48 Hours - Inside D4vd's Preliminary Hearing in Murder Case

Episode Date: July 24, 2026

A preliminary hearing offers the clearest look yet at the case against singer-songwriter D4vd, who is charged with the murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. “48 Hours” correspondent Anne-Marie Green is joined by Los Angeles Times investigative crime writer Richard Winton to unpack the latest courtroom developments, the prosecution's strategy, the defense's response, and the evidence that could determine whether the case advances to trial.

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 named 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 the 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 teenagers' 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 blankfaced, 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 weight, 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 L.A. 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-hour's 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, Siza, 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 returning to this podcast to talk about this. You know, you were in the courtroom. So I think I want to start with just sort of 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. Yeah, I mean, it was clearly, as the prosecutor begins the presentation shortly into it a little bit, she says, and 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 Byers, who Josh Byers, 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 alleged, connect David to her because one of those fingers had his name. 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, recovered her passport card near a lake somewhere up in Santa Barbara County. And even that, the mum reacted to almost more. So obviously, you know, it's deeply personal, heartfelt. And, yes, she was seeing, 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 like a big public spectacle. They're not talking, you know, sometimes in these kind of cases you get, they're not doing that kind of thing here. Right. Are they expected to testify? Any members of her family?

Not at this stage. they are not going to testify. So the preliminary hearing, it's taking place on the ninth floor of the LA County Superior Courthouse. You have told us that a lot of high-profile cases have taken place there. Is there a particular reason why that location ends up being the location for so many high-profile cases? Basically in Los Angeles, that's like the high-security level corridor. So typically high-level gang murders, you name it, high-celebrity cases. cases, but more violent crimes.

Always, that was where, for people who may remember, Judge Lance Ito's courtroom was. When you bring up Edo, that was the judge in O.J. Simpson's case. Yes, yes. So when you're a judge on this floor, you know you will get the most important cases and the most media attention cases in Los Angeles. That floor has extra security measures. The lead prosecutor in this case, her name

is Beth Silverman. She's got a nickname. LA Magazine once called her the sniper. Where does that come from? I'm not really sure how that name came about, because as I described, Beth, she's not someone who would be hiding in the long range area of something. She's more directly confrontational

and a very aggressive prosecutor. She did the Grim Sleeper, which was the serial killer who killed numerous women in South L.A. Yeah, Beth is a no, take no prisoners prosecutor. But as one of her colleagues once told me, if your family members murdered, she's the one you want to prosecute it. He is being represented, as you mentioned, by some high-profile attorneys, Blair Burke's one.

Regina Peter is another. Marilyn Bednardsky is another. Blair Burke, as you point out, no stranger to celebrity cases in 2017. She joined Harvey Weinstein's defense team when he was first facing accusations of sexual harassment and assault. Everyone may recall there was a case in New York, but then there was also in 2022 a case in California. He was convicted on one count of rape and two counts of sexual assault. Burke also represented clients like Mel Gibson in his 2011 case after he was accused of domestic abuse of his ex-girlfriend at the time, Oksana.

there there was a negotiated sort of deal, a no contest plea deal. So Mel Gibson avoided jail time. In this case, do you, after sort of hearing what you've heard from the prosecution or from the defense, is this type of case where a plea deal for something could be presented? In this case, the very minimum right now, they're seeking life without parole. Most of negotiations in California cases over accusations of murder, and this is murder with financial gain, murder with special circumstances of lying in white. And there's also continuous sexual abuse alleged. In this kind of case, typically what happens is the defense,

if they are going to negotiate, are trying to negotiate, a deal where their client one day walks out of prison. Right. And so that's, if there's going to be negotiation, that would normally what it would be. Here, the district attorney of Los Angeles, Nathan Hockman, this is a child murder. She's a child. You have to remember this. And you've got the sexual abuse element.

And so his likelihood of Beth Silverman and him negotiating, anything. less than, well, just not, it's basically not a negotiation. Life without parole is probably their kind of minimum. This may be the case that Hockman does seek the death penalty in, because this case has kind of the bars, which usually would push those buttons, which are, it's a child, there's sexual abuse involved, there's a pattern of planning, he's saying lying in way. So if he's ever to use the death penalty, it's either this or a child torture case, because these are the cases if there's going to be one. Yeah. So based on what you've heard so far,

then, could you know, what do you foresee as perhaps the defense's arguments? What does it, any sort of indication as to where the defense might go with this? Okay. So during the prelim, this is prelim in California, basically you just have this preponderance of the evidence. It's just like a very sort of lower standard. We're not talking beyond reasonable doubt. Most people have seen trials. You have to prove everything beyond reasonable doubt. It's an intense level of requirement.

We see in this case, you know, we see a lot of physical evidence of basically blood all over the garage. And then there's all the purchases of chainsaws, body bags. strange trips in his car. We had one of the forensic experts of the LAPD testified that it was likely, based on the blood finds. Her body was actually in the frunk. That was a snippet of David's 22 song Romantic Homicide.

The music video features a blindfolded David singing over the corpse of a young woman in what appears to be a blood-stained wedding gown, and quick cuts reveal bloody knives pouring out of a suitcase. The video has over 200 million views on YouTube and commenters can't help but to attach the lyrics to the artist alleged crimes. Some viewers in the comments connect the date of the video's release on September 7th to Celeste's birthday. It's on the same day. He performed the song two years ago at PNC Live Studio session in Portland, Oregon. And a little over a year later, one commenter called it one of the most haunted songs of our generation.

Social media blew up in reaction to the case. David is an artist who built his career online, making YouTube videos and content around gaming and music. After the gruesome allegations in this case, it seems that his vast digital footprint looks to resurface in the lead-up to the trial. So Richard, the judge is currently evaluating the evidence with regards to this case.

according to CPS News reporting, the prosecution has recovered over 40 terabytes of evidence. This is including data from David's phones and his iCloud account. And just to give you a sense of what that looks like, just one terabyte can account for at least 200,000 images. So the question here is, could some of this include David's own music? Yes, it's definitely part of the evidence. It's the music he's published and the music he hasn't published as well. which may have lyrics for referencing the deceased. But importantly, and I think it's emotional,

if they eventually get a trial, I think Beth Silum want to show jurors this, are some of the videos, some of the very graphic videos, not so much the lyrics, which often have bloody scenes, including one video where he drags a body to the back of a car and puts it in the trunk.

I'm sure that she'll want to, show that this is part of kind of the way he portrays things, I'm sure that all the imagery around his kind of sort of low rent horror kind of persona visually will be something she would like to show jurors. It's often hard to sort of categorizing recording artists. So a lot of this visual material is probably in those terabytes. But I think I, you know, I thought the way you sort of summed it up was really good. When I looked at the word, I thought it's like a really simple, very short poem that, you know, outside of this context actually doesn't seem that interesting. But when you put it in the middle of a murder case, then it could become a problem.

So the purpose of the hearing this week was to determine if there's enough evidence to move forward with a murder trial. Yeah, I mean, really honestly, the standard of prelim is pretty low. and this literally before the prelim, Beth Silverman files this nine-page brief like back in April, which pretty much lays out. And this is very unusual. So there's two unusual things. I was going to ask you, is that odd?

Blair Burke pushed very quickly, which is your right on California law, for a pre-a-frileum as soon as possible, right? I can tell from her questions in court. She's somewhat trying to work out, okay, how much of the stuff do they have solid? When the forensic people up there, she kept asking in her cross. And so you were the first person in that scene?

Did the detectives go in there? She's like numerous times asked that they gloved up, masked up. She's not really asking about the forensic people because she knows they're going to be. She's asking about the others. Right. Let's review some of what came out of that brief, starting with the close. that Celeste was allegedly 11 years old when she first met David and messages between the two suggested a sexual relationship may have started two years later when she was 13.

And the brief also noted that Celeste had gone missing before. Can you talk about that? The prosecutors are alleged in their brief that they have proof of a sexual relationship between the two of them. That includes messages, references to Plan B, sex, abortion. And that's what they included in their sort of court briefing. In addition, this is documented. When we documented ourselves at the L.A. Times,

she was reported missing to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department three times during that same period in which they were having their relationship. Prosecutors say there was a significant amount of child pornography found on David's phone. according to the prosecution, these communications ceased April 23rd, 2025. And this is when they believe Celeste died. What was going on between Celeste and David, starting with the night before? Basically, they'd got into an argument, it seems, that she would become angry or jealous. This is what the prosecutors allege in their brief.

They basically allege that she implied that she implied that. she would tell the world about their relationship. She's a minor. It would be a crime. So he brings her to the home via Uber. And once she's there, prosecutes alleged in their filing document. And partly from what the medical examiner alleges,

she was stabbed twice. That evening, interestingly, 20 minutes after she already documented as arriving, by that Uber, he's like asking where she is. It kind of paints a picture. Yeah, the cover. Alleged. Alleged.

That's when the prosecutor's alleged. That's when that cover up begins. That night, he makes a strange driving trip in his Tesla all the way up to Santa Barbara County to a place called Lake Kuchuma. I'm not sure what exactly he did. But that happens to be where they found her passport ID card. like last November randomly

the side of the road they can prove that that car went there they have license plate readers they have all kinds of stuff which show their vehicle moved along the track they got this stuff which tracks that vehicle

according to the prosecution that's when he uses these various aliases to buy items which could only be described as the murder if you were if you were supposedly trying to

get rid of a body, this is what you would do kind of ABC. So he starts ordering body bags, laundry bags, he orders chainsaws, a burn box, all these various items using sometimes an alias, Victoria Mendez, and another alias as well, a male name. And some of these items, prosecutors allege that, well, we know from testimony and court, of those chainsaws had no blood on them. They were still in the garage. Yeah. So, yeah, we can see how they're constructing and he used these aliases. Now on cross, Blair Burke says, well, that shit, you know, basically, was the burn box ever used?

Well, no. I mean, I've actually seen the thing. Someone actually shared me the image of the burn box. It still basically looks like, you know, it's never been opened. There was also this bit about this, the, I think it's like a kiddie pool or something in these blue fragments. Yes. So as we heard from the criminalist in the prelim, basically they found that kiddie pole. And it's, I don't know, it's not that smaller kitty pool. It's a size that should fit a smaller person in it. And in that kitty pool, what they found was that had had some slash marks.

So it looked like a blade of Sumsai had been used in that pool. And the prosecutor Berslund basically alleges that the remains of Celeste, they found in the embedded plastic material of that kiddie pool. That's what it seems like very clearly happened. And so that is, you know, the prosecution's assertion that, Celeste's body was dismembered in that pool. And then that she was placed in the front or the front trunk of David's Tesla. They argue that he parked his car around the corner from his home.

And then he goes on tour. That car was ultimately towed and pounded and then Celeste's remains were discovered inside. All of these details are incredibly graphic. They're disturbing. I know people want to hear from Celeste's family. They have not spoken publicly, but their attorney released a statement at the April hearing, and I want to read some of that for you. In light of the gruesome details emerging almost daily, the family has decided not to make any statements now or in the future. There are no words to express the indescribable pain the family is experiencing right now.

They still have bills to pay and jobs they go to every day. All they want is time to grieve and heal. please grant the Rivas Hernandez family, grace, and compassion. And Richard, there was also some public speculation that David may have financially supported Celeste's family at one point. But CBS News received a statement from Celeste's brother. His name is Jesus Rivas. And he said, I never had any contact with this guy. And we haven't received any money from him or anyone in his family.

Yeah, I mean, there's nothing in evidence that they have, there's any financial connection. There's no implication that he knows, even knows the family at this point. It's all, now, there is an implication that she did meet his family, and that is in the court briefing by the district attorney. I think, Richard, you know, it's a reminder that, though this is a high profile case with a celebrity, defendant, this is real life for them. They still have to pay their bills. They still have to do all the things that they were doing. And then they still have to be kind of confronted with the media interest and the social media interests and the commentary and the comment section is doing what the comment section does. And they're just a regular family. You know what's really interesting

about this case is now we have a different sort of press. It's not just the press corps. There's all these social media influences who are turning up to the proceeding, who cover and follow the proceeding. And so, and they're all doing these videos, and it's, it's really an interesting dynamic. But it also means it just permeates out into the internet at just an incredible rate compared with other stories. So I'm sure this family can hardly avoid this even in daily life. So then as we look ahead, what's next? What details will we see coming out of the preliminary hearing that you think could inform the rest of the trial? In the end, the brief is basically what they're going to present.

And that's a lot. And that was highly unusual. As one, we talked to a couple of other former prosecutors and they said they never seen anyone file a what is mounts to a trial brief at a prelim. In other words, oh, we're going to tell you, we're going to be totally transparent. This is, we've got all this already. So you thought we weren't ready? Oh, no. We have all this stuff.

How do you think Blair Burke and Beth Silverman will be approaching this case? Well, Beth Silman seems to be being very just blunt and direct. I mean, the fact that she brought a prelim brief, which detailed most a lot of her case, the fact that she just doesn't seem to be hiding much. Well, I tell you, Richard, it's already. kind of a hell of a case. My heart just breaks for Celeste's family. I feel for them because, yeah,

this is now a celebrity case. And so the level of attention that they're going to be getting is going to be a tough one for them. Richard, you keep coming back to talk to us and we really appreciate it. And I know that we'll be continuing to discuss as

this case unfolds. Thank you. And we'll be back next week with another episode of Case by Case. Be sure to rate and review. and let us know which cases you are following and you want us to follow as well.