Singer D4vd Named as Grand Jury ‘target’

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0:38Shaun Kent:Hello and welcome back to Fame Under Fire from BBC Sounds with me, Anushka Matanda-Dowatin. I just want to say that this episode might not be for everybody. We are going to be discussing the apparent murder. I'm saying apparent because we don't have all the details of Celeste Rivers-Hernandez, who was a child when she died. the details are graphic and some listeners might find them upsetting so you can head to halfway through the episode for our analysis or we have an Epstein fact or fiction on a question about Michael Jackson, Madeleine McCann and Epstein that we're doing later in the pod. But we're going to start with this unfolding case in LA.

1:11Shaun Kent:Some of you would have heard of it, some of you will have no idea what I'm talking about so I'm going to walk it all the way back to the beginning. On the 24th of May 2024 a 13 year old girl is reported missing by her family who live in Lake Elsinore, that's a city in California. The last known sighting of her, according to a missing person flyer cited by CBS News, was in April 2024. Her name is Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Now, it's not the first time she'd gone missing. The LA Times reported that the Riverside County Sheriff's Office said that she was reported missing three times before she went missing again in April.

1:45Shaun Kent:Over a year later, on the 27th of August 2025, a Tesla parked in the Hollywood Hills caught the eye of a parking enforcement officer. It had overstayed the three-day parking limit there. The officer gave it a ticket on the 3rd of September and it was then towed to a local lot two days later. I'm going to read directly from the court documents now but I want to reiterate the warning because it contains graphic detail that some of you might find upsetting. So it says on September 8th 2025 at approximately 10 30 hours LAPD detectives received a phone call from the manager of Hollywood Area Official Police Garage.

2:20The

2:20Shaun Kent:manager stated a black Tesla Model X had been impounded as an abandoned vehicle by the Department of Transportation on September 5th, 2025. The manager told police there was a strong smell of decay coming from the vehicle, which was attracting flies. LAPD detectives responded to the Hollywood Tow Yard to investigate. Detectives approached the vehicle, which was parked on the upper deck of the impound lot and immediately noticed a smell of decaying biological material consistent with the decomposing corpse coming from the front storage compartment of the vehicle. Detectives obtained a search warrant for the vehicle and when the front storage compartment was opened, detectives observed a black cadaver bag covered with insects and a strong odour of decay.

3:02Shaun Kent:Utilising black latex gloves, detectives partially unzipped the bag and observed a decomposed head and torso. Investigators and criminalists from the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiners responded to the tow yard to process the decomposed body. Upon removing the cadaver bag from the front storage compartment, it was discovered the arms and legs had been severed from the body. A second black bag was discovered underneath the cadaver bag. Upon opening the second bag, the dismembered body parts were discovered. So that is directly what it says in the court documents. On the 16th of September, the police confirmed that the body was that of Celeste Rivas Hernandez.

3:41Shaun Kent:Her body was discovered a day before what would have been her 15th birthday. Authorities say because of the level of decay, it appeared she had been dead for a few weeks. Now, family friends say that Celeste was a studious, hard worker and intelligent, that she was always so quiet, shy and just a sweet child. But the question everybody has is what happened to Celeste?

4:04D4VD:And now some breaking news on a major story that we've been following. We have just learned the identity of a teen found dead inside of the trunk of a Tesla registered to the singer David. Investigators now say that the victim, Celeste Rivas, reported as a runaway last year, had not been seen since. Eyewitness News reporter Sophie Flay live now in the Hollywood Hills where the car was abandoned. Sophie. Mark, a devastating discovery. And that singer David has been performing on tour throughout this investigation. Law enforcement told us previously that he was cooperating. And in fact, David was supposed to perform tonight in Seattle, but it appears that that show has since been cancelled.

4:41Shaun Kent:Now, most of you will know David's music. It found fame on TikTok. On Spotify, he has amassed 33 million monthly listeners. His YouTube views are in the hundreds of millions. He's collaborated with Carly Uches and 21 Savage and toured with SZA. On the 17th of September, the police searched his home in the Hollywood Hills. Then the story just caught fire online. Videos popped up that appeared to show him and Celeste together. Then this song was leaked online of him appearing to sing an original unreleased song called Celeste. Some lyrics, oh Celeste, the girl with my name tattooed on her chest.

5:18Shaun Kent:Smell her on my clothes like cigarettes. Photos also emerged of him and Celeste with a matching tattoo of the word shh on their fingers. But then in November, Los Angeles police got a judge to prevent the chief medical examiner from releasing the findings of the autopsy and no cause of death has been revealed. The internet has claimed to have solved the case. They are pointing the finger firmly at David. Yet six months on, there are still no arrests, no charges, no indictment. Now we of course reached out to David's manager and lawyers for a comment and we haven't heard back yet. He has not publicly commented on the case, but his representatives previously said he was cooperating with police.

5:59Shaun Kent:We also reached out to the LAPD for a comment and we haven't heard back from them either. The world wants to know what happened to that little girl and why does it feel like the case has stalled? Then last week we got our first real update. Joining me now to go through it all is our resident trial attorney, Sean Kent. Hi, Sean. Hey, Anushka. How are you doing? I'm good. I mean, I know we've spoken about this before, but of course, this is a difficult topic and it's very graphic. And I want to keep reminding the listeners that you can go halfway through and listen to our Epstein Fact or Fiction if this isn't for you.

6:31Shaun Kent:But I've just done an explainer of the case, walked through what's happened. Sean, as I mentioned, the cause of death in this case has been sealed and we've had little detail about what's actually going on. But then David's dad, D for VID, the singer, he filed some papers in Texas that were arguing against a court summons. And from this, we got to see some more detail. Number one, we can see that a grand jury has been convened and that they have summoned his family to testify. Sean, can you just remind everybody what a grand jury is?

7:02Anoushka:So what ended up happening is family got a subpoena. A subpoena basically says you must come forth. You must show up. You must either bring your documents or you must bring yourself to testify. A grand jury is an investigative body, if you will, from the area where the crime is supposedly occurred. And so what the grand jury does is they vote. They look at all the information. They look at all evidence. They listen to potential witnesses. And they make a decision whether or not you should be charged and indicted with a crime. So you technically have been charged, but the grand jury makes the decision whether or not that crime should go forth a little bit further.

7:42Anoushka:And so once these people have gotten a subpoena, our grand jury has said, or the California grand jury has said, y 'all need to show up and testify, ask questions, so we can try to figure out if the case against David should go further, if David is who we're looking at. And now that we know from looking at some of the documentation, he's what's called a target, which means he knows he is being looked at. And the grand jury is trying to make a decision if he should be indicted.

8:07Shaun Kent:Right, exactly. So in the papers, we can see from what his dad's filed that David is being referred to as, quote, the target. Now, is that normal phraseology? And should we glean from that that charges are coming or does that happen and then it doesn't amount to anything anyway?

8:23Anoushka:Generally, it doesn't happen that way. Now, usually it happens with the federal government. And we represent a lot of people in Nushka who get what's called a target letter. A target letter generally says the federal government is investigating you for a potential crime. We are looking into you. You should take this letter, find an attorney, come and contact us so we can look into whether or not we should charge you or not. And that's what a target means. It means we're looking at you. We're investigating you. We're probably going to charge you. We're not positive yet. It gives you an opportunity to come sit down, tell your side of the story, negotiate sometimes and try to get and find a lesser charge.

9:01Anoushka:On the state system, it's exceedingly rare to get a target letter to say that somebody is being looked at. But he has, according to the documentation that we've read, because I think the background is his family got a subpoena. They said they didn't want to go. They appealed it. And when it got appealed, a lot of the documentation got leaked to news media sources because things are required to be filed. after they were filed, we see that he is a target of investigation and they're trying to bring his family in to give information so they can make a decision whether or not they can indict.

9:35Shaun Kent:That's absolutely right. His mom, his dad and his sister were subpoenaed, asked to come and testify in front of the grand jury. And the argument put forward by David's dad for why they won't is that there's been a violation of his due process rights because certain details of the case were redacted and he filed a writ. Oh God, I think I'm going to get this wrong. A writ under habeas corpus, that is legalese to the max, Sean. Can you just break down what that actually means?

9:59Anoushka:All right. So we got to break it down and start from what we said at the beginning. First, they were subpoenaed. A subpoena is a command from a court to show up. You must come. You must come forth and you must testify. They filed, through his attorneys, filed a writ of habeas corpus. Habeas corpus is a fancy Latin phrase that just means you have the body. Usually what ends up happening is after somebody is convicted of a crime and they think they were unlawfully or unjustified when they're in their conviction, they file a habeas corpus petition saying that I am being unlawfully detained. And so the court must look to that.

10:39Anoushka:Same logic. What's going on with David's family. You are making me show up. So my habeas corpus says you want to have my body. Remember the phrase, you have my body. You're making me come to California from Texas. That is impermissible. You should not have the right to bring me over to California on your subpoena to just look at information on my son. I don't want to have to come. And so they first basically filed, and you can file two things here initially. You can file a motion to quash the subpoena. What that means is I ain't coming. It's a California subpoena. I live in Texas. It's too expensive.

11:16Anoushka:I don't want to go. I'm not going. That's something that someone can file. In this situation, they have filed a writ of habeas corpus saying, you would unlawfully detain me. You bringing me here has violated my due process because I don't know what I am coming for, which handily is not the best of arguments. And that's why two courts, two separate courts said, uh-uh, you've been subpoenaed. Go testify in front of the grand jury.

11:40Shaun Kent:And what exactly is due process rights? Is that where you get all the information?

11:46Anoushka:Well, as an American, you have due process. You have a right to challenge. You have, you know, under amendments of the Constitution, you cannot just go, we want to force you to do something. As an American, we always say we have the right to challenge unconstitutional searches, stops, arrest, captures. Habeas corpus means the same. You have a right to due process. You have a right to challenge. And that's what he's saying. He's like, this subpoena violates my right to due process. It violates my right to challenge. I should not be forced to testify in front of somebody because I simply don't want to.

12:21Anoushka:And the court said, that's not what that means. That's not what our due process rights would mean. It would be different if you were David, who was looking at some type of criminal liability. Under that situation, you can say, I should not be allowed or be forced to testify against myself. but you, sir, are a family member. You are a potential witness. You might have information that we need to know to justify, satisfy, and help with a conviction or potentially solve a crime. And so that's what he's saying. He's, I mean, and I don't want to talk down anyone. It's an inartful argument to try to get away from a subpoena.

12:59Anoushka:And as you can see, two separate courts said it's not going to work. Your due process has not been violated. You've simply been asked to go to California and testify. And as a matter of fact, if I'm not mistaken, one of David's dearest friends, I think his name was Neo, also got a subpoena. He tried to avoid the subpoena and he got arrested. And that's what the court said. It's like, look, you cannot avoid subpoenas. We've sent this properly, proper subpoena. There's not a constitutional right to avoid legal process. And that's what the court said.

13:29Shaun Kent:So gathering from that, if David had made the argument, it would have stuck a little better than his dad making it.

13:35Anoushka:Absolutely. Because if you think about it, in our Constitution, you are not allowed or you are not required to self-incriminate yourself. So you can't bring somebody in and say, David said, we want you to testify in front of the grand jury and tell us everything you've done. Well, David has a constitutional right. We hear it all the time. You have a right to remain silent. So you cannot force him to get in front of a grand jury and say, tell us what happened. You can't force him to do that. He doesn't have to say anything. So he would have a due process right. But as far as a regular witness, they just don't.

14:02Anoushka:And just because they are his family members, there are no privilege to family members. Privileges, Anushka, that do exist. Like there is a attorney-client privilege. There is a spousal privilege that you cannot be forced to testify against your wife. Your lawyer cannot be forced to testify against you. These are privileges that we have in the law. There is not a privilege that exists between a person's mother, their father, their best friend, their neighbor. There are no privileges in that situation. So yes, they can be forced to come and testify if called by a grand jury or any investigative body.

14:37Shaun Kent:And I want to say it's not a foregone conclusion that charges are coming against David. Nobody has been charged in this case. And right now he's an innocent man, innocent until proven guilty. I mean, that is the standard. You've said being referred to as the target could indicate that something is coming. But right now we just don't know. And a lot of that centers around, I don't want to say the mystery of the case, because that makes it sound like this is some narrative. It's completely uncomfortable that we have no details here. And I know the family have spoken out and called for more transparency.

15:09Shaun Kent:The sealing of the medical records, the sealing of the cause of death has been a key point of tension. Why would you seal that?

15:16Anoushka:I'm glad you brought that up because sometimes in these murder investigations, there turns to be a lot of confusion. And so if I can try to break this down a little bit to make it easier, when you're dealing with a medical examiner or a coroner, there are two things that we have to determine. We have to determine cause of death and manner of death. Now, those are the first things someone has to make a determination. The cause of death is the why, okay, or the what, if you will. It's gunshot, heart attack, like what caused the death that led to a series of information or a series of things that ended up happening.

15:52Anoushka:For example, if someone is driving down the interstate or driving down the road, they have a heart attack, and then they go off the side of the road and their car crashes and it blows up. The cause of death is the heart attack. The next thing the medical examiner must determine is the manner of death, Anushka. And when you're talking about manner of death, there are five things. There's accident. There is suicide. There is natural consequences. There is, make sure I get the right, there is homicide. Did I get the right? Accident, natural, suicide. Oh, and undetermined, meaning they can't make a determination as to what has happened.

16:29Anoushka:So when a medical examiner is figuring out, they must figure out, after they figure out the cause, then they must figure out the manner. All homicide means is the death was caused at the hands of another person. That's all homicide means. People get confused and think every homicide is a murder. No. Homicide is a medical determination. Murder is a legal determination. The reason I bring all this up is in this situation, and I'm not saying I know, but I've seen situations before, and based upon these facts, this could happen that the medical examiner could not determine the cause of death or the manner of death.

17:07Anoushka:And under that situation, they cannot say that it is a homicide. And if you cannot determine it's a homicide, it would then be hard to charge someone with murder. And I understand as we look at it, somebody would say the following. Why would somebody, just candidly, why would somebody on their own put their own body in a trunk? Somebody would have had to put their body in the trunk so it would have had to be a murder. That is the easy way to explain it, but it's not because the medical examiner must still determine, as we mentioned, cause and manner. Remember, this body was found detain in a trunk for quite some time, and you might have a situation where the medical examiner is like, I don't know the cause of death.

17:46Anoushka:And I hate to say it, this could be an example. You could have a situation, as we mentioned, that someone died of a heart attack, went off the side of a road, and then somebody dismembered their body. The dismemberment of the body did not cause the death and is not the manner of the death. It's something that happened thereafter. And so what you have is possibly a medical examiner. And this is just thought process. We've had these cases before. A medical examiner saying, I want to release that I don't know the cause of death, or the cause of death is undetermined, or this individual died by these means, or I can't determine the cause.

18:23Anoushka:Well, if they release that, you know who is not going to start cooperating? David. If David knows that the medical examiner, and I'm not saying he did anything, he's innocent until proven guilty. And when I say David, I mean in the pejorative, like as the accused or the target. If a target knows they can't determine the cause of death, they can't determine the manner of death, I'm not cooperating whatsoever. And from my reading, my understanding, he has been very cooperative. And so it might be that the LA department is saying, don't release the cause and manner of death because if whoever did it knows, then they're going to be less likely to cooperate.

18:59Anoushka:I'm sorry, that's a long winded answer, but sometimes people get confused on cause and manner of death and think that every death is a murder and it's not. Yeah.

19:06Shaun Kent:It's really good to break that down actually, because some of the quotes that came out first where we don't necessarily know if a charge could be coming for the concealment of the body, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the act of murder was committed. So there's lots of levels to this. I just want to ask you this, though. There have been accusations online that the reason no charges have come, we're six months on now since her body was discovered, is because the case has been mishandled. Should we really be reading into the length of time it's taking to get a charge and saying, well, this definitely means that the case has been mishandled, it's not working, they've done something wrong?

19:40Shaun Kent:Or does that happen a lot? Does it mean something else?