American singer D4vd will stand trial on charges of killing and dismembering a 14-year-old girl who prosecutors say had threatened to expose their illegal sexual relationship, a judge ruled on Monday.
Judge Charlaine Olmedo held that there was enough incriminating evidence to proceed, after a five-day hearing in which prosecutors presented text messages from the teenage victim — whose body was found in the trunk of the singer’s car — threatening to end his career.
The 21-year-old, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, allegedly began a sexual relationship with Celeste Rivas Hernandez when she was 13 and he was 18.
Burke has denied one count each of murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14, and unlawful mutilation of human remains. He faces life imprisonment or the death penalty if convicted.
Prosecutors say Hernandez, jealous of another woman, threatened to reveal their relationship in April 2025, about 24 hours before her death and three days before the release of his first album.
The singer then allegedly paid for an Uber to bring her to his home before stabbing her to death. Prosecutors said his Amazon receipts showed purchases of chainsaws, an inflatable pool and a portable “burn box” incinerator that proved too small to destroy her body.
Hernandez’s decomposing body was discovered in September 2025 in the trunk of a Tesla registered in the singer’s name after it was towed to a Hollywood impound lot.
D4vd shot to fame in 2022 when his song “Romantic Homicide” went viral on TikTok, and he performed at the Coachella festival last year. His defence said Hernandez had been violent toward him, with lawyer Blair Berk arguing “there was no evidence of deliberate intention to kill,” while prosecutor Beth Silverman countered that “there’s nothing in this case that sounds like an accident.” The next hearing holds on Friday.
Source: Vanguard.
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