Preliminary hearing for D4vd to move ahead in killing of Celeste Rivas Hernandez

D4vd is awaiting the hearing set to begin July 21, where a judge is expected to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to allow the case to proceed to trial.

The murder case involving singer D4vd will move forward later this month to a preliminary hearing, a judge decided on Tuesday during a status conference.

The 21-year-old singer is accused of killing a 14-year-old girl whose decomposed body was found in the trunk of a Tesla registered to him last year.

D4vd, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, was in court Tuesday and will return to court for the preliminary hearing, which is expected to last three to five days, according to CBS News, KTLA and NBC Los Angeles.

Burke is awaiting the hearing set to begin July 21, where a judge is expected to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to allow the case to proceed to trial.

Last month, a preliminary hearing for the murder case was postponed until the end of July during a court proceeding in Los Angeles.

Burke appeared in court for a status hearing on June 17, when the decision to delay the hearing until July 21 was announced after his defence team asked for more time.

The judge said she found “good cause” to continue the hearing after reading a sealed declaration from the Romantic Homicide singer’s lead lawyer, Marilyn Bednarski, Rolling Stone reports.

In May, the preliminary hearing for the murder case was delayed until the end of June due to the amount of new evidence in the case and was set to begin on June 29.

Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman told the court that prosecutors have already turned over more than 10 terabytes of digital evidence, including materials found as part of a series of search warrants that were executed on the singer’s phone and iCloud account.

Silverman said prosecutors were continuing to upload evidence and added that the overall discovery could exceed 40 terabytes.

Burke has been charged with murder in the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges in April and is being held without bond ahead of his trial.

Burke’s preliminary hearing was also previously rescheduled for May 26 after it had originally been set to begin on May 1.

The hearing comes after prosecutors alleged in April that Burke killed Rivas by stabbing her multiple times.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office shared what it said the evidence would show in a document that provided the first detailed allegations of efforts to dismember Rivas’s body and get rid of evidence, according to The Associated Press.

The court filing, viewed and obtained by The Associated Press, alleges that Burke began a sexual relationship with her when she was 13 and he was 18, and killed her when she threatened to reveal their inappropriate relationship.

“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 filings allege.

Rivas’s death was ruled a homicide in the report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office that had been blocked from release for months.

The autopsy was limited by “extensive postmortem changes” to the body that was dismembered and decomposing when it was found in two bags in the trunk of a Tesla parked in the Hollywood Hills in September 2025.

The examination revealed “two penetrating wounds of the torso with smooth edges that may represent sharp force injuries.” One wound on the upper abdomen penetrated the liver. Another, on the left chest, damaged her ribs. The tube top she was wearing appeared to be cut in three places.

A judge had ordered the report sealed late last year at the request of law enforcement, but prosecutors agreed to allow its release in April.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office previously announced that Burke was charged with first-degree murder, lewd and lascivious acts with an individual under 14 and mutilating a body in the killing of Rivas. She was reported missing by her family in 2024, when she was 13. Authorities say she was 14 when she died.

The murder charges included special circumstances — lying in wait, committing a crime for financial gain and murdering the witness in an investigation — that could carry the death penalty. Prosecutors haven’t announced whether they will seek it.