Overview
- At a Tuesday status hearing in Los Angeles, Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo postponed the preliminary hearing after prosecutors said they had additional lab reports, videos, photos and forensic records to turn over.
- David Anthony Burke, 21, known as D4vd, is charged with capital murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 and mutilation of human remains, and he has pleaded not guilty.
- Prosecutors allege he killed 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez on April 23, 2025 at his Hollywood Hills home, and her dismembered remains were found Sept. 8, 2025 in the front trunk of his Tesla.
- The case file cites an autopsy finding death from multiple penetrating injuries, online orders under an alias for two chainsaws, a body bag, a shovel and a blue inflatable pool, DNA and blood in his garage, blue plastic fragments in the remains, and digital records including texts and explicit photos.
- Special-circumstance claims of lying in wait, murder for financial gain and killing a witness make the case death-penalty eligible, and the District Attorney has not yet decided whether to seek capital punishment.