By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES, July 21 (Reuters) – The indie pop singer known as D4vd sat quietly through a daylong court hearing on Tuesday as prosecutors outlined in graphic detail a murder case against the musician, accused of stabbing and dismembering his teen girlfriend after she threatened to expose their relationship.
The 21-year-old performer, whose legal name is David Burke, was arrested in April and charged with first-degree murder, mutilation of a corpse and child sexual abuse in a case that halted his budding career for a major music label.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which carry the possibility of the death penalty.
Burke began his career as a viral TikTok sensation with songs recorded for Fortnite gaming videos in 2022, and his first hit single, “Romantic Homicide,” paved the way for a multimillion-dollar deal with Interscope Records.
His debut studio album was released in April 2025, in the week that prosecutors say his 14-year-old girlfriend, Celeste Rivas Hernandez, went missing and was stabbed to death.
Tuesday saw the start of a preliminary hearing in the murder case, requiring prosecutors to convince the presiding judge that the evidence was sufficient to proceed to trial on the charges.
Adding to the tension, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo said at the outset that the victim’s parents were present in the hushed courtroom.
Burke, wearing an orange jail-issued jump suit and black-rimmed eyeglasses, was seen smiling at his attorneys as he took a seat and was shackled to the defense table.
CHAIN SAWS AND INFLATABLE POOL
He appeared attentive throughout the hearing, often propping his chin on one hand as he gazed in the direction of the witnesses and the large screen at the front of the courtroom on which a series of grisly crime-scene photographs was presented.
Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman also displayed photos of three chain saws, a shovel, and other items Burke had allegedly purchased online under a fictitious name and had delivered to his Hollywood Hills home after the killing on April 23, 2025.
Among these was a plastic blue inflatable swimming pool in which prosecutors said the victim’s body was placed to prevent blood from spilling onto his garage floor.
As the hearing focused on presenting of evidence against Burke, defense lawyers mainly stuck to cross-examination of prosecution witnesses, but they have overtly proclaimed their client’s innocence in previous stages of the case.
“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.
Called to the stand on Tuesday were two police detectives and the singer-songwriter’s ex-financial manager, presenting testimony encompassing the motive alleged by prosecutors and the disturbing nature of the case as a whole.
The lead investigator, Los Angeles Police Department detective Joshua Byers, recounted the initial discovery of the victim’s remains, later identified through dental records, in a car registered to Burke and towed to a Hollywood impoundment lot in September 2025.
Police were called to the tow yard when workers noticed a strong odor from the vehicle, Byers testified, describing a “very distinctive smell” of decay familiar to homicide detectives.
The girl’s torso and head were found in a black vinyl cadaver bag stuffed in the front trunk of the Tesla sedan, beneath which lay a plastic garbage bag containing the victim’s severed limbs, Byers said.
He added that the girl’s right index finger bore a cryptic tattoo reading, “SHHH…,” that matched a marking Burke was later found to have had tattooed on his own right index finger.
The detective also testified that small shreds of blue plastic, apparently from the swimming pool where the body was dismembered, were found embedded in the flesh of the mutilated limbs.
According to Byers’ testimony, the girl’s remains had been decomposing in the trunk of the Tesla since July 29, 2025, when Burke abandoned it near his home and departed on a concert tour. The car was towed to the impoundment lot weeks later.
MORE WITNESSES TO BE CALLED
Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse, District Attorney Nathan Hochman said prosecutors would call more than 10 witnesses over the next three to five days and decide later whether to seek the death penalty.
The accusation of murder for financial gain is among the special circumstances included in the charges making Burke liable for the death sentence. Another alleges he did so because the victim was a witness to a crime.
He performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California last year, less than two weeks before prosecutors say he killed his underage girlfriend out of fear that she would upend his career.
Prosecutors said Burke’s sexual relations with the girl began when she was 11, and investigators recovered text message references to sex, pregnancy, abortion and Plan B emergency contraception, as well as sexually explicit photos.
Prosecutors say Burke sought to silence the girl because she had grown jealous of him and threatened to ruin him by going public with damaging information about their relationship.
Financial manager Benjamin Greger testified that Burke, his sole entertainment client, had grossed earnings of $10 million to $11 million from 2023 to 2025, including some $3 million from an advance and “first installment” from his Interscope deal.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Stephen Coates, David Gaffen and Clarence Fernandez)
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