Inside D4vd's Preliminary Hearing in Murder Case

**Anne-Marie Green** (0:04)
As a warning, some of the following reporting is very graphic and disturbing, so please watch and listen with care. Singer-songwriter David Anthony Burke, better known by his stage name David, which is spelled D4vd, was back in court this week for a preliminary hearing. Now, in a preliminary hearing, the prosecution and defense present evidence to a judge who then decides if proof is substantial enough to move on to a trial. Before the hearing began, it was anticipated to last at least three days. In April, 21-year-old David was charged with the murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. The teenager's dismembered remains were discovered in the front trunk of David's impounded Tesla in September of 2025 The hearing started Tuesday on a gruesome note with the prosecution presenting photos of Celeste's dismembered body after her body was discovered in the impounded Tesla. CBS News reports that Celeste was unrecognizable given that her body was found five months after she was last seen. And when the grisly images were presented, David appeared blank-faced, slumped in the chair that he was chained to. In addition to the murder charge, David has been charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 The unlawful mutilation of human remains as well. The murder charges include what they call special circumstances, lying in wait, committing the crime for financial gain and murdering the witness in an investigation.
A special circumstance means that if convicted, David faces the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. The LA County DA has not yet announced if they'll seek the death penalty. David has pleaded not guilty to all charges. I'm 48 Hours correspondent, Anne-Marie Green, and this is Case by Case.
We've been following this case now for a few episodes, so if you want to revisit that coverage, just check our Case by Case podcast feed and the 48 Hours YouTube channel. Back when we last discussed this case, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office had shared a brief on April 29th regarding preliminary hearing evidence alleging that Celeste was 11 years old when she first met David, and messages between the two suggest a sexual relationship may have started when she was 13
A preliminary hearing was supposed to take place in late May, but it kept on getting pushed back until it finally began earlier this week. This case has received a lot of attention, giving David's budding career in the music business. At one point, opening for Grammy Award-winning artist SZA, and creating tracks for the wildly popular Fortnite video game. With me today to discuss what came out of court is Los Angeles Times investigative crime writer, Richard Winton. Richard, thanks so much for joining us. I have returned to this podcast to talk about this.
You were in the courtroom, so I think I want to start with just give us a lay of the land, and then we'll talk about some of the pretty disturbing evidence that came out. But we know that in the courtroom, they presented some photographs of Celeste, Celeste alive, Celeste not alive. Her family was there. This must have been really tough for them to see and hear.

**Richard Winton** (3:33)
Yeah. I mean, it was clearly, as the prosecutor makes, begins the presentation shortly into it a little bit, she says, and you see, she mouths it more than she actually physically says it, are you okay towards the mom, quite clearly? And then she goes and comforts her at the first break because, yes, they're showing images of Celeste, the very alive teenager, and then human remains, which are, as the detective Bias, Josh Bias, who's the lead detective, described them, there wasn't really, she didn't really have a face.
Two of the fingers were removed because they would, as prosecutors allege, connect David to her because one of those fingers had his name on.
So, yeah, it was very dramatic, but even beyond that, like there was later on, there was some testimony where a CHP officer, California Highway Patrol, said, I recovered her passport card near a lake somewhere, and up in Santa Barbara County, and even that, the mum reacted to almost more. So obviously, it's deeply personal, heartfelt, and yeah, she cried in the corridor outside as well. There's like an area outside. I mean, and they've been very quiet. They're not going with a big public spectacle. They're not talking. Sometimes in these kind of cases, you get, they're not doing that kind of thing here.

**Anne-Marie Green** (5:08)
Right. Are they expected to testify? Any members of her family?

**Richard Winton** (5:12)
Not at this stage. They are not going to testify.

**Anne-Marie Green** (5:17)