D4vd dismembered teen woman with chainsaw in his storage, prosecutors allege | EUROtoday

Prosecutors mentioned Wednesday that singer D4vd fatally stabbed 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez a number of occasions earlier than dismembering her physique in his storage with chainsaws.

In a court docket submitting, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office outlined what it mentioned the proof would present, providing the primary detailed account of the alleged killing and efforts to chop aside the sufferer’s physique and conceal proof.

According to the submitting, D4vd, whose authorized identify is David Burke, met Rivas Hernandez when she was 11 and commenced sexually abusing her when she was 13 and he was 18. Prosecutors declare he killed her after she threatened to show the connection.

“Knowing he had to silence the victim before she ruined his music career as she had threatened, very soon after her arrival at his home, defendant stabbed the victim to death multiple times and stood by while she bled out,” the submitting mentioned.

Burke has pleaded not responsible to first-degree homicide and different counts. His legal professionals have mentioned he’s harmless and didn’t trigger Rivas Hernandez’s dying.

Her physique was discovered decomposing in a Tesla towed from the Hollywood Hills in September of final 12 months.

Prosecutors obtained textual content messages between the 2 from April 22, 2025, the night time earlier than all her telephone exercise went quiet and so they imagine she was killed. They additionally obtained textual content messages that confirmed their sexual relationship, together with baby sexual abuse photographs of her on his telephone.

“The messages reveal the victim’s jealousy over defendant’s relationships with other women, as defendant led her to believe they had a future together,” the document says. “She became extremely upset and threatened to disclose damaging information about her relationship with defendant to end his career and destroy his life.”

The court docket submitting is meant to stipulate the proof that prosecutors plan to current at a preliminary evidentiary listening to starting May 26, when a choose will decide whether or not there’s possible trigger to go to trial. The protection has not publicly supplied its model of occasions.

The doc says Burke purchased two chainsaws on-line that he used to chop aside her physique in an inflatable pool in his storage, the place the woman’s DNA was later discovered.

“Defendant took horrifying measures to destroy and discard the victim’s body,” prosecutors mentioned within the transient.

Burke then drove to Lake Cachuma in Santa Barbara County about 110 miles (177 kilometers) northwest of his house to do away with proof, the doc alleges. Her passport was discovered there in January. Burke returned house by April 24, when he gave a radio interview selling his debut full-length album, “Withered,” which was launched the next day, prosecutors mentioned within the submitting.

The physique of Rivas Hernandez had so degraded that examiners couldn’t even decide her eye colour. She had braces on the time of her dying, and a tattoo that learn “Shhh….” on the within of a finger in addition to his identify, in response to the report. Two fingers have been lacking — as have been components of her legs and arms.

Prosecutors had not beforehand described how they believed Rivas Hernandez was killed or given particulars on their relationship. An post-mortem report mentioned she was killed by penetrating wounds.

Prosecutors mentioned the dad and mom of Rivas Hernandez reported her lacking from her house in Lake Elsinore some 80 miles (129 km) exterior of Los Angeles in February 2024. After the February report, Riverside County Sheriff’s detectives contacted Burke, however he advised them he had solely met her as soon as and didn’t know she was a minor.

After she returned house that February, her dad and mom took away her cellphone however Burke drove to her hometown and paid a buddy of Rivas Hernandez $1,000 to present her a telephone so they may talk.

She was reported lacking once more in April 2024. The doc mentioned that 12 months, she spent a lot of her time at Burke’s house within the Hollywood Hills and traveled with him to Las Vegas, London, and Texas to satisfy his household.

The protection attorneys requested Superior Court Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo at a listening to Wednesday to seal the doc, however she declined. They had no remark exterior court docket.

Burke was arrested on April 16 and pleaded to first-degree homicide, lewd and lascivious acts with an individual below 14m and mutilating a lifeless physique. He is eligible for the dying penalty, however prosecutors mentioned they haven’t determined whether or not to hunt it.

The singer started making music for YouTube movies he created of the online game Fortnite when he was a teen.

The songs he wrote and recorded on his telephone have been a mix of indie rock, R&B and lo-fi pop. The music made him a phenomenon on TikTok, Instagram, Soundcloud and Spotify, the place his prime songs, together with his 2022 breakthrough “Romantic Homicide,” have greater than a billion performs. In 2023, he launched two EPs and opened for SZA on tour.

He carried out ultimately 12 months’s Coachella music competition just some weeks earlier than prosecutors mentioned Rivas Hernandez was killed and his album was launched. He was on tour selling it in September when the physique was found and his identify grew to become publicly hooked up to the case. It could be seven months earlier than he was arrested.