The People vs. David Anthony Burke

The People vs. David Anthony Burke, refers to the upcoming criminal trial of American singer D4vd, for the death, dismemberment, sexual assault, and production of child pornography of Celeste Rivas Hernandez.

Following a five-day preliminary hearing, which began on July 21, 2026 and ending on July 27, 2026, in which a Los Angeles County judge found the singer to stand trial, D4vd was scheduled for an arraignment hearing, scheduled to occur on August 31, 2026.

Preliminary Hearing

During the first day of the preliminary hearing, LAPD officers testified that on September 8, 2025, they discovered human remains in a Tesla registered to singer D4vd, remains which included a torso and head in a bag located inside the front truck of the vehicle, with severe composition after officers were called in due to an extreme odor coming from the car. Detectives of the LAPD's Robbery and Homicide Unit would soon arrive to the scene. Upon looking into the front trunk, detectives discovered a partially unzipped black body bag with a dismembered head and torso and missing extremities. They testified to being able to smell the strong scent of decomposition. Inside the trunk, they also found a black garbage bag which held the extremities. The bags were surrounded by insects, larvae, flies, maggots, and had liquid decomposition coming from them. Pictures of this scene was presented during the hearing, and D4vd was reportedly fixated on the screen the whole time. The officers traced the license plates, which were from Texas, to D4vd's Texas home address. Medical examiners reported seeing blue plastic fibers in the limbs of the body, photos of which were also presented to court. Photos of the hands showed two missing fingers, reportedly ones which had D4vd's name and "Shhh" (in which D4vd has a matching one on his finger) tattooed on them. The fingers are yet to be recovered.

Detectives testified that after the vehicle was towed to LAPD headquarters, they found a receipt dated July 29, 2025 from Ross and subsequently got ahold of surveillance tapes from the store, which showed D4vd inside, shopping. It showed D4vd interacting with the Tesla vehicle as well. Screenshots of the Tesla infotainment system were cross-referenced with iCloud data to further show this occurrence. During the investigation, Apple was subpoenaed for iCloud information from D4vd's device. Reportedly 6-8 terabytes of information were produced from his iPhone 16 Pro. Detectives used a program called Cellebrite to be able to analyze the data. The last time his phone connected to the Tesla was on July 29, 2025. His phone has yet to be recovered. Surveillance footage from neighbor's cameras showed this was the last time the car was seen being driven before being parked. Footage also showed D4vd exiting the vehicle and walking back to his home on approximately July 29, 2025 at 14:20 PDT. Patrol vehicles with automatic license plate detectors also showed the car never leaving the spot. The car remained there until being taken to an impound lot after multiple citations, the place where the body would eventually be found.

Following this testimony, body cam footage was shown in court of officers visiting D4vd in search of Celeste during one of her periods in which she was reported missing. When asked by the sheriffs when the last time he spoke to her was, he stated they last spoke on February 13, 2024. He stated they met through Facebook, Instagram, and Discord in approximately 2020-2021. D4vd showed the officer a yearbook photo of Celeste, seemingly without reason. They informed D4vd she was 13 years old and then proceeded to search the home with D4vd's consent; they found no evidence of Celeste being there. The body cam footage showed in the court room lasted approximately 10.5 minutes and transcripts were provided.

A paper trial of D4vd's online purchases, including a body bag, chainsaws, a mini pool, and a burn pit, as well as his Tesla's GPS records were presented. His financial manager also testified, including testimony that D4vd made anywhere between 10 and 11.5 million dollars during his career thus far, which prosecutors used to argue the financial motive, and special circumstance that could be used to make the offense punishable by death penalty under California law, of the murder.

Messages between D4vd and Celeste were presented during the fourth day of the hearing. On June 19, 2024 Celeste asked D4vd if his mother knew they had sex before, to which D4vd responded that she thinks it's the first thing they do when they see each other. Celeste then told told D4vd she can sleep over, but "just don't get me pregnant". On June 23, 2024, D4vd messaged Celeste to "Rate sex today out of 10", to which Celeste responded with an emoji (the emojis are unknown as the data the prosecution received didn't allow for the emojis to be replicated and presented). D4vd told Celeste "I need more hickeys", in which Celeste responded by stating her breasts and "pussy" is sore. D4vd responded by telling her to let him know if he is being too rough. Prosecution linked these messages to 9 photos of CSAM material recovered from information linked to his phone. She was 13 years old at the time. On June 27, 2024 Celeste messaged D4vd stating "WE FUCKED. N IT HUIT. N IT HURT. SMM.". On July 9, 2024 D4vd messaged Celeste telling her that he is thinking about her "abortion gift". She responded with "I want balenciaga hourglass purse" and "u ever just think we have a whole ass sex tape", to which D4vd responded with "few of em, yep". On August 30, 2024, Celeste and D4vd began another conversation. Celeste expressed that she cared about D4vd and that she "killed my kid for you". After further conversation, she expressed that she has to lie to everyone around her and "even my kid" for the rest of her life. She further expressed that "I'd do anything to have it [the child] back". The prosecution presented messages of them conversating, as well as discussing sex, dated through March 14, 2025. Then, Celeste would message D4vd stating her intentions to move on from him and that they can remain friends. She expressed how she felt the two cannot have a balanced relationship and that all they do "is have sex and hang out". Up to 8,000-9,000 text messages were presented dated up until the day Celeste was believed to have been killed. Celeste messaged D4vd once again in 2025 asking D4vd to explain to him why he wants to be friends with "Aysia". He explained it was just a friend of his. She accused him of being willing to end their friendship just so he can be friends with Aysia, to which D4vd pushed back. She then told him she doesn't want to be friends with him if he stays as friends with Aysia. She later asked then why was she at the house, to which D4vd defended it stating it everyone went there to get themselves guest wristbands for Coachella. Celeste responded with "Oh my fucking god, I swear to god I will kill you, she was in my seat. I will strangle you and tell my dad so many lies and end your career" and "She posted about being at your house you fucking weirdo". On April 23, 2025 (the assumptive day of the murder), the two talked about seeing each other, and then D4vd proceeded to order her an Uber. D4vd texted her asking "are u coming at 9 or is it too late or early for you" to which Celeste responded with "I told you I can go whenever". At 8:20 p.m. that night Celeste messaged D4vd to get her the Uber. D4vd did and at 8:39, he messaged her that it had arrived. At 10:03, Celeste messaged D4vd "Girly pop I'm almost there open your door if you're home". D4vd replied with "got you". No records of Celeste ever messaging D4vd again were ever found. At 10:10 D4vd texted her that the gate was open and the door was unlocked. Twenty minutes later at 10:31, D4vd messaged her "Uber said you're here, wya". At 10:33 he messaged "helooo". At 10:36 he messaged "bro" and "Celeste". At 10:58 he messaged "bro blocking me?". At 11:36 he messaged "helloo". At 11:37 he messaged "bro" and "ima call you bro your scaring me". At 11:41 he messaged "wtf". At 12:00 midnight he messaged "where are you?" and "please". The prosecution presented the Uber records stating that the passenger was dropped off at 10:10 that night. They presented evidence that showed his phone was connected to the Tesla at 11:30 p.m. and evidence of the Tesla moving north towards Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara locations were found on the Tesla's infotainment system.

Later during the preliminary hearing sessions, testimony expanded upon forensic evidence, including trace blood evidence being found in his Tesla and garage, as well as other various items. Criminalists also presented evidence that signified a highly likely match of the DNA found to be Celeste's. The LA coroner found that Celeste died to life-threatening stab wounds, and the toxicology report came back negative. Images of Celeste's body, both how they were found in the car as well as how they appeared reassembled by the medical examiner, were presented.

Following the five-day preliminary hearing, in which over 10 witnesses testified, the LA judge presiding over the case ruled there was probable cause for D4vd to be charged with the offenses.

No trial date has been set. His arraignment, however, has been set for August 31, 2026.