Medical Examiner Details Fatal Injuries in D4vd Preliminary Hearing

Autopsy Testimony Details Fatal Injuries and Severe Decomposition

The medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Celeste Rivas Hernandez presented difficult testimony during a Friday court proceeding in the case against recording artist D4vd. Dr. Grant Ho, deputy medical examiner for the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office, told the court that the 14-year-old victim had been killed by two sharp force wounds to her upper body and her dismembered, decomposing body was found in the trunk of a Tesla. Dr. Grant Ho said the teen’s markedly decomposed remains, some of which showed signs of trauma, weighed 71 pounds during autopsy. Examiners discovered the girl’s braces during the autopsy, he said. Additional information revealed in court included details about the clothing discovered with Celeste’s body, which included a tube top, thong underwear and leggings.

Much of what Dr. Grant Ho of the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner said on the stand was already known: She had been killed by two sharp force wounds to her upper body and her dismembered, decomposing body was found in the trunk of a Tesla. But the details he shared of what the autopsy showed — and tellingly, what it was unable to determine because of how degraded her body was when it was found — made Friday’s proceedings perhaps the most difficult so far. Photos shown from the autopsy brought uncomfortable shifting in seats and murmurs in the courtroom. Rivas Hernandez’s parents were in the building but stayed outside the courtroom.

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The defense seized on the uncertainties to suggest there might have been other causes of death, including an overdose or self-inflicted injuries. The preliminary hearing began on Tuesday, and will be used by a judge to decide if the case should go to trial.

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Forensic Evidence and Prosecution Arguments at the Preliminary Hearing

A forensic analyst said in court Wednesday that evidence of blood was found in multiple sections of the garage where the singer D4vd allegedly cut apart a teenage girl with a chainsaw last year. Lauren Wallace, a criminologist with the Los Angeles Police Department, said she found evidence of blood on gym mats and flooring inside the garage at the artist’s Hollywood Hills residence. Wallace was the latest witness to take the stand as a preliminary hearing on murder and sex abuse charges against the Romantic Homicide singer continued in downtown Los Angeles.

D4vd, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke, is charged with fatally stabbing 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez last April and then using a chainsaw to dismember her body before shoving it inside the trunk of his Tesla, where the girl’s remains were discovered months later. Prosecutors say Hernandez was last seen alive at the 21-year-old’s Doheny Place residence. If convicted as charged, Burke would face life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty, though prosecutors have not indicated whether they intend to pursue capital punishment.

Prosecutors presented evidence for a third day in their bid to bring D4vd — real name, David Burke — to trial for murder, sexual abuse of a child and mutilation of a body. Burke allegedly killed the underage Celeste in April 2025 after she threatened to disclose their relationship.

The 21-year-old singer, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, was arrested in April on suspicion of killing 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez at a home in the Hollywood Hills, according to court documents. Hernandez’s dismembered body was found in September 2025, inside the trunk of a vehicle at a tow yard in Los Angeles. Prosecutors allege Burke stood by as she bled out. Burke has pleaded not guilty to murder, sexual abuse of a child and mutilation of a body.