A judge ruled Monday that there is enough evidence to put singer D4vd on trial in the killing of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
The 21-year-old singer, whose real name is David Burke, has been charged with murder in the killing of Rivas Hernandez, whose decomposed body was found in the trunk of a Tesla registered to him last year.
Burke has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 and unlawful mutilation of human remains in April and is being held without bond ahead of his trial.
Los Angeles Judge Charlaine Olmedo decided that evidence presented during a preliminary hearing provided probable cause for a trial on those charges.
“It appears to me, for the purposes of preliminary hearing, the people have met their burden of proof on all charges,” Olmedo ruled. “I order that Mr. Burke be held to answer.”
Burke’s re-arraignment has been set for Aug. 31.
Details presented over the five-day preliminary hearing included autopsy photos, explicit descriptions and depictions of sexual abuse and the final texts Rivas Hernandez sent before she died.
Authorities allege that Rivas Hernandez had threatened to expose their relationship and ruin the singer’s career just days before his debut album dropped.
“i will end ur career and ur life,” she allegedly told him in a text message the night before her death, which was revealed during the preliminary hearing.
Prosecutors argued that the evidence was overwhelming.
“Based on the mountains of evidence presented,” Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman said, “all of the allegations have been proved way beyond the standard required.”
“We have a minor who was sexually abused for many, many months. She was groomed.… She was being gaslit,” Silverman continued. “The defendant was telling her over and over again that this was sex she asked for, and he just went along with her. This is very obvious grooming. We have a young victim who really doesn’t know what is in store for her.”
Silverman also said some of the messages between Burke and Rivas Hernandez included discussions of pregnancy.
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“She wanted to have a future, and yet she had enough maturity to indicate to this adult that she was clearly head over heels in love with that she wanted more for herself than hanging out and having sex,” Silverman added.
The defence argued that the evidence didn’t show the kind of malice that was required for murder.
“There’s no evidence that Mr. Burke harboured a deliberate intent to kill Miss Hernandez,” said Burke’s lawyer, Marilyn Bednarski.
She said the communications between Burke and Rivas Hernandez showed “no threat, no evidence of a history of violence” and that he had “the opposite of homicidal malice” toward her.
Silverman told the judge that “the defence tried numerous times throughout these proceedings to dirty up the victim” despite her being a child.
“During the five-day preliminary hearing, prosecutors laid out the framework of their case against Burke. A dozen witnesses were called by the prosecution to describe key evidence that proves the defendant killed Celeste,” a press release from the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office said after the ruling.
The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office said Burke invited Rivas Hernandez to his home in the Hollywood Hills on April 23, 2025.
“She arrived at the defendant’s house and was never seen again,” the press release added. “The following day, the defendant is accused of ordering a shovel that was delivered to his home. Over the next several days, Burke, using an alias, allegedly ordered three chainsaws, a body bag and a blue inflatable pool.”
“Prosecutors allege that Burke fatally stabbed Celeste, then placed her body in the inflatable pool and used a chainsaw to dismember her. Testimony showed that blood matching the victim’s DNA profile was found in the defendant’s garage,” the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office said.
On Sept. 8, 2025, Rivas Hernandez’s decomposed and dismembered remains were found in the front trunk of a Tesla registered to Burke that had been impounded after the vehicle was reported abandoned, according to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office.
“Burke had a lucrative career as a singer and songwriter and text messages between the defendant and Celeste in the days and hours leading up to her murder showed that the victim threatened to expose Burke and destroy his career,” prosecutors said.
Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman said outside court that prosecutors presented only a “small fraction” of the evidence they have.
“Today I am here to announce that Judge Charlaine Olmedo held David Anthony Burke, who goes by the name of singer D4vd, to answer for the horrific and barbaric killing of a 14-year-old at the time, Celeste Rivas Hernandez. She has held him to answer for first-degree murder with the special circumstances of lying in wait, doing this crime for financial gain and murdering a witness to an investigation,” Hochman told reporters.
Hochman said Burke has also been held to answer for the mutilation of the remains of Rivas Hernandez on Sept. 8, 2025.
Hochman said the evidence presented “followed the timeline of the interactions between Celeste Rivas Hernandez when she started as a 12-year-old, then a 13-year-old, then a 14-year-old who never got to see her 15th birthday.”
“What now happens is that there will be information that will be filed within the next week or so. That information will track these three felony counts that have already appeared in the complaint. Aug. 31 will be the arraignment on that information. Thereafter, there will be a trial that will be set. That trial can be set as early as 60 days,” Hochman explained.
Hochman also noted that Burke is “eligible for the death penalty.”
“The death penalty considerations are now being weighed. Part of that consideration will be any submission that the defence wants to submit to the District Attorney’s Office. It is something that we will consider on whether or not we will seek the death penalty,” Hochman added.
“At this point, the death penalty determination has not been made.”
After the ruling, Patrick Steinfeld, the lawyer representing Rivas Hernandez’s parents, said the family was “horrified that the defence attorneys brought up evidence to put the blame on a 14-year-old girl.”
“The family’s relieved that it’s done with,” Steinfeld told reporters outside the preliminary hearing. “They’re going to take a break and they appreciate the hard work the district attorney’s office has done, as well as the investigation by LAPD investigators.”
— with files from The Associated Press
