EDITOR’S NOTE: This story consists of graphic and disturbing particulars.
Los Angeles
Prosecutors have laid out an in depth and grisly timeline of their case towards singer d4vd, who’s accused of sexually abusing Celeste Rivas Hernandez beginning when she was 13, then fatally stabbing her when she – at 14 years previous – threatened to expose their relationship.
Celeste is believed to have been killed April 23, 2025, in the future after she and d4vd, whose authorized title is David Anthony Burke, had an argument during which she threatened to disclose damaging details about their relationship “to end his career and destroy his life,” in accordance to a submitting Wednesday from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
The singer, whose first studio album was launched days later, took “horrifying measures to destroy and discard the victim’s body,” the submitting says.
D4vd, now 21, bought two chainsaws online that he used to dismember Celeste’s physique in an inflatable pool, prosecutors allege, including her DNA was present in his storage. The singer additionally made online purchases of a physique bag and heavy-duty laundry baggage, in accordance to the court docket doc.
Small blue plastic fragments have been embedded within the sufferer’s stays, and an skilled with Los Angeles police made “a physical fit match from the blue fragments to the blue inflatable pool” during which Celeste was dismembered, the doc says.
D4vd “amputated her left ring and pinky fingers because her ring finger contained a tattoo of his name,” the submitting says. “Her fingers have not been recovered.”
D4vd was arrested this month and has pleaded not guilty to fees of first-degree homicide with particular circumstances, steady sexual abuse of a baby below 14 and mutilating human stays. He is harmless, his lawyer mentioned after his arraignment: Evidence “will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez and he was not the cause of her death,” lawyer Blair Berk mentioned.
A decide on Wednesday denied Berk’s request to seal the evidentiary submitting, which the protection lawyer says is “one-sided” and “replete with hearsay” and has the potential to taint a future jury pool. NCS has sought additional remark from Berk.
Celeste was reported lacking by household and buddies on a number of events, beginning in early 2024, and was final seen alive going to d4vd’s house final April. Her dismembered remains have been discovered within the trunk of d4vd’s impounded Tesla in Los Angeles on September 8, a day after she would have turned 15.
Evidence outlined by the state consists of photographs of Celeste and the singer engaged in sexual exercise, which investigators say started when she was 13 and he was 18. Investigators imagine the 2 met when Celeste was 11 years previous, the submitting says.
Text messages via March 2025 present how d4vd allegedly manipulated the sufferer. Celeste wrote in a single message, in accordance to prosecutors: “all we do is have sex and just hang out man I want more than that for myself.”
Celeste’s mother and father reported her lacking in February 2024. Detectives with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office contacted d4vd, who instructed them he had solely met her as soon as and didn’t know her age, in accordance to the court docket doc.
When the teenager returned house that February, her mother and father took away her cellphone. The defendant then drove to Lake Elsinore and paid a classmate of Celeste $1,000 to give her a cellphone, prosecutors say.
Celeste and d4vd spent important time collectively all through 2024, together with weekend journeys to his Hollywood Hills house and visits to Las Vegas, London and Texas, to meet the singer’s household, in accordance to the court docket doc. Text messages between the pair allegedly included references to intercourse, being pregnant, abortion and the Plan B emergency contraceptive.
The evening earlier than authorities say Celeste was possible killed, she had a prolonged argument with d4vd, described later in textual content messages that “reveal the victim’s jealousy over defendant’s relationships with other women, as defendant led her to believe they had a future together,” in accordance to the court docket doc.
“She became extremely upset and threatened to disclose damaging information about her relationship with defendant to end his career and destroy his life,” prosecutors wrote, noting that his first studio album’s launch date was April 25, 2025.
On April 23, 2025, the singer despatched an Uber to decide up Celeste at her house in Lake Elsinore at about 8:40 p.m. and produce her to his Hollywood Hills house round 10:10 p.m., the court docket doc says.
At about 10:30 p.m. that evening, d4vd texted Celeste in what prosecutors describe as part of his “premeditated plan to cover up the murder, as she was already dead by this time.”
“Knowing he had to silence the victim before she ruined his music career as she had threatened, very soon after her arrival at his home, defendant stabbed the victim to death multiple times and stood by while she bled out,” the submitting says. “At no time did he call law enforcement or 911 or take her to an emergency room to attempt to save her life.”
Celeste died of “multiple penetrating injuries,” in accordance to an post-mortem report launched this month. She had wounds on her chest and stomach that “may represent sharp force injuries,” the Los Angeles County health worker’s workplace mentioned within the report, which was signed in December however sealed for months on the request of regulation enforcement.
“The Rivas Hernandez family is absolutely devastated by the findings,” Celeste’s household mentioned in a press release after the discharge of the post-mortem report. “They respectfully ask for privacy, understanding, and patience as they process this information.”
This story has been up to date.