A judge ruled that the murder case against the singer D4vd will head to trial, following at-times graphic testimony from investigators during a dayslong preliminary hearing in Los Angeles.
D4vd — whose legal name is David Burke — was arrested and charged in April with the murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez following a monthslong investigation. He has pleaded not guilty to charges that include first-degree murder, sexual abuse of a child and unlawful mutilation of human remains.
Prosecutors allege that D4vd and Rivas Hernandez began a sexual relationship in 2023, when he was 18 and she was 13, and that she was threatening to expose their illegal relationship and ruin his career if he would not be exclusive to her.
Just as tickets for his world tour were set to go on sale, it is alleged that the “Romantic Homicide” singer ordered an Uber that brought Rivas Hernandez to his Hollywood Hills home on April 23, 2025, prosecutors said. That was the last time she was seen alive, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors allege that D4vd stabbed the teen multiple times, watching her bleed out, and then undertook a series of events to dismember her body and get rid of evidence. Her badly decomposed remains were found in two body bags in the front trunk of D4vd’s impounded Tesla in September 2025, according to prosecutors. Her passport was found on the side of a rural road in Santa Barbara County in January, authorities said.
Over the course of five days, prosecutors called a dozen witnesses as they set out to establish probable cause that D4vd committed the criminal offenses to move forward with a trial.
The hearing saw graphic testimony from police personnel as they described the scene after responding to the Hollywood tow yard where Rivas Hernandez’s decomposing, dismembered body was found in D4vd’s impounded vehicle. Throughout the Tesla, which had a strong odor emanating from it, were at least 11 air fresheners, a Los Angeles Police Department criminologist testified.
After seeing news coverage of the unidentified body in D4vd’s vehicle, the teen’s father called the LAPD concerned that it was his daughter who was in the trunk, an LAPD detective said. Dental records were provided, and the medical examiner identified the remains on Sept. 16, 2025. The following day, a search warrant was served at D4vd’s residence, according to the detective.
The detective said multiple items — including chainsaws, a mop system, cadaver bags and a blue inflatable pool — were ordered to D4vd’s home under the alias “Travion Davis” days after Rivas Hernandez was last seen alive. Two of the chainsaws were found in D4vd’s garage and tested negative for blood, while a third was not found, the detective said.
A rubber mat on the floor of the garage had multiple cuts and red marks that tested positive for blood, according to a criminalist with the LAPD’s forensic science division who worked on the scene. The DNA profile of the blood matched that of Rivas Hernandez, according to a DNA analyst for the city.
The inflatable pool was found in the garage damaged, with cuts from a blade and pieces missing, according to the criminalist. Blue plastic fragments that were found embedded in Rivas Hernandez’s right knee were determined to be a physical fit with the pool, a criminalist assigned to the LAPD’s trace analysis unit testified.
D4vd’s phone and Tesla traveled to and from Santa Barbara County, to the desolate road where evidence in the case was found, three times — first on the night of April 23, 2025, when prosecutors say Rivas Hernandez was last seen alive, and then two separate times in May, an LAPD detective who specializes in cellphone records testified.
Following D4vd’s arrest in April, the detective said he observed a “Shhh…” tattoo on the singer’s right index finger and a “Celeste” tattoo on his left ring finger. Rivas Hernandez also had a “Shhh…” tattoo on her right index finger and a tattoo of D4vd’s name on her left ring finger, which was missing from her remains, prosecutors said. The Los Angeles County deputy medical examiner testified that the ring and pinky fingers on her left hand had been amputated.
Her body was discovered a day after her 15th birthday, though the teen had been dead for “at least weeks,” possibly since April 2025, the deputy medical examiner testified. The dismemberment was “potentially” consistent with the use of a power tool such as a chainsaw, he said.
Witnesses during the preliminary hearing also included D4vd’s financial manager and a finance employee at Interscope Records, his former record label, who testified about how much the singer was making from his career. His financial manager said Burke generated about $11 million between 2023 and 2025 through merchandise and music publishing advances that came in and he was set to make much more.
An LAPD detective also testified on text messages he said showed a sexual relationship between a then-18-year-old D4vd and then-13-year-old Rivas Hernandez and described a series of explicit photographs recovered from D4vd’s iCloud account and cellphone. A photo shown in court showed Rivas Hernandez with a “David” tattoo on her left ring finger.
The court also saw her last text messages, sent as the teen was in an Uber headed toward D4vd’s home on April 23, 2025, according to the detective. Rivas Hernandez texted that she was “almost there open ur door if u are home,” according to the messages shown in court.
“got uuu,” D4vd reportedly responded.
Rivas Hernandez did not send any messages after that night, according to the detective. D4vd continued to text her, asking where she was, in what prosecutors alleged was part of a plot to cover up her murder. His last message to her was sent on April 26, 2025, according to the detective.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman expressed confidence at the start of the hearing that the office will meet the evidentiary burden of probable cause on the three felony charges.
D4vd has been held on no bail since his arrest. His attorneys have said they plan to “vigorously defend” his innocence.
“The actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez and he was not the cause of her death,” his attorneys — Berk, as well as Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter — said in a statement following D4vd’s arrest.
ABC News’ Vanessa Navarrete, TristanMaglunog and Alex Evans contributed to this report.
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