LOS ANGELES — Singer D4vd was back in court Tuesday for a multi-day hearing to decide 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.
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D4vd, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke, entered the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in shackles and an orange jumpsuit. The judge denied a request to unshackle him completely, saying that the handcuffs would be removed while Burke was at the table but his legs would remain shackled under the table.
Prosecutors have said the evidence will show that Burke, 21, brought Celeste Rivas Hernandez to the Hollywood Hills house he was renting, stabbed her multiple times, then cut apart her body in his garage using chain saws.
The preliminary hearing is expected to last about four days and will look much like an abbreviated trial. There is no jury. Judge Charlaine Olmedo will decide whether the prosecution offered enough evidence to demonstrate probable cause to proceed to trial.
The hearing will resemble a mini trial
It will be the first public presentation of evidence against Burke, who was arrested in April and pleaded not guilty to murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 and unlawful mutilation of human remains. His attorney, Blair Berk, has said Burke is not responsible for Rivas Hernandez’s death.
The defendant, who has been held without bail in a jail near the courthouse since his arrest, will appear in court in his jail clothes, after the judge rejected a request that he be able to wear a suit as is usually allowed at a jury trial. No cameras will be allowed in the courtroom.
Soon after his arrest, prosecutors filed a memo, which the defense unsuccessfully tried to have sealed, outlining what their evidence would show at this hearing.
The defendant and the victim had known each other several years
A sheriff’s deputy was the first witness called and testified that in February 2024, he was sent to Burke’s home for a welfare check to see whether Rivas Hernandez was there. At the time, she had been reported missing.
The deputy said the home was searched, and all he remembers finding was Hello Kitty stuff.
A court filing said Burke met Rivas Hernandez when she was 11, began sexually abusing her when she was 13 and he was 18, and killed her when she threatened to report him.
She was reported missing multiple times in the years before her death, and prosecutors said they have evidence she was with Burke for long stretches, including a trip to Texas where she met his family.
A portrait of the late Celeste Rivas Hernandez on display during a press briefing in Los Angeles in Apr.Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images
Detectives had contacted him about her, but authorities say he lied and said he had only met her once and didn’t know she was a minor. Prosecutors said they have sexual text messages and photos the two exchanged.
A court filing said he sent a car to pick her up on the night of April 23, 2025, from her hometown of Lake Elsinore, California, some 80 miles outside of Los Angeles. The two exchanged messages until she arrived at his Hollywood home, after which her phone went dead.
“Knowing he had to silence the victim before she ruined his music career as she had threatened, very soon after her arrival at his home, defendant stabbed the victim to death multiple times and stood by while she bled out,” the document said.
Prosecutors say they have evidence linking Burke to girl’s death
Prosecutors said they have records showing Burke ordered chain saws and wading pools that he used to dismember her body in his garage, and that her DNA was found there on blood stains discovered when police served a search warrant.
They said he then drove around for months with the body in the trunk. About four months after her death, her decomposing body was found in the Tesla registered to Burke that had been towed from the Hollywood Hills in September.
Prosecutors said the car was parked around the corner from his house, and surveillance video will show he was the last person to drive it.
At Tuesday’s hearing, a detective with the Los Angeles Police Department described finding the teen’s remains in trash bags in the trunk. Rivas Hernandez’s mother wiped away tears during the detective’s testimony.
It’s not entirely clear why it took seven more months to arrest Burke — though uncooperative witnesses had to be subpoenaed and the final autopsy report showing she was stabbed was not released until December.
The defense has not publicly provided its version of events.
Preliminary hearings like this one serve a similar function to that of grand jury proceedings. Prosecutors generally present only as much evidence as they think they need to, and witnesses are kept to a minimum — mostly police and other investigators. For defense attorneys, it can provide ways to explore potential weaknesses in witness testimony that they can exploit at a trial.
D4vd had budding music career
D4vd began making music for YouTube videos he created of the video game Fortnite when he was a teenager.
The songs he wrote and recorded on his phone were a blend of indie rock, R&B and lo-fi pop. The music made him a phenomenon on TikTok, Instagram, SoundCloud and Spotify, where his top songs, including his 2022 breakthrough “Romantic Homicide,” have more than a billion plays. In 2023, he released two EPs and opened for SZA on tour.
He performed at last year’s Coachella music festival just a few weeks before prosecutors said Rivas Hernandez was killed, and his album was released. Five months later, he was on tour promoting it when the body was discovered.
