{"id":19598,"date":"2026-04-23T02:22:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T02:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/19598\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T02:22:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T02:22:24","slug":"d4vd-murder-case-celeste-rivas-hernandezs-cause-of-death-is-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/19598\/","title":{"rendered":"D4vd Murder Case: Celeste Rivas Hernandez\u2019s Cause of Death Is Revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the teenager whose severely decomposed body was discovered last fall in the trunk of the singer D4vd\u2019s car<\/a>, died in a homicide involving \u201cmultiple penetrating injuries,\u201d according to a report released Wednesday by the County of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner.<\/p>\n

In the 26-page report, the office said the body had two \u201cpenetrating wounds of the torso\u201d \u2014 one to the right abdomen that punctured the liver and one to the left chest \u2014 and \u201cdismemberment of the upper and lower extremities.\u201d The injuries were caused \u201cwith object(s),\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

Examiners also said that they had found multiple \u201cskin defects,\u201d and that when they examined the body it had undergone \u201csevere postmortem changes.\u201d Eventually, the report said, the body was identified through \u201cdental radiograph comparison.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report listed the date and place of injury as \u201cunknown.\u201d The cause and manner of death were determined on Dec. 9, 2025, the office said.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Patrick Steinfeld, a lawyer for Celeste\u2019s family, said the family members were \u201cabsolutely devastated\u201d by the report and described the death as \u201chorrible and gruesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese findings have caused profound emotional pain for the family,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The report\u2019s release comes more than seven months after Celeste\u2019s remains were discovered in the front trunk of a Tesla registered to D4vd, whose real name is David Burke.<\/p>\n

On Monday, prosecutors in Los Angeles charged Mr. Burke<\/a>, 21, with murdering Celeste, as well as with the continuous sexual abuse of a child younger than 14 and the unlawful mutilation of human remains. Prosecutors say that Mr. Burke killed her with \u201ca sharp instrument.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Burke has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers have said he did not cause Celeste\u2019s death. The lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

During the monthslong investigation into Celeste\u2019s death, the police and the medical examiner\u2019s office apparently clashed<\/a> over whether the medical examiner\u2019s report should be released. At the request of the police, and over the objections of the chief medical examiner, a judge placed a security hold on the case that prevented the report\u2019s release.<\/p>\n

The police said the hold was necessary<\/a> to ensure that its detectives learned critical information about Celeste\u2019s death before the news media and the public did. At Mr. Burke\u2019s arraignment on Monday, a judge ordered the release of the medical examiner\u2019s report.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter several months, I am grateful this information can now be released, not only to the public but also to the grieving family enduring loss,\u201d the chief medical examiner, Dr. Odey Ukpo, said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cIt is unfathomable they have had to wait this long to learn what happened to their daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some elements of the report were redacted, but the release did include an investigator\u2019s observation that the dismembered body had been found inside a \u201clarge, black, zippered body bag with handles.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Monday\u2019s court proceeding, Mr. Burke\u2019s lawyers pushed for a preliminary hearing to be held soon and urged prosecutors to turn over documents, including the medical examiner\u2019s report. That led the judge to order the report\u2019s release.<\/p>\n

An initial status hearing in the case is scheduled for Thursday.<\/p>\n

The first-degree murder charge against Mr. Burke includes the special circumstances of lying in wait, committing the crime for financial gain and murdering a witness to an investigation. Those factors mean that Mr. Burke faces a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole, or the death penalty. The office of the Los Angeles County district attorney has said it has not decided whether it will pursue the death penalty.<\/p>\n

In a felony complaint, prosecutors said Mr. Burke engaged in three or more acts of \u201csubstantial sexual conduct\u201d with Celeste in the year between Sept. 7, 2023, and Sept. 7, 2024. At the time, she was 13 years old.<\/p>\n

On April 23, 2025, when Celeste was 14, she went to Mr. Burke\u2019s house in the Hollywood Hills at his invitation, according to the district attorney, Nathan J. Hochman, and \u201cwas not heard from again.\u201d The complaint said the mutilation of human remains occurred on May 5, 2025.<\/p>\n

According to a statement that Mr. Hochman released on Monday, after Mr. Burke sexually abused Celeste, she \u201cthreatened to expose his criminal conduct and devastate his musical career.\u201d So Mr. Burke \u201callegedly murdered her.\u201d<\/p>\n

The car in which the remains were discovered had been left on a public street for weeks before it was towed to an impound lot in Los Angeles, according to the authorities.<\/p>\n

Celeste\u2019s body was found on Sept. 8, 2025, a day after what would have been her 15th birthday.<\/p>\n

Investigators examined her body on Sept. 10, according to the medical examiner\u2019s report. But they did not determine a cause of death for another three months.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for the district attorney\u2019s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the teenager whose severely decomposed body was discovered last fall in the trunk of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[10684,11903,11901,11900,8,11904,9,11902,7],"class_list":{"0":"post-19598","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-stories","8":"tag-burke","9":"tag-celeste-2010-25","10":"tag-david-anthony-d4vd","11":"tag-forensic-science","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-los-angeles-calif","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-rivas-hernandez","16":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@news\/116451642136121772","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}