Rob Reiner Son's Alarming Court Appearance, “Burn Cage” Found in D4vd’s Home, and Hope for JonBenét Case

26:09What direction would you take it? I would want to talk to him. I'd want to talk to my client about what was going on in his mind at that time. I would try to really establish what he was thinking. I would try to create a timeline about his mental health also. Was he self-medicating? You know, is that what happened? To try to negate intent, because this is really going to come down to whether or not he had criminal intent and what his reasons were for trying to brutally kill his parents. And I would really focus on that because this is not, this isn't a shooting. You know, the goal was not just to kill someone.

26:43This was an act, a very violent act. And that to me signifies that there's something going on. I would hire the best experts that I could to do full analysis of everything going on mentally with him, you know, get all of the records, get all of his history and make sure that I fully understood his mental capacity. Well, this particular DA's office in Los Angeles is no stranger to this Menendez defense, if that's the way it's going, because they've, of course, recently just been through it with the actual Menendez. So they certainly know what they're doing. And, of course, this is one that we're going to be watching very closely here at MK True Crime.

27:23So stick with us because we'll be in it probably for the duration. Now, coming up next, after the break, we have a listener request for updates on the JonBenet Ramsey case. Ashley and Dave, I know you guys remember her. Here's a little fun fact, maybe not so fun. JonBenet Ramsey's grave is very close to where Ashley's office is and where my office is in Cobb County, Georgia. And I don't know, Ashley, if you've ever been out there, but do you remember back in the, I guess, aftermath of her murder? They actually put listening devices in the trees that are near her grave out there because they were thinking maybe someone would come and make some incriminating statements.

28:06But here we are in 2025, and there's still been no killer announced. But we may have some different news on that. We'll discuss that coming up after the break. Also, we have update on singer David D4VD, as I call him. there is a new allegation that he was in possession, or at least in his home, there was an industrial incinerator located capable of reaching temperatures of over 1 ,600 degrees Fahrenheit. So stick around. We'll get into that after the break. I've been talking a lot about Riverbend Ranch because I love their steaks. Well, this holiday season, express your love with a very special gift of premium steaks from Riverbend Ranch.

28:53They have spectacular beef bundles that are wonderful gifts to friends and family. Their prime rib roast and holiday bundles are only available while supplies last, and they're going fast. For the last 35 years, Riverbend Ranch has been creating an elite Angus herd by using ultrasound technology to identify genetically superior cattle with a focus on flavor and tenderness. All Riverbend Ranch cattle are born and raised in the USA. They never use growth hormones or antibiotics, and the beef is processed right at the ranch in their award-winning USDA-inspected processing facility. Avoid the costly middlemen, because the beef is sent directly from Riverbend Ranch to your home.

29:31This is not your average Black Angus beef. Order from RiverbendRanch.com. Use the promo code MEGAN for$20 off your first order, and let me know what you think. That's RiverbendRanch.com, promo code MEGAN. Welcome back to MK True Crime. I'm Phil Holloway. I'm here with my co-hosts Ashley Merchant and Dave Ehrenberg, and we have been following here at MK True Crime the case of Singer David out in California. We've been following this since September, and to be honest with you guys, the case gets more and more disturbing. By way of a reminder, the badly decomposed remains of 14-year-old victim, Celeste Rivas Hernandez, were found in the trunk of David's Tesla back in September.

30:17The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating the case, as we understand it, as a homicide. They have confirmed that David is being seriously considered as a suspect, but no one has yet been charged with anything, not with destroying the remains, not with hiding evidence, or certainly not even a murder. Allegedly, there is an investigative grand jury that's hearing evidence, which in and of itself is very peculiar. But now in the case, we're told there are multiple witnesses that are close to David that are cooperating. They're testifying to this grand jury. And now, guys, we have a private investigator claiming that he found this industrial burn cage inside David's rental home.

30:59As I said, the reports are that this item, available, I guess you can buy it online, but it's capable of reaching temperatures of close to 1 ,600 degrees Fahrenheit, more than enough to incinerate human remains. Of course, the remains were located, but still, this is a very, very bizarre and peculiar turn of events. Dave Ehrenberg, you're the prosecutor. Do you do something with this evidence? Yes. In fact, it was not subject to the search warrant. So it's not being used, apparently, in front of this grand jury. And the only answer to that as to why not is because apparently it was discovered by a private investigator.

31:41And perhaps the authorities did not learn of this. What is this thing called? A burn pit or something? What is this? Yeah, it's a burn cage. It says professional power done right DR burn cage. I mean, my gosh, I don't know where you get one of those. if it comes on Amazon Prime, but that is ridiculous. There's only really one reason why someone who's suspected of killing an underage girl who is found in his trunk would use that for. It's like a scene from Ozark. So that, to me, is real evidence. That's circumstantial evidence, but it's real evidence, and perhaps the only reason why it has not been used, allegedly, is because prosecutors and law enforcement didn't know about it until now.

32:23Hey, look, you can't, don't, don't, look, don't, don't bad mouth anything about Ozark because yours truly was in season three, episode one as an extra at the poker table. Check it out. First of all, I love the show. It's one of my favorite shows of all time. It's why I never do business with the Mexican cartel. And secondly, Oh, that's the only reason? That's a lot of reasons. Standards. Right. Exactly. But Phil, I'm sorry, but can you at least tell us what you were doing as an extra? I was a high roller at the poker table, season three, episode one. Check it out. I didn't say a word because then they would have had to pay me more and put me in the Screen Actors Guild.

33:02But anyway, a story for another time. Ashley, this incinerator reportedly was still boxed and unused, and it was discovered inside the residence on Doheny Street by someone named Steve Fisher, who was hired to comb through the$20 ,000 a month pad by the owner of that rental property. What do you make of it? So if I'm the defense lawyer helping David, I'm gonna come up with a really good reason that he's got a burn cage. There better be a really good reason because that is an odd thing to have. I mean, you better be doing some neighborhood cremation of animals for a charity or something. I mean, there better be some really good reason.

33:42This isn't like a burn pit where you're in your backyard and you're just doing a fire pit, burning up some leaves. I mean, this is literally a device to cremate remains. And that's what this device is. It's insane to me that it's even sold like this. I mean, what do you need a burn cage for other than maybe trash? But I would want to have some really solid reasons. Again, the police aren't using it, but it might come up later on. And so you want to have some good reason why this man has a burn cage. And the thing about this case is that his music, his actions, they're just strange. And nobody can really piece it together.

34:17I would imagine that's why the police are taking so long. They're trying to put these little tiny odd things together and they don't have any smoking gun. You know, they don't have anything like that, but they've got a lot of really bizarre things that he's been doing, really bizarre things he's singing about, things that are bizarre in his house. And so I think they're just trying to put all of these little pieces together before they make an arrest. Well, our intrepid producer, Natasha, has researched this issue and she informs me that Standard human cremation requires a temperature of at least 1 ,400 degrees.

34:49And of course, this is apparently more powerful than that. Of note, these incinerators are illegal to use in L.A. David, by the way, being the most searched person on Google of 2025, Dave Ehrenberg, I thought it was going to be you, but you didn't make it. It was David. No, no, it was David. They just didn't put my last name in. Right, okay. Also, I don't spell it with like a four. I need to start doing that, putting numbers on my name. So, but yes, I have to admit, I had not heard of David before all of this. And I think one of the reasons why he was most searched is because you have a lot of people like us who are trying to figure out who this guy is, as opposed to like Taylor Swift, who everyone knows.

35:33Yeah. 100%. I think I contributed to that Google search because my kids immediately know, oh, yeah, of course I know who that is. And they knew all the stuff, but they learned it on TikTok. So if we're not on TikTok, we don't know who he is and we don't know all this stuff. And so we're all contributing to this Google search. Well, look, it's going to be interesting. This is another one that we've been following here. We're going to continue to follow it here on the show moving into the new year. This case is going somewhere. I think there's going to be charges. I thought, honestly, there would have been some charges by now because somebody destroyed that body.

36:07It was literally dismembered and found in this Tesla. Somebody did that, and that's a crime. I think cops at least have some idea who that person was that did, or persons maybe that did that. And of course, there's the other issue of this illicit relationship, allegedly, between David and the underage victim. Now, there's going to be an electronic trail. We've talked about that on the show as well before. I think that all that stuff is going to lead to some kind of criminal charges, maybe even a murder indictment, and if so, we'll have it for you here straight away at MK True Crime. Now, I want to turn our attention to JonBenet Ramsey.

36:47Now, this is a case that goes back 29 years, all the way back to December 26, whatever 29 years ago is. And this was, for those of you who don't know, this comes by the way, this is a listener suggestion from listener Melissa. We really do read the emails that you send us, mktruecrimeatdevilmaycaremedia.com. And Melissa has asked us to cover this show. She says, love the show. You're all so brilliant. Love hearing the perspectives with the legal analysis on a variety of cases. Very well done. I wonder what the status of the case for JonBenet Ramsey is. All right. So Ashley, can you give us sort of the Reader's Digest version on what this case is about and what happened?

37:34Yeah, definitely. So, you know, this young girl, she was killed when she was six years old, she was strangled. And so they found her, they knew what happened. And for a long time, they thought that her parents had done it. And then they looked at different family members, friends. I mean, they really had just about everybody as a suspect. And they narrowed all of those people down and they were all cleared. Their names were cleared. I think there was always been a lot of suspicion about that. But what I think is really interesting right now is they're using new DNA technology to try to solve this case.

38:01And we're going to see this a lot more because DNA is just evolving every day. I don't know if a lot of people have followed it, but after 9-11, they really established this new type of DNA technology where they were able to get DNA, and it's not necessarily what I would consider blood, semen, or saliva. So the standard old-school DNA is always blood, semen, or saliva, you know, a fluid. Now we've got DNA where it's touch DNA. Essentially, you're touching something and your DNA is on it. We also have more procedures that are called amplification, where you're able to actually extract. So let's say you've got four different people's DNA on an object.

38:36You're able to actually extract one profile so that you can try to match it to something else. So now take that a step further. And now we have all these people going into these genealogy databases. And that's where they're trying to take this case. They're trying to really use those genealogy databases, you know, where you take that swab, you get it for Christmas. Some people may have it under their tree. 23andMe, I don't even know if they're still in business, but Ancestry, all these places that have their DNA, you know, that is contributing to this. And so they're really hoping that some of the advances in the DNA, particularly with genealogy, is going to at least narrow down to a family member maybe so that they can narrow down some suspects and keep the case alive.

39:13Dave, I want to get your thoughts on this annual update from Boulder Police Department. So let's go ahead and hear SOT2, and then we'll ask Dave about it. This case remains a top priority for our department. This past year, our detectives have conducted several new interviews, as well as re-interviewed individuals based on tips that we've received. We've also collected new evidence and tested and retested other pieces of evidence to generate new leads. Techniques and technology constantly evolve. This is especially true with technology related to DNA testing. Detectives continue to consult with outside experts from across the country, as well as our state and federal partners to strategize and explore all options when it comes to evidence testing.

40:03All right, Dave. So there you have it. That's the update. They say that they have new interviews and they have re-interviews. If you're the prosecutor out there, and I know it's not the same guy as it was back when this happened, but if you're the prosecutor that inherits this still unsolved cold case, is that how you would proceed or is there anything else you would do? Are they doing it the right way. Ashley hit upon it. The new technology is genetic genealogy. It's what helped catch Brian Koberger. Brian Koberger's relative was found through one of these 23andMe databases as a match. And then that's how they traced it to Brian Koberger.

40:40We don't know who the relative is. In fact, this whole area is shrouded in secrecy. And why? Because it relies on all of us who enter into these databases voluntarily. And the thinking is, if people thought, hey, if I check the box that said, sure, I'll be in a public database, then I'll get hassled by cops who are investigating a murder out there. And maybe the real murder will blame it on me because it's my DNA that's found when it's really his. So that's a thing that police are intentionally trying to be vague on this. They're talking about new technologies. The fear is that enough people know about it that they'll click no.

41:21They do not want to be entered into the database. But now you have all these databases out there, all these companies who do it. And so it is now a real chance that we could find a match that didn't exist before. Also, because what Ashley said, you don't need all the stuff you needed before. You just need the touch DNA and you need a relative. So in the year 2025, maybe there's hope that we can finally catch the real killer here. And as Ashley said, it is not the parents. I know they still are under suspicion. The mother passed away years ago, but they've been drawn through the mud. It was not the parents.

41:55No, and I don't think it's the father either. In fact, we've got SOT3. If we can go ahead and roll that. This is Father John Ramsey saying that he's advocating for this DNA evidence to be investigated by Othram Labs. Othram is one of the few cutting-edge labs that can do investigative genetic genealogy, IgG is the term for it. And we've been advocating that the Boulder Police do that, use that technology in our case. I think if they do, we've got a probably have 70, 80 % chance of getting an answer. It's been very successful in solving old cold cases. It's kind of the latest and greatest use of technology and DNA to solve crimes.

42:46You know, Mr. Ramsey there, he's not wrong. Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to interview here on this show. We did a special episode. I interviewed one of the owners of Othram Labs, And I encourage folks to go back and take a look and a listen to that interview because this is really great technology. I think it's very promising. And this very well could be what gets us to some answer as to what happened in this case 29 years ago with the death of JonBenet Ramsey. All right. Stay tuned. Coming up, we have our closing arguments right after the break. There are a lot of politicians that should be getting coal in their stocking for Christmas, but Birch Gold thinks as a smart planner, you deserve silver.

43:33That's why for every$5 ,000 you purchase between now and December 22nd, Birch Gold will send you an ounce of silver, which is up over 60 % this year. See, smart people diversify and have a hedge. That's why you should consider Birch Gold. With the rate cuts from the Fed in 2026, the dollar could be worth less. And what happens if the AI bubble bursts? Consider letting Birch Gold Group help you convert an existing IRA or 401k into a tax-sheltered IRA in physical gold. And for every$5 ,000 you buy, you will get an ounce of silver for you or your kids. Just text MK to the number 989898 to claim your eligibility for this offer.

44:10Again, text MK to 989898 because Birch Gold's free silver with qualifying purchase promotion ends on December 22nd. Message and data rates may apply. Welcome back to MK True Crime. I'm Phil Holloway, joined by my fellow contributors, Ashley Merchant and Dave Ehrenberg. And if you can believe it, guys, it's time for our last closing argument of 2025 here on the show. But first, did you know that you can now listen to MK True Crime on the Megan Kelly channel, Sirius XM channel 111? This is part of our Megan's podcast playlist. MK True Crime will air Tuesdays at 10 a.m. and Saturdays at 9 a.m. and 10 a.m.

44:55Eastern Standard Time on Sirius XM Channel 111. All right, Ashley, we'll continue with the theme of Ladies First. If you're ready, we'd love to hear what your closing is for today, the last one of the year. I know, last one of the year, so it's got to be epic. Normally, I don't really rant. I do more of a lecture-type style. but today I'm going to rant a little bit. So earlier this week, we got to see Fannie Willis. We got to see her testify finally in front of the Senate, a committee that I testified in front of, I don't know, 18 months ago, immediately. And I want to just kind of walk you through a little bit of the differences first, and then mention a couple of things and sort of respond to them.

45:35So first, it took the Senate, what, 18 months for her to actually sit her butt in that chair and answer questions. When they gave me a subpoena, I said, when do you need me? It is a public service. You want to hear from me? I've got nothing to hide. That's the first thing. When she testified, she definitely leveled her rage. I read that quote somewhere and I said, that is appropriate. She leveled her rage. But I wonder why act like that? If you've got nothing to hide, if you're not upset about what you've done, if you are beyond reproach, why act like that? Why show such anger? But the other thing that I really wanted to talk about, it's just, you know, I was sitting in my chair as I watched it and I was kind of like wanting to scream, you know, oh, wait, that's wrong.

46:16If you go back and you watch your testimony and it's out there, you can find it. The Georgia General Assembly live streamed it. You can go watch it. One of the things that was asked was if she had had conversations before she took office, if she had done certain things before she took office on the Trump election interference case, the Georgia election interference case, Her response, kind of insane, that it's a dumbass question. So a state senator is asking her a question, calm, respectful, asking her a question in a public, in the state capitol under the Georgia Gold Dome, asking her a question about if she had taken action before she took office or had conversations about this case.

46:57She says, that's a dumbass question. And she says, it's factually impossible. I'm literally screaming, where's my indictment? Because you know what? My indictment, where my client was charged, says he was charged with racketeering conspiracy. And guess what the date that that racketeering conspiracy started? November 4th, 2020. Guess when Ms. Willis took office? January 1st, 2021. So I don't really know if Senator Dolezal is the dumbass or who's the dumbass. But if you had looked at the indictment, you would clearly see that you yourself, Miss Willis, had alleged that this crime started to occur before you took office.

47:36So there's my rant. I hope everybody has a great holiday and a happy new year. All right. So there it is. We end 2026 with Ashley Merchant posing the question, who is the dumbass? All right, Dave, your turn, buddy. What's on your mind today? What's your final closing argument to close out the year? Well, thank you, Phil. And thank you, Ashley. I really enjoyed being partnered up with you guys here on True Crime. And when it comes to the last couple of weeks, it's been a gut punch because we've seen such violence, such tragedy. We saw it at Brown University, where they still haven't caught the killer.

48:14We saw it at Bondi Beach in Australia where 15 innocent Jews were slaughtered by jihadists. We saw it with Rob Reiner and his wife who were murdered by their own son. But just when you thought there was no hope for humanity, we see heroes. People like Ahmed Al Ahmed. He's a 44-year-old Syrian-Australian Muslim shop owner, father of two, who disarmed one of the terrorists and got shot for it, became a hero, probably saving countless lives. Just contrast him with the radical Islamists who were trying to murder Jews in the name of ISIS. And we also saw when it came to Rob Reiner's tragic murder, we saw that there were people on the right who spoke up.

49:09And yes, I was very disappointed even by President Trump's standards that he said the things he did about Rob Reiner. He should have let that go. But I was heartened by James Woods, who I often disagree with politically. And he said this in an emotional talk on Fox News, said that because you disagree with people doesn't mean you have to hate people. He called Reiner a godsend and a great patriot, noting that they both loved the same country but had a different path to the same destination. Rob Schneider, formerly of Saturday Night Live, who has expressed a lot of very conservative views and gotten in trouble for it, he said this.

49:54I really admire Rob Reiner and ask that everybody will be able to put aside our political affiliations and opinions and enjoy somebody for their true talents. We have to agree to disagree and also agree that we can condemn a horrible, horrible tragedy. We've done it and asked for it in the past. We can do it ourselves here today. Remember, it's Rob Reiner who condemned the murder of Charlie Kirk. And so I'm looking at the best of humanity. People on both sides of the aisle can come together and say, no, we must move out of this time of despair, of senseless violence. And in this, our final episode of the year in the midst of Hanukkah and shortly before families around the world will celebrate Christmas, this positivity is what I like to focus on.

50:39It's the hope that during these times of trolling and swatting and contrived consternation that we light candles during Hanukkah and are taught that darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can. So my wish for all of us here at MK True Crime is that we all become the light in the lives of others. Never lose faith that the power to heal this world is within us all. All right. You know, look, so one of the things I really love about this show, like in the closing arguments, we never know what anybody is going to say. It's completely up to the individual co-host or contributor. And so this is a perfect example of three people, three contributors doing this show.

51:26And we have three different directions that we go in because I'm going to talk to you a little bit about the phenomenon known as stealth jurors. And the reason I want to talk about stealth jurors is because here at MK True Crime, among some other exciting changes that we'll talk more about later here on the channel and on the show, we're going to be covering more trials. And we're going to be focusing in depth on some of these high-profile trials. Stealth jurors are people who intentionally conceal their biases, their prejudice, or their personal agendas during the jury selection process because they're trying to get on a jury.

52:06That jury selection, of course, known as, as we actually say in the South, we call it voir dire, Dave may call it voir dire, but it's the time when the lawyers and sometimes judges get to question jurors, and sometimes they're dishonest, and they do this just so they can get seated on a jury and influence the outcome of a trial. So they oftentimes, they will lie. They will misrepresent what their views are, what their opinions are. They will misrepresent whatever conflict of interest they may have. They try to appear neutral, and they try to fly under the radar so that they can get put on this jury with some agenda.

52:44We've seen some examples of this, of course, in history. We have some allegations, for example, from the Scott Peterson trial years ago out in California. but you know what they do they'll hide their opinions they'll hide their personal connections they will hide motives a lot of times they might want to say write a book or they seek their 15 minutes of fame doing news interviews following whatever the verdict may be in these high profile trials so stealth jurors they're a real problem they're a serious problem they undermine the fundamental right to a fair and honest impartial jury as guaranteed by law to every person accused of a crime in the United States.

53:27They taint deliberations. They lead to biased and wrong verdicts. They hung juries, they hang juries, and they misrepresent themselves to result in mistrials and wrongful convictions or wrongful acquittals. Their presence in the jury box erodes public trust in the justice system, and it leads to unjust outcomes, regardless of whatever the evidence is that's presented in the case. So detecting them is challenging, but it's crucial. It requires lawyers to ask probing questions, good questions designed to look for nonverbal clues, inconsistencies in their responses, and they oftentimes have to resort to post-trial revelations to see if this has happened, because these people can be prosecuted for lying during the jury selection process.

54:16That's it. That's my rant. That's my close for 2025. First, though, I want to say thank you to all of you who are our audience. You make this show what it is, whether you watch on YouTube, whether you listen on Sirius, or you listen on podcast. Thank you. And thank you to my fellow contributors today, Ashley Merchant and Dave Ehrenberg. This has been a great year, and we have some very exciting things coming up in store for 2026. More on that, So stay tuned. But until then, I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays, and of course, Happy New Year from us at MK True Crime.