D4vd murder preliminary hearing postponed again until July 21

D4vd preliminary – D4vd’s preliminary hearing in the slaying of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez has been pushed for the third time, with an evidentiary hearing now scheduled for July 21 after prosecutors sought more time to review discovery potentially exceeding 40 terabytes

D4vd’s courtroom date kept slipping, again and again, as the case against him moved further away from the week prosecutors had planned to show their evidence.

On Wednesday. June 17. a Los Angeles Superior Court judge granted a continuance during a status conference. postponing the singer’s preliminary hearing for the third time. The evidentiary hearing—meant to determine whether prosecutors have probable cause to bring the case to trial—will now begin July 21 and is expected to span multiple days.

The musician. 21-year-old D4vd. whose real name is David Anthony Burke. faces several felony charges including first-degree murder. continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 and unlawful mutilation of human remains. Burke has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is being held in custody without bail after he was arrested by Los Angeles police on April 16 on suspicion of murder in the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez. who was 14 at the time of her death.

Prosecutors have told the court they expected the preliminary hearing to go forward, but the schedule kept changing. The hearing was originally supposed to take place May 1, then it was pushed to May 26, and it was delayed again until June 29 before being moved to July 21.

That shift tracks with what prosecutors disclosed earlier in the case. On May 12, they said their discovery potentially contained more than 40 terabytes of evidence. The judge’s decision to continue the evidentiary hearing reflects the time still needed for lawyers to examine what prosecutors say is coming in the record.

What prosecutors say they will present focuses on how the death was discovered. how Burke allegedly handled it afterward. and what they claim happened in the days leading up to it. According to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. the remains of Rivas Hernandez were found in the trunk of a car registered under Burke’s name in September. Prosecutors say she was dead for about five months before the discovery, with authorities stating she died on April 23.

The DA’s office has also outlined special circumstances attached to the first-degree murder charge. Those include “lying in wait, committing this crime for financial gain or murdering a witness in an investigation.”

Prosecutors allege that Burke killed Rivas Hernandez and dismembered her in his garage, and that he removed a tattoo of his name from her body, citing blood evidence and DNA analysis as part of their case.

Medical examiners’ findings add to the account prosecutors will attempt to prove in the preliminary hearing. On April 22, the County of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner announced the official cause of death was “two penetrating wounds” to her right abdomen and left chest.

The case hinges not only on what prosecutors say happened that April. but also on what they say Burke allegedly tried to do before investigators could connect the dots. In an April 29 filing obtained during the case coverage. prosecutors laid out evidence they plan to exhibit at the preliminary hearing. including proof of an alleged sexual relationship with the teenager and what they described as efforts to cover up her death and the events that occurred on the day she died.

Burke’s alleged relationship with Rivas Hernandez is one of the most central—and disputed—threads in the prosecution’s timeline. Prosecutors allege the two were in a romantic relationship dating back to 2022, when Rivas Hernandez was 11 and Burke was 16. Authorities also say the relationship changed in November 2023, when a welfare check led deputies to contact Burke at his home. Prosecutors allege that Burke said he met Rivas Hernandez once in November 2023. the same time prosecutors say the relationship turned sexual; at the time. Rivas Hernandez was 13 and Burke was 18.

The DA’s office says Rivas Hernandez returned home two days later, and her parents confiscated her phone. Prosecutors allege Burke then purchased a new phone and paid the teenager’s classmate $1,000 so she could give it to Rivas Hernandez and the two could stay in contact.

In February 2024, Rivas Hernandez was reported missing by her family. When police contacted Burke, he claimed he had spoken to Rivas Hernandez days earlier, while also saying he was unaware she was a minor or that she had been reported missing, according to the district attorney’s office filing.

Prosecutors say the pair broke up in November 2024 after Burke allegedly took Rivas Hernandez on trips around the country and abroad. and text messages obtained by investigators “suggest they also continued to have sexual relations. ” the district attorney’s office said. Prosecutors allege that on April 22, 2025, the two got into an argument via text. One day later, “all cellular activity ceased,” according to documents.

On the evening of April 23, 2025, prosecutors say Burke booked an Uber from Rivas Hernandez’s family home to his house. Roughly 20 minutes after she arrived, prosecutors say Burke messaged her asking where she was. The DA’s office described Burke’s behavior as evidence of a “premeditated plan to cover up the murder. ” adding that they say she was already dead by this time.

From April 24 to July 7, prosecutors allege Burke bought supplies to conceal evidence of Rivas Hernandez’s death. Law enforcement later found Rivas Hernandez’s “genetic profile” in Burke’s garage, prosecutors said.

The discovery details remain stark. Prosecutors say the Tesla registered to Burke, where her body was eventually found in the trunk, had been parked for weeks before it was towed.

While authorities believe Rivas Hernandez died on April 23. her remains were not found until September—after a chain of events that prosecutors say included a breakup in November 2024. alleged continued contact after phone confiscation. and a final set of communications that culminated with all cellular activity stopping the day after an April 22 text argument.

With the evidentiary hearing now set to begin July 21 after a third postponement. the court will move into the phase prosecutors say will test whether there is probable cause for a trial. The question for the case now is whether the expanded. multi-day review will allow lawyers to wrestle with the full scope of evidence prosecutors say may include more than 40 terabytes. and whether the judge will find the case strong enough to proceed.

D4vd David Anthony Burke Celeste Rivas Hernandez preliminary hearing Los Angeles Superior Court first-degree murder continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 discovery 40 terabytes probable cause Tesla remains found Los Angeles County District Attorney