More Evidence Piles Up at D4vd's Shocking Murder Hearing

[00:00:00] Jesse Weber: Fake blood. Celeste clothing. An inflatable pool. Cell phone evidence. Someone getting kicked out of the courtroom. This is everything that happened in the morning session of day three of David's preliminary hearing. We are bringing back our reporter who is in the courtroom and we're going to discuss it all right now. Welcome to Sidebar presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Yes, as you just heard, there is a lot to get into as we talk about day three of this preliminary hearing for singer David. Remember, he is accused of sexually abusing, murdering and dismembering 14 year old Celeste Rivas Hernandez back in 2025. Her dismembered decomposed remains reportedly found in the front trunk of a Tesla out in L.A. back in September of last year, a Tesla that was reportedly registered to the singer. So the question becomes for this preliminary hearing, does the prosecution have enough? Is the court going to determine that there is sufficient evidence to support these charges for this case to move forward against David? Like I said, a lot to get into. Let's jump in. OK, so let me bring in once again our eyes and our ears in that courtroom. Julia Deng, NBC L.A. reporter who has been fantastic. We get her notes in every day. They are so thorough. They are so specific. They're so detailed. Thank you so much for coming on. So first of all, before we even get into the substance, before we even talk about the demeanor of David, this court day started with fireworks. The judge was not happy. What happened? Jessie, what a morning. [00:01:36] Julia Deng: Jessie, what a morning. We are in day three now of this preliminary hearing, and it started with a little bit of drama this morning. There was actually a reporter who was kicked out of the courtroom. The judge excluded her from today's proceedings because apparently there were live transmission rules that were violated. So this court has been very strict about preserving the integrity of this case. And we've talked about this before. Obviously, no cameras are allowed in that courtroom. No phones. You know, I'm not communicating with you guys, with really anybody in the outside world, as all of this is going down. And it's part of this larger, I think, respects of the integrity of this court and the spirit of this court, because they want to ensure everything is done properly. Nobody here wants to risk any kind of mistrial, anything leaking that is not supposed to. So right now, during this court break, we can talk to you about what exactly went down. [00:02:47] Jesse Weber: And look, it's understandable. I mean, particularly when you're dealing with such a high profile case like this and the sensitive nature of this case, you're talking about the sexual, the alleged sexual abuse, murder and dismemberment of a minor of a 14 year old girl. So let me ask you this to a guy that we've had on the show multiple times, Steve Fisher, the private investigator who was apparently hired by the owner of the property where David had been staying, right? This is near where the Tesla was reportedly found. So he's been investigating from day one. We've had him on the show. Some drama with him in the courtroom today, right? What happened there? [00:03:21] Julia Deng: That's right. That's right. Now, according to the prosecutor in this case, the deputy DA, Beth Silverman, apparently Steve Fisher violated grand jury secrecy. And because of that, she made a request this morning for him to be excluded from the witness list. He was in the courtroom. He was sitting right by me. He stood up, acknowledged that request. There wasn't any kind of pushback. There was no argument there. And he just he walked out. So we're not going to hear from Steve Fisher in the courtroom as part of this preliminary hearing. But obviously, if this goes to trial, we do expect to hear from him. I know he's been on your show. I've heard those interviews. He has a lot of intel that I think is going to be critical to this case if it goes to trial. But right now we are still in prelim. This is day three. They just need to establish probable cause for this to move forward. So we are now on, I think, witness number eight as this continues. And we're all expecting this to go through the rest of today and likely even tomorrow, maybe on Monday as well. [00:04:31] Jesse Weber: Yeah. And look, Steve Fisher has provided, you know, really, really insightful information in this case, some of which has actually been backed up by what we saw by the prosecution's filing. It was not surprising considering what we heard from Steve. And he's been quite vocal about this case. He's been quite vocal about David. He's been quite vocal about the prosecution as well. So interesting development. Okay. Before we get to the witnesses, I always have to ask you, since we don't see it ourselves, it's the best we get our sketches from the courtroom artist. David, what's his demeanor like in court? Because the way we've been looking at the past few days for somebody who is, by all accounts, I mean, if you ask me my legal opinion, I think there's going to be enough here for this case to move to trial. For somebody whose life is on the line, for somebody who's facing murder and continuous sexual abuse of a minor charges and unlawful mutilation of human reins charges, the past few days, what we've seen, how it's been described as somebody who seems kind of like nonchalant, pretty bored, kind of casual, doesn't seem to be too stressed out. Is that what he's looking like today? [00:05:34] Julia Deng: Yeah, Jesse, and I can't get past that. I mean, imagine if you or somebody you knew were in that hot seat. I mean, I think you might care a little bit more. Let me tell you, actually, what the courtroom sketch artist said. I chatted with Mona Schaefer-Edwards during the court break about an hour ago, and I said to her, you know what, Mona, you've got the most interesting perspective in this courtroom, in the sense that she's sitting facing the defendant. She's in the jury box area, so she gets to see his face, his expressions, and she's been sketching this for all of us who are using her art to cover this case. So she told me, Jesse, it looks to her like David is, quote, on another plane. He seems completely disengaged. I'm reading his facial expressions kind of from off to the side. I'm watching him from an angle. He's not reacting much. You know, it's a lot the same as yesterday, where he's kind of just staring straight ahead at the witness who's testifying, and then that overhead monitor that's projecting the exhibits. But, no, he's really not reacting, and that includes when we see the victim's clothing, you know, her soiled, blood-stained, insect-infested, wet clothing that was found in the cadaver bags along with her remains. He's just staring straight ahead. He's got his arms folded. He's got this yellow legal notepad in front of him. It doesn't look to me like he's taking any notes. He's got a white styrofoam cup of water. I've counted maybe two or three interactions today where he's turned a little bit and kind of had, you know, a brief exchange of words with one of his attorneys. But other than that, he's not even moving, Jesse. It's really incredible. [00:07:30] Jesse Weber: I'm not here to speculate, but I just have to ask, do you know if he's on any kind of medication or anything like that? [00:07:35] Julia Deng: I don't know, Jesse, and we're not going to speculate on this show, but that is a question that's come up in sidebar conversations. We don't know, and that hasn't come up in court. I imagine if he is, it will. [00:07:55] Jesse Weber: Okay, got it. All right, let's talk about the substance. So, the first witness back on the stand was this criminalist, right, and being questioned by the defense. What happened there? [00:08:04] Julia Deng: So, we ended yesterday with the cross-examination of an LAPD criminalist. She was the one who was called to process evidence found in David's garage, and that evidence included everything from trash bags to rubber floor mats to bloodstains. She was the one who tested chainsaws found in David's house. This was just about a week after the car was found in the Hollywood tow yard. With the victims' remains in the front trunk, of course. So, they continued with that cross-examination, and there was a lot of back and forth about the chainsaws. And here's why. Defense attorney Blair Burke noted there was no positive test indicating the possibility of blood on those chainsaws. So, she kept on asking this LAPD witness for the prosecution why they didn't take those chainsaws into evidence. It sounded like she wanted to make the point that touch DNA, which they didn't test for, may have indicated something else, may have painted a more comprehensive picture of what exactly happened and who may have been involved. Who else may have been involved, that is? But the criminalist was very sharp, very clear with her answers. At one point yesterday, she even brought her notes back out to make sure that she gave precisely the information that was documented during this investigation. So, she said there did not appear to be any kind of forensic value to those chainsaws that were found in the garage, and that's why they were not taken into evidence. So, my big takeaway from all of this is that perhaps those were not the weapons or tools used for dismemberment, even though they were found in David's garage during this search. [00:10:03] Jesse Weber: Let me just clarify this point, just so it's clear for our audience. I heard there was reporting, maybe even testimony, about a missing chainsaw. I don't know if that's accurate. And what about any evidence of a clean-up, including of the chainsaws? Correct me if I'm wrong about either of those points. [00:10:22] Julia Deng: Correct on the first point. There was another chainsaw, a Makita-brand chainsaw that we talked about the other day, that was ordered online and delivered to David's house. As far as I know from the evidence presented so far, that chainsaw was not located during this search. The two other chainsaws, and here's why the criminalist said there really was no forensic value. She testified earlier that had they been used for dismemberment, there would have been no way for blood to be cleaned up to the point where their testing did not indicate something of forensic value. So when they did that initial test on scene and there was no presumptive positive, they elected not to take those two chainsaws into evidence. But yes, there is a missing one. There is another one. And I'm sure that's going to come up later in this testimony. [00:11:23] Jesse Weber: And in terms of a clean-up at all, I know that there's a whole big back and forth yesterday about whether it's actually blood, possibly blood. Anything about a clean-up? [00:11:35] Julia Deng: Yeah, they found a trash bag. This was part of that same witness's testimony. They found a trash bag. It was double-bagged in the garage, and they did go ahead and test the interior bag. Again, there were two black plastic bags, and inside they found stained wipes, white wipes with some kind of brownish stain. We actually saw the exhibit photos. They were described as kind of like Clorox wipes used to clean. And so I think what the prosecution is painting a picture of here is wipes used to clean up blood. And those wipes, according to this witness's testimony, did in fact test positive for the possible, possible presence of blood. There's a question mark on a lot of this. You know, it cannot be stated that it was positively identified as blood. And that does require additional testing, but I think what this witness stated on the stand yesterday and today goes to show that there was plenty of biological evidence found during that search in David's garage. [00:12:51] Jesse Weber: Now, here's something interesting. Somebody will listen to this and say, hmm, really? So we are not 100% sure what was maybe used to dismember her body. I don't believe we have the alleged murder weapon. This feels like problems for the prosecution. However, I read your notes today. There was a very important back and forth, a very important piece of testimony regarding this blue inflatable pool. And how this potential purchase by David of this pool, how it matches up to what was found with Celeste's remains. Can you talk to us about that testimony today? [00:13:31] Julia Deng: This, Jessie, is visibly, to me, a non-expert, irrefutable. We heard from another criminalist from LAPD. She did the actual forensic analysis of the inflatable pool in addition to material that was sent to her by the L.A. County Medical Examiner's Office that was collected during the victim's autopsy. Now, that includes, I mentioned her soiled clothing and bits of blue plastic found during the autopsy that were essentially embedded in her remains. So, this criminalist actually pieced those bits of blue plastic in with the rest of the inflatable pool that she processed and analyzed, including work that was done under a microscope. And there were exhibits shown during court today, photos of how those pieces from the autopsy fit in like a puzzle with the rest of that blue inflatable pool. So, there was a bit of back and forth. The prosecutor spent quite a bit of time questioning this witness, Lisa Alejandro from LAPD, about her background, her expertise, how she did this work, and what it showed. They described the linear cuts in the pool, exactly where in the pool she noted then, there were four different areas of damage, what she found on the underside of the pool, and how this all fits in with the larger picture that's being painted, which is that Celeste may have been dismembered in this pool. [00:15:14] Jesse Weber: Taking a step back before we get more into the substance of the testimony, I saw something in your notes regarding this specific moment as they're talking about this. The remains, as they're talking about the last clothes worn by Celeste, her family was there today, right? Her family was there today, listening to all this. What was their reaction to it? [00:15:34] Julia Deng: Wow, Jesse, I can't believe they're back in the courtroom today. You know, they sat through all of day one of this preliminary hearing, all of day two. They walked in a little bit later this morning. They didn't show up until about 10.30, but they did catch all of this testimony from Lisa Alejandro. They did sit in the courtroom and see these exhibits, these photos of what their daughter was wearing when her remains were found. They did see the little bits of hair and plastic that were collected during her autopsy and how those bits of plastic fit with damage from this blue inflatable pool. I didn't see any kind of visible physical reaction, you know, on day one, Mercedes, the victim's mother, she bowed her head and just started crying when we saw the photos and the contents of those cadaver bags found in the defendant's Tesla. This morning, it's like she was frozen, as we saw it was a pair of Skechers brand socks, her daughter's underwear, her leggings that were cut into pieces. And that's because her legs were allegedly cut off at the kneecaps. [00:16:55] Jesse Weber: It's horrifying. I mean, there's really no other way to describe it. It's horrifying. It's unthinkable what happened to her. It is unthinkable what this family is going through. I've said it before, I'll say it again, they're not only navigating the loss of their daughter and how much spotlight is put on this case, but having to see these photos, having to hear this testimony, it does make me always wonder whether or not the prosecution is trying to present, you know, maybe even more than they need to in a preliminary hearing, because it's a low standard to get this to move forward. It's only probable cause. But I wonder if they're signaling to the defense, look, we have a strong case. Do you really want to take this to trial? Is there some sort of deal? Maybe we could take the death penalty off the table if we chose to go that route. Nobody wants us to go to trial. Nobody wants jurors to hear this. We don't want the family to experience this again. Something I'm just keeping in the back of my mind as we hear about this. But I do want to get into something that I have been waiting for, the digital evidence. So if we recall, the prosecution has claimed that David lured Celeste to his home out in L.A. right on that April night back in 2025. And, you know, I'm wondering if we're going to hear about Uber receipts and things like that. But the cell phone, the cell phone tracks people. The cell phone tracks people's location. This has been critical because today we finally learned about the geolocation data of David's cell phone. Right. So talk to us about that testimony from this morning. [00:18:23] Julia Deng: This is fascinating. And if you're somebody who likes to nerd out on data, this is going to be the most interesting part of this testimony for you. Now, I had questions when I first read some of the charging documents about why in the world anybody would take their own car, especially a car tricked out with software like a Tesla, to do anything, anything that might be criminal. And on top of that, not just their car, but their iPhone. So right now, right before we broke for lunch, we were hearing LAPD testimony from their expert who analyzed not only the Tesla data, but David's cell phone data. So we're actually seeing maps right now where this expert is pinpointing where the vehicle, according to data they analyzed, traveled from the Hollywood Hills west along Sunset Boulevard and then north up the coast into Santa Barbara County. He's testifying how the path of that Tesla, again, according to his analysis of data, matches the path of David's iPhone, same time, same day, same location. And he's testifying how that matches up with where Celeste's passport card was later found right by Lake Consuma off of State Road 154 in Santa Barbara County. Now, this is interesting, too. This has come up before in charging documents, but he's testifying both the vehicle data and the phone data show additional trips up there after that first road trip on April 24th of 2025. And that's, of course, the morning after or overnight going into the morning after the victim was allegedly killed. [00:20:18] Jesse Weber: Let me ask you a big picture question as I'm hearing this testimony from today and the last few days. It seems that a lot of the focus has been so far on the alleged cleanup, the dismemberment, the cleanup, trying to get rid of the evidence of this alleged killer. One of the questions I've been getting from legal analysts is, what has been the evidence that he actually murdered her? And what do I mean by that? A, the evidence that he actually killed her, that he stabbed her to death, and that he murdered her, right? Not that this was a case of manslaughter, not that this was a case of self-defense. So far in this preliminary hearing, what has stood out to you as the evidence that he murdered her? [00:21:01] Julia Deng: None. There has not been any. This is circumstantial evidence. And what you pointed out the other day, Jesse, is that many of these incriminating Amazon and Home Depot purchases that were made online under a fake name for items like burn cages, fireproof mats, chainsaws, body bags, trash bags, They were not made until after April 23rd, again, the day of her alleged murder. So we haven't seen anything like home security video showing the actual killing. We have not heard from any witnesses who testified about being there and actually seeing this go down. We've heard a lot about why he may have done it, right, for financial gain. We've heard a lot about cleanup and cover-up efforts, including this road trip that is supported by data from both the car and the phone. But evidence about the murder itself and how it was carried out, where I think we're all waiting to see where that goes and what additional intel the prosecution has. [00:22:17] Jesse Weber: Well, here's the way I would look at it. I'm curious if the medical examiner is going to testify today or tomorrow. And if the medical examiner testifies or people from the medical examiner staff testify that she died from two penetrating wounds. So now you're saying, OK, she was killed. If they also match that up with text messages, which we haven't heard from yet, as far as I know, right, messages between David and Celeste leading up to this night in April, they can show they were fighting, if they can show she was going to expose him, and then he lures her there, gets her an Uber. And that there's no more activity from her cell phone after that night in April. He doesn't reach out there, although I understand today there was a test. There was evidence today about him about that phone call. So talk about that. But I think that's what we're looking for next. Maybe they started with the relationship. They started with the cover-up. And then they may move into the actual killing. Because look, at the end of the day, if they're saying, you know, she went to his place. There's all this evidence of potentially dismemberment there. What else do you think happened? Although, you know, this is, is this a slam dunk or not? So just, I mean, that's my thought. You know, you can jump, you tell me what you think about it if you're hearing rumors of who else may testify. But the call, I think, was interesting today, too, right? This alleged call that he made to Celeste. [00:23:36] Julia Deng: That was interesting. And defense attorneys actually jumped in to object during that portion of testimony. It was sustained because they wanted to make sure the court record stated that, you know, the LAPD detective isn't testifying that David, the defendant, made a call. They wanted to make sure the court record stated his phone made that outgoing call. But that call was placed about half an hour to an hour after the Tesla got on the road heading north towards Santa Barbara County. So, again, that speaks to the alleged cleanup and cover-up efforts. If he did, in fact, murder this girl and if he was, in fact, on the way up to Lake Kachuma to dump evidence, why in the world would he call her phone? Of course, she's not going to pick up. She's dead in his house. So, again, part of the cover-up, part of the alleged cover-up. We did hear chatter about the L.A. County medical examiner potentially testifying today. That has not happened yet. I'm curious to see if that happens. And I'm very curious to hear from him. It's Dr. Ode-Ukpo. And what's significant here is that after the autopsy was conducted last fall, LAPD actually filed a motion. They initiated this motion to place additional details from this autopsy under seal, essentially gagging the coroner, the medical examiner, leading this case. He did make a statement before that about the state of decomposition and the fact that the victim must have been in that car for quite some time. Beyond that, beyond the report that was issued, we have not heard from the medical examiner yet. So, a lot of questions for him. We have heard that may happen today. But we're going to hear from at least two additional witnesses. So, we'll see who the prosecution decides to call to the stand. Julia, there was something that we haven't even talked about yet. [00:25:39] Jesse Weber: And by the way, what I'm about to get into is something that has been speculated about where the defense may go. How do you explain these unusual purchases? How do you explain the potential of what appears to be brown stains or blood in the home? What we're about to talk about happened today. You even highlighted in your notes, this is a new piece of information. This seems to be where the defense is saying there could be some sort of alternative explanation. So, Julia, what happened today? What was the defense trying to suggest? [00:26:11] Julia Deng: If you've been following this case online, you've probably seen clips of David's music videos, especially the ones where he's dressed in a white t-shirt with fake bloodstains. So, this came up today in court, and it was the first time I've heard it during this preliminary hearing. Apparently, one of the LAPD criminalists found jugs and jars of fake blood in David's garage. Now, they didn't get into, you know, how much of it was there, but the defense did state that there was some merchandising activity going on in David's garage, meaning they were making music merch. And that could have been, you know, t-shirts and sweatshirts stained with fake blood. So, does that explain all the evidence that was documented and collected? No, absolutely not, but it does explain the fake blood, and how did they know it was fake? LAPD did have their forensic team go out there and test it. It came back negative. It was not taken into evidence, but I think the presence of that in David's garage does set up, you know, a new narrative for the defense to potentially seize. [00:27:29] Jesse Weber: Yeah, I was always wondering, are they going to say, all this was for a music video, right? We've heard this is all this for a music video. So, this is a complicating factor. Even if this case moves forward to trial, you're wondering if they're going to have some room for reasonable doubt. Look, interesting things are happening. Your reporting has been great. I know you have to jump back into that courtroom. Thank you. Julia Dang, thank you so much for taking the time, as always. And that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. As always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcasts. You can also check us out on NBC's Peacock, as well. If you want to follow me, X, Instagram, my News Nation show, Jesse Weber Live, Monday through Friday, 11 p.m. Eastern. See you next time, everybody.