Rising R&B star D4vd traded sold-out stages for a Los Angeles courtroom on Thursday, as prosecutors revealed child pornography was found on his phone in a murder case that has shaken the music industry.
The 21-year-old singer, born David Burke, is accused of one of the most gruesome crimes to rock Hollywood in recent memory: the murder and dismemberment of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, a 14-year-old girl whose badly decomposed body was discovered sealed in bags inside the front trunk of his Tesla at a tow yard in the Hollywood Hills within days of what would have been her 15th birthday.
At Thursday’s preliminary hearing, Los Angeles prosecutor Beth Silverman delivered what may prove to be one of the most damning pieces of evidence yet against the embattled artist. A forensic search of Burke’s iPhone, she told the court, had uncovered “a significant amount of child pornography.”
Silverman offered no further details about the nature of the imagery, nor did she confirm whether the deceased girl featured in any of it, a detail that investigators are likely still working to establish and one that could carry enormous weight when the case ultimately proceeds to trial.
This discovery adds a chilling new dimension to an investigation that has already captivated and horrified the public in equal measure. For many observers, it transforms what might have been framed as a tragic and impulsive act into something far more premeditated and predatory in character.
Prosecutors allege that Burke had been engaged in an ongoing sexual relationship with Rivas Hernandez, a child who, according to her mother, had first been reported missing at just 13 years old. Detectives believe the relationship had been deliberately concealed, its exposure a threat Burke was unwilling to tolerate.
According to investigators, it was on April 23 of last year that Burke allegedly murdered the teenager after she threatened to go public about their relationship, a disclosure he feared would derail a music career that was, by all accounts, ascending at a remarkable pace.
Prosecutors say he then hacked up her body and stuffed her remains into bags, leaving them to decompose in the front compartment of his electric vehicle, parked in the hills above Los Angeles.
The coroner’s report, released just a day before Thursday’s hearing, revealed that Rivas Hernandez had died from “multiple penetrating injuries,” though the medical examiner stopped short of specifying the precise cause of the wounds.
Toxicology results confirmed the presence of illegal drugs and alcohol in her system, findings that her devastated family described in a statement as “absolutely devastating,” adding that they were heartbroken by “the horrible and gruesome death of their beloved daughter.”
Perhaps no detail in this case has proved more unsettling to the public than the eerie resonance between the alleged crime and Burke’s own artistic output. The singer broke into mainstream consciousness with a track entitled “Romantic Homicide,” a title that, in light of the charges now leveled against him, has taken on a macabre significance that his growing fanbase could never have anticipated.
Amateur investigators, scouring social media and streaming platforms in the days following the case’s emergence, have surfaced footage of Burke and Rivas Hernandez appearing together in live streams, their chemistry on camera visible and, in retrospect, deeply troubling.
Most striking among their discoveries were matching finger tattoos shared between the singer and the teenager, the word “Shhh,” inked in silence on both their hands, as though a pact of secrecy had been sealed in ink.
The timeline of events adds yet another disturbing layer to the saga. Rivas Hernandez’s decomposing remains lay undiscovered for months, found only in September at a tow yard after his Tesla was impounded.
At the time her body was discovered, Burke was in the middle of a nationwide tour. In a statement that now reads with grotesque irony, he initially indicated he intended to continue performing.
It was not until this past week, seven months after the teenager’s killing, according to investigators, that Burke was arrested and taken into custody following the conclusion of what detectives describe as a complex and painstaking investigation.
Burke has entered denials on all counts: one count of murder, one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14, and one count of unlawful mutilation of human remains. He faces the possibility of the death penalty should he be convicted of the murder charge, the most severe sentence available under California law.
For now, Burke remains behind bars with no prospect of bail. The case is next scheduled to return to court on Wednesday, when attorneys from both sides are expected to negotiate a date for a formal preliminary hearing, the proceeding at which a judge will determine whether sufficient evidence exists to send the matter to trial.
If that threshold is met, David Burke, the young man who once sang of romantic homicide to adoring fans, will face a jury to answer for what prosecutors allege was the very real and very brutal murder of a child.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
R&B singer D4vd, born David Burke, stands accused of murdering and dismembering 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, a child he allegedly silenced to protect his music career after she threatened to expose their illegal sexual relationship.
The discovery of child pornography on his phone deepens what is already a deeply disturbing case.
What makes this story particularly chilling is not just the brutality of the crime but the audacity of a man who continued touring while his alleged victim lay decomposing in his own car. He now faces the death penalty.
