LOS ANGELES — An autopsy released Wednesday found that 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez died from multiple penetrating injuries, adding new forensic detail to the Los Angeles homicide case tied to singer D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke. The report matters because prosecutors say Burke killed the teen with a sharp instrument and later mutilated her remains, allegations he denies.
Celeste Rivas Hernandez autopsy adds detail to the homicide case
According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s release, the official cause of death was “multiple penetrating injuries caused by object(s),” and the manner of death was homicide. The agency said Celeste’s remains were discovered Sept. 8, 2025, in the front trunk of a vehicle in a Los Angeles tow yard and said the cause and manner had been determined in December 2025, but a court order had blocked publication for months.
The newly public findings are more detailed in an Associated Press report on the autopsy, which said the examination found two penetrating torso wounds with smooth edges that may represent sharp-force injuries. One wound penetrated the liver, another damaged ribs on the left side of her chest, and a tube top she was wearing appeared to be cut in three places. The same report said the examination was limited by extensive postmortem changes because the body was decomposed and dismembered when found.
Reuters reported that the medical examiner did not specify a murder weapon and listed the time of death as unknown, again because decomposition limited what examiners could determine. Reuters also reported that Burke has pleaded not guilty and that his defense maintains he was not the cause of Celeste’s death.
What prosecutors allege against D4vd
In its charging announcement, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Burke was charged in case 26CJCF02399 with one count each of murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 and unlawful mutilation of human remains. Prosecutors allege Celeste went to Burke’s Hollywood Hills home on April 23, 2025, and was never seen again before her remains were found months later in the impounded vehicle.
The felony complaint adds special-circumstance allegations of murder of a witness, murder for financial gain and lying in wait, along with an allegation that Burke personally used a sharp instrument. Those filings are why the case is being widely described as a first-degree murder prosecution, even as the defense continues to dispute the accusation and the case moves toward a fuller evidentiary fight in court.
That distinction is important. The autopsy does not decide guilt, but it does strengthen the prosecution’s ability to argue that Celeste died from intentional violence rather than from an unexplained or indeterminate cause. For a case that had been clouded by secrecy and delayed public records, the report gives prosecutors a clearer medical basis for the homicide theory they laid out this week.
How earlier reporting tracked the case
The case has unfolded in layers. In September 2025, NBC Los Angeles reported that the body found in Burke’s impounded Tesla had been identified as Celeste, a development that confirmed the case had shifted from a missing-person mystery to a homicide investigation with national attention.
That was followed in November by another NBC Los Angeles report on the court order that sealed the medical examiner’s findings, a move that left Celeste’s family and the public without an official cause or manner of death for months while investigators continued to build the case.
Then, on April 17, The Associated Press reported Burke’s arrest after investigators spent months working the case behind the scenes. Wednesday’s autopsy release now fills in one of the biggest unanswered questions from that earlier coverage: how the medical examiner concluded Celeste died.
For now, the case remains at the allegation stage. But the combination of a homicide ruling, detailed torso injuries and a complaint alleging a sharp instrument gives the prosecution its clearest public narrative yet, while Burke’s not-guilty plea ensures the central claims will be tested in court rather than in headlines alone.
