Medical Examiner Details Fatal Stab Wounds at D4vd Preliminary Hearing

LOS ANGELES — The doctor who performed the autopsy on 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez testified Friday about the injuries that killed her, at a preliminary hearing that will determine whether the singer D4vd stands trial in her death.

Dr. Grant Ho of the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner told the court the girl was killed by two sharp force wounds to her upper body, and that her dismembered, decomposing body was found in the trunk of a Tesla towed from the Hollywood Hills last September.

Much of that was already known. But Ho's account of what the autopsy could — and could not — establish made Friday's proceedings among the most difficult of the week. Photographs from the autopsy prompted uncomfortable shifting and murmurs in the courtroom.

Ho said he could not determine when the death occurred, one of several limits imposed by the condition of the body. "It's extremely difficult to tell," he testified. He said she had been dead for "at least weeks." Asked by Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman whether it could have been four to five months, he answered, "potentially." Authorities believe Rivas Hernandez was killed in April 2025. Her body was found the day after she would have turned 15.

"She didn't make it to her 15th birthday, correct?" Silverman asked. "Correct," Ho replied.

The doctor said the body bore many "skin defects" that could have occurred after death, but that the two he identified as potential stab wounds had related internal trauma. One wound to the abdomen penetrated her liver; another, to the left chest, damaged her ribs. He said "it would take minutes, at least," to lose enough blood to die from such injuries, and, when pressed, said it could potentially have taken an hour, though he would not commit to that. Prosecutors have asserted in a court filing that the singer "stood by while she bled out."

The hearing began Tuesday. D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, sat beside his lawyers in orange jail clothing and glasses and showed no emotion during the testimony. The girl's parents, who attended parts of the two previous days, were not in court.

Prosecutors are seeking to prove that Burke began sexually abusing Rivas Hernandez when she was 13 and he was 18, then stabbed her when she threatened to disclose their sexual history. They allege he dismembered the body in his garage; a police analyst testified earlier in the hearing that samples from apparent blood stains there matched the girl's DNA.

Burke has pleaded not guilty to murder, sexual abuse of a child and mutilation of a body. His lawyers say he is innocent.

An indie-pop artist with a large online following, D4vd broke through in 2022 with "Romantic Homicide," one of several of his songs with more than a billion plays on Spotify. His music and videos often carry dark, violent imagery, frequently delivered through an alter ego he calls Itami.