The family of Celeste Rivas Hernandez is gearing up for the next phase in their efforts to find justice for their daughter, whose dismembered and badly decomposed body was found inside the trunk of a Tesla registered to singer D4vd back in September.
A judge on Monday determined that there was in fact enough evidence to proceed with a trial against the “Romantic Homicide” singer following a five-day preliminary hearing in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
D4vd, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke, has been charged with murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 and unlawful mutilation of human remains in connection with Rivas Hernandez’s grisly death.
“The family’s relieved that it’s done with,” their attorney, Patrick Steinfeld, told reporters outside the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, per People. “They’re going to take a break and they appreciate the hard work the district attorney’s office has done, as well as the investigation by LAPD investigators.”
Prosecutors have argued that D4vd, then 19 years old, fatally stabbed 14-year-old Rivas Hernandez after she threatened to reveal their abusive sexual relationship and ruin his music career. She was last seen alive on April 23, 2025, when she was spotted arriving at D4vd’s home in Hollywood Hills. Police have said they believe she was killed shortly thereafter.
Over the course of the preliminary hearing, prosecutors presented grisly autopsy photos, explicit descriptions and depictions of sexual abuse as well as text messages exchanged between the pair.
“i will end ur career and ur life,” she told him in a text message sent the night before her death.
They also traded texts about their sexual relationship, contraception and the fact that Rivas Hernandez received an abortion after becoming pregnant by the singer at the age of 13.
Prosecutors further explained how D4vd purchased a shovel, three chainsaws, two cadaver bags, two heavy-duty laundry bags and a mop and bucket combo, which he used to try to clean up the crime. He was arrested back in April, some seven months after Rivas Hernandez’s mutilated remains were found in the trunk of his Tesla.
Police made the grisly discovery on Sept. 8, after workers at Hollywood Tow reported a foul odor coming from the electric vehicle, which had recently been towed from the Hollywood Hills area.
With News Wire Services