D4vd to stand trial for alleged murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, judge rules

A judge has decided that the murder case against singer D4vd, who is accused of killing 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, will go to trial after five days of a preliminary hearing that dove into gruesome details of the teen's death.

On Monday, Superior Court of Los Angeles County Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo gave her decision that prosecutors have presented enough probable cause to proceed with a trial. The arraignment hearing was set for Aug. 31.

Over the past several days, prosecutors have called nearly a dozen witnesses to the stand and presented graphic pieces of evidence to build their case against D4vd, whose real name is David Anthony Burke.

During a news conference on Monday, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman called the killing of Rivas "horrific and barbaric" before promising to deliver justice to her family.

"We will eventually prove [Burke's guilt] beyond a reasonable doubt," Hochman said.

During the preliminary hearing, investigators testified about Burke's sexual relationship with Hernandez, blood stains at his home that matched her DNA and details about her autopsy. 

Burke, 21, is charged with first-degree murder with special circumstances, lewd and lascivious acts with an individual under 14 and mutilating a body. The murder charge's special circumstances include lying in wait, committing the crime for financial gain and murdering the witness in an investigation.

Prosecutors argue that Burke and Hernandez were involved in a sexual relationship that began when she was 13 and during the course of it, Hernandez had an abortion. Prosecutors believe Burke allegedly stabbed her "before she ruined his music career" and threatened to expose his criminal conduct.  

Hernandez's remains were discovered in cadaver bags on Sept. 8, 2025, in the front trunk of a Tesla in a Hollywood Tow Yard that was registered to Burke. The medical examiner's office determined that Hernandez was killed by "multiple penetrating wounds," several weeks before her dismembered, decomposing body was found.

Burke has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and his attorneys have denied the allegations.

Hochman said it's yet to be determined whether his office will pursue the death penalty in the case.

Text message arguments in the hours leading up to Rivas' death

Monday's hearing centered around testimony from Los Angeles Police Department Detective Corey Farell, who combed through thousands of text messages between Rivas and Burke between Nov. 2023 and April 23 of 2025, the day the Medical Examiner believed she was stabbed to death.

Farell testified that on April 22, Rivas and Burke engaged in a text argument about another female who formed a friendship with Burke. Rivas told Burke that she no longer wanted to maintain a relationship with him if he continued to see the other female, whose age wasn't specified.

At one point during the argument, Rivas made multiple violent threats toward Burke, Farell testified, and said she was going to tell her father "lies" that would end his music career and damage his life.

The next morning, the pair communicated about Rivas visiting Burke in his Hollywood Hills home later that night. Burke agreed to send an Uber rideshare car to her Inland Empire home around 8:30 p.m.

They continued to talk throughout the day, Farell said, and the argument from the previous day eventually came back up around 5 p.m. 

When Burke asked why he had to show her "everything" he gets, she replied, "Because I had your embryo in me," according to Farell. Previous testimony from last week's hearing claimed that Rivas was pregnant and had an abortion a year earlier.

Rivas' last text message to Burke was sent at about 10:02 p.m., when she told him she had almost arrived at his home, asking him to open his door. At 10:10 p.m., Farell claimed, Burke responded to say the gate was open and his door unlocked. About 20 minutes later, Burke sent another message to her phone claiming that the Uber app said she had arrived, but he asked where she was.

Burke sent several more messages to her throughout the night asking where she was, at one point saying, "Bruh you're scaring me."

Farell said Uber records indicated that her car arrived at the home at 10:10 p.m. Burke's phone and car left his home to go north to Santa Barbara County at about 11:30 p.m., he said. 

During cross-examination, Blair Berk, one of Burke's defense attorneys, asked Ferell whether Rivas, who was 14 at the time of her death, represented her age as 16 at one point and as 18 during 2022 and 2023, and Ferell said she did.

Berk asked Ferell questions about text messages that represented her in a jealous light about Burke's friendship with the other female, and pointed to messages where Rivas threatened physical violence against him.

The attorney also pointed to a lack of evidence that Rivas ever exited the Uber at 10:10 p.m., claiming that no witness could verify and no security video shows where she went. Berk said that investigations concluded Rivas likely died sometime between 10:10 and 10:31 p.m., giving Burke just a 21-minute window to commit the alleged crime.

Medical examiner testifies about autopsy report

LA County Deputy Medical Examiner Dr. Grant Ho said her remains were severely decomposed, and certain evidence to help determine how long she was dead was not available.

Ho testified that Hernandez's remains were dismembered in one place and her lower extremities were dismembered in two places. He also said that two of her fingers were dismembered and that he believed that both of her legs had been amputated by a power tool.

Ho said the autopsy revealed two penetrating wounds, one to the chest and another to the abdomen. Ho said her cause of death was by "multiple penetrating wounds."

During cross-examination, the defense asked Ho if he had any conversations with detectives or criminalists prior to the autopsy. Ho responded no.

LAPD officer details finding her remains

On the first day of the preliminary hearing, Joshua Byers, an LAPD detective, talked about discovering Hernandez's remains at the Hollywood Tow Yard on Sept. 8, 2025.

Byers said he responded to the scene for a death investigation of a potential body that was found inside a car.

When he arrived, Byers said, there was a foul odor coming from the front trunk of a Tesla that was later determined to be registered to Burke.

He said he opened the front trunk of the car and found a partially opened black body bag with the torso and head inside. Byers said he found her limbs in another plastic trash bag.

During Byers' testimony, prosecutors displayed graphic photo evidence of Hernandez's remains.

Byers said there was quite a bit of decomposition, and he could not make out facial features. Investigators said they used dental records to identify Rivas' remains.

D4vd murder case

Prosecutors argue that Burke murdered Hernandez after she threatened to expose their relationship and derail his music career.

According to court documents, the DA's office argues that Burke arranged a ride-share to bring the 14-year-old to his Hollywood Hills home on April 23, 2025, before he allegedly stabbed her.

They also allege that he tried to cover his tracks by buying items under a fake name to dispose of her body, including a shovel, body bag, heavy-duty laundry bags, two chainsaws, a blue inflatable pool and a burn cage. They believed that he texted and called her as if she were still alive.

Investigators have testified that blood stains in the front trunk of Burke's Tesla, a black rubber mat from his garage, a Tesla charger and a rowing machine found at his Hollywood Hills home were all consistent with a DNA profile of Hernandez.

Investigators also found traces of blood on a blue inflatable pool that prosecutors believe was used to dismember Hernandez's body. They confirmed that blue plastic fragments found on Hernandez's remains match the inflatable pool found in Burke's garage.