A Los Angeles judge ruled Monday that singer D4vd will stand trial for the murder, sexual abuse, and dismemberment of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, finding that prosecutors presented sufficient evidence during a five-day preliminary hearing to establish probable cause on all charges.
The ruling means the 21-year-old artist, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke, could face the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors have not yet decided whether they will seek capital punishment.
What We Know So Far
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo ruled that the case could proceed on three charges: murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, and unlawful mutilation of human remains. Burke has pleaded not guilty to all charges and remained in custody without bail.
Olmedo also upheld three special circumstances alleged by prosecutors: that Burke ambushed the victim, killed her to cover up a crime, and killed her for financial gain. The upholding of those circumstances is what places the death penalty on the table.
“The people have met their burden on all counts,” Olmedo said in court.
Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman told the judge that “based on the mountains of evidence presented, all of the allegations have been proved way beyond the standard required.”
Prosecutors wrapped up their case Monday by presenting a moment-by-moment account of Rivas Hernandez’s final night. She was picked up from her Lake Elsinore home by an Uber that Burke had ordered. As she approached his Hollywood residence shortly after 10 p.m. on April 23, 2025, she sent her final text message: “girly pop i’m almost there open ur door if ur home.”
Her phone went permanently silent after that.
The night before, the pair had argued via text about Burke’s relationship with a woman. Rivas Hernandez sent him an angry message threatening to expose their relationship and damage his career.
“I will tell my dad so many lies about you. I will end ur career and ur life. I will damage anything,” she wrote, the Los Angeles Times confirmed.
Her dismembered body was found months later inside a Tesla registered to Burke. Prosecutors allege he stabbed her to death when she arrived at his home, dismembered her body in his garage, and drove to Santa Barbara County to dispose of evidence. DNA samples from apparent blood stains in the garage matched Rivas Hernandez, a police analyst testified earlier in the hearing.
Autopsy records showed she died from stab wounds to her chest and abdomen.
In earlier testimony, LAPD Detective Corey Farrell described dozens of sexually explicit photographs of Burke and Rivas Hernandez found on his phone, along with text messages indicating she became pregnant at 13 and had an abortion in 2024. The material was so graphic it caused her mother to leave the courtroom in tears.
Prosecutors said Burke had known Rivas Hernandez’s actual age. Sheriff’s deputies investigating a separate missing persons report in 2024 notified him that she was underage, Deputy District Attorney Silverman said. Under California law, lack of knowledge of a victim’s age is not a defense to child sexual abuse charges.
What The Defense Is Saying
Defense attorney Marilyn Bednarski argued that the evidence was insufficient to support a murder charge and asked the judge to dismiss it.
“There’s no evidence that Mr. Burke harbored a deliberate intent to kill Miss Hernandez,” Bednarski said. “He had the opposite of homicidal malice toward her.”
The defense argued that the medical examiner’s finding of two puncture wounds was too vague and inconclusive to constitute murder evidence. Defense attorney Blair Berk also established that Rivas Hernandez had asked seven times in the days before her death to come see Burke, and that he had only reluctantly agreed after she insisted.
The defense showed additional texts in which Rivas Hernandez threatened to mutilate Burke and kill him.
“All of the malice had come from her,” the defense argued.
Berk asked the detective whether any witness had actually seen what happened between 10:10 p.m. and 10:31 p.m. on April 23, the window prosecutors believe the killing occurred.
“You have not identified a single witness who saw David Burke during those 21 minutes?” Berk asked. The detective confirmed that was correct.
Berk and Bednarski declined to comment after the ruling.
The family’s attorney, Patrick Steinfeld, criticized the defense’s approach.
“They made allegations that didn’t have any evidentiary basis, including the assertion that Celeste may have committed suicide or that Celeste was violent, and I personally found that very disturbing,” Steinfeld said. “It seems the defense attorneys are stopping at nothing in their attempts to discredit the prosecution’s evidence and the family was horrified.”
Why This Matters
D4vd became an online musical phenomenon as a teenager with a blend of indie rock, R&B, and lo-fi pop. His 2022 breakthrough song “Romantic Homicide” has more than a billion streams on Spotify. He performed at Coachella in 2024 and released his debut album “Withered” two days after authorities say Rivas Hernandez was killed.
His career was at its highest point when the allegations emerged, making the case one of the most prominent criminal proceedings involving a young musical artist in recent years.
The case centers on a relationship that prosecutors described as years-long grooming of a child. Silverman told the judge that Burke had groomed Rivas Hernandez over many months, repeatedly telling her that the sexual activity was something she had asked for.
“We have a minor who was not only under the eyes of the law at least sexually abused for many, many months, she was groomed, she was being gaslit,” Silverman said.
The evidence presented at the preliminary hearing included more than 1,200 text messages exchanged between the two in the 24 hours before her death, travel records, DNA analysis, phone location data, and photographs from Burke’s seized iPhone and iCloud accounts.
Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman issued a statement after the ruling.
“Burke is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the brutal murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez,” Hochman said. “This has been a parent’s worst nightmare, hearing the ghoulish details of how their child was killed, dismembered and left as trash.”
What Happens Next
Burke will remain in custody without bail pending trial. A trial date has not yet been set.
Prosecutors must still decide whether to seek the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. The upholding of all three special circumstances by Judge Olmedo preserves both options.
The defense is expected to argue at trial that there was no premeditation, potentially raising claims about Rivas Hernandez’s own conduct toward Burke in the days before her death. Berk’s questioning during the preliminary hearing suggested the defense may also attempt to raise issues of domestic violence and mental health, though Judge Olmedo blocked some of those lines of questioning as irrelevant to the probable cause standard.
Sources: The Independent; The Los Angeles Times
