Judge hearing evidence against singer D4vd in killing, dismemberment of teen; will decide on trial
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Prosecutors on Tuesday showed a body camera video with singer D4vd telling sheriff's deputies who were investigating a missing person's report that he had only met then-13-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez once in person, and he did not know she was a minor.
“She told me she was 18,” the singer said in the video from February 2024. “Everybody’s telling me she was 13.”
Prosecutors allege that D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, who was 18 at the time, had already been having a sexual relationship with the girl for several months, and that 14 months later, he stabbed her to death after she threatened to expose the relationship and ruin his career.
The video was shown on the first day of a hearing in Los Angeles County court to determine whether there is enough evidence to put Burke, now 21, on trial on charges of murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 and unlawful mutilation of human remains. He has pleaded not guilty and his lawyer has said he did not cause the girl's death.
Prosecutors also showed photos of the dismembered and decomposing body of Rivas Hernandez, which had been found on Sept. 8, 2025 by a homicide detective in the front trunk of a Tesla registered to Burke at a Hollywood tow yard.
Det. Joshua Byers of the Los Angeles Police Department testified that he found the head and torso in a body bag, and arms and legs in a garbage bag underneath it. He said two fingers were missing from a hand.
Rivas Hernandez's parents were in court along with dozens of reporters and members of the public who got their seats through a lottery drawing.
LA County Sheriff's Deputy Juan Gonzalez, whose body camera video was shown, testified that Burke had been extremely cooperative when he visited in 2024 to look into the missing person's report from the sheriff's department in Riverside County, where Rivas Hernandez lived.
Burke allowed Gonzalez to search the house, which was owned by Interscope Records for its artists to stay at, and Gonzalez and his partner found no signs that Rivas Hernandez or any girl had been there.
The mood was friendly and jovial among the three, and one of the deputies says “Ohhh, that’s pretty cool, good for you,” when Burke described his music career.
Burke said he had met Rivas Hernandez online on Instagram and Discord in 2020 or 2021, had seen her once in person a few months earlier and had last communicated with her a few days earlier. He shared Rivas Hernandez's phone number with them and showed them photos from his phone of a yearbook picture of her and a missing persons flyer from Instagram.
The preliminary hearing is expected to last about four days and resemble 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 defendant, who has been held without bail in a jail near the courthouse since his arrest, appeared in court in his jail clothes. The judge ruled that his hands could be uncuffed, but he must remain shackled to his chair. No cameras are allowed in the courtroom.
The 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. 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 (129 km) 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 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.
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.
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 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.
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