Judge Orders D4vd To Stand Trial

D4vd is going to trial.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled that prosecutors presented enough evidence during a five-day preliminary hearing to order the 21-year-old singer-songwriter, born David Anthony Burke, to stand trial on charges stemming from the 2025 killing of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.

During the multi-day hearing, forensic experts, criminalists and prosecutors outlined what they allege was a calculated killing and attempted cover-up, presenting physical and digital evidence surrounding the teen’s death.

According to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, prosecutors called 12 witnesses who testified about evidence they say links Burke to the alleged murder. District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said the hearing represented “a small but illustrative fraction” of the evidence investigators have accumulated.

“D4vd allegedly squandered his fame and fortune by brutally killing a young girl because he feared their illicit sexual relationship would ruin his aspiring career,” Hochman said in a statement. “The only headlines that will accompany his stage name from here forward will be about the vicious murder of a young girl.”

Burke has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors Present The Timeline Of Alleged Events

Investigators allege that D4d killed Celested Rivas inside his Hollywood Hills residence in April 2025. As previously reported, Burke set up a blue inflatable pool in his garage to contain the blood splatter before using online-purchased chainsaws to dismember her body. LAPD criminalists testified to discovering trace DNA consistent with Rivas on a rowing machine, charging cables, and bloodstains beneath brick mats in the garage.

The teenager’s remains were eventually double-bagged inside two heavy-duty cadaver bags and stored in the front trunk of Burke’s Tesla, where they sat decomposing for over four months until the impounded vehicle was towed to a Hollywood lot in September 2025. The car was found with 11 individual air fresheners stuffed throughout the luxury vehicle in a desperate bid to mask the overwhelming smell of decay.

Beyond the physical crime scene evidence, prosecutors reconstructed a deeply troubling digital paper trail detailing the illegal, predatory nature of the pair’s relationship. Text messages recovered from Burke’s iPhone showed that the two first connected in January 2022 when Rivas was just 11 years old. By late 2023, when Rivas was 13 and Burke was 18, the relationship turned sexual, eventually leading to a pregnancy and subsequent abortion in early 2024.

In emotional text exchanges from August 2024, Rivas expressed deep remorse over the abortion, writing to Burke, “i care abt u i killed my kid [for] you… id do anything to have it back.” However, by Spring 2025, they had made a turn for the worse. Text messages presented during D4vd’s case showed intense arguments fueled by jealousy, boundary issues, and Rivas’ desire to end their in-person relationship. On April 22, 2025, the night before her murder, Rivas threatened to publicly expose their illegal relationship and reveal intimate details that would ruin his exploding music career.

Fearing the immediate destruction of his public image and multi-million dollar recording contracts, prosecutors argue Burke arranged an Uber to transport the 14-year-old to his home the following evening to permanently silence her.

Burke currently faces several charges, including first-degree murder with special circumstances, continuous child sexual abuse, and unlawful mutilation of human remains. Due to the special circumstance allegations of lying in wait and killing a witness, the 21-year-old faces a potential maximum sentence of life in prison without parole or the death penalty if convicted.

Burke’s defense team, led by attorney Marilyn Bednarski has attempted to poke holes in the timeline, arguing that the advanced decomposition makes establishing a precise time or method of death scientifically impossible.