about the cover-up efforts. I mean, somebody must have noticed, oh, it smells terrible. We got to do something to cover that up. So somebody actually opened up the front trunk, reportedly with the remains inside, and then put air fresheners in there to try and mask the smell. Multiple air fresheners. And all of that was, of course, documented and then taken into evidence. So we didn't see those photos today in court. [00:10:12] Chris Stewart: Yeah, I mean, 11 air fresheners in the car. Certainly not the biggest piece of evidence that we've heard thus far, but it adds to the narrative that prosecutors are laying out, not just of the horrific crime itself, but then you think of the alleged cover-up and what happened to the remains of Celeste Rivas Hernandez after David allegedly killed her. Before I get to the defense and some of the points that they've been bringing up through all of this, I want to go back to the part about the passport, Celeste's passport that was found. Santa Barbara County, it sounds like the side of the highway months after prosecutors say that she was killed. And it just seems like such a needle in the haystack, for lack of a better term, like kind of find that that was brought up today in court. [00:10:56] Julia Dang: Yeah, I wasn't expecting to hear from the CHP officer today who was called to that scene after a Caltrans worker found the passport ID, the passport card this past January. So this was months after Celeste's body was found last September. This January, somehow, that identification card, the U.S. passport card, turned up. And yeah, it's right by Lake Kachuma. It's a little bit outside of the city of Santa Barbara, off in State Road 154. I actually took a drive up there a couple weeks ago because I read that detail in documents filed by the DA's office. I know the area well, and I was really curious about where exactly this could have happened. It's not far out of the city of Santa Barbara. This is probably not where you would want to go if you're trying to ditch criminal evidence. I imagine the next step in that part of the testimony will be seeing or hearing some evidence related to Tesla data. Because prosecutors have alleged that David took that drive himself in his own car. So Tesla's, of course, document plenty of data. If he linked his iPhone to his car to take that trip, allegedly, the morning after Celeste was killed, I'm sure we're going to hear about that in court. But, Chris, one more point about the cleanup and cover-up efforts. This was new, too. This came out during one of the LAPD criminalists' testimony today. Do you remember that blue inflatable pool that David allegedly ordered under a fake name from Amazon? And that's the pool where prosecutors have alleged he dismembered her body. So we actually saw photos of that pool today, and we heard testimony from LAPD about how it had a fresh laundry kind of smell. It did not have any visible bloodstains when they found it crumpled up in a ball inside David's garage and they unfolded it. In fact, they found a rolled-up dryer sheet inside the inflatable pool. So it sounds like somebody must have stuck that not just in the wash, but maybe in the dryer, too. They did testify that it was tested for blood and DNA, and there was a presumptive positive for the presence of blood. That means there was possibly human blood inside that pool that must have been washed out. [00:13:43] Chris Stewart: And when it came to some of those visual elements, I know we were talking about kind of David's demeanor before, but even in those moments where, like, that seems incredibly damning, right? I mean, that is a gruesome detail, this pool, the role that it plays. Like, as prosecutors are putting some of these visual images up on the screen, like, how is David reacting in those moments? [00:14:02] Julia Dang: The incredible thing, Chris, is that he's not. He's staring straight ahead. He is barely moving. I can barely see him blinking at certain points. I did make a point of sitting in a seat where I could see his face at an angle. He's really not giving away much with his body language, his facial expressions. I did take note of a couple instances where he had a short sidebar with attorneys, where he would turn and huddle and exchange a couple words. But beyond that, we don't really see him reacting. [00:14:42] Chris Stewart: Yeah, it's just, it's, I mean, because for as much as it seems like there's reaction in the courtroom for some of these gruesome details, I mean, just even reading them as you're giving us updates throughout the day, like, you know, you just have this reaction. And yet he just seems so, like, as we were saying, some could say that he seems just very uninterested, almost, in some of this, in a case that will have a huge impact on him and so many other people. His defense attorneys, these are very, very talented defense attorneys. This is a high-profile defense. They are really going at the investigation and how the evidence was handled down to, it seems, very, very small details. What do you make of how his defense is going about kind of these cross-examinations of these witnesses, these members of law enforcement that the state has called up during this hearing? [00:15:29] Julia Dang: They are clearly very experienced, very prepared, and very strategic about how they're laying out various lines of questioning. It seems to me like David's defense team and his co-lead counsels, of course, are Blair Burke and Marilyn Bidnarski. If you cover or frequent this courthouse, you definitely know their names. But the two of them seem to be asking sharp questions about the chain of custody around key evidence. It seems like they're laying the foundation to make an argument later on if this does go to trial, which we all expect it will. But they could be setting up a foundation to make an argument about how things were collected, how they were handed off, whether or not they were documented properly, and if critical pieces of evidence may have been left unattended for any window of time. Because that, of course, can raise reasonable doubts as to whether something may have been moved, contaminated, or tampered with. [00:16:38] Chris Stewart: Yeah, and it just seems each and every time that that is kind of the line of questioning that they're going with. Questioning, you know, of course, in some of these situations with the Blue Star testing that was done, like on the pool where they're, you know, you'll see the blue markings up on the wall. But does that actually, you know, what, it's presumed to be blood, but, you know, you see them trying to kind of push back on that a little bit as well. Though we've seen that technology used in a lot of different cases. We did hear, after the proceedings today, just outside, the attorney for Celeste Rivas Hernandez's family, he's on the civil side, gave a little bit of a synopsis of what happened in court today. But he also just talks about, you know, and it's hard to put into words, just the impact that this is having on the parents of a young 14-year-old girl who lost her life. What stood out to you about what he has said to this point and just what are you taking away from kind of seeing these parents go through something just so terrible, having to sit through this day in and day out? [00:17:34] Julia Dang: I do not have the words to describe what, but I can only imagine Celeste's parents are going through right now. Her father, Jesus, her mother, Mercedes, they sat through the entirety of yesterday's court proceedings, day one of this preliminary hearing. I mean, they sat through all of it again today and they expect to be back again tomorrow morning. I did talk to their attorney and to be clear, this is their civil attorney. He doesn't have anything to do with this ongoing criminal case, but I did speak with wrongful death attorney Patrick Steinfeld and I simply asked him, you know, why do you think they're sitting through all of this? What did you tell them to prepare them for this, how do you prepare clients for something this unsettling? And we were in the elevator when we had this sidebar conversation. He told me he was a little bit surprised they elected to come and sit through all of this, especially when the photos of their daughter's remains were unveiled for the court to see. In that moment, Mercedes just laid her head down and I couldn't see her crying, but she sat through it. She finished out yesterday. She was there all day today and I was talking to one, a court observer, somebody who's just here observing as a member of the public. She's an L.A. resident here, and she told me watching Mercedes actually reminded her of her own mother. This observer, her name is Becky. Her older brother was actually murdered when she was 10 and he was 22, and she said she sees a set look of determination on the victim's mother's face in this case. And she has seen that before. [00:19:32] Chris Stewart: And you just think of, I mean, how long it took us to even get to this point. Think of when Celeste's body was found, the speculation surrounding this case, prosecutors really said nothing. LAPD said nothing for a long, long time. This went on for months and then you reach the point where David is arrested. Then here we are at a preliminary hearing figuring out whether or not this is going to go to trial. I know that civil attorney mentioned that the medical examiner tomorrow is going to testify. And you have to expect that that is going to be some very, very difficult testimony. Again, as this preliminary hearing continues on, Julia Dang, reporter with NBCLA. Thank you for being our eyes and our ears in the courtroom this week. Great job. Thanks for being with us here on Law & Crime. [00:20:10] Julia Dang: You bet, Chris. Thank you. [00:20:14] Chris Stewart: We will continue to follow the preliminary hearing of David all week here on Law & Crime. You can check out the Law & Crime Plus app for more information, court documents and previous episodes on this case, as well as take a look at our content here on YouTube, as well as on Spotify. That will do it for this episode of On the Case, presented by Law & Crime. Subscribe to us on YouTube and Spotify. And we're also streaming on Peacock. I'm Chris Stewart. We'll see you next time. [00:20:40] Speaker ?: We'll see you next time.