The singer is accused of murdering 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez
Credit: GoFundMe; Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office
NEED TO KNOW
- D4vd’s online purchase history after allegedly murdering Celeste Rivas Hernandez was read in court on Tuesday, July 21
- The singer, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, was in court for a preliminary hearing as he faces a murder charge in connection with Rivas’ death
- He has pleaded not guilty
D4vd’s online purchase history after allegedly killing 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez was revealed in court at his preliminary hearing on Tuesday, July 21.
Detective Joshua Byers with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division testified that when looking through the singer’s Amazon history, he found D4vd, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, had purchased two “City Morgue” cadaver bags on May 5, 2025.
Burke also allegedly purchased a shovel on April 24, 2025, just one day after prosecutors believe he murdered Hernandez.
He then allegedly ordered three different chainsaws between May 1 and May 4, 2025. He got a 16-inch orange and black chainsaw and a 6-inch pink one under an alias on May 1, according to authorities. A third chainsaw, a blue 10-inch Makita, was ordered on Postmates on May 4, but was never recovered by police.
Other purchases included a blue inflatable pool, two heavy-duty laundry bags and a “Tornado Spin” mop and bucket combo, Byers testified.
Burke, now 21, has been charged with murder with special circumstances, continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 and unlawful mutilation of human remains in connection with the teen’s death. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail ahead of his trial.
Prosecutors allege in court filings that Burke stabbed Rivas to death on April 23, 2025, dismembered her nearly two weeks later with a chainsaw and left her in the front trunk of his Tesla, which was reported abandoned in the Hollywood Hills and later impounded.
The remains of the teenage runaway, who was from Lake Elsinore, Calif., were found in two separate bags after Los Angeles police received reports of a foul odor coming from the car on Sept. 8, 2025. Gruesome images of Rivas’ dismembered remains were shown in court Tuesday, as both Burke and Rivas’ family looked on.
Prosecutors have said in a preliminary hearing brief previously obtained by PEOPLE that on the night she was killed, Rivas had allegedly threatened to expose Burke and harm his music career. Investigators further alleged the two had been in an illegal sexual relationship, citing several explicit text messages sent between the two and child sex abuse material found on Burke’s cell phone.
Prosecutors allege Burke severed two of Rivas’ fingers, one of which bore a tattoo of his name, as a way to “distance himself from the victim,” per the brief.
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Burke’s attorneys, Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter, said in a statement following his arrest on April 16 that he “was not the cause” of the girl’s death, adding they plan to “vigorously defend David’s innocence.”
Due to special circumstances in Burke’s case, the murder charge carries a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office is still deciding whether to pursue the death penalty.
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