LOS ANGELES — Singer D4vd ordered a body bag, chain saws, an inflatable pool and a shovel online in the days after the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, a homicide detective testified Tuesday (July 21).
Prosecutors say D4vd, a 21-year-old whose legal name is David Burke, used the items to dismember Rivas Hernandez’s body after he had stabbed her to death for threatening to reveal their relationship and ruin a music career that one witness said had brought in more than US$10 million (S$12.9 million) in just a couple of years.
On the first day of a hearing where a judge will decide if there’s enough evidence to go to trial, the homicide detective, Joshua Byers, testified that Burke had used the alias Trayvion Davis for the orders, but used his own cards to buy them and had them delivered to his Hollywood home.
Burke’s lawyers have said he did not cause Rivas Hernandez’s death, and he has pleaded not guilty to murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 and unlawful mutilation of human remains.
Byers said most of the items that digital records show Burke bought, including two of the three chain saws and the blue pool, had been found in Burke’s garage when a warrant was served.
Prosecutors previously said a blood stain in the garage matched Rivas Hernandez’s DNA.
And Byers testified that the body bag Burke ordered matched one that contained the head and torso of Rivas Hernandez in the trunk of a Tesla registered to Burke at a Hollywood tow yard on Sept 8, 2025.
Prosecutors show photos of teen’s dismembered body
The lead prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman, showed photos in court of the dismembered and decomposing body of Rivas Hernandez.
Under the body bag, authorities found a garbage bag with the girl’s arms and legs.
Burke’s lawyer, Blair Berk, pressed Byers about whether the body bag was tested to tie it to the defendant. Berk’s cross-examination took a microscopic look at how the scene was treated and the body was investigated.
Byers said the medical examiner at the scene told him the bag could not be taken into evidence because the body was so decomposed it could not be removed from it.
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. Her mother appeared to look down when the photos of the body were displayed.
Investigators did not immediately identify the body of Rivas Hernandez when it was found. Byers said her father, Jesus Rivas, called police a few days after the body’s discovery because he had seen news reports and feared it was his daughter.
The photos showed blue fragments on the body that prosecutors say were from the inflatable pool.
Byers also testified that when he and his partner arrested Burke, they noticed he had ‘Celeste’ tattooed in red on his finger.
A photo of it was shown in court. A tattoo on another finger read “Shhh” and was identical to one on Rivas Hernandez’s finger.
Body camera video shows Burke downplaying the relationship
Also Tuesday, prosecutors showed a body camera video from February 2024 with Burke telling sheriff’s deputies who were investigating after the then-13-year-old Rivas Hernandez was reported missing; Burke told them he had only met the girl once in person, and 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 had already been having a sexual relationship with the girl for several months. He was 18 at the time. Burke said he met the girl as a fan online on Discord and Instagram in 2020 or 2021.
LA County Sheriff’s Deputy Juan Gonzalez, whose body camera video was shown, testified that Burke had been extremely cooperative, and allowed him and his partner to search the house.
They found no sign of Rivas Hernandez, who was reported missing a number of times in the years before her death.
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.
The hearing resembles a mini trial
The preliminary hearing, which is expected to last about four days, resembles an abbreviated trial. Judge Charlaine Olmedo will decide whether the prosecution offered enough evidence to demonstrate probable cause to proceed to trial.
District Attorney Nathan Hochman said outside the hearing that his office has not yet decided whether to pursue the death penalty in the case.
The defendant, who has been held without bail in a jail near the courthouse since his arrest, appeared in court in his Orange jail clothes and glasses. The judge ruled that his hands could be uncuffed, but he must remain shackled to his chair.
A court filing said Burke sent a car to pick up Rivas Hernandez on April 23, 2025, from her hometown of Lake Elsinore, California, some 129 km outside Los Angeles.
They exchanged messages until she arrived at his home, after which her phone went dead.
“Knowing he had to silence the victim before she ruined his music career as she had threatened,” the document said, “defendant stabbed the victim to death multiple times and stood by while she bled out.”
D4vd had budding music career
One of Burke’s financial managers, Benjamin Gregor, testified that he had earned between US$10 million and US$11.5 million dollars from 2023 through 2025.
D4vd began making music for YouTube videos he created of the video game Fortnite.
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, 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. Last year, he performed at the Coachella music festival and released a full album that he was on tour promoting when the body was discovered.
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