Los Angeles (GNP): A Los Angeles judge has ruled that prosecutors presented enough evidence to send indie pop singer D4vd to trial on charges that he fatally stabbed and dismembered his 14-year-old girlfriend after she threatened to expose their secret relationship. Judge Charlaine Olmedo determined on Monday that there was probable cause for a jury to weigh the guilt of David Anthony Burke, the 21-year-old performer known professionally as D4vd, whose rapid rise as a major-label recording artist was interrupted by his arrest last year.
Burke sat shackled through five days of proceedings in a crowded downtown courtroom as prosecutors laid out graphic testimony and crime-scene imagery to support their case, with the parents of victim Celeste Rivas Hernandez attending most of the sessions.
Olmedo concluded that prosecutors had met the threshold of showing a reasonable probability of Burke’s guilt, which is the minimum standard required to hold a defendant for trial, and she ordered that he continue to be detained without bail. She also dismissed defense efforts to challenge the largely circumstantial case on procedural grounds. Burke, dressed in orange jail clothing and wearing dark-framed glasses, was led out of the courtroom shortly afterward.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman told reporters outside the courthouse that his office had not yet decided whether it would pursue the death penalty. He noted that securing a conviction at trial will require a unanimous verdict from all twelve jurors under the higher standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, and said he was confident his team would clear that bar. “There will be additional and significant evidence presented at trial,” Hochman said, adding that Monday’s preliminary hearing did not showcase the full weight of the prosecution’s case.
Burke’s career began as a viral sensation on TikTok, where his music was originally produced for Fortnite gaming content back in 2022. His breakout single “Romantic Homicide” helped him land a lucrative recording contract with Interscope Records.
His debut studio album arrived in April 2025, the same week prosecutors say his underage girlfriend disappeared and was stabbed to death. Her decomposing remains were not discovered until five months later, when workers at a towing yard noticed a foul odor coming from a Tesla sedan registered to Burke and alerted police.
Authorities arrested the singer-songwriter this past April and charged him with first-degree murder, mutilation of human remains, and child sexual abuse. He entered a not-guilty plea to all counts at an arraignment on April 20, where his lead defense attorney, Blair Berk, firmly maintained his innocence and argued the evidence would ultimately show he was not responsible for the victim’s death.
A court filing submitted the following week outlined prosecutors’ account of how the killing and disposal of the body allegedly took place, along with the motive they intend to present at trial. According to the district attorney’s office, Burke feared the teenager would destroy his rising entertainment career after she grew jealous and threatened to publicly reveal details of their relationship, including messages in which she warned she would end his career and his life.
The murder-for-financial-gain allegation is among the special circumstances that could make Burke eligible for capital punishment, alongside a second allegation tied to her status as a potential witness. Financial records presented by his manager showed Burke earned between ten million and eleven million dollars between 2023 and 2025 following his signing with Interscope.
Prosecutors allege that on April 23, 2025, a day after an argument between Burke and the teenager over her threats, he arranged an Uber ride to bring her to his home in the Hollywood Hills, where she was stabbed to death within twenty minutes of arriving.
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During the hearing, prosecutors showed jurors photographs of three chainsaws, a shovel, and other items they said Burke ordered online using a false name and had shipped to his residence after the killing, including an inflatable swimming pool they say was used to contain blood while the body was being dismembered.
Los Angeles police homicide detective Joshua Byers testified that the victim’s torso and head were recovered inside a cadaver bag placed in the front trunk of the abandoned Tesla, resting above a garbage bag holding her limbs. Fragments of blue plastic matching the inflatable pool were found embedded in the severed limbs, he said.
Two fingers from the victim’s left hand were missing and never recovered, while her right index finger carried a tattoo that investigators later matched to an identical marking on Burke’s own right index finger. Byers said the remains ultimately had to be identified through dental records, and that multiple biological samples collected from Burke’s garage tested positive for blood matching the victim’s DNA profile.
Managing Editor at Global News Pakistan (GNP), with a Bachelor's degree in International Relations from Riphah International University, graduated with a Gold Medal. Reach out at sabahtareengnp@gmail.com
