MINI TRUE CRIME ROUNDUP: World Cup sex trafficking, D4VD in court, Salman Rushdie's attacker and more

For years, Gone South has been a podcast about crime in the American South, but for our new season, we're widening the lens. Through deeply reported narrative-driven stories, we're digging into the myths, scandals, and power structures that still shape the South, and in a lot of ways, the country itself. Follow and listen to Gone South Season 5, an Odyssey podcast, available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your shows. This is a true crime roundup from the On Deadline podcast. We explore crime stories reported on by Odyssey's radio newsrooms across the country. I'm your host, Lauren Barry. This week we have updates on major cases from coast to coast. These include human trafficking cases linked to the World Cup, the David Murder Case in California, a nurse who's serving prison time for killing her patients, the trial for author Salman Rushdie's attacker, a Catholic priest scandal, and more. First, we have two reports about human trafficking linked to the 2026 World Cup that wrapped up last weekend with Spain winning the global championship. It was held over five and a half weeks across North America. including at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. That's where the final game between Spain and Argentina was held. Here's Odyssey Station 10-10 wins in New York City with one of those human trafficking reports. Relief among dozens of kidnapped victims of a human trafficking ring which operated in the shadow of the World Cup. Investigators have been eyeing the suspects for months leading up to the games and in the aftermath, close to 100 people fell victim. 43 of them right here in the city. Seven of them juveniles. Gary Marcus is the commanding officer of the special victims unit. Says they had to go door to door, leaving their calling card with these folks. We actually knocked on their doors and made sure that one, they were in compliance with the terms of their release. But secondarily, we wanted to make sure that they knew that the NYPD was watching. And so as a result of that, you know, one of the metrics that we'll never be able to quantify is the victims that never were. And that might be the most important number that we ever talk about. The rescued victims are now in the care of the NYPD's gender-based violence police and planning unit, which provides social services now to the victims, including food, housing, as well as counseling. And here's another report from Odyssey Station, KYW News Radio in Philadelphia. Law enforcement officials in New Jersey say their efforts to combat human trafficking during the World Cup resulted in dozens of arrests. The details from KW South Jersey reporter, Mike Doherty. For police throughout New Jersey, one of the big victories in this World Cup is the fact that hundreds of thousands of fans enjoyed matches safely and without any major incidents.

New Jersey Assistant Attorney General Catherine Callie says one of the top priorities for police heading into the World Cup was combating human trafficking, and they are especially proud of these efforts. Work that connected over 97 victim survivors with critical resources and services to rebuild their lives. and work that resulted in 71 related arrests. The AG's office also announced the arrest and multiple charges filed against 26-year-old Tamir Brown-Miller of Philadelphia and Desire Smith of Collingswood for allegedly sex trafficking a minor in Cherry Hill, Atlantic City, and Pennsylvania last year. At the South Jersey Bureau, Mike Dardy, KYW News Radio, 103, 139 FM. Then in Minneapolis, WCCO News Talk reported on a man facing murder charges this week. Sigab Benesu is now facing three counts of murder in the second degree. He was tracked by St. Louis County deputies in the Iron Range City of Virginia early this morning. He's believed to be connected to the killings of three employees of a Highland Park apartment complex who were found dead Monday inside the leasing office. The Ramsey County Medical Examiner's office has identified the victims as 25-year-old Nancy Zambrano, 56-year-old Dina Silcox, and 43-year-old Adam Wilwarding. No details of the investigation. have been released. Taylor Rivera, News Talk 830 WCCO. I'm Tobin Heath, and I'm Kristen Press. We're World Cup champions, Olympians, and the host of the recap show. Week in and week out, we sit down with sports legends, cultural icons, and global change makers to talk everything from clutch games to causes that matter. This is about creating the future of women's sports, a future that's honest, inclusive, and real. Join us for our reimagined journey. Follow and listen to the Recap Show wherever you get your podcasts. Another man facing murder charges is 21-year-old billboard charting musician David Burke, who goes by the name David, stylized as D4VD. He was in court this week. Burke is accused of killing 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez and of sexually abusing the young teen. ABC news correspondent Alex Stone reported from the courtroom this week. He said the first day of the preliminary hearings was about laying out the case, including crime scene photos. Details that have already come out in the hearings include the fact that the Tesla where Rivas Hernandez's body was found had nearly a dozen air fresheners in it. In the gallery of the courtroom, Instagram influencers watched the proceedings.

As for Burke, Stone said he didn't show much emotion, though he occasionally smiled. Dana Wright, Scott Parks, and Sam Stevie III from the Dana and Parks Show out of Odyssey Station, KNBZ, in Kansas City, discussed the case this week. Singer David was back in court today for a multi-day hearing to decide whether there is enough evidence to put him... But there is! Whether there is enough evidence to put him on trial in the killing and dismemberment of a 14-year-old girl that authorities said had threatened to expose their relationship, David, whose legal name is David Burke, entered the criminal justice center in shackles and in an orange jumpsuit. The judge denied a request to unshackle him, saying that the handcuffs would be removed while Burke was at the table, but his legs would remain shackled. Prosecutors have said the evidence will show that Burke, who is now 21, brought Celeste Hernandez to the Hollywood Hills house that he was running, stab her, and then cut apart her body. Because I don't think there are certain things we should read about this, but I know how to very concisely tell you the evidence they have against him, which is beyond damning. They have proof that he ordered her an Uber from his account. He ordered an Uber to Uber her from her family home. At some point in April, to his Hollywood Hills home. That's number one. The next day after the Uber, he then went online and ordered a shovel and had it delivered via postmates. Then he went online and ordered two chainsaws. Okay, now we're getting bad. Then he went online. All this having ordered it to his home. a large blue tub body bags. That's not good. And all of this is connected to his accounts. And don't forget the commercial incinerator. I mean, Scott. That's bad. His Uber. Now, I'm sure what he's going to say, well, wasn't me. I wasn't even there. That was my assistant. He could make that argument. I don't think it's believable, but he could make the argument. Who postmates a shovel to their house? How many people were living in his home? Did he have like a little posse? I have no idea. I have no idea. Entourage is probably better. I mean, because if so, he could try to pay. You don't have to prove that you're innocent. You just have to cast enough doubt on the prosecutor's case where one juror says, well. I don't know, man. I mean, stranger things have happened, Casey Anthony, O.J. Simpson. I mean, people have walked free. When you think to yourself, there's no way. I mean, this evidence that you've just outlined Dana, you're right, is beyond damning. Beyond damning. It is. It is beyond damning. I can't believe they're going to ask a judge with a straight face. What do you think? Enough evidence here? I'm going to go with yes. And what they haven't said is where's the Tesla evidence? Where's the Tesla evidence showing who and at what time did she end up in that car? And if it was tampered with, that would be a separate charge. But even if Sam, it's tampered with, it lives somewhere. Let me give an example. Today I got into my car and it said one event. And I was just curious. I clicked on it.

and it was someone in the house just shimmying past my car to get to their car. At your house? At my house? It captures all of it. And I didn't even delete it. I just said, oh, that's funny. You know, ha-ha. Well, someone you knew. Yeah, I took a screenshot and went L-O-L. I see you. It captures everything. There is no way something of this magnitude happened, and it's not in some cloud somewhere. Is it stored to the cloud? Well, hang on just a second. Can you disable the cameras on your car? Um, hmm. And if so, would it not date stamp when that disconnection occurred? It would. But I think those things are always recording. I think it's like your cell phone. It's always listening. But all he would have to do, David, I can't believe I'm playing defense lawyer here. And this might be, you know, kind of a shot in the dark, is find out when or if those cameras were disabled. Because you would think if the prosecutors had all this other damning evidence, they would also say, oh, and we also have video from the Tesla of David putting the body in the trunk. Right? Yes. And they didn't say that as far as we know. What they're going to have is his cell phone, the metadata from his cell phone showing that he's there. What I'm saying is if they had that evidence, why would they not have presented it? Because I think legally they would have to at a preliminary hearing because the defense does have the right to know what you have against their client. So if we haven't heard about any sort of video from the Tesla, that would indicate to me, and maybe I'm just spitball in here. that the cameras were disabled. If so, when were they disabled? And was he in California or was he on tour somewhere? Because he did perform in Kansas City after she was killed before he was arrested. His cell phone is going to be what's damning here. By the way, dashboard and century mode videos by default are not stored in Tesla's cloud. Hmm. They are saved locally on a USB flash drive. Which can be destroyed, am I correct? That is correct. Hmm. Okay. If you knew that, I'm certain it's not still in the car. He is currently held without bail. Not surprising. Mm-hmm. The defendant and the victim knew each other for several years. Okay. One of his charges is also relations with a child. By the way, I saw that today. How do you prove it? It is murder, first degree. It is abandonment, dismemberment with cruel and unusual circumstances or something, and then also... their equivalent of relations with an underage person. How do you prove that? And I'm asking out of ignorance, are there photos that he shared with them together? Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure. His cell phone's going to end up, you know this. It's all going to be in the cell phone. Being his demise. Yes.

I'm Anna Garcia, host of True Crime News, the podcast. Every week we bring you in-depth coverage on cases making headlines, as well as those that go under the radar. Tune in for murders that defy explanation, mystery seeking exploration, and shocking secrets that will leave you breathless. Each week, we honor the victims by going beyond the salacious in our search for justice. Crime never stops, and neither do we. Listen to True Crime News available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Back in 2024, Nurse Heather Presidy was sentenced to life in prison in the Butler County State Courthouse near Pittsburgh. After admitting to intentionally injecting nearly two dozen patients with excessive doses of insulin. At the time, the Guardian noted that the case highlighted how vulnerable patients can be in health care settings. This week, former law enforcement officer Bob Gavin, an advocate for people in these settings, joined Marty Griffin of Odyssey Station KDKA Radio in Pittsburgh to discuss the Presby case and more. You have these nurses out there, literally killing patients. The one case with a nurse, how many did she kill? 16, 17? Well, it's up 23. They nailed her for 17. All in Pennsylvania. All in Pennsylvania. Finally caught, finally admitted it, kind of acted as if they were mercy killing. She was doing it to be kind. She's a serial killer. And Bob, she popped around to like 10 different facilities and no one gave a dam, right? It was six and 11 years, six different facilities. Yes, sir. Absolutely. Why? How's that happen? How's a woman able to kill 23 people and no one seems to care? What I told you the very first time three years ago when you posed that question, the system fails. The system does not work. The ironic part is with all these investigation agencies and oversight and all that. that the 11 referrals that we sent to the district attorney's office. Yes. The two just came up down at Swickley Hospital. Yep. And all 17 of the women that were talking about, they would not have happened, if not an employee, would have stepped forth and said, this is wrong. I'm going to report it. And there's been tons of retaliation against people who have done it. The lady that we had a few months ago with the assaults in the green tree place, the guy reported that, as he should, the staff members is required by law, suspect abuse. They cut his hours down at the point he had to go get another job. Heather Presdy killed, and no one noticed. Hell, no one noticed. A nurse, another nurse, saw something that didn't make sense. She's suspect wrongdoing. Suspect wrongdoing is the key.

And she reported it to the proper agencies. She was consistently disciplined for abusive behavior and improper practices, repeatedly able to resign or find new employment before red flags caught up with her. How about that? Text messages revealed she complained about patients being burdensome and intentionally overdosed them out of belief that they'd be better off dead. Hey, six facilities. Jesus. Hey, the nurse at the Sewickley Hospital. There were two dead people. He was still on the damn job, Bob, right? Right? He's a drug addict, right? Yeah, and one of the whistleblowers was his own wife. Right on. This has been going on for years. They kept him on the job, Bob. He has still a license. He hasn't been charged with a crime. And as a Monday, his license was still active. He could go to another facility today and be hired. How many cases have nothing to stop it? How many cases have you brought to the DA's office here? And by the ways, the palace people have been wonderful. Absolutely excellent. Like I said, now we're up to 11 from the one we just submitted last month. And again, we go back to our thing. Hold on. Patrick has a question, but I don't know if we're set up to hold on. Hold on. I'll put you on. He'll pick you up on that line. Then Patrick will ask you the question. We cool? Go ahead, Patrick. Jump in here. Yeah, Bob, there's a question. Is it the system or is it these facilities skirting the system? That's the problem. It's a combination of both. There's a lot of politics involved. But here's the thing, the override thing. When under the law, employees are obligated to report suspect abuse, either criminally or regulatory. That's the law. Why don't they do it? They're afraid of retaliation. They need their job. And the amazing part about that is there is an overwhelming belief in all the cases we've dealt with, including this new one down swiftly, is the fact... They are more worried about the bad, the person reporting the bad than the bad being reported. Bad publicity is their biggest enemy. Wow. You're not going to go to that facility. If you have somebody in that facility and you get this bad press, you're going to remove them. What happens? Less money. Your administrator making $300,000 a year. You're not going to have your job if you're not bringing in the money. blatantly cash corruption man that's so hard to hear brother well these retaliation cases of lawsuits and thank god people uh i told you i talked about three weeks ago to one of the directors of dhs that their referrals from nursing homes are up 36% in the last in the last six months and they accredit a lot of it to your program that people are becoming aware But the key point to protect themselves, these people need to do, is they need to file it using their name. Oh. Because once you file it, you're protected. Oh. If it's anonymous, there's very little they can do. Wow. A case from around two years before Presid's sentencing saw a development this week.

The Hadimatar attack on Indian author Salman Rushdie. Now, after Rushdie's well-known work, the satanic verses was published, Iran's former supreme leader issued a fatwa in 1989. That fatwa ordered Muslims to kill the author over the book, which referenced the Quran and Islamic faith. Matar allegedly attempted to carry out the fatwa in 2022 in the name of terrorist organization Hisbola, when he stabbed Rushdie during an event at the Chautauqua Institution in New York State. While Rushdie survived the attempt, he did sustain serious injuries, including lasting damage to one eye. Now Matar is on trial in federal court. Attorney John Elmore joined Odyssey Station W-B-E-N News Talk in Buffalo this week to discuss the case. The trial that we're seeing right now, Hadi Matar, was found guilty in state court for attempted murder, but he's on trial now in federal court. How do these terrorism charges differ from what he was already charged with, what he was already found guilty of? Sure. When he was found guilty in Chautau County, he was found guilty of murder, and that's just the intentional killing of another person. Here, he's charged with providing material support for a foreign terrorist organization, and he committed a act of terrorism on their behalf. So it's not just a murder case, but it's a murder to show that it's part of an international, he's part of an international organization or he did it on behalf of an international organization. And he provided material support for them. So the motive for the killing, according to the government, was to fulfill. of fatwa in 1999. It's a religious ruling because there was a book that was considered to be blasphist blasphemy by certain Islamic groups, particularly led by the Ayatollah Khomeini. which is a Hezbollah militant group in Iran. Ruski wrote this book that was considered to be blasphemous. And as a result, he ordered a fat quat. And that's like ordering a hit, an international hit. And so the government's theory is Hadi Matar.

was following orders and provided material support to a foreign terrorist organization, which would be Hezbollah, in committing this murder. John, if I can just ask you for a second here, do you find similarities at all between this case and the case of the Topps mass shooter because both are facing terrorism charges? Now, in this case with Hadi Matar, Rushdie didn't die, but he was severely injured. We know 10 people were killed as the result of the tops mass shooter, but both are facing a terrorism charge. Yeah, and there are some similarities because both were found guilty in state court. Jundran pled guilty, and he was sentenced to life without parole. Matar was sentenced to 25. Both murders were ideological. Again, Matar was the Fakwa and the allegations against Jendra was that he was radicalized by social media, that he wanted to start a war. He believed in the acceleration theory and wanted to eliminate African Americans for that purpose. There's some similarities. The main difference is that Peyton Jendran is facing the death penalty. And he's, Matar is, he could be released after 25 years, but Jendrin. pled guilty in state court without the possibility of parole. So he's going to serve life without in prison and never be released. So that's a difference. In both cases here, federal prosecutors are tasked with doing something that I feel like didn't really have to happen in the state trial, which was looking at the action. And, you know, both we can look at. what happened to Rushdie, we can look at what happened in Topsin. I mean, it's clear and obvious what happened there. Now you move this over to federal court, and in both this Matar trial and in what we'll see in the Gendron trial, prosecutors have to now start to argue intent, emotive, and these things that are probably a little bit more difficult to convey to a jury. Well, I would say in the Matar case, listening to the opening statement of the lawyer, he says the intent is a big issue. You know, was Matar just following a religious order and killing one individual? And is that an act of terrorism? They may try to convince a jury that this wasn't.

This wasn't, you know, the bombing of the World Trade Center. And that's an act of terrorism. This is just one person and he did it because of his religion. And that's a concept that the jury is going to have to wrestle with and make a determination. In the Jenron case, again, he has been sentenced to life without parole. The biggest difference is that the jury in the Jenron case is going to have to determine whether or not life is the appropriate sentence or whether death is the appropriate sentence. The prosecution is going to have to convince 12 jurors that death is the appropriate sentence. And if one believes that life without parole is the appropriate sentence, then that's what's going to happen. In the Matar case, the judge is going to do the sentencing. In the Jundran case, a jury is going to determine sentencing. If it's death, and if it's not death, agreed by all 12 juries, then the judge would sentence gender into life without the possibility of parole. When are we looking for the Gendron trial to start right now? Well, they have a long process in picking a jury. It's probably going to be taking a couple of months. They've all received. very, very lengthy questionnaires. There's a process where a number have already been eliminated based upon the answers of their questionnaires, proving, I guess, that they couldn't be fair and impartial. But after the jury is picked, sometime this fall, late this fall, there'll be a jury that will last for a long time. There'll be two trials. One will be the guilt phase. And then if he is found guilty of capital murder, then there'll be a second phase where evidence will be presented from the defense about Jennings' background, about the reasons that he committed this crime, any mental defects that he has, his family upbrings, and things like that, offered in a way not to excuse the murder, but to convince a jury that. death is the inappropriate sentence and that life without the possibility of parole would be the correct sentence. But they're both highly publicized and it's a sad day in America when anybody is murdered, when anybody takes a life of another person.

He was placed on administratively in 2019 and getting paid all this time and no attention being paid to what's going on with him in his mental state. But now there's a big call for the diocese to release his secret files. This is canon code. What would be possibly in those files that everyone's calling on the diocese and Michael Fisher to release? Well, probably one of the first things, first of all, he would have his seminary evaluations. He'd have psychological evaluations from his time in the seminary. We know that the era in which he was formed at Christ the King's Seminary was rife with a subculture, I think, that permitted him to act out against other seminarians. He was... He was overseen by Father Joseph Gatto, who's now on leave, a couple of times disgraced, but yet he has still been able to serve. So the earliest files from seminarian noox interactions with the diocese would be in those files. And then more recently, any complaints that were made by those seminarians that he assaulted, should be in those files, any kind of treatment notes, if he was sent for treatment anywhere, those evaluations. Bishop Fisher, I spoke to him on Ash Wednesday, actually had a nice conversation with him when I was in town. And he said then that they can't release any kind of treatment files because it's governed by HIPAA laws, which is a convenient fig leaf for the good bishop. But those treatment evaluations, if he had any kind of evaluation done after he was put on leave, that paper trail is in his file. It is discoverable. And I think it could be subpoenaed in discovery. The diocese releasing a statement saying that they learned of the horrific allegations at the same time the general public learned of them. But it seems like that from what we heard yesterday in this news conference that a lot of people don't necessarily believe that sort of events. I don't want to speculate about that because I think that the arrest probably did come out of the blue. You know, the police, the feds would not be tipping their hand to the bishop, even under the best of circumstances. If the diocese has had a clean record and cooperative in the past, even then, those, you know, the police law enforcement would not be... keeping them in the loop. So I do believe that's probably true that they may have only found out about the horrendous extent of this child pornography that Father Nook was involved with. Yet, they certainly knew all kinds of things about him prior to that, that should have really precipitated greater supervision.

and greater sanctions than what he had faced. Do you think with continued pressure, the bishop will consider releasing these? It would take a court order, and I certainly hope it gets to that point. But look at all of the pressure that we've been putting on three bishops now in the last eight or so years. that really doesn't seem to have changed the culture. There are many good priests in the Diocese of Buffalo. I know many good priests. But there is a culture, a smugness about their, I think, secret lifestyles. As a gay man, I don't want to... cast aspersions on anyone's orientation, but there's a subculture that gives culture to crime, that there's all of these secrets and blackmail going on among the clergy of the Diocese of Buffalo, that should they find out that one of their confreras is committing a crime, I don't think that they would tell. Thank you so much for listening to this True Crime Roundup from the On Deadline podcast. This episode was written and produced by me, Lauren Barry. Special thanks to 10-10 wins in New York, WCCO News and Talk in the Twin Cities, KYW News Radio in Philadelphia, the Dana and Parks Show out of KMBZ in Kansas City, Marty Griffin out of KDKA Radio in Pittsburgh, a new morning out of WBEN News and Talk in Buffalo, and the Dave Glover show out of KMOX in St. Louis. You can find these programs on the Odyssey app, or wherever you find your podcasts. You can find these True Crime Roundups by subscribing to the On Deadline podcast, the Who Killed Strawberry podcast, or the Bitter Academia podcast, on the Odyssey app, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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