A judge ruled Monday that there was enough evidence to charge the D4vd singer with the murder and mutilation of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez after, authorities said, she threatened to expose their relationship and interfere with his career.
D4vd to be charged in the murder of Celeste Rivas
Los Angeles judge Charlaine Olmedo ruled that evidence presented by defense attorneys in a five-day preliminary hearing provided probable cause to stand trial for murder, rape of a child under 14 and illegal mutilation.D4vd, a 21-year-old singer born David Burke whose career was on the rise before the allegations came to light, argued.“People have met their burdens on everything,” Olmedo said. He ordered that Burke continue to be held without bail.Olmedo stressed that the potential for a preliminary hearing like this is much lower than it is for a criminal case. However, prosecutors said there was more evidence.“Based on the amount of evidence presented,” Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman said, “all allegations have been proven beyond the reasonable doubt.”Burke took no part in the election. The defense declined to comment outside court.Prosecutors on Monday concluded their case by summing up Rivas Hernandez last night, showing that after texting with Burke, her phone went silent when he arrived at her home.As he approached her Hollywood home shortly after 10 a.m. on April 23, 2025, in the Uber he sent to pick her up, he sent her a final message: “Famous girl I’m about to open your door if you’re home.”Prosecutors say Burke stabbed her to death when she walked in the door.Last night, the two argued over texts about his relationship with a woman. He sent her an angry and insulting message that she told her father many lies about her father and “i will end ur career and ur life.”Detective Corey Farrell of the Los Angeles Police Department, at the request of the defendants, read documents taken from Burke’s iPhone and iCloud account documents.The defense argues that there is insufficient evidence of murderAfter testimony closed Monday, the prosecutor said the evidence was insufficient and the murder charge should be dismissed.“There is no evidence that Mr. Burke had any intent to kill Miss Hernandez,” said Burke’s attorney, Marilyn Bednarski.He said the connection between Burke and Rivas Hernandez was “no threat, no evidence of a history of violence” and that it was “different from murderous violence” to him.He said the medical examiner’s ruling that her death was caused by two stab wounds was too vague and too conclusive to be evidence of a homicide. The defense has not directly offered another theory about how he died and is not expected to.The defense showed several other texts of Rivas Hernandez threatening her about their relationship, and that he would go to Burke’s mother, talk to her friends and “expose” information about them.When questioned by defense attorney Blair Berk, Farrell said he saw nothing that threatened to go to the police or follow her.The defense also testified that he had asked her seven times to come see her in the days before her death, and that she had reluctantly agreed when he wanted her to, and that he had threatened to kill Burke and cut her up.The protector said that all evil came from him.Silverman told the judge that “attorneys made several attempts throughout the process to frame the victim” even though she was a child.The officer also said when asked by Berk that the parents of Burke and Rivas Hernandez knew about their relationship, that he went to church with his family and that his parents allowed him to go to London with him for a week.Prosecutors say D4vd immediately began covering up the killingsAfter her phone went silent, Burke sent her several more messages that night asking where she was, and expressing concern. Prosecutors say the messages were sent as a cover for his murder.Prosecutors say Burke dismembered the body in his garage. A police expert previously testified that samples taken from blood stains matched his DNA.His body was found in a Tesla registered to him about five months later.Detective stories sexual assaultIn previous testimony, Farrell also described numerous pornographic images of Burke and Rivas Hernandez and text messages dating back years that described the same, as well as conversations that indicated she had an abortion in 2024 when she was 13 years old after impregnating her.Farrell described the photos, which will not be shown in court, so vivid they left Rivas Hernandez’s mother in tears and prompted both parents to walk out of court Friday. He was back in court on Monday.D4vd’s work was reaching its peak during the executionD4vd (pronounced “David”) became an internet sensation as a teenager with a mix of indie, R&B and lo-fi pop. He had a huge following on TikTok, Soundcloud and Spotify, while his top songs, including his 2022 hit “Romantic Homicide,” have more than a billion plays.In 2024 he played at the Coachella music festival and released his first album “Withered,” two days after authorities reported that Rivas Hernandez was killed.