Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Graphic Evidence in Singer D4vd Preliminary Hearing for Murder of 14-Year-Old Celeste | Crime Alert 07.24.26

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Graphic Evidence in Singer D4vd Preliminary Hearing for Murder of 14-Year-Old Celeste | Crime Alert 07.24.26 · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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  Speaker 1: Crime Alert hourly update, breaking crime news. Now, I'm Sydney Silvani.
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  Speaker 1: We begin in Los Angeles, where the gruesome preliminary hearing
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  Speaker 1: for singer David whose real name is David Anthony Burke,
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  Speaker 1: continues into its third day. Prosecutors are presenting horrific evidence
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  Speaker 1: to convince a judge there is sufficient cause to try
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  Speaker 1: the twenty one year old musician for the brutal murder
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  Speaker 1: and dismemberment of fourteen year old Celeste Revas Hernandez. Celeste's
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  Speaker 1: heartbroken parents sat through gut wrenching courtroom testimony as graphic
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  Speaker 1: crime scene photos were shown publicly for the very first time.
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  Speaker 1: Investigators testified that Celeste's severely decomposing body was discovered inside
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  Speaker 1: a cadaver bag in the trunk of a Tesla registered
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  Speaker 1: to Burke at a Hollywood tow yard in September twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty five. Prosecutors alleged Burke stabbed the young girl and
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  Speaker 1: used a chainsaw to dismember her, attempting to cover up
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  Speaker 1: years of alleged sexual abuse after she threatened to expose
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  Speaker 1: their illicit relationship and ruined his multimillion dollar music career.
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  Speaker 1: A homicide detective revealed Burke bought body bags, chainsaws, an
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  Speaker 1: inflatable pool, and a shovel online using an alias. Shortly
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  Speaker 1: after her death, celeste parents faced an unbearable ordeal. Warned
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  Speaker 1: repeatedly by both prosecutor Beth Silverman before each graphic photo
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  Speaker 1: was displayed, Family attorney Patrick Steinfeld detailed the horrific nature
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  Speaker 1: of the evidence shown to the grieving family.
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  Speaker 2: It just looked like mummish and the Beth Silverman asked
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  Speaker 2: on one image with this was another image, that's what
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  Speaker 2: it was, and then texted, well, that's her head, and
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  Speaker 2: I mean there's no way you would have guessed. I
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  Speaker 2: think you could identify it as a head. So it was.
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  Speaker 2: It was horrible. It did not look like a person
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  Speaker 2: or body at all.
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  Speaker 1: Burke meanwhile showed no visible emotion, staring at intently at
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  Speaker 1: the graphic photos, particularly an image showing a matching tattoo
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  Speaker 1: on Celeste's right index finger, a tattoo Burke also shares
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  Speaker 1: on his own hand. Detective buyers testified that Celeste's face
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  Speaker 1: was unrecognizable, with her severed limbs found stuffed in a
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  Speaker 1: secondary refuse bag inside the trunk. Attorney Steinfeld described the
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  Speaker 1: painful emotional toll on Celeste's mother, who chose to remain
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  Speaker 1: in the courtroom to show support.
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  Speaker 2: It was extremely painful for them to sit through and
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  Speaker 2: hear the testimony today regarding the condition of Celeste's body,
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  Speaker 2: and then when they saw the images, Mercedes just broke
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  Speaker 2: down and started crying, and she really never recovered for
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  Speaker 2: the rest of the day. And so it's every person's
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  Speaker 2: worst nightmare, but it's just it seems to just get
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  Speaker 2: harder for them.
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  Speaker 1: The preliminary hearing is expected to wrap up today as
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  Speaker 1: prosecutors call final witnesses to bind Burke over for trial.
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  Speaker 1: More crime and justice news after this turning to Tennessee,
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  Speaker 1: Authorities in Memphis have arrested a twenty two year old
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  Speaker 1: father in connection with the horrific death of his toddler son.
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  Speaker 1: Saul Martinez faces multiple severe felony charges, including first degree murder,
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  Speaker 1: aggravated child abuse, abuse of a corpse, and evidence tampering
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  Speaker 1: following the tragic discovery of three year old Joseph Martinez.
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  Speaker 1: According to police affidavits, the child's mother reported him missing
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  Speaker 1: on Sunday, July nineteenth, stating he was last seen with
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  Speaker 1: his father the previous day. Saul's father, Octavio Martinez, told
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  Speaker 1: police that Saul came to his room around midnight Saturday,
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  Speaker 1: took his car keys without permission, and dragged a large
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  Speaker 1: suitcase to the front passenger seat before driving away. When
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  Speaker 1: Saul returned home Monday morning, family members confronted him. He
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  Speaker 1: allegedly confessed to leaving Joseph's body in the river, and
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  Speaker 1: subsequently led investigators to a wooded area connected to the
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  Speaker 1: Wolf River Harbor. Police located the suitcase with the toddler's
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  Speaker 1: body inside. Loved Ones remembering young Joseph established a GoFundMe
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  Speaker 1: fundraiser describing him as a precious baby whose life was
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  Speaker 1: tragically cut short. Memphis police officers have not yet released
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  Speaker 1: an official motive behind the brutal killing. Finally, in northern California,
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  Speaker 1: a Silicon Valley man has been charged with murder. Seven
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  Speaker 1: months after a devastating high speed crash killed a mother
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  Speaker 1: and her young daughter. The Santa Clara County District Attorney's
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  Speaker 1: Office announced that thirty one year old Zachary Chernicki faces
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  Speaker 1: murder charges for the early December crash on a busy
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  Speaker 1: San Jose highway that claimed the lives of twenty nine
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  Speaker 1: year old Evanna Balistreri and her toddler Lilliana, who was
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  Speaker 1: just two days shy of her second birthday. Investigators revealed
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  Speaker 1: Tchernicki was driving a Tesla at a terrifying one hundred
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  Speaker 1: and forty two miles per hour fifteen second before the collision.
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  Speaker 1: Hitting the rear of the victim stopped car at one
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  Speaker 1: hundred and two miles per hour. The violent impact triggered
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  Speaker 1: an immediate explosion, causing the car to burst into flames,
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  Speaker 1: trapping Evanna and Liliana inside, while Evanna's severely injured fiancee
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  Speaker 1: was helpless to save them. Santa Clara County District Attorney
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  Speaker 1: Jeff Rosen emphasized that driving at such extreme speeds makes
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  Speaker 1: a speeding vehicle as deadly as a bullet fired directly
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  Speaker 1: into a crowd. Evanna's older sister, Francesca Alexander, remembered her
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  Speaker 1: vibrant spirit in an interview with ABC seven. Evanna was
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  Speaker 1: a light. She lit up every room that she walked into.
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  Speaker 1: She held a lot of space for other people. The
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  Speaker 1: losses devastated the entire family, as cousin Eleana Balistrari shared
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  Speaker 1: with ABC seven Lily was the first baby. We've had,
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  Speaker 1: first girl in eighteen years, so Evanna, we call it.
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  Speaker 1: We had a boy curse in our family, but Evanna
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  Speaker 1: broke that boy curse. HI for more crime and justice, Knew,
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  Speaker 1: be sure to join us for crime stories with Nancy
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  Speaker 1: Grace on Fox one YouTube series XM and now streaming
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  Speaker 1: on tub with this crime alert, I'm Sidney Silvanni.