California | Singer D4vd's preliminary hearing set for July 21 in killing of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez

LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- Attorneys told a judge Tuesday they are ready to go forward with a multi-day hearing later this month for singer D4vd, who is charged with murdering a 14-year-old girl whose dismembered body was found in the trunk of his Tesla at a Hollywood tow yard.

During the hearing set to begin July 21, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo will determine if there is sufficient evidence to allow the case against the 21-year-old singer—whose real name is David Anthony Burke—to proceed to trial.

One of Burke's attorneys, Blair Berk, indicated Tuesday the defense would be ready for the upcoming hearing, following a series of requested postponements.

Burke was charged on April 20 with capital murder in the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez.

The teen's remains were found last Sept. 8—just days after what would have been the girl's 15th birthday—in the front trunk of the Tesla Model X that was registered to the singer, according to an April 29 court filing by the prosecution, which noted that the vehicle had been towed three days earlier while parked about 400 feet from his Hollywood Hills home.

The girl's severely decomposed head and body were found in a black cadaver bag, while her severed arms and legs were found in a plastic garbage bag underneath the cadaver bag, according to the filing.

"Surveillance video and other evidence confirm defendant was the last person to drive the vehicle on July 29, 2025, before he left Los Angeles on a concert tour," according to the prosecution's filing.

The murder charge includes the special circumstance allegations of lying in wait, murder for financial gain, and killing a witness in a criminal investigation. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office is expected to decide later whether to seek the death penalty against Burke, who remains jailed without bail.

District Attorney Nathan Hochman has said the lying-in-wait allegation stems from D4vd's invitation to Celeste to come to his Hollywood Hills home on April 23, 2025, while the financial gain allegation stems from the singer's effort to maintain his lucrative music career, which was being threatened by his alleged sexual relationship with the underage girl, Hochman said. Celeste was considered the key witness in that investigation, leading to the allegation of murdering a witness, the district attorney said.

Burke is also charged with one count each of continuous sexual abuse of a child under age 14 and mutilation of human remains.

He has pleaded not guilty through his attorneys.

The prosecution's filing alleges that he "purchased tools to carry out his plot to dismember and dispose of the victim's body," including ordering a shovel, two chain saws, a body bag, heavy-duty laundry bags, and a blue inflatable pool to be delivered to his home under a fake name.

"Moreover, defendant took horrifying measures to destroy and discard the victim's body. After placing her body into the blue inflatable pool to prevent her blood from spilling onto his garage floor, defendant used a chainsaw and perhaps other tools to cut off her limbs. Small blue plastic fragments were found embedded in the victim's remains, which were collected by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Department," according to the filing.

The filing alleges that Burke "amputated her left ring and pinky fingers because her ring finger contained a tattoo of his name," and those fingers were not found in the Tesla.

Los Angeles police detectives served a search warrant last Sept. 16 at his home and found "evidence consistent with the dismemberment of the victim's body in the inflatable pool, which contained multiple linear cuts," according to the filing.

The filing alleges that several biological samples, which tested positive for blood, were collected within the garage area. DNA analysis determined that various samples matched the victim's unique genetic profile.

According to the prosecution's brief, Burke and the girl met in January 2022 when she was 11 years old, and they began a "sexual relationship" in November 2023 when she was 13 and he was 18, and "text exchanges between the victim and defendant contain references to sex, pregnancy, abortion, and use of the Plan B emergency contraceptive."

"There are also explicit photographs documenting and corroborating their sexual relationship," the prosecution alleged, noting that the two "broke up" in November 2024 but continued to communicate and that "text messages suggest they also continued to have sexual relations."

The prosecution alleges in the filing that the girl likely died April 23, 2025, and that the two had "engaged in a lengthy argument described in detail in their text messages" a night earlier that "reveal the victim's jealousy over defendant's relationships with other women, as defendant led her to believe they had a future together."

The teen "became extremely upset and threatened to disclose damaging information about her relationship with the defendant to end his career and destroy his life," according to the filing, which noted that his first studio album was set to be released a few days later.

Burke allegedly sent an Uber to bring the girl from her Lake Elsinore home to his residence and then sent text messages to her inquiring where she was after the Uber dropped her off, the prosecution alleges.

The prosecution contends in the brief that it was "part of defendant's 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, the defendant stabbed the victim to death multiple times and stood by while she bled out. At no time did he call law enforcement or 911 or take her to an emergency room to save her life. Despite knowing she was dead and her family was trying to find her, the evidence will show the defendant lied and claimed he didn't know where she was," according to the filing.

D4vd was arrested on April 16 by Los Angeles Police Department officers.

His attorneys issued a statement at the time denying the singer killed Celeste.

"Let us be clear, the actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez, and he was not the cause of her death," defense attorneys Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter said. "There has been no indictment returned by any grand jury in this case and no criminal complaint filed. David has only been detained under suspicion. We will vigorously defend David's innocence."

Source: abc7.com, Staff, July 8, 2026

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde

Death Penalty News For a World without the Death Penalty

Florida | Jury recommends death sentence for Jeffrey Crum in killing of 12-year-old girl

BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — A Hernando County jury has recommended the death penalty for a 65-year-old man who was found guilty last week of raping and killing 12-year-old Jennifer Odom. Sentencing for Jeffrey Crum was held this week. Crum abducted Odom in 1993 after she stepped off her school bus in Pasco County. Her body was found in a Hernando County orange grove six days later.

Hanging of Osaka Arsonist is Japan’s First Execution Under Takaichi Government

As a majority of the international community has abolished capital punishment. Japan and the U.S. are the only two countries in the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations that put people to death. The execution of Takami Sunao—an arsonist whose 2009 attack in Osaka killed five—on August 21, 2026, was Japan’s first use of capital punishment in just over a year. Over a Decade from Sentencing to Execution Takami Sunao was executed on August 21, 2026 , for a 2009 arson attack at an Osaka pachinko parlor that killed five people. In July 2009, Takami poured gasoline on the floor of a pachinko parlor in Osaka and set it alight, killing 5 customers and staff members and injuring 10 more. While the defense argued that he was in a state of diminished capacity, the Supreme Court finalized his death sentence in February 2016. The execution took place 17 years after the initial crime and 10 and a half years after the death sentence was finalized.

Cartoons about Capital Punishment

More cartoons about capital punishment HERE

Spared execution eight times, oldest inmate in US dies at 101 after 76 years behind bars

Francis Clifford Smith was given his last meal eight times. But after being spared execution each time, he went on to be regarded as the longest-serving prisoner in the US before dying in June at 101 years old. Convicted of murder in 1950 when he was 25, he always maintained his innocence, those who knew him told the BBC. Andrius Banevicius, the public information officer for Connecticut's Department of Correction, recounted how Smith used to feed the birds while in Osborn Prison, earning him the nickname The Birdman of Osborn.

Israel builds execution chamber for Palestinians convicted of murder

In March, the Knesset approved legislation that calls for the execution of Palestinians convicted by a military court of killing Israelis Israeli authorities are preparing a prison wing—replete with an execution chamber—designated specifically for Palestinian prisoners convicted of murder, Israel’s i24NEWS channel reported Tuesday. The move comes after the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) approved legislation in March that calls for the execution of Palestinian prisoners convicted by a military court of murdering Israelis.

Japan executes man convicted of killing five in 2009 Osaka pachinko parlor arson

Japan on Friday announced the execution of a man convicted of killing five people after setting fire to an Osaka pachinko parlor in 2009, the first execution by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi 's government as the country faces growing calls for more transparency and the abolition of capital punishment. The Justice Ministry said Sunao Takami, 58, was hanged to death earlier Friday. Takami in 2009 set fire to the crowded pachinko parlor in Osaka by spreading gasoline and throwing a lit match, engulfing the building, killing five and injuring 10 others, Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi said.

Florida executes William Frances Silvia

Florida executed its 13th death row prisoner of the year Tuesday evening amid the state’s aggressive use of the death penalty championed by Governor Ron DeSantis. William Frances Silvia, 61, who was convicted of fatally shooting his estranged wife and injuring his mother-in-law in 2006, was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m. after receiving the lethal three-drug injection at Florida State Prison. At 6 p.m. Tuesday, Silvia was already strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm when the curtain to the death chamber went up. He remained relatively motionless with his eyes and mouth open throughout most of the execution while a priest sat at his feet and prayed.

Oklahoma executes Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez

Oklahoma has carried out 1 of 3 executions set for the same day in the United States in another sign of the resurgence of the death penalty in the country. Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez was pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 13, at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He was put to death by lethal injection for the murder of his common-law wife in 2003 at their Oklahoma City home. He admitted to police he shot her twice during an argument. Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, did not fight for his life, stunning his attorneys in July when he told the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board that he didn't want clemency. "It's time for me to pay for what I did," he said.

Alabama is trying a death penalty bait-and-switch

For a decade, Alabama death row inmate Jeffrey Lee has been clear that he does not want to be executed by lethal injection . But that is what awaits him on September 17 . He faces that prospect because the state has been enjoined from using nitrogen hypoxia , the alternative execution method he preferred, to put him to death. Having failed to show that its nitrogen hypoxia protocol is constitutionally acceptable, Alabama wants a do-over to force Lee to die by lethal injection as a result of its own failure. It should not get one. Alabama should only be able to put Lee to death if it can fix nitrogen hypoxia’s constitutional defects.

Texas | A Dangerous Man. At 18, Billy Joe Wardlow took a man’s life. Nearly 30 years later, the state still wants his.

Like any place humans gather, death row has a culture. Billy Wardlow says it's different in many ways from general population. One is in how new inmates are treated. "In [general population], the guys around you would try to find some way to exploit you," Wardlow said. "Death row, with a few exceptions, will often extend a hand of friendship to the 'new boot' so they can get on their feet ... Most of us get together and let each other know what we can send to the new guy." One of the cherished myths of those who support the death penalty is that it is reserved for the “worst of the worst,” those beyond redemption. Wardlow typically sends writing materials, food, clothes, and hygiene products. Recently, after receiving some of these items, a new inmate asked Wardlow what he owed him. "I told him to remember how guys helped him when he saw someone else new," Wardlow said. "Pay it forward, as the saying goes." Sending gift...

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog