US singer D4vd set to face murder trial over death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez
David Anthony Burke is charged with murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, and unlawful mutilation of human remains
A US musician who allegedly murdered a teenage girl he had been sexually abusing for years will go to trial, a judge has ruled.
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US musician D4vd, real name David Anthony Burke, is accused of killing 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose body was found in a Tesla registered to his address last September.
The artist is known for his song ‘Romantic Homicide’, which hit over 1 billion streams after going viral on TikTok.
In the song, he describes imagining killing his partner, with lyrics including the line: “In the back of my mind, I killed you, and I didn't even regret it”.
The decision to send Burke to trial came after a five-day preliminary hearing in which Los Angeles prosecutors examined witnesses and displayed graphic photographic evidence, as the victim’s family watched on.
The 21-year-old has pleaded not guilty to murdering and sexually abusing the teenager.
Read more: Who is d4vd and why has US singer been arrested?
Read more: Texts reveal 14-year-old allegedly murdered by singer D4vd had abortion before death
He is scheduled to be charged on 31 August, and the trial is set to begin within 90 days of that date.
Prosecutors allege that Burke stabbed the girl before dismembering her body following years of sexual abuse.
They accuse him of killing her because she had threatened to reveal his relationship with a minor and destroy his multimillion-dollar music career.
Texts were shown in court on Monday, showing threats Hernandez made to Burke in April, 2025, following an argument about his friendship with another girl.
"I swear to GOD I will kill u", one text said, followed by a threat to strangle him and tell her dad lies about him.
"I will end ur career and ur life I will damage anything," the text went on.
The next day, Hernandez travelled to Burke’s Hollywood Hills home in an Uber he sent to pick her up. Prosecutors allege that Burke stabbed her once she arrived.
During questioning on Monday’s hearing, Detective Corey Farrell from the Los Angeles Police Department said texts indicated the defendant and the girl had attended church with her family.
The detective said he was aware the teen had misrepresented her age to Burke, telling him at different times that she was 16 and 18.
Burke’s defence argued there was not sufficient evidence that Burke murdered Hernandez.
His lawyers claimed her parents were aware of what was happening between them, and even gave written consent for her to travel with Burke to London for a week.
They highlighted texts from April which indicated Celeste had insisted on going to Burke’s Hollywood home and that he had argued against her coming, before agreeing to send her an Uber.
Defence attorney Marilyn Bednarski said Burke "repeatedly expressed love and care for Ms Hernandez after they broke up".
The defence argues that the medical examiner’s inability to prove how the two penetrating wounds found in Hernandez occurred, as well as the lack of surveillance video capturing Burke at home the night of the incident, showed a lack of evidence.
According to Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo, the evidence presented during the preliminary hearing was probable cause for a trial.
Burke is charged with murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, and unlawful mutilation of human remains.
Judge Olmedo said: “The people have met their burden on all counts,"
She ruled that prosecutors met the threshold for the charge of murder with special circumstances, including lying in wait, motive for financial gain and eliminating a witness.
After the hearing, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said that his office only presented a small portion of the evidence it had against Burke, and that everything would be revealed in the coming trial.
Hochman added that his office had not yet determined if it planned to pursue the death penalty against Burke.
Graphic images of the teen’s dismembered corpse were shown in court during the preliminary hearing.
According to a homicide detective who testified in court, Burke ordered a body bag, chainsaws, an inflatable pool and a shovel online in the days following Celeste's death. This was emphasised by prosecutors who highlighted records that Burke ordered chainsaws and a shovel to his residence after the day of the alleged murder.
They claim that he used a chainsaw to dismember the girl’s body.
Lauren Wallace, criminalist for the Los Angeles Police Department, testified that the chainsaws found in his garage tested negative for the presence of blood and were not tested for DNA afterwards.
The defence highlighted this point in an effort to prove the evidence presented was inconclusive.
Investigators have been unable to locate a third, 10-inch Makita chainsaw, which prosecutors claim Burke also ordered following the teenager’s death.