{"id":2510933,"date":"2026-07-21T13:38:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T13:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2510933"},"modified":"2026-07-21T13:38:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T13:38:26","slug":"judge-to-hear-evidence-against-singer-d4vd-in-killing-dismemberment-of-teen-and-decide-on-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/judge-to-hear-evidence-against-singer-d4vd-in-killing-dismemberment-of-teen-and-decide-on-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge to hear evidence against singer D4vd in killing, dismemberment of teen and decide on trial"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F07%2F135078410.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>LOS ANGELES \u2014 A judge is set to decide at a hearing that opens Tuesday whether there is enough evidence <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/05\/12\/us-news\/d4vd-murder-trial-delayed-over-mountain-of-evidence-in-celeste-rivas-case\/\">to put\u00a0singer D4vd\u00a0on trial in the killing<\/a> and dismemberment of a 14-year-old girl that authorities said had threatened to expose their relationship.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors have said the evidence will show that 21-year-old\u00a0D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, brought\u00a0Celeste Rivas Hernandez\u00a0to the Hollywood Hills house he was renting, stabbed her multiple times, then cut apart her body in his garage using chain saws.<\/p>\n<p>The preliminary hearing in Los Angeles is expected to last about four days and will look much like an abbreviated trial. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>A judge is set to decide at a hearing that opens Tuesday whether there is enough evidence to put\u00a0singer D4vd\u00a0on trial for the killing and dismemberment of a 14-year-old girl. <span class=\"credit\">Ted Soqui\/Pool European Pressphoto Agency via AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>There is no jury.\u00a0Judge Charlaine Olmedo\u00a0will decide whether the prosecution offered enough evidence to demonstrate probable cause to proceed to trial.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The hearing will resemble a mini trial<\/h2>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>It will be the first public presentation of evidence against\u00a0Burke, who was arrested\u00a0in April and\u00a0pleaded not guilty to murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 and unlawful mutilation of human remains. <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/24\/us-news\/d4vds-lawyers-hit-with-antisemitic-abuse-for-defending-accused-murderer\/\">His attorney, Blair Berk<\/a>, has said Burke is not responsible for Rivas Hernandez\u2019s death.<\/p>\n<p>The defendant, who has been held without bail in a jail near the courthouse since his arrest, will appear in court in his jail clothes, after the judge rejected a request that he be able to wear a suit as is usually allowed at a jury trial. No cameras will be allowed in the courtroom.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>D4vd\u2019s mugshot. <span class=\"credit\">LAPD<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Prosecutors have said the evidence will show that 21-year-old\u00a0D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, brought\u00a0Celeste Rivas Hernandez\u00a0to the Hollywood Hills house he was renting, stabbed her multiple times, then cut apart her body in his garage using chain saws. <span class=\"credit\">LAPD<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Soon after his arrest, prosecutors filed a memo, which the defense unsuccessfully tried to have sealed, outlining what their evidence would show at this hearing.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The defendant and the victim had known each other several years<\/h2>\n<p>The filing said\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/22\/us-news\/alleged-messages-photos-suggest-d4vd-and-celeste-rivas-met-as-early-as-2022-when-she-was-12\/\">Burke met Rivas Hernandez\u00a0when she was 11,<\/a> began sexually abusing her when she was 13 and he was 18, and killed her when she threatened to report him.<\/p>\n<p>She was reported missing multiple times in the years before her death, and prosecutors said they have evidence she was with Burke for long stretches, including a trip to Texas where she met his family.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Rivas Hernandez was reported missing multiple times in the years before her death, and prosecutors said they have evidence she was with Burke for long stretches. <span class=\"credit\">gofundme<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The filing said\u00a0Burke met Rivas Hernandez\u00a0when she was 11, began sexually abusing her when she was 13 and he was 18, and killed her when she threatened to report him.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Detectives had contacted him about her, but authorities say he lied and said he had only met her once and didn\u2019t know she was a minor. Prosecutors said they have sexual text messages and photos the two exchanged.<\/p>\n<p>A court filing said he sent a car to pick her up on the night of April 23, 2025, from her hometown of Lake Elsinore, California, some 80 miles (129 km) outside of Los Angeles. The two exchanged messages until she arrived at his Hollywood home, after which her phone went dead.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Here\u2019s the latest on the D4vd\u2019s murder charges of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas:<\/h2>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<p>\u201cKnowing he had to silence the victim before she ruined his music career as she had threatened, very soon after her arrival at his home, defendant stabbed the victim to death multiple times and stood by while she bled out,\u201d the document said.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Prosecutors say they have evidence linking Burke to girl\u2019s death<\/h2>\n<p>Prosecutors said they have records showing Burke ordered chain saws and wading pools that he used to dismember her body in his garage, and that her DNA was found there on blood stains discovered when police served a search warrant.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>A makeshift memorial for Celeste Rivas Hernandez was placed outside her home in Lake Elsinore, Calif., on April 21, 2026.  <span class=\"credit\">AP Photo\/Damian Dovarganes<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>They said he then <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/09\/16\/us-news\/dismembered-body-found-in-singer-d4vds-abandoned-tesla-idd\/\">drove around for months with the body in the trunk<\/a>. About <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/22\/us-news\/celeste-rivas-cause-of-death-revealed-after-d4vd-murder-arrest\/\">four months after her death<\/a>, her\u00a0decomposing body was found in the Tesla\u00a0registered to Burke that had been\u00a0towed from the Hollywood Hills\u00a0in September.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors said the car was parked around the corner from his house, and surveillance video will show he was the last person to drive it.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not entirely clear why it took seven more months to arrest Burke \u2014 though uncooperative witnesses had to be subpoenaed and the\u00a0final autopsy report showing she was stabbed\u00a0was not released until December.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>D4vid\u2019s attorney, Blair Berk (pictured above), has said Burke is not responsible for Rivas Hernandez\u2019s death. <span class=\"credit\">David Buchan for California Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The defense has not publicly provided its version of events.<\/p>\n<p>Preliminary hearings like this one serve a similar function to that of grand jury proceedings. Prosecutors generally present only as much evidence as they think they need to, and witnesses are kept to a minimum \u2014 mostly police and other investigators. For defense attorneys, it can provide ways to explore potential weaknesses in witness testimony that they can exploit at a trial.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">D4vd had budding music career<\/h2>\n<p>D4vd\u00a0began making music for YouTube videos he created of the video game Fortnite when he was a teenager.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>D4vid performed at last year\u2019s Coachella music festival just a few weeks before prosecutors said Rivas Hernandez was killed, and his album was released.  <span class=\"credit\">AP Photo\/Jordan Strauss<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The songs he wrote and recorded on his phone were a blend of indie rock, R&amp;B and lo-fi pop. <\/p>\n<p>The music made him a phenomenon on TikTok, Instagram, SoundCloud and Spotify, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/18\/us-news\/new-d4vd-song-mysteriously-appears-on-spotify-as-singer-remains-jailed-on-murder-charges\/\">where his top songs, including his 2022 breakthrough<\/a> \u201cRomantic Homicide,\u201d have more than a billion plays. In 2023, he released two EPs and opened for SZA on tour.<\/p>\n<p>He performed at last year\u2019s Coachella music festival just a few weeks before prosecutors said Rivas Hernandez was killed, and his album was released. <\/p>\n<p>Five months later, he was on tour promoting it when the body was discovered.<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/author\/andrew-dalton\"\/><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source celebrity.land \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LOS ANGELES \u2014 A judge is set to decide at a hearing that opens Tuesday whether there is enough evidence to put\u00a0singer D4vd\u00a0on trial in the killing and dismemberment of a 14-year-old girl that authorities said had threatened to expose their relationship. Prosecutors have said the evidence will show that 21-year-old\u00a0D4vd, whose legal name is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2510934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25174],"tags":[21751,363369,312189,358421,37798],"class_list":["post-2510933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gossip","tag-celebrities","tag-d4vd","tag-murders","tag-teens","tag-us-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Judge-to-hear-evidence-against-singer-D4vd-in-killing-dismemberment.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2510933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2510933"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2510933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2510935,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2510933\/revisions\/2510935"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2510934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2510933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2510933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2510933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}