LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the 14-year-old girl whose dismembered remains were found in the trunk of a Tesla registered to singer D4vd, died of “multiple penetrating injuries” with an object or objects, the county Medical Examiner’s Office announced Wednesday.
The autopsy was performed on Sept. 8, 2025, the day the body was found inside the car at a Hollywood tow yard, and the manner and cause of death were determined on Dec. 9, 2025. The results had been ordered sealed by a judge while police and the District Attorney’s Office built their case.
That order was lifted this week after D4vd — pronounced “David” — was charged with murder in the case. The 21-year-old singer, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, was also charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 and unlawful mutilation of human remains.
The singer appeared in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Monday afternoon, and one of his attorneys entered a not guilty plea to the charges on his behalf.
Celeste’s body was found just days after what would have been her 15th birthday.
The criminal complaint alleges that the murder occurred on or about April 23, 2025.
“After several months, I am grateful this information can now be released, not only to the public, but also to the grieving family enduring loss,” Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Odey Ukpo said in a statement Wednesday as the autopsy results were released. “It is unfathomable they have had to wait this long to learn what happened to their daughter. The transparency of the information contained in our findings and reports is essential for empowering the community to make informed changes to effectively reduce fear and allowing the community to take informed action.
“Making the department’s information publicly available is not just about accountability, it is about social justice and prevention. By ensuring access to this information, we strengthen our ability to learn, to act, and ultimately to prevent the next tragic loss of life. I want to extend my gratitude to our partner agencies for taking the necessary step of filing an order with the court to make this disclosure possible.”
On Tuesday, Celeste’s parents released a statement through their attorney.
“We would like to thank the Los Angeles Police Department and the District Attorney’s Office for their hard work,” Jesus Rivas and Mercedes Martinez said in the joint statement. “We would also like to thank the people of Lake Elsinore for all their support. Celeste was a beautiful, strong girl who loved to sing and dance. Every Friday night was movie night and we spent wonderful times together. We love her very much and she always told us that she loved us. We miss her deeply. All we want is justice for Celeste.”
The murder charge against D4vd includes the special circumstance allegations of lying in wait, murder for financial gain and killing a witness in a criminal investigation. The District Attorney’s Office is expected to decide later whether to seek the death penalty against Burke, who was ordered to remain jailed without bail while awaiting his next court appearance.
At a Monday news conference, District Attorney Nathan Hochman said the lying in wait allegation stems from D4vd’s invitation to Celeste to come to his Hollywood Hills home on April 23, 2025, after which she was never seen again, while the financial gain allegation stems from the singer’s effort to maintain his lucrative music career, which was being threatened by his alleged sexual relationship with the underage girl, Hochman said. Celeste was considered the key witness in that investigation, leading to the allegation of murdering a witness, he said.
“I want to look at this as a parent. I am a parent of three children,” Hochman said. “And a parent’s nightmare is a situation when your daughter goes out one night and never comes back. … On April 23, 2025, … Celeste, a 14-year-old at that time, went to Mr. Burke’s house in the Hollywood Hills. She was never heard from again. On Sept. 8, 2025, as alleged in the complaint, Celeste’s remains, her dismembered and decomposed remains were found inside two bags in side of a front trunk of a car registered to Mr. Burke.”
D4vd was arrested last Thursday afternoon by Los Angeles Police Department officers, ending a months-long investigation prompted by the discovery of Celeste’s dismembered body in the front trunk of the singer’s Tesla at a Hollywood tow yard. The car had been parked for weeks in the Hollywood Hills before it was towed in September, authorities said.
D4vd’s team of defense lawyers issued a statement last week denying the singer killed Celeste.
“Let us be clear, the actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez, and he was not the cause of her death,” defense attorneys Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski, and Regina Peter said. “There has been no indictment returned by any grand jury in this case and no criminal complaint filed. David has only been detained under suspicion. We will vigorously defend David’s innocence.”
Berk reiterated much of that statement in the downtown Los Angeles courtroom during Monday’s arraignment hearing, telling Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Theresa R. McGonigle that the defense wants a speedy preliminary hearing, at which a judge would determine if there was sufficient evidence to allow the case against him to proceed to trial.
She noted that there have been media reports about months of “secret grand jury proceedings,” but said the defense has been given very little information about the case.
Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman countered that the prosecution will be “very happy to put on the evidence.”
Celeste, of Lake Elsinore, had been reported missing by her mother in 2024, when the girl was just 13. Her mother previously told reporters her daughter had a boyfriend named David. D4vd has a tattoo on one of his fingers matching the one reading “Shhh” that the medical examiner revealed previously was on Rivas’ index finger.
The Tesla in which her body was found had been abandoned near a home in the 1300 block of Doheny Place, not far from a home D4vd had rented. During the investigation, police served a search warrant at the house and took several items as possible evidence.
“The vehicle had been parked at the location from which it was towed for several weeks, so Ms. Rivas Hernandez may have been deceased for several weeks before the discovery of her body,” police said in a statement in September.
In November, police acknowledged media reports that D4vd traveled to the Santa Barbara area during spring of last year for unknown reasons. The media reports suggested that he traveled to a remote area and remained there for several hours, and that the singer may have had help from another person to dismember the teen’s body.
Police did not provide specifics, saying only, “The reason for that trip is still under investigation and we’ve drawn no conclusions at this point about the relevance of the trip to this case.”
The dismembered and deteriorated condition of the teen’s body is believed to have played a key role in the length of the criminal investigation.
A county grand jury had been hearing testimony from witnesses in the case, but it was unclear how many people testified before the grand jury. Silverman noted during Monday’s court hearing that the defense would have to file a motion to receive information about those proceedings.
In January, Neo Langston, a 23-year-old social media personality and friend of D4vd, was arrested in Montana, allegedly for failing to appear as a witness in Los Angeles.
In February, D4vd’s parents — Dawud and Colleen Burke — filed court papers seeking quash subpoenas they had received to appear before the grand jury. Their court papers revealed grisly details about the condition of the teen’s body when it was found, stating that her head and torso were inside a cadaver bag, and her limbs were inside a separate bag — both of which were found in the trunk of the Tesla.
The length of the investigation — roughly seven months — led to questions by some critics about the LAPD’s handling of the case and lack of public disclosure about the status of the probe. LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell on Monday defended the agency’s work.
“I want to be clear about something — my duty is not to fuel speculation, it’s to deliver justice,” McDonnell said. “And that requires patience and discipline on everybody’s part. This investigation was driven by a single purpose — to secure justice for Celeste Rivas and for those who loved her. We had to be certain that nothing we did or said would ever jeopardize this case.”
The police chief called the investigation an “extraordinarily difficult and complex case.”
“The condition of her remains delayed the medical examiner’s ability to be able to determine the cause of death,” the chief said. “The substantial amount of time that passed between her death and the discovery meant that crucial evidence had degraded or disappeared.”
Recent Comments