What Was Happening In Celeste's Home Before D4VD Was Charged?

**Tony Brueski** (0:00)
This is Hidden Killers' half year in review. A look back at some of the most compelling cases of 2026 so far.
This is Hidden Killers Live with Tony Brueski and Robin Drake.

**Tony Brueski** (0:17)
All right, welcome to our Q&A. Monday morning, we're doing it. Robin Drake, retired FBI Special Agent, Chief of the Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program is with us. I'm Tony Brueski. I'm here. We're going to be talking about a couple of different cases today. We're going to start with David and your questions. Please drop them in the comment section on Substack and YouTube and Facebook. We're going to try and get to them as we go through here. It's impossible to look at the tragic fate of 13-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez without feeling a profound sickening sense of systematic and familial failure.
A highly vulnerable girl cried out for help through three separate disappearances in a single year. Yet she was met with absolute silence from the adults tasked with protecting her. Now that her remains have been discovered and an impounded Tesla and a 21-year-old pop star is in handcuffs, the entire world is finally starting to pay attention. So how does a child scream so loudly in plain sight only to be completely ignored until she becomes a horrific true crime spectacle? That's what we are getting into today.
David has a, there's within 24 to 48 hours of the arrest, there's going to be something going on here. He's either gonna be charged today or he's gonna be let loose. Very likely charges are gonna be coming down. So by the time you're watching or reading this, the charges may have already been made. We're gonna assume that they have and discuss the case and your questions. Let's start with our first one. It says, I'm looking at my own kids on their phones and I'm terrified. She was allegedly groomed on Discord back in 2022 right in her own house. How do we even spot this before they walk out the door? And I get it. That's a tough question, especially for parents that have kids that age. I have a daughter exactly that age.
And it's a weird one because they are on their devices. They are doing this. It's not as easy as it used to be where you had like the family computer and you could kind of keep an eye on what they're getting into. They got their own devices. They got this. They got that. They got their own accounts. What do you do? How do you keep track of that stuff? Robin, what's your thoughts on where this case is sitting in our first question there?

**Robin Drake** (2:32)
Yeah, so I'll go with the first question first because this is the one that all of us face every single day with our kids. And it's constantly evolving, but we can keep it really simple. And years ago, I was a board member of the Innocent Lives Foundation. And so we face this every day as we're out there trying to uncover nefarious individuals, trying to groom our children into doing things that are definitely not in their best interests. And so as with whether it's true crime, recruiting spies, or all those skill sets I learned in all these different areas of my life gave me the skill set to be the number one thing that's most important to me and you too, Tony, and as well as everyone in our audience. That is being a parent. Because the number one thing you always want to think of is what am I doing that's going to help or hinder a healthy dialogue and relationship with our children? Because that's the first thing we need to do. We need to have that healthy relationship. So here you are sitting at home, you're thinking, oh my god, this Celeste thing is horrendous. David, this whole thing is horrendous. How do I prevent it? Communication, communication, communication. And then you got to think of what can you do to inspire your kids to want to dialogue with you? Here's the toughest thing ever. You can't judge what's coming out of their mouths. You can't judge the friends. You cannot impose what you think is right or wrong on them yet. You have to discover it. You have to inspire them to want to share it so you can actually work the problem together. That's all life is all about. How do you work these challenges and problems together?
Now, you'll have resistance, you'll have all these things.
But the most important thing always is to be curious, watch for, and here's the major tell always, watch for behavior, pattern, changes. Because the number one thing that groomers do is isolate their prey. They want to get them isolated. I mean, just look at all the cults we cover. What do all these cults do? They isolate, they control, they shame, they use power over them. And so, if you notice a wobble in your children's lives with their communication with you or others or anyone else, that's where you don't overreact. Don't go, oh my god, freak out and judge. And because all you're going to do is isolate them more. They're going to feel more ashamed. You know, you inspire them to share by having them. I remember I had an acronym I used and one of the first one is in it was T.