The Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office said Wednesday it determined teenager Celeste Rivas Hernandez died by homicide with “multiple penetrating injuries” days after the singer D4vd was charged with first-degree murder after her remains were found in his car.
The singer D4vd was charged April 20 with the murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez earlier this week. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
The medical examiner’s office said it had determined Hernandez’s cause of death in December, three months after her body was found in the trunk of D4vd’s Tesla vehicle, but the report was blocked by a court order initiated by the Los Angeles Police Department—which the medical examiner opposed.
When D4vd, whose real name David Burke, was arraigned earlier this week, a judge requested the medical examiner’s report be released.
Chief Medical Examiner Odey Ukpo said Wednesday he is grateful the report can be released to the public and to Hernandez’s family, saying it is “unfathomable they have had to wait this long to learn what happened to their daughter.”
Burke, 21, was charged with first-degree murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child younger than 14 and mutilating a body.
Burke pleaded not guilty, and his charges carry maximum penalties of life in prison or the death penalty, though prosecutors have not indicated whether they plan to seek the death penalty.
In a criminal complaint, prosecutors accused Burke of using a “deadly and dangerous weapon,” a “sharp instrument,” to murder Hernandez. Prosecutors alleged Burke repeatedly sexually abused Hernandez, and his charges include multiple special circumstances, including that Hernandez was a witness to a crime, referring to her own alleged sexual abuse by Burke. Prosecutors also accused Burke of killing Hernandez for financial gain, alleging Hernandez had “threatened to expose his criminal conduct and devastate his musical career.” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said at Burke’s arraignment the alleged murder happened in April 2025, when Hernandez entered Burke’s home in Hollywood and was “not heard from again.” Burke’s attorneys told Forbes earlier this week 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,” vowing to “defend David’s innocence.”
Singer D4vd Charged With First-Degree Murder, Faces Life In Prison (Forbes)
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