Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the 14-year-old girl whom the singer D4vd is charged with killing, died from penetrating injuries, according to an autopsy report released on Wednesday after a months-long delay.
The Los Angeles county medical examiner’s office had in December determined that her death was a homicide caused by multiple penetrating injuries. The office was unable to release the report as it was sealed by a judge at the request of law enforcement until prosecutors this week moved to lift the order.
“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,” medical examiner Dr Odey C Ukpo said in a statement. “It is unfathomable they have had to wait this long to learn what happened to their daughter.”
In September, police found the girl’s dismembered and decomposed remains in a pair of bags in the trunk of a Tesla that was registered to the artist and had been abandoned in the Hollywood Hills. The condition of her remains delayed the medical examiner’s ability to determine her cause of death, the Los Angeles police chief, Jim McDonnell, said earlier this week.
The 21-year-old alt-pop singer D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, was charged in the killing on Monday. He pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, lewd and lascivious acts with a person under 14, and mutilating a dead body. Nathan Hochman, the LA district attorney, said this week that Burke engaged in a sexual relationship with Celeste. The murder charge includes the special circumstances of lying in wait, allegedly killing the teen for financial gain to maintain his “lucrative” career, and murdering a witness to an investigation.
Burke has pleaded not guilty. His attorneys said he did not cause Celeste’s death and they will vigorously defend his innocence.
Hochman said Celeste went to Burke’s home on 23 April 2025 and was never heard from again. Prosecutors allege he killed the girl because she threatened to report they had a sexual relationship that began when she was 13 and he feared it would ruin his rising career.
A criminal complaint alleges he killed her with a sharp object and dismembered the body about two weeks later.
According to the autopsy, she had significant wounds to her torso, likely caused by a sharp object. One wound penetrated her liver.
Her body had so degraded that examiners could not determine her eye color. She had braces at the time of her death, and a tattoo that read “Shhh….” on the inside of a finger, according to the report. Two other fingers were missing, as were parts of her arms and legs.
Ukpo, since he took over the job three years ago, has sought to emphasize his agency’s independence from law enforcement and to make its work as public as possible.
He has said he does not believe sealing reports of his office’s work helps investigations and has said he would only put holds on releasing the reports if compelled by a court order.
