Latest / Murder Files Unsealed / Mystery Deepens into Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s Death as Authorities Release Her Body

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Mystery Deepens into Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s Death as Authorities Release Her Body · Murder Files Unsealed

0:00
Speaker 1: We are walking straight into well a digital nightmare today.
0:03
It's the story of Celesterevus Hernandez. Yeah, a fifteen year
0:07
old girl, her decomposing body discovered in the front trunk
0:11
of a globally famous R and B artists tesla.
0:15
Speaker 2: It's just it's an absolutely tragic, shocking collision. You've got
0:20
viral fame, this digital entanglement, and then this horrifying reality.
0:24
Speaker 1: It really is. It sounds like something ripped from I
0:26
don't know, a true crime script.
0:27
Speaker 2: But it's not. The facts are verifiable, deeply disturbing. We're
0:31
diving deep today into the investigation around celeste death, really
0:34
focusing on the evidence gathered since her body was found.
0:37
That was September eighth, twenty twenty five, in Hollywood.
0:39
Speaker 1: And the celebrity connection here is just staggering. It defines
0:42
the case. The vehicle belonged to R and B star
0:45
David Anthony Burke. You probably know him as D four
0:48
VD right D four VI and his breakout hit, the
0:51
song that rocketed him to fundament internationally. It's called Romantic Homicide.
0:56
That title now just echoes with this, I mean, devastating, chilling, red.
1:00
Speaker 2: It really does so our deep dive today. It's synthesized
1:04
from well, a huge stack of sources. We're talking law
1:08
enforcement reports on the physical evidence, right, detailed analysis of
1:12
the digital footprints you know, social media discord, leaked music too,
1:17
and then the complex legal steps of the homicide investigation
1:21
that followed.
1:22
Speaker 1: So our mission here is to try and piece together
1:24
how a young girl from the Inland empire ended up
1:28
connected to this global star. Yeah, and what that digital
1:32
trail suggests about the what the year long gap between
1:35
her disappearance and her discovery?
1:37
Speaker 2: That gag is crucial, The.
1:39
Speaker 1: Big question, the one that really defines this deep dive
1:41
for us. How did the fictionalized tragedy in his music
1:44
become so terrifyingly real. Let's unpack this source material.
1:49
Speaker 2: Okay, so the initial scene description, it provides the foundation,
1:52
but like you mentioned earlier, it wasn't exactly a pristine
1:54
crime scene. The discovery happened after the car was towed
1:59
Hollywood tow you are, which you complicates that immediate forensic
2:02
timeline quite a bit, right.
2:04
Speaker 1: The vehicle itself a Tesla model y Texas plates, which
2:08
immediately ties it back to D four VD since he's
2:11
originally from Houston, m HM, and sources say the car
2:13
was found abandoned near this like really high end rental
2:17
place in the Hollywood Hills.
2:18
Speaker 2: Where he was st temporarily residing there.
2:21
Speaker 1: Gets towed, sits impounded for a few days. Yeah, and
2:24
then the truth comes out.
2:26
Speaker 2: And it came out because of the tow yard workers.
2:27
They were the ones who initially realized something was terribly wrong.
2:31
So they reported an overwhelming that's the word they used,
2:35
and just unmistakable foul odor coming from the vehicle. Wow,
2:40
that smell was the only reason they even opened the
2:43
storage compartments and inside the front, you know that small
2:47
storage space at.
2:48
Speaker 1: The front, Yeah, for charging cables.
2:49
Speaker 2: Usually exactly that's where they found her remains.
2:51
Speaker 1: Found stuffed inside a black plastic bag.
2:53
Speaker 2: Yeah.
2:54
Speaker 1: The body was severely decomposed.
2:56
Speaker 2: Extremely The condition was so advanced, partly because because of
3:00
the heat, you know California heat and being sealed in
3:03
that front. Visual identification was completely.
3:06
Speaker 1: Impossible, just impossible, which is a crucial detail.
3:09
Speaker 2: Right, Absolutely, law enforcement had to rely entirely on dental
3:12
records to confirm it was celestivs Hernandez.
3:16
Speaker 1: So let's look at the forensics timeline. The official date
3:19
of death. That's logged as September eighth, twenty twenty five,
3:23
the day she was found.
3:25
Speaker 2: Right, but the forensic experts they were able to estimate
3:29
a much earlier timeframe. They figured she'd been deceased for
3:33
at least five days before that discovery.
3:36
Speaker 1: So placing her passing around early September. Yeah, early September,
3:40
which is significant because that timeline brushes right up against
3:43
her fifteenth birthday, September seventh.
3:45
Speaker 2: It's just a horrible tragic coincidence, the timing the body discovered,
3:50
just as you know, people should have been celebrating her life,
3:52
not not finding out about this grim.
3:54
Speaker 1: End and the state of decomposition you mentioned it was
3:57
accelerated by the heat the enclosed space. Yeah, that must
4:00
have created huge hurdles for investigators right.
4:02
Speaker 2: Away, Oh, enormous hurdles. Immediately they weren't just dealing with
4:06
the standard crime scene. They were dealing with the aftermath
4:08
of what looks like a well, a prolonged concealment.
4:12
Speaker 1: And that concealment, that discovery, it leads directly to the
4:15
immediate just seismic fallout for D four VD.
4:19
Speaker 2: Absolutely, the moment that vehicle registration linked the body to him,
4:24
the rising R and B star, His professional world just
4:27
slammed to a holt.
4:29
Speaker 1: Instantly news breaks about the body. Within hours, reports are
4:33
flying that his Seattle show is canceled, right, and that
4:36
cancelation quickly snowballs into the abrupt suspension of his entire
4:40
Withered World tour.
4:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, it wasn't gradual. It was like an emergency break
4:43
on a multimillion dollar operation, total shutdown.
4:46
Speaker 1: And the label, Innerscope Records, they moved incredibly fast, which
4:50
signals just how serious they viewed this. You bet.
4:53
Speaker 2: They immediately paused the release of the deluxe edition of
4:56
his album Withered.
4:57
Speaker 1: And they didn't really mince words, did they, to the
5:00
seriousness of the situation. Yeah, indefinite delay.
5:03
Speaker 2: It shows you that corporate understanding. The association with a
5:06
homicide investigation, even just an association, was an existential threat
5:10
to his brand, his career.
5:12
Speaker 1: It's like a textbook case, isn't it a pr catastrophe
5:14
colliding head on with a criminal investigation?
5:17
Speaker 2: Exactly? The label just couldn't risk the optics promoting this
5:21
melancholic sort of romantic music while their star is potentially
5:24
linked to a real life horrific tragedy, no way.
5:28
Speaker 1: So in response defour D's team, his representatives, they put
5:31
out this remarkably brief, very tightly controlled statement, very brief,
5:37
confirmed he'd been informed, said he was fully cooperating with authorities.
5:42
But they tried to maintain this narrative that he was
5:45
still out on tour.
5:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, that specific phrase out on tour. It felt like
5:49
a clear attempt to create distance, right, to suggest he
5:52
was physically emotionally removed from the car from the discovery.
5:56
Speaker 1: But the evidence the tesla registered in his name found
6:00
abandon near his Hollywood rental, that made the distance pretty
6:04
much impossible to maintain for long.
6:06
Speaker 2: It was like the first layer of defense maybe, but
6:08
the investigation pierced through that almost immediately.
6:11
Speaker 1: Okay, So to really get the full picture here, we
6:13
need to contrast the two lives involved. It's stark. You
6:16
have the sort of quiet life of Celeste and then
6:19
this blinding speed of de four VID's fame Celeste Reeves Hernandez.
6:23
She was from Lake Elsinore, right in Land Empire, about
6:27
seventy miles gave or take from the glitz of Hollywood.
6:29
Speaker 2: Oh whirled away really, and Celeste vanished much much earlier.
6:33
Than when her body was found. She disappeared without a
6:35
trace back on April fifth, twenty twenty four.
6:37
Speaker 1: April twenty twenty four, and she was only thirteen.
6:40
Speaker 2: Years old then just thirteen. Her disappearance registered locally, sure,
6:44
but it barely made a ripple nationally, which is unfortunately
6:48
the reality for so many missing kids, missing teens.
6:51
Speaker 1: Her family, they painted this picture of her as a
6:54
sweet child. Passions were simple things, drawing music and apparently
7:00
a big love for Hello Kitty.
7:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Hello pity detail comes up again later, right,
7:04
and her.
7:04
Speaker 1: Family's initial attempts to find her were just, you know,
7:06
grassroots efforts that eventually turned into a GoFundMe page, which,
7:11
after she was identified, tragically raised over fifty thousand dollars
7:15
for funeral costs.
7:15
Speaker 2: Such a painful contrast to the world she'd somehow got connected.
7:18
Speaker 1: To, exactly because meanwhile, D four vd's life trajectory was
7:21
the absolute opposite.
7:23
Speaker 2: He was a phenomenon, a total rocket ship career, started
7:26
producing tracks in his bedroom like a lot of artists
7:28
do now, but then just exploded onto TikTok around twenty
7:32
twenty two, viral fame. By the time he was eighteen,
7:35
he had a major deal with in her scope, signed and.
7:38
Speaker 1: Sealed, and his success was built on these like melancholic
7:41
anthems that really resonated with gen Z, their anxieties, their feelings.
7:46
It established him almost overnight as this undeniable gen z icon.
7:51
Speaker 2: Global influence, immense reach, and he cultivated this image, you know, vulnerability,
7:56
artistic depth.
7:58
Speaker 1: So you had this contrast the global store living at
8:01
least temporarily in a twenty thousand dollars a month Hollywood
8:04
Hills rental.
8:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, that figure is staggering and.
8:06
Speaker 1: This fifteen year old girl from Lake Elsinore and the
8:09
physical link between them is just it's hard to process.
8:12
But the evidence ties D four VD directly to the
8:15
vicinity of where the car was found.
8:17
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the specific location of the car. It
8:19
was registered in Hempstead, Texas, right, D forty's hometown, right,
8:22
But crucially, it was abandoned very close to his temporary
8:25
La residence that Hollywood Hills rental, and.
8:28
Speaker 1: That rental home specifically was leased through his manager during
8:32
his La Touri.
8:33
Speaker 2: Stock correct and the sheer cost that twenty thousand dollars
8:36
a month. It just underscores the level of you know,
8:39
cransient wealth and status. He was operating at the car
8:43
abandoned right near there.
8:44
Speaker 1: That proximity, that must have immediately focused the investigation. Right,
8:48
this wasn't just some random car stolen maybe.
8:50
Speaker 2: Not at all. It was a body found in a
8:52
vehicle registered to him, part close to where he was
8:55
known to be staying. That prompted the LAPD to escalate
8:59
things very quick.
9:00
Speaker 1: And that escalation led to a pretty dramatic action on
9:03
September eighteenth.
9:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, the LAPD's Robbery Homicide Division. And it's important that
9:08
the Homicide Division took the lead here showing how seriously
9:11
they viewed it. They executed a search warrant on that
9:14
rental property.
9:15
Speaker 1: Okay, the search warrant details what were they looking for?
9:17
What did they find?
9:18
Speaker 2: Well, sources say they seized several items of evidence, which
9:22
included documents, electronics. It's huge these days, and most critically
9:26
potential blood traces, blood traces inside the house potentially. Yes,
9:31
the seizure of possible blood traces means investigators aren't just
9:35
assuming everything happened in the front. They're actively looking for
9:39
forensic links inside that rental property.
9:42
Speaker 1: So they're trying to establish if that house was maybe
9:45
the location where Celeste was last live, or even where
9:48
her death might.
9:49
Speaker 2: Have occurred exactly. They're trying to connect the dops defour VD,
9:52
his temporary luxury home, and the victim's final moments, her
9:56
grim resting place. It's about building that narrative.
10:00
Speaker 1: That shift from just vehicle ownership to searching the residents itself.
10:03
That suggests they're looking beyond just say negligence or abandoning property.
10:08
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, it suggests a sophisticated effort to build a
10:11
case of direct involvement. They're digging deep, trying to piece
10:15
together the story of her final days.
10:17
Speaker 1: Okay, So if the physical evidence gives us the what
10:19
and the where, the digital trail seems poised to provide
10:22
the how and maybe even the why.
10:24
Speaker 2: That's right. The personal history suggested between Celeste and d
10:27
four ved points to something far more complex and frankly
10:30
concerning than just a passing fan interaction.
10:33
Speaker 1: It starts foundationally with the name match, doesn't it. Celet's
10:37
mother confirmed her daughter was dating a boy named David
10:40
right before she vanished in April twenty twenty four.
10:43
Speaker 2: Correct, And this isn't just you know, speculation, It's confirmation
10:46
from the victim's family, directly linking the star's real first
10:50
name to her disappearance timeline.
10:52
Speaker 1: And there's visual evidence that seems to back this up,
10:54
contradicting the idea he didn't know her. These resurface photos,
10:59
allegedly from February twenty.
11:01
Speaker 2: Twenty four MM February twenty twenty four. They appear to
11:05
show Celeste posing with a man who strongly resembles D
11:08
four VD and significantly near Lake Elsinar, near.
11:12
Speaker 1: Her home turf months before she went missing, placing them
11:16
physically together.
11:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the specific details in those photos, they really
11:20
bring that connection to life. In one picture, Celeste is
11:23
wearing these very distinctive Hello Kitty crocs.
11:25
Speaker 1: Okay, the Hello Kitty connection again exactly.
11:28
Speaker 2: And on the same day that photo was allegedly taken,
11:30
D four VD posted a TikTok video and in it
11:33
he's wearing Hello Kitty themed pants.
11:35
Speaker 1: Wow. Okay, that doesn't feel accidental.
11:38
Speaker 2: It really doesn't. It implies maybe a shared aesthetic, an
11:40
inside joke, perhaps the theme within their interactions, something connecting them.
11:45
Speaker 1: But the most I don't know, indelible proof, the thing
11:49
that's really caught attention, it's etched into their skin. The
11:52
identical tattoos.
11:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, the tattoos are powerful evidence of a close bond.
11:58
Both of them had these small, apparently quite intricate designs
12:01
on their fingers, his.
12:02
Speaker 1: In black ink, hers in red ink.
12:04
Speaker 2: That's what the sources indicate. Yes, red for Celeste, black
12:07
for D four VD, and experts looking at this describe
12:10
it as strongly suggesting a romantic or obsessive bond, something
12:15
that goes way beyond a typical fan artist dynamic.
12:18
Speaker 1: It feels like a commitment, right, or a shared secret
12:21
tying them together physically. But let's unpack the digital side,
12:24
because this is where things get really dark and where
12:25
these series grooming accusations start to surface.
12:28
Speaker 2: Absolutely, a former teacher of Celeste actually brought this into focus.
12:32
They stated they believe Celeste first met D four VD
12:35
online on Discord and TikTok.
12:37
Speaker 1: Platforms, absolutely central to his fame, where he actively engaged
12:41
with fans, young fans.
12:43
Speaker 2: Precisely, this is where that parasocial relationship the fan admiring
12:48
this are seems to have potentially crossed a line into
12:51
something personal and deeply problematic.
12:53
Speaker 1: And the mechanics of how that happened, Yeah, the age
12:56
deception involved. Yeah, that's crucial here.
12:58
Speaker 2: It is there are leaked screenshots, reportedly from D four
13:01
vd's own Discord server that show interactions dating way back
13:05
to twenty twenty two.
13:06
Speaker 1: Twenty twenty two, So if Celeste was fifteen when she
13:09
died in twenty twenty five, she would have been only
13:12
eleven or twelve eleven.
13:14
Speaker 2: Or twelve years old when these initial online interactions apparently began.
13:17
Speaker 1: Yes, and this is the core of the grooming accusations, right,
13:20
because her profile reportedly was listed as eighteen plus on
13:23
that Discord server.
13:24
Speaker 2: Exactly, which raises serious questions. Did D four VD or
13:28
his server moderators or maybe other associates know her real
13:31
age and deliberately look the other way or help mask it,
13:35
or did they just ignore the vulnerability of a child
13:37
while maintaining this illusion of an adult interaction. Either scenario
13:41
is deeply troubling.
13:41
Speaker 1: And there's context for how he interacted with fans too.
13:44
Something about Fortnite.
13:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, some online threats claim D four VD often bonded
13:49
with young fans through playing the game Fortnite together, Okay,
13:52
which provides the sort of digital safe space context, right,
13:56
A seemingly harmless shared interest that could easily transition into
14:00
private messages DMS, non public conversations away from scrutiny.
14:05
Speaker 1: It really raises fundamental questions about responsibility in the digital age,
14:09
doesn't it? For celebrities?
14:10
Speaker 2: Huge questions? How much oversight is needed when a global
14:14
star engages in private communication with fans they either know
14:17
or frankly should know, are significantly younger. The power imbalance there.
14:22
Speaker 1: It's immense A major label artist and an eleven year
14:25
old fan immense. So if the digital interactions and the
14:28
grooming accusations weren't damning enough, then we get to the
14:32
music itself, the ultimate dark foreshadowing.
14:35
Speaker 2: And this part is just chilling. There's leaked demo track
14:39
from December twenty twenty three, okay, and it's explicitly specifically
14:43
titled Celested Demo Unfit.
14:45
Speaker 1: Named after her unfinished demo from December twenty twenty three.
14:49
She disappeared in April twenty twenty four, so this was
14:52
recorded before she vanished or am I getting the dates
14:55
mixed up? Let me recheck the outline.
14:56
Speaker 2: Ah, Let's clarify that the source material says the demo
14:59
is from Distant twenty twenty three. Celeste vanished April twenty
15:03
twenty four, her body found sept twenty twenty five, so
15:07
the demo was recorded before she vanished, but while they
15:09
were presumably interacting my mistake on the timing reference earlier.
15:12
Speaker 1: Okay, got it recorded before she disappeared.
15:15
Speaker 2: Named after our yes, named after the victim, and the
15:18
lyrics they are explicitly obsessive, and they seem to tie
15:22
directly back to that physical evidence of the tattoos we
15:24
discuss all they say. The track reportedly features D four
15:28
VD singing, Oh Celeste, the girl with my name tattooed
15:32
on her chest. I hear her voice each time I
15:34
take a breath. I'm obsessed.
15:35
Speaker 1: Wait, my name tattooed on her chest. But the actual
15:37
tattoos were those matching symbols in their fingers.
15:39
Speaker 2: Right exactly. That's what's crucial. The real tattoos weren't his
15:43
name on her chest. They were these shared, intricate symbols
15:46
on their fingers.
15:47
Speaker 1: So the lyric it suggests maybe a possessiveness, or maybe
15:51
even a fabrication, blending the reality of their bond with
15:55
some kind of artistic, obsessive fantasy he created.
15:58
Speaker 2: That's certainly one interpretation It's deeply unsettling either way, and.
16:01
Speaker 1: The morbid symmetry just keeps piling up. His breakout hit,
16:04
Romantic Homicide, the song that made him famous. Yeah, he
16:07
was uploaded to YouTube on September seventh, which would have
16:11
been Celest's fifteenth birthday.
16:12
Speaker 2: Oh wow, the upload date that creates this terrifying narrative loop,
16:16
doesn't it? His fame his biggest hit now inextricably linked
16:21
both musically and chronologically to her life and her tragic fate.
16:25
Speaker 1: And there's more from the digital world suggesting maybe even
16:28
for knowledge of her disappearance.
16:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, this idea has circulated heavily within his discord community.
16:33
Some users were called dfour b D actually referencing a
16:36
missing girl named Celeste in private chats as early as
16:39
mid twenty twenty four.
16:41
Speaker 1: Mid twenty twenty four, so that's months after she vanished,
16:43
but long before her body was discovered.
16:45
Speaker 2: Correct, months before the discovery.
16:47
Speaker 1: In the Tesla, and one user, someone named Ponzalo, claimed
16:51
D four VD even dedicated a song to her vanishing.
16:53
Speaker 2: That's the claim. Now, Whether that dedication, if it happened,
16:57
was genuine concern or some kind of aculated artistic performance
17:02
or you know something much more sinister.
17:04
Speaker 1: It feels intense speculation, doesn't it about what he knew
17:08
and when he knew it? Regarding the year long mystery
17:11
of her disappearance.
17:12
Speaker 2: Absolutely, the digital trail here isn't just a few breadcrumbs.
17:15
It feels like a fully woven fabric, connecting his public persona,
17:19
his private communications, his music, and now tragically, the body
17:23
found in his car.
17:25
Speaker 1: Okay, So, despite what sounds like overwhelming digital and circumstantial
17:29
evidence linking D FOURVD to the car and to celest herself,
17:34
the investigation still faces some really significant physical hurdles.
17:37
Speaker 2: That's right, first and foremost. While the case is classified
17:40
as a homicide, the actual cause of death officially remains deferred.
17:44
Speaker 1: Deferred why just because of the state of the body.
17:47
Speaker 2: Primarily, yes, it's a technical term, really stemming from the
17:50
condition of the remains because of that advanced decomposition made
17:53
worse by being sealed in the front the heat. Determining
17:56
the precise physical cause of death is incredibly difficult, right.
18:00
Speaker 1: Forensics usually rely on specific tissue evidence or maybe bone
18:04
trauma for blunt force, signs of strangulation.
18:06
Speaker 2: Or even chemical analysis for say an overdose or poisoning,
18:11
All of that becomes extremely challenging, if not impossible with
18:15
advanced decomposition.
18:16
Speaker 1: And the complications didn't stop there, did they? There was
18:18
something about flies?
18:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, sources indicate flies had infested the trunk, which adds
18:25
another layer of complexity. Insect activity can sometimes help estimate
18:29
time of death, sure, but it also severely complicates things
18:33
like toxicology analysis. So by potentially contaminating the samples, so
18:38
determining if drugs or poisons were involved might be impossible.
18:41
Speaker 1: Now, so, with no clear cause of death, how does
18:43
the legal side work? Can they still bring charges?
18:46
Speaker 2: Absolutely? This is where the legal strategy becomes key. We
18:50
saw input from a former prosecutor, Matt Murphy, who weighed
18:53
in on this.
18:54
Speaker 1: What did he say?
18:54
Speaker 2: He emphasized that charges can definitely proceed and importantly, a
18:58
conviction can potentially be secured even without a precise, medically
19:03
determined cause of death.
19:04
Speaker 1: How does that work if you don't know how someone died?
19:07
Speaker 2: Because the prosecutor doesn't necessarily need to prove how Celeste died,
19:11
they need to prove who was involved in her death
19:14
and crucially in the subsequent concealment.
19:17
Speaker 1: Ah the concealment aspect.
19:19
Speaker 2: Exactly, if investigators can demonstrate that she died while in
19:22
the care or control of a suspect, and that the
19:25
suspect then actively took steps to conceal her body, like
19:28
stuffing it in a bag, putting it in a front,
19:31
in a way designed to obstruct justice. Right, that alone
19:35
is often sufficient for charges maybe murder, maybe manslaughter, or
19:39
at the very least charges related to the concealment of
19:41
a body. The focus shifts to the actions taken around
19:45
the death.
19:45
Speaker 1: Okay, So the LAPD's current focus, it sounds like it's
19:48
pivoted less on the body itself maybe and more onto
19:51
the digital record using tech to build that timeline of
19:54
concealment precisely.
19:55
Speaker 2: Sources indicate that LAPD is heavily invested right now in
19:59
analyzing Celeste. His phone records are online activity, everything digital.
20:02
Speaker 1: What's the goal there?
20:03
Speaker 2: The goal is to meticulously map her movements quote unquote,
20:07
and her communication patterns after she disappeared in April twenty
20:10
twenty four. They're trying to bridge that huge.
20:12
Speaker 1: Gap, that seventeen month gap between vanishing and being found.
20:16
Speaker 2: Exactly. They're looking for the last known electronic trace communication
20:21
with dfour VD, maybe his associates. Who was she talking to?
20:24
Where was she digitally speaking?
20:26
Speaker 1: So while the LAPD focuses on that concrete data outside
20:31
in the public sphere, the digital noise is just deafening,
20:35
isn't it.
20:35
Speaker 2: Oh, completely, we have to address this flood of unverified claims,
20:40
viral rumors that are simultaneously defining this case for many people,
20:44
but also really muddying.
20:46
Speaker 1: The waters, like what kind of claims.
20:47
Speaker 2: Well, we've seen alleged text exchanges leaked online, supposedly showing
20:51
Celeste confiding in a friend that she was missing with
20:53
dfour VD, and even detailing alleged assaults by him and
20:57
another associate, someone named.
20:58
Speaker 1: Gus Okay, but those are unver leaks.
21:00
Speaker 2: Right, totally unverified at this stage. Then you had these
21:03
really bizarre, kind of macabre claims circulating about wardrobe.
21:06
Speaker 1: Wardrobe.
21:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, viral threads suggesting Defortd's tour wardrobe included items that
21:10
matched clothing Celeste was last known to be wearing, the
21:14
implication being he kept or even wore her clothes.
21:17
Speaker 1: That sounds incredibly far fetched, but it's out there.
21:20
Speaker 2: It's out there, along with unconfirmed rumors that he paid
21:23
associates to help conceal her true age online back in
21:27
those early discord days.
21:28
Speaker 1: It's important, though, you mentioned the police have responded to
21:30
some of this.
21:31
Speaker 2: Yes, and this is crucial for listeners. Officials have explicitly
21:35
dismissed some of the most widely circulated rumors, specifically ones
21:39
about her being pregnant or the supposed discovery of fetal
21:42
remains near D forty's rental. They've called those entirely baseless.
21:47
Speaker 1: Okay, so the formal investigation sticks to evidence, not viral speculation.
21:51
Good reminder, definitely, But regardless of the truth behind all
21:54
that online noise, the public reaction has had this really
21:59
bizarre and honestly profound impact on D four dy's career,
22:02
hasn't it.
22:03
Speaker 2: It's a strange, almost crushing irony. The scandal seems to
22:06
have fueled this morbid curiosity, and it led to a
22:10
massive surge in his streaming numbers.
22:12
Speaker 1: A surge, seriously.
22:13
Speaker 2: Yeah. According to Billboard, his US on demand streaming numbers
22:17
actually doubled in the week of September eighteenth to twenty
22:19
second right after the news broke wide, reaching over thirty
22:23
million plays.
22:24
Speaker 1: Wow. So tragedy cells essentially, Yeah, in the streaming economy,
22:28
it seems that way.
22:29
Speaker 2: Scandal, especially when this interwoven with a dark, dramatic narrative.
22:34
It accelerates consumption.
22:36
Speaker 1: And this has just split the public, hasn't it, especially his.
22:39
Speaker 2: Fans, oh, fiercely fractured. You've got this contingent rushing to
22:43
defend him, claiming he's a victim of circumstance, maybe being framed,
22:47
refusing to believe their gen z icon could be capable
22:51
of something like this, and the other side, the other side,
22:53
sees the leaked demo, the grooming accusations online, the matching tattoos.
22:58
They see that as undeniable per and they're rebranding him,
23:01
you know, from icon to alleged predator, his lyrics now
23:06
reading less like art more like some kind of horrific confession.
23:09
Speaker 1: But we really need to bring this discussion back to
23:11
ground zero, away from the streaming stats in the Hollywood side,
23:15
back to Lake.
23:15
Speaker 2: Elsinor absolutely the community impact there. While the Internet debates
23:19
his career, the people in Celeste's hometown are mourning a
23:22
young life just violently cut short.
23:24
Speaker 1: There was a vigil right.
23:26
Speaker 2: Yes on September twenty second over seventy five residents gathered
23:29
for a candlelid vigil. The memorial they set up it
23:32
was adorned with flowers, stuffed animals including yes Hello kittie items,
23:37
and even some of Selette's own drawings.
23:39
Speaker 1: Just heartbreaking.
23:40
Speaker 2: It really is a community grieving the loss of this
23:43
child whose life was ended potentially by the perils lurking
23:47
in the shadows of intense, often anonymous online interactions and fame.
23:51
Her body, at least is finally being returned to her
23:53
family now, which offers maybe a painful sense of closure
23:57
on that physical part of the case. Hashtag tag outro.
24:00
Speaker 1: So where does this leave us when we try to
24:02
bring all this evidence together? We have this incredibly high
24:04
profile hometide investigation. It's built on these layers of really specific,
24:09
interconnected evidence, a body in a star's tesla, identical tattoos
24:14
suggesting this deep, maybe obsessive bond, hauntingly predictive, leaked lyrics.
24:19
Speaker 2: And it's all contained within this vast digital footprint. Isn't
24:21
it telling a story that stretches back years potentially to
24:24
when she was just a child.
24:25
Speaker 1: The central facts they're fixed now, Celesrievus Hernandez is gone,
24:30
her bodies identified, returned home to her family who were grieving.
24:34
Speaker 2: And the LAPD probe remains active. Intense focus now it
24:39
seems on proving that temporal and physical connection between Celeste's
24:43
final movements, her communications, and the subsequent concealment.
24:47
Speaker 1: In that front, But crucially, no arrests have been made.
24:51
Speaker 2: Yet, no arrests, which suggests the police are being meticulous,
24:55
taking their time to build what they hope will be
24:57
an irrefutable case, relying you'd imagine on the electronics and
25:01
forensics they seized from that rental property.
25:04
Speaker 1: You know, the narrative of this whole case. It really
25:06
forces us all to reflect deeply on this increasingly blurry
25:10
line between the celebrities persona and their private accountability.
25:14
Speaker 2: It really does these digital platforms discord TikTok. They're designed
25:18
to break down barriers, right to create viral stars, forge
25:21
these intense parasocial relationships, but this case suggests they can
25:25
also tragically inadvertently facilitate the very fabric of exploitation of tragedy.
25:32
The distance between a global star and a vulnerable teenager
25:35
has never felt shorter, and.
25:36
Speaker 1: The potential consequences have never seemed graver.
25:39
Speaker 2: Which leaves us, I think, with the investigation's core unresolved conflict,
25:43
this agonizing, lingering question hanging over it all over the
25:47
Hollywood Hills.
25:49
Speaker 1: With Celestrivus Hernandez's death. Was it some kind of desperate,
25:52
maybe accidental crime of passion that went horribly violently wrong?
25:56
Speaker 2: Or was it something more calculated, a sinister act, tragedy
26:00
hidden for over a year beneath the dazzling, distracting shadows
26:04
of global fame, with the alleged perpetrator potentially writing songs
26:07
about his missing victim the entire time.
26:09
Speaker 1: The LAPD has promised Celeste family they'll leave no stone unturned,
26:13
and the
26:13
Speaker 2: World is watching very very closely for the truth