D4vd‘s murder case will go to trial, a Los Angeles judge ruled Monday, per Rolling Stone, with the singer facing charges of killing and sexually abusing 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
Prosecutors laid out evidence for the case during the hearing since last week, showing gruesome photos of Hernandez’s body, as well as text messages between her and D4vd, whose real name is David Burke.
“It appears to me, for the purposes of preliminary hearing, the people have met their burden of proof on all charges,” Judge Charlaine Olmedo said in court monday, per Rolling Stone, which reported that his arraignment will take place Aug. 31. “I order that Mr. Burke be held to answer.”
As the Los Angeles Times reported, prosecutors allege that Burke, 21, murdered Hernandez in April 2025, stabbing her to death at his home in the Hollywood hills. Text messages between the two also detailed an alleged abortion Hernandez underwent in 2024. As the Times reported, some of the final evidence the prosecution showed during the hearing on Monday was a heated text exchange in the days before Hernandez’s death, spurred by Burke’s relationship with another woman.
“I will tell my dad so many fucking lies about u dead ass i will end ur career and ur life I will damage anything,” Hernandez wrote in a text.
Hernandez’s dismembered remains were first found in a Tesla registered under Burke’s name last September, after police had received a call about a foul odor coming from the vehicle. He was arrested in April and was charged with first-degree murder as well as sexual abuse of a child and mutilation of a body. The prosecution alleged that Burke dismembered Hernandez’s remains himself with a chainsaw.
Burke had pleaded not guilty on all the charges, with his team arguing during the hearing that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove he played a part in Hernandez’s death. Per Rolling Stone, Burke’s defense attorney Marilyn Bednarski argued that “there is no evidence of a deliberate intention to kill, further stating that the messages between Burke and Hernandez reflect “the opposite of homicidal animus.”
Per the Times, L.A. deputy attorney Beth Silverman said Monday that Hernandez was “a minor who was not only under the eyes of the law at least sexually abused for many many months, she was groomed … she was being gaslit.”
D4vd was a fast-rising bedroom pop artist before the murder charges, and he was on tour when Hernandez’s remains were first found. He was signed to Interscope Records but has since been removed from the label’s roster.