(Refiles to add first name in paragraph 2, Note: story includes graphic details of violence)
By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES, July 21 (Reuters) – Prosecutors on Tuesday began outlining in graphic detail their murder case against the indie pop vocalist known as D4vd, accused of fatally stabbing and dismembering his 14-year-old girlfriend after she threatened to make their relationship public.
David Burke became a music sensation on TikTok in 2022, which landed him a recording deal. His first studio album was released in April 2025, in the week his girlfriend Celeste Rivas Hernandez went missing.
He was arrested in April 2026 and charged with first-degree murder, mutilation of human remains and child sexual abuse. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
A police detective described the discovery of a body, later identified through dental records as Celeste, in a car at an impound lot in Hollywood in September 2025.
Police were called to the facility when workers noticed a strong odor emanating from the vehicle, according to testimony from Los Angeles Police Department Detective Joshua Byers. The victim’s parents were seated in the courtroom as Byers described a gruesome scene, recounting a “very distinctive smell” of decay familiar to homicide detectives.
Investigators discovered Celeste’s torso and head inside a black vinyl cadaver bag stuffed in the front trunk of the Tesla registered to David Burke, the musician’s legal name. Underneath the body bag was a plastic garbage bag containing the victim’s severed limbs, Byers said.
The girl’s right index finger bore a cryptic tattoo that said “SHH,” Byers said.
Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman walked Byers through his testimony as she displayed macabre photos from the scene in the hushed courtroom.
The 21-year-old Burke, seated at the defense table in orange jail garb for the preliminary hearing, watched the screen, appearing to follow along attentively.
MORE WITNESSES TO BE CALLED
The preliminary hearing requires the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office to demonstrate to a judge that sufficient evidence exists to proceed to trial with the case.
District Attorney Nathan Hochman, speaking to reporters outside the courthouse, said prosecutors would call more than 10 witnesses over three to five days and decide later whether to seek the death penalty.
Burke went viral for songs recorded on his phone for Fortnite gaming videos in 2022. The hit single “Romantic Homicide” helped him sign a deal with Interscope Records.
He performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California last year, less than two weeks before prosecutors say he committed murder out of fear that his underage girlfriend would upend his budding career.
“We believe the actual evidence will show David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez, nor was he the cause of her death,” defense attorney Blair Berk said during her client’s April 20 arraignment.
Prosecutors filed a court brief the following week outlining their evidence and the alleged motive for the girl’s slaying, which the DA’s office said was likely April 23, 2025, when her cellular activity ceased.
Prosecutors said Burke was out to silence the girl because she had grown jealous of him and threatened to ruin his burgeoning music career by going public with damaging information about their relationship.
Burke had secured highly profitable product endorsements at the time, the district attorney’s office said.
In one of the special allegations included in the charges, Burke is accused of committing murder for financial gain. Another alleges he did so because the victim was a witness to a crime.
‘HORRIFYING MEASURES’
Investigators recovered text message references to sex, pregnancy, abortion and Plan B emergency contraception, as well as sexually explicit photos.
One day after they had quarreled over her threats to expose him, according to the court brief, Burke hailed her an Uber ride to his home in the Hollywood Hills, then stabbed her to death after she arrived. An autopsy found she died of “multiple penetrating injuries.”
In their brief, prosecutors also alleged in graphic detail the “horrifying measures” they said Burke took to dismember and dispose of the girl’s body.
According to the document, the performer placed the victim’s body in a blue inflatable pool “to prevent blood from spilling onto his garage floor,” then removed her limbs with a chainsaw “and perhaps other tools.”
The brief said that Burke had purchased the pool, two chainsaws, a shovel, a cadaver bag and other materials online under a fictitious name and had them delivered to his home after the killing.
According to their court brief, Burke was the last person to drive the vehicle on July 29, 2025, before he left it abandoned near his home and departed on a concert tour. Weeks later, the car was towed to an impoundment lot where workers reported the odor of decay and alerted authorities on September 8.
A search of Burke’s garage that month found evidence of dismemberment, including blood samples and remnants of an inflatable pool with “multiple linear cuts,” according to prosecutors.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Lisa Richwine;Editing by Stephen Coates and David Gaffen)
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