Teen girl suffered multiple stab wounds, LA County ME says
Celeste Rivas Hernandez, {the teenager} whose singer D4vd is charged with killing, died of multiple penetrating accidents earlier than somebody amputated her legs, arms and two of her fingers, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner revealed Wednesday.
Details of the 14-year-old’s gross demise had been hidden from public view for months, after regulation enforcement businesses went to courtroom to dam the medical expert from releasing her post-mortem outcomes. The want for secrecy got here to an finish this week after the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office charged the singer, whose authorized title is David Anthony Burke, with murder, sexual abuse of a child and mutilation of a corpse.
The medical expert’s workplace decided a reason behind demise on Dec. 9, about three months after Celeste’s badly decomposed physique was discovered within the trunk of a automotive that belonged to Burke, in line with the report. The automotive had been towed from a location in Hollywood in late August.
Burke, 21, has denied all wrongdoing and pleaded not responsible to all expenses Monday. His lawyer Blair Berk has demanded an instantaneous preliminary listening to and insisted prosecutors’ case couldn’t stand as much as scrutiny. Burke is due again in courtroom Thursday morning in downtown LA
In saying the fees towards Burke earlier this week, prosecutors stated the ascendant music star had begun sexually abusing Hernandez in September 2023, when she was simply 13 years outdated, and killed her as a result of she posed a risk to his profession. Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman stated Hernandez “threatened to expose his criminal conduct,” however declined to elaborate on what particularly occurred.
Hernandez was final seen at a Hollywood Hills dwelling with Burke on April 23, 2025. Prosecutors allege Celeste was killed “on or about” that date, in line with a prison criticism. She had been reported lacking from her household’s Lake Elsinore neighborhood not less than thrice the 12 months earlier than, however had additionally been noticed at a few of D4vd’s concert events.
The medical expert discovered Hernandez suffered two penetrating wounds, one to his stomach and one other to his chest. After demise, Hernandez’s physique was “dismembered,” which means his legs and arms had been amputated, in line with the report. Two of the girl’s fingers on her left hand had additionally been amputated, in line with the report.
A postmortem toxicology report discovered solely ethanol within the teen’s system.
The examination was severely hampered by the situation of the sufferer’s physique, in line with the report. Investigators couldn’t even decide Hernandez’s eye shade.
“After several months, I am grateful this information can now be released, not only to the public, but also to the grieving family enduring loss,” Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Odey Ukpo stated in an announcement. “It is unfathomable they’ve needed to wait this lengthy to be taught what occurred to their daughter.”
Ukpo and the Los Angeles Police Department got into a bitter war of words over the decision to withhold the autopsy findings from the public last year. Hochman said earlier this week the details had to be contained so they didn’t impact the testimony of witnesses brought before a pair of investigative grand juries agreed to help collect evidence against Burke. Not even Burke’s attorney had seen the autopsy report as of Monday.
When police first discovered Hernandez’s body, her remains were in a “giant, black zippered physique bag with handles,” according to an LAPD report attached to the autopsy. Her arms and legs, which were severed above the elbows and knees, were in a separate trash bag, the report said.
This story initially appeared in Los Angeles Times.
