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The Murder of Celeste Hernandez | Tales of The Shadow People · DEADBUG SAYS

• 0:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: You were about to partake in a deadbock, podcast, and this podcast isn't for the faint heart, and it certainly isn't for children.
• 0:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: So if you're ready to proceed, I would ask if you, one thing that is to dim the lights, zip up that pleasure given about the yours, smoke em if you got them, and enjoy.
• 0:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: There's something about relationships that people like to pretend that they understand.
• 0:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: In fact, whole industries are built on people pretending to understand.
• 1:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: We talk about connections like it's measurable.
• 1:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: The funnable, predictable, to people they meet, they talk and they fuck.
• 1:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: And at last, so, but doesn't last, just a fleeting, distant memory, a transaction of sorts.
• 1:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I guess if we can last past an initial contact, wow, we've got over that biggest hurdle, then we can tell ourselves lies about intimacy.
• 1:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: I have him wrapped around my little finger.
• 1:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: We think that we can sense trouble before it comes, danger, before it arrives.
• 2:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: And sometimes it's that danger that attracts us in the first place.
• 2:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: But being able to sense danger, I'm saying that we can sense it, or we can read another person now.
• 2:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's not how it always works, because the most dangerous relationships, though in an ounce themselves,
• 2:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: They don't come with worn and labels.
• 2:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: They don't look like violence at the beginning.
• 2:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: They look like attention, flattery.
• 2:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: They look like someone being seen, being noticed.
• 2:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: Sometimes they look like nothing at all.
• 2:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: Just two lives, cross and path briefly.
• 2:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: wildly unnoticed until something happens and then everyone looks back and asks the same question, how did this begin?
• 2:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: Because when something ends in violence, especially something as final as murder, people want to clear a starting point, they want a time
• 3:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: But the truth is, they usually isn't one.
• 3:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's just a line.
• 3:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: And at some point, someone crosses it.
• 3:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: And by the time, many one realizes, now, myths are already too late.
• 3:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: And this is another tale of the shadow of people.
• 3:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: They'll tell them, those of the young, and those of the old.
• 4:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: They'll also experiment, and they'll also follow.
• 4:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: Those of the murk, and those of show.
• 4:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: For many which of whose participants may never know.
• 4:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: But perhaps, there are those, those tales should never be told, and those are the tales of the shared people.
• 4:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: There are some murder cases that just don't disturb you, but they linger.
• 4:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: They sit in that uncomfortable space between fame and horror, where someone you've seen or heard or maybe even followed online becomes the center of something deeply dark and sinister.
• 4:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: On this episode of The Birds of the Shadow People,
• 5:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: It was a look at a rising music star, a young man who built his name on the internet, on YouTube, on TikTok, on the dumb dumb world as I like to call it.
• 5:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: Someone with millions of fans and someone who I'd dare say.
• 5:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: Mr. Dord.
• 5:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: At the center of this case is 21-year-old David Anthony Buck, an artist, who goes by the name of David.
• 5:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: Known for his easy-on-the-ears, sharp-topping hits that include here with me, and maybe even more tellingly, romantic homicide.
• 5:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: And as of April, 2026, he is facing charges related to a homicide investigation.
• 5:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: And as this is a story that is moving at pace, I have to remind everyone that the facts could change by the time you're listening to this podcast.
• 6:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: Although originally from Houston, David Burke, or David, was arrested on April 16th, 2026, in the Hollywood Hills, had a rented home around 430pm local time.
• 6:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: Police in That, the Kogir, executed the arrest seven months after a dismembered body had been found in the trunk of a Telsa, registered under his name and an impound yard.
• 6:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: David, originally from Houston, Texas, is best known for his moody, indie pop hits.
• 6:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: Initially made his name as a teenager by posting videos of himself on YouTube, planned for a night.
• 6:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: After teaching himself music production,
• 6:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: He released his debut EP, Pedals to Thones in 2023.
• 6:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: Let's say me yet.
• 6:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: He landed on Varides, young Hollywood list, an opened for the singer, Rapa, Cisza, on a RSOS tour.
• 7:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: Releasing his debut album on April of 2025, many's accumulated over 22 million monthly listeners on Spotify, and almost 4 million followers on TikTok.
• 7:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: He was also commissioned by Four Night to create the game's first official anthem, locked and loaded.
• 7:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: I guess it's safe to say that David, Spel with a four, will write in a gravy train, but let's get Wales.
• 7:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: Brooks Carr had been found abandoned in an upscale area of the Hollywood Hills, September 8th, of 2024, and was four days after the Carr had been impounded that workers noticed a horrible smell coming from bags in the trunk, had had been reported by the press when they opened those bags, they found a human torso on a head, with about six months worth
• 8:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: Now fast tracking the vehicle's license plate number, they found out it belonged to one David Anthony Burke.
• 8:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: Further investigation revealed, it was the singer, known as David.
• 8:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: When they contacted Burke through his management, he was on tour.
• 8:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: It was then through his attorney that he released a statement that read,
• 8:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: And the cops will left with no other avenues to question them.
• 8:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: I have to all, let's want some punk ass gangbana.
• 8:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: This were a YouTube and TikTok as the corner told investigators, identifying the body would be difficult due to its severe decomposition.
• 8:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: But Forensics figured that the body was around 13 to 15 years old, female, and it most likely had been that five or six months.
• 9:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: Upon further investigation by the LAPD, checking runaway databases and whatnot.
• 9:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: They were able to, as a teen, that the body was that of one 14-year-old, Celeste Abigail Revis Hernandez, a runaway from Lake Ellson Hall, California.
• 9:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: Appearance had immigrated from El Salvador.
• 9:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: Revis had been reported missing three times in the final year of a life, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Office.
• 9:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: She lies ran away on April 2024 and lies made contact with the family on May of that same year.
• 9:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: Investigators were able to establish through surveillance footage and digital evidence that Anandis was lost alive in January of 2025.
• 9:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: When they spoke to Seles and Anandis's mother, she said that the girl had a boyfriend named David and that they had marching tattoos.
• 10:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: Speaking to Hernandez's brother, he said the last time he'd seen his sister, was climbing into burks or David's Tesla.
• 10:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: He said that the dude met on the internet, and that she was a superfan.
• 10:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: And he believed that at the time of his sister's death, she'd been living with David.
• 10:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: Despite his sister being on the edge,
• 10:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: The two had met on his discord server, and she'd been known to be his girlfriend.
• 10:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: In fact, they'd appear several times on live streams together, where she would hint as much, to which he'd laugh uncomfortable.
• 10:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: Then she'd just subject and later delete the clips.
• 10:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: The pieces were slowly starting to fit together for investigators, but they had to be careful because Burke, or David, spoke with a four,
• 10:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: was a man of means and he'd loy it up.
• 11:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: And any wrong steps would mean the case was titan before they could even get it out of the water.
• 11:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: Who was on September 18th, 2025, that L.A.P.D.
• 11:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: Investigators executed a search warrant at a Hollywood Hills address that was occupied by Burke, and seized electronic devices, including a computer, on iPads, several mobile phones, and other belongings.
• 11:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: A private investigator hired by the property owner reported finding a burned cage in Cinerator.
• 11:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: Buck's manager dominated the lease that they after the search and moved his arrived to pick up his belongings.
• 11:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: He had now retained criminal defense lawyer, known for defending celebrities.
• 11:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: As management had no comment.
• 11:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: It was at the time of the search that LAPD, robbery and homicide captains got William stated that one of those suspects in the case at the moment.
• 12:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: And in fact, they didn't even know what the cause of death was.
• 12:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: And beyond the concealment of the body, they didn't know who they were looking for, but believe that several people were involved in dumping the vehicle.
• 12:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: It appeared that if investors get his new something, they were keeping their cards close to the chest.
• 12:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: But one investigator did let Slip in regards to the girl's disappearance.
• 12:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: They were focusing on a trip to Santa Barbara County in 2025 by Burke.
• 12:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: Man, if David spoke with a fool in the only thing, they weren't squawking.
• 12:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: Because his lips were tighter than the Velcro strap on a cripples boot.
• 12:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: I was on November 24th, 2025, the LAPD publicly characterized the case as an investigation in the murder.
• 13:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: For the first time a shift from early establishments that avoided classifying an anthocys death as homicide were now making a clear, an LAPD deputed chief Alan Hamilton stated that accountability was coming.
• 13:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: and assured them that detectives were actively pursuing justice for Hernandez, emphasizing that no one is off the table, including Burke, the department also clarified that Celeste Hernandez's body was neither frozen nor the capitated, despite what the President said addressing widespread misinformation.
• 13:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: Investigators confirmed that the Tesla had been parked on Blue Bird Avenue since late July 2025, around the time Burke began his national tour, and that evidence suggested an Andaz may have died in spring of 2025.
• 14:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: Behind the scenes, it was of the general consensus of homicide detective's experience than not.
• 14:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: The David Burke was his guilty assent.
• 14:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: Their theory was that one of the lovers wanted to call an end to the relationship.
• 14:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: Once a less got too needy, and she won't have an end, maybe she made threats.
• 14:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: And he knew threats like that and couldn't his career.
• 14:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: So he put an end to hers.
• 14:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, not a career.
• 14:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: A life that is.
• 14:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: After all, there'd already been talk on his discord server that he was a pedophile.
• 14:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: and even his adoring TikTok followers were gonna have a hard time swallowing that pill.
• 14:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: When the body was found, his management team at dark room in the scope brackets had not provided any official statements, but the racket company had effectively frozen his career and David Burke, Spel with a four.
• 15:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: We're now unemployed, and that's spelled exactly how it sounds.
• 15:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: Burke would call several of his close friends and say that he believed he was on the surveillance by the LAPT, and every movie made he was being followed.
• 15:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: Around this time, a demo tape was released on the internet called Celeste on the school demo unfinished and all of them never confirmed.
• 15:35
  [SPEAKER_04]: It was believed that the composer was Burke, perhaps a lament to his underage lover.
• 15:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: With lyrics, including be my valentine, I want to make Cupid suicidal.
• 16:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, Celeste, the girl with my name tattooed on a chest.
• 16:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: Smell her on my clothes like cigarettes.
• 16:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: I hear a voice each time I take a breath.
• 16:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm obsessed.
• 16:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, Celeste, and if it was Burke's song, there are some who'd say it was a confession
• 16:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: Although LAPD investigators most certainly believed that Burke was behind the murder of Celeste and Andes, that were just too many pieces that they couldn't fit together.
• 16:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like why he dump his vehicle with our body parts in the trunk, in a very swanky area where it would most likely be reported.
• 16:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: After all, they lived in Hollywood Hills.
• 16:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: Whether it's ravines, canyons, and aqueducts, historically, there was a serial killer's dream.
• 17:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's like whoever dumps the last there, they wanted her to be found.
• 17:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: Something won't add up.
• 17:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: And it wasn't the fact that this Joker had got 12 million streams on Spotify in one day.
• 17:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: And although cops had figured that Burke had started having sex with Celeste when she was only 13, they couldn't prove it.
• 17:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: In fact, they couldn't prove anything about them being a couple.
• 17:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: No confirmed first message, no verified first encounter.
• 17:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: In fact, it seemed like Celeste and Andes were a goddamn ghost.
• 17:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: And this is the problem that prosecutors were having while trying to make a case.
• 17:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: They couldn't even figure out where the couple had met.
• 17:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: They figured it had to be online.
• 17:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: But they had no proof.
• 17:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: Another book had lied up.
• 17:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: Me, what's quarkin'.
• 18:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: But however it started, they must suddenly knew how it ended.
• 18:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: at best all they had with Burke were sexual offenses involving a minor, and even then, that were weak.
• 18:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: And it was more.
• 18:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: And with the singer, yet to make a public comment about Celeste death, all people could do with deep dive into his macabre music, which regularly was peppered with violence and bloody motifs.
• 18:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: with many commentators questioning, was his life imitating art and vice versa.
• 18:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: And the fact that it had been six months since they found the body in Bergstrauch and no recipe made.
• 18:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: and the cops hadn't given a single update.
• 18:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: This lack of information also seemed to fuel and trig.
• 18:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: Fans, true crime enthusiast, and internet sleuths, had launched their own inquiries.
• 18:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: Locking in on details that appear to connect the teen girl to the game at Turn Rockstar, who was once heralded by GQ Magazine as the mouthpiece for Gen Z-Hardick.
• 19:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I guess they want to wrong,
• 19:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: With growing pressure, now mounting from Celeste Hernandez's family.
• 19:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: The LAPD started to slowly release information, hoping that a possible witness would come for one.
• 19:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: Celeste had been wearing a tube top, and a size small black leggings with jewelry, including a yellow metal studiering, and a yellow metal chain bracelet.
• 19:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: She also had a distinct tattoo on her index finger that read, shhh.
• 19:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: People on the internet were quick to note that Burke had the exact same tattoo.
• 19:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: Was this a superfan copying a ride home?
• 19:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: Or was it something more?
• 19:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: On the corner finally released Celeste Body, the family crowd-funded her funeral, was several neighbors noting that she was still a child and they'd see her walking every day to the candy store.
• 20:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's unknown whether David spoke with a fore, offered any money towards a funeral, but either way, but the net was closing in.
• 20:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: The first generation immigrant parents from El Salvador received criticisms that they let their daughter run wild.
• 20:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: But the mother refuted this, saying every time her daughter ran away, she would put up signs and spanish for her return, and her heart would break with worry.
• 20:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: But she said her daughter had a wonder lust, and she had to be free.
• 20:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: It was of January, 2026, that buck was still a free man, but he was oddly living a life of the rich and famous.
• 20:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: Sony had stopped promoting all of his product.
• 20:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: His world tour had been canceled, several lucrative deals had been put on hold, including one with the shoemaker crux, and reportedly his manager had stopped returning his calls, and friends say he had a growing paranoia.
• 21:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: that he was being tailed by the LAPD 24 hours a day and they were tapin' his phone.
• 21:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: The next big thing was now living on credit cards and the balance was now due.
• 21:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: And as his career had switched to a halt, the authorities remained virtually silent on the murder of Celeste Hernandez.
• 21:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: some breaking news, the singer accused of killing that 14-year-old girl is expected to be charged today and appearing court.
• 21:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's a story.
• 21:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: A lot of people are watching, any minute, the DA will release new information about the case.
• 21:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: It was on April 6th, 2006, the book was arrested by the L.A. PD at a house he was renting on Marmount Avenue on suspicion of the murder of Celeste Revis Hernandez.
• 22:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: On that same day, the Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hodgman would hold a press conference.
• 22:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: Today, I am announcing the charges against David Anthony Berth.
• 22:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: The musician known as David Spell D4VD, in connection with the brutal and horrific murder of Celeste, a 14-year-old at that time.
• 22:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: There are three sets of charges that have been brought.
• 22:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: The first degree murder with special circumstances, and again, those special circumstances are lying in weight.
• 22:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: The Celeste went to Mr. Berks' home on the night of about April 23rd, 2025, as a ledge in the complaint at his invitation.
• 22:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: And again, was not heard from again.
• 22:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: The second is a special circumstance being that this murder was committed for financial gain.
• 23:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: As the evidence will show in court, the financial gain was for Mr. Burke to maintain his very lucrative, music, musical career that Celeste was threatening on that particular night.
• 23:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: The third charge, in addition to lying in way and for financial gain, is murdering a witness to an investigation.
• 23:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: In this particular case, as evidence will come out in court, the witness to the investigation was the list.
• 23:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: and the investigation was into the loot of the serious sexual acts committed by Mr. Burke that is the subject of count two of this complaint with Celeste while she was under 14 years old.
• 23:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: The investigation was to determine who killed, who murdered Celeste, months and months before.
• 23:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: If convicted as charged, Burke faces death or life in state prison without the
• 24:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: A decision on whether to seek the death penalty will be made at a later date.
• 24:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: The case is being prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Seth Silverman of the Major Crime Division and remains under investigation by Los Angeles Police Department, Robbery and Homicide Division.
• 24:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: It was on Monday, April 20th, and a Los Angeles courtroom that all eyes were on 21-year
• 24:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: The man formerly known as the artist, David, has acknowledged his Christian name, stood up, and muttered, not guilty.
• 24:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: The musician's defense team set a belief the actual evidence will show that David did not kill, Celeste and Andes, and was not the cause of a death, echoing that clients' words that he'd made upon his arrest.
• 25:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: His attorney bro claimed we will vigorously defend David's innocence.
• 25:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: Bugs the fence team have requested and opened to the media trial.
• 25:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: And in a bizarre move, the court have sealed the autopsy report from the public's knowledge.
• 25:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: Which beggars believe that makes you wonder, what are they hiding?
• 25:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: Even the call Simpson from the O.J.
• 25:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: Simpson trials, autopsy was public, along with the pitches.
• 25:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: What could be so gruesome they want to hide from the public's eyes?
• 25:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: And a murder case that has fueled more speculation than any other murder case in recent history.
• 25:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: When it goes to trial, it will most certainly be standing in room only.
• 25:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: And the TikTok generation will have their own O.J.
• 25:48
  [SPEAKER_03]: Simpson.
• 25:50
  [UNKNOWN]: I don't know.
• 26:27
  [SPEAKER_05]: I know you've got what I wanted, and don't need me anymore I still remember making you head on the kitchen floor I suppose I could love you, but I think I smashed up
• 27:10
  [SPEAKER_05]: I love the sober one and it's so good
• 28:06
  [SPEAKER_05]: And these words too sore for us to do that any more I still remember you banging my head on the kitchen floor Mindless devotion I swear I never agreed to
• 28:50
  [SPEAKER_05]: I say when it will end I say when it will end I say when it will end I say when it will end I don't need another foot