Almost a year on, the only thing clear about the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez is that she met a tragic end.
The body of a missing 14-year-old boy rotted for weeks until it was found in the trunk of a Tesla at a Hollywood tow yard last September, dismembered and wrapped in black plastic, according to medical examiner records and court documents.
Investigators soon discovered that the Tesla was registered to David Anthony Burke, 21, a musician who goes by the stage name D4vd. But as the months passed, authorities did not say anything about how his remains ended up in the rising R&B singer’s car or whether he was responsible for his death.
A hearing that begins Tuesday is expected to reveal more about Hernandez’s killing and the extreme measures prosecutors say Burke took to cover it up. He denied the charges against him.
Earlier this year, prosecutors went public with their version of the case after indicting Burke on charges of murder and sexual assault. Fearing that his booming music career would end, Burke invited Hernandez to his Hollywood Hills home and stabbed him twice after threatening to expose him for sexually assaulting her, prosecutors said in a nine-page court filing in April. Burke then dismembered his victim’s body with a chainsaw and cut off two of his fingers to erase evidence of a painting linking the two, according to the file.
Neither the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office nor the Los Angeles Police Department have since responded to questions about the case.
At the preliminary hearing, the judge decides whether the prosecution has enough evidence to proceed with the trial. The hearing often results in the presentation of important evidence, including photographs of the crime scene and items found after search warrants were issued. Police detectives almost always testify. In Burke’s case, several witnesses have testified before multiple juries, but the records of those cases are sealed.
LA County District Deputy. He said. Beth Silverman said she would need about four days to present her case. A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office declined to reveal who will testify or comment further on the hearing. Burke’s attorneys, Blair Berk and Marilyn Bednarski, did not respond to a request for comment.
It is unusual for a preliminary hearing to happen so quickly. Burke was arrested three months ago, and murder cases often languish in LA County courts for years before reaching the point where compelling evidence is presented. But Burke’s lawyers pushed for a speedy trial, saying the prosecution’s case could not be considered.
Legal experts said it appeared that Berk was trying to force the prosecution’s case to trial, but may have failed as Silverman responded with a nine-page memo in late April detailing Burke’s alleged crimes in gruesome detail.
“The prosecution thought the DA was wrong, but I think Silverman is right,” said Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor.
Rahmani also noted that celebrity clients often push their defense attorneys to fight a two-pronged battle: one in criminal court, one in the media. Rushing to trial may have been part of a public relations strategy, rather than a smart legal move, Rahmani said.
“From a customer control point of view, what D4vd wants is an aggressive lawyer to defend him in the press and push this case,” Rahmani said.
The New York-born singer gained fame by layering his own music over clips of the popular video game “Fortnite” and the viral TikTok song “Romantic Homicide.” She first met Hernandez when she was just 11, the prosecutor’s memo said.
Hernandez’s family in Lake Elsinore reported her missing several times after Burke was caught. Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigators questioned Burke about Hernandez in February 2024, but he denied knowing anything about her, according to the district attorney’s office.
Two days after investigators had their meeting with Burke, Hernandez returned home and her parents took her phone away. Burke, according to prosecutors, paid another teenager $1,000 to bring Hernandez a new device so they could stay in touch. Over the next year, Hernandez traveled with Burke to Las Vegas, Texas and London where he met “his family,” Silverman wrote in the filing.
The two began a sexual relationship when Hernandez was 13 but “broke up” in late November 2024, according to the Silverman lawsuit. Text messages between the two contained references to “sex, pregnancy, abortion and the use of Plan B emergency contraception,” he wrote. A search of Burke’s phone also turned up images of the youth engaging in sexual acts, the prosecutor’s report said.
Hernandez was last seen at Burke’s Hollywood residence on April 23, 2025, when she took an Uber from Riverside County to her rented Hollywood Hills home, prosecutors said. The night before, Hernandez and Burke got into an argument when he expressed “jealousy” about his relationships with other women, according to the filing. The teenager then “threatened to reveal damaging details about her relationship with the defendant in order to destroy her career and destroy her life,” Silverman wrote.
Although prosecutors have not said what happened when Hernandez arrived at Burke’s Hollywood home, an autopsy report released in April showed the child died from two stab wounds.
After the girl’s death, prosecutors say Burke took drastic measures to cover up the crime.
Prosecutors said Burke had a shovel, saws, a “burn cage,” body bags and an inflatable pool brought to his Hollywood home so he could destroy his victim’s remains. Authorities said in court documents that they believe Burke placed his victim’s body in a inflatable pool to prevent his blood from spilling onto his clothing while dismembering her body.
In April court filings, Silverman noted that pieces of plastic from the lake were embedded in Hernandez’s remains when police finally found her body months later.
