ByREUTERS

JULY 28, 2026 08:18

Updated: JULY 28, 2026 10:04

Prosecutors supplied enough proof for the indie pop performer known as D4vd to face trial on accusations that he fatally stabbed and dismembered a 14-year-old girl who planned to reveal their hidden relationship, a Los Angeles judge decided on Monday.

Judge Charlaine Olmedo determined there was probable cause for a jury to determine the outcome for David Anthony Burke, 21, whose rising major-label music career under the name D4vd (pronounced David) ended abruptly with his arrest last year.

He passed five days in a crowded downtown courtroom restrained in his seat as prosecutors offered graphic witness statements and crime-scene images to show Olmedo that their case reached the lowest legal threshold to bring Burke to trial.

The victim's parents attended most of the testimony.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman informed reporters on the first day of proceedings that his office would decide later whether to pursue the death penalty.

From TikTok to Interscope

Burke launched his career as a viral TikTok star with tracks made for Fortnite gaming videos in 2022, and his first successful single, Romantic Homicide, led to a multimillion-dollar contract with Interscope Records.

His first studio album came out in April 2025, during the week prosecutors claim his underage girlfriend, Celeste Rivas Hernandez, disappeared and was stabbed to death.

Her decomposing remains turned up five months later packed into the trunk of a Tesla sedan that authorities say was registered to Burke. The vehicle had been towed to an impound lot where staff noticed the odor of decay coming from the car and alerted police.

The singer-songwriter was arrested in April of this year and charged with first-degree murder, mutilation of human remains and child sexual abuse.

He entered not guilty pleas to all charges during an April 20 arraignment in which his attorney, Blair Berk, strongly declared her client's innocence.

We believe the actual evidence will show David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez, nor was he the cause of her death, Berk said then.

Chain saws and swimming pools

In a court brief filed the following week, prosecutors first outlined the gruesome way they claim Burke killed the victim and disposed of her body, along with his alleged motives.

The DA's office said Burke acted out of fear she would damage his growing entertainment career after she threatened, out of jealousy, to make public harmful details about their sexual relationship, which prosecutors say started when she was 13.

Financial manager Benjamin Greger testified during this week's preliminary hearing that Burke, his only entertainment client, had earned gross income of 10 million to 11 million dollars from 2023 to 2025, after his Interscope deal.

The claim of murder for financial gain is one of the special circumstances in the charges, exposing Burke to possible capital punishment. Another claims he did so because the victim was a witness to a crime.

On April 23, 2025, one day after Burke and the girl had argued over her threats to expose him, according to prosecutors, he ordered her an Uber ride to his Hollywood Hills home, then stabbed the victim to death after she arrived.

During their evidentiary hearing, the prosecution showed photos of three chain saws, a shovel, and other items they said Burke had bought online under a false name and had sent to his home after the killing on April 23, 2025.

Among these was a plastic blue inflatable swimming pool that prosecutors said the victim's body was placed in to keep blood from spilling onto his garage floor.

The victim's torso and head were found inside a black vinyl cadaver bag stuffed into the front trunk of the abandoned Tesla, on top of a plastic garbage bag containing the victim's limbs, police homicide detective Joshua Byers testified last Tuesday.

Shreds of blue plastic from the swimming pool were found embedded in the flesh of the severed limbs, Byers said.

Two fingers on the girl's left hand had been amputated but were not recovered, while the girl's right index finger bore a cryptic tattoo reading, SHHH..., which matched a marking Burke was later found to have tattooed on his own right index finger, according to Byers.

The remains had to be positively identified through dental records, the detective said.

Several biological samples collected from Burke's garage tested positive for blood, and DNA analysis of various specimens matched the victim's unique genetic profile, according to prosecutors' court brief.