Celeste Rivas Hernandez: D4vd Murder Case and Developing Court Timeline

David Burke, known as D4vd, performing in June 2024. Archival photograph. Photo: AskeeaeWiki. CC BY 4.0.

Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s remains were discovered in September 2025 inside an impounded Tesla registered to singer David Anthony Burke, known as D4vd. The discovery connected a dead child to a highly visible performer. It also raised a question that could not be answered by a vehicle registration alone: what had happened to Celeste before she was found?

Prosecutors would later place the beginning of their account months earlier. They allege that Celeste, who was 14, went to Burke’s Hollywood Hills home on April 23, 2025, and was killed there. Burke denies the charges.

Reconstructing the missing months

At a five-day preliminary hearing in July 2026, prosecutors called 12 witnesses. Their account linked communications, purchases and forensic evidence to the period between Celeste’s alleged killing and the discovery of her remains. The district attorney’s office reported testimony about blood in Burke’s garage that matched her DNA profile.

The judge ordered Burke to stand trial on July 27. That ruling allowed the prosecution to continue. It was not a jury’s assessment of all the evidence, and the charges remained allegations.

A changing defense, an unfinished case

Burke had been arrested on April 16, 2026, and charged four days later. Following the preliminary hearing, he pleaded not guilty on August 31. His private lawyers withdrew, and the public defender took over his representation, according to City News Service.

At the October 19 status hearing, the defense said it was seeking further discovery. The next conference was set for January 11, 2027. The brief appearance supplied a new court date, but no resolution of the allegations.

That slow progression matters to the story. Evidence described at a preliminary hearing still has to be examined in the context of a trial. A change of lawyers can alter who does that work, without altering what the prosecution must prove.

Celeste’s name belongs at the center of this case, even when the celebrity connection dominates its headlines. The discovery of her remains began the public account; the court proceedings are now the means by which the competing claims about her death will be tested. We are following those proceedings, any confirmed trial date and substantive evidence rulings. We will keep allegations attributed and preserve the distinction between a prosecution theory and a finding of guilt.

Research Sources

• Los Angeles County: July 27 ruling
• City News Service: charges and August plea
• Los Angeles magazine: October hearing outcome