A Los Angeles judge ruled on Monday that indie pop singer D4vd, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke, must stand trial on charges that he fatally stabbed and dismembered 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
Judge Charlaine Olmedo said prosecutors had met the probable-cause threshold after a five-day preliminary hearing in a packed downtown courtroom, where Burke, 21, was shackled to his seat as graphic testimony and crime-scene photographs were presented.
Prosecutors allege Burke killed the girl after she threatened to expose their clandestine sexual relationship, a claim they say could have jeopardised the music career he built from viral TikTok success and his breakout single “Romantic Homicide.”
Burke's debut studio album was released in April 2025, the week prosecutors say Rivas Hernandez disappeared. Her decomposing remains were found five months later in the trunk of a Tesla that authorities say was registered to Burke, after workers at an impound lot noticed the smell of decay.
The singer-songwriter was arrested in April this year and charged with first-degree murder, mutilation of human remains and child sexual abuse.
He pleaded not guilty at a 20 April arraignment, and his attorney Blair Berk said the evidence would show he did not murder Rivas Hernandez or cause her death.
During the hearing, prosecutors described online purchases they said Burke made under a fictitious name after the killing, including three chain saws, a shovel and a blue inflatable swimming pool. A homicide detective testified that parts of the victim's body was found in a cadaver bag and garbage bag inside the Tesla, while shreds of blue plastic were embedded in severed limbs.
Detectives said biological samples from Burke's garage tested positive for blood and matched the victim's DNA profile. Prosecutors also cited messages in which the girl threatened to ruin Burke's career and said a murder-for-financial-gain allegation could make him eligible for the death penalty.
District Attorney Nathan Hochman said his office had not decided whether to seek the death penalty, but he said prosecutors were confident they could meet the higher trial standard of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt to a unanimous 12-member jury.
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