A Body in the Trunk | Pathology with Dr. Priya - A Zone 7 Series:

Zone 7 with Sheryl McCollum

iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline

True Crime

4.4 • 696 Ratings

🗓️ 22 September 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week on Pathology with Dr. Priya, a Zone 7 series, Dr. Priya Banerjee and Sheryl McCollum walk through a case that’s captured national attention—the discovery of a missing teenager’s body in the trunk of a car linked to a rising music star.

From decomposition and dismemberment, to teeth, tattoos, and tech, Dr. Priya breaks down how identification works when the body is severely compromised. Together, she and Sheryl discuss the forensic challenges, legal red flags, and the many unanswered questions that still surround the case.

Highlights

(0:00) Sheryl McCollum and Dr. Priya focus the week’s episode on the discovery of a young girl's body in the trunk of a famous musician’s car
(4:45) How decomposition and dismemberment alter a body, and the tools pathologists use to uncover the truth
(11:00) Tattoos, teeth, and tech come into play as investigators work to identify the victim and interpret the meaning behind the song “Romantic Homicide”
(15:30) Dating a minor: red flags, blurred boundaries, and the legal realities behind grooming and consent
(16:45) “I got a beater car, and if it ain’t in my driveway, I’m going to call somebody.” Why the car wasn't reported stolen and what that might suggest about ownership and intent
(17:45) How anthropology and toxicology provide answers when traditional autopsy results fall short
(24:30) Looking at the bigger picture: survival, exploitation, and the forensic clues left behind in both bones and behaviors

About the Hosts

Dr. Priya Banerjee is a board-certified forensic pathologist with extensive experience in death investigation, clinical forensics, and courtroom testimony. A graduate of Johns Hopkins, she served for over a decade as Rhode Island’s state medical examiner and now runs a private forensic pathology practice. Her work includes military deaths, NSA cases, and high-profile investigations. Dr. Priya has also been featured as a forensic expert on platforms such as CrimeOnline and Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. She is a dedicated educator, animal lover, and proud mom.

Website: anchorforensicpathology.com
Twitter/X: @Autopsy_MD

Sheryl McCollum is an Emmy Award–winning CSI, a writer for CrimeOnline, and the Forensic and Crime Scene Expert for Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. She works as a CSI for a metro Atlanta Police Department and is the co-author of the textbook Cold Case: Pathways to Justice. Sheryl is also the founder and director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute (CCIRI), a nationally recognized nonprofit that brings together universities, law enforcement, and experts to help solve unsolved homicides, missing persons cases, and kidnappings.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter/X: @149zone7
Facebook: @sheryl.mccollum
Instagram: @officialzone7podcast

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is an I-Heart podcast.
0:12.2	Welcome to Pathology with Dr. Priya.
0:15.4	Doctor, how are you?
0:17.4	I'm great.
0:18.4	I'm still rolling off the high of PrimeCon and being in Denver, but I'm back in business.
0:22.6	Okay. Well, honey, that's easy to roll on with, isn't it? I tell you. It is. It was contagious in a good way.
0:29.6	In a great way. Well, I want to talk to you about a 15-year-old runaway that's been found in the trunk of a car of a singer that goes by David.
0:42.0	Yeah, I'm just learning about this case, but there's a lot of sort of peripheral interest.
0:48.0	My phone keeps blowing up, so I had to look into it.
0:51.3	Well, you know, the singer's name is David Anthony Burke. He's got 33 million listeners.
0:59.2	He's on a world tour, but he's got a little situation. He might have a lot more world of trouble.
1:08.5	Now, we have to, I'm going to preface this. I'm not a lawyer, you're not a lawyer.
1:13.1	Everybody is innocent until proven guilty. You know, there are multiple variables. There's
1:18.4	no way that we're saying or I'm not saying that he is absolutely associated with leading to the
1:25.3	girl's death or disappearance or anything to her, okay?
1:28.4	But his car is.
1:29.8	His car absolutely is, and I think time will tell what else may be.
1:35.1	So if you and I were working this together,
1:38.5	here's the things I would want to personally talk to you about.
1:42.7	I would want to know, does this victim have certain jewelry,
1:47.6	tattoos, what's the clothing situation, all the things we talked about in a previous episode.
1:54.1	Yeah, and that's what we talked about them. I think that set like a good precedent to discuss a
	...

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