D4vd’s legal team used a recent court hearing to question how investigators concluded that 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez died from multiple penetrating injuries, according to Rolling Stone.
Attorney Marilyn Bednarski spent more than an hour questioning Dr. Grant Ho, the deputy medical examiner who performed the autopsy. She asked whether background details about a victim, including possible drug use, suicidal thoughts or a history of violence, could affect a cause-of-death determination. Ho said such information could potentially matter, and noted that he did not speak with Rivas’ family before her death was ruled a homicide.
Bednarski also focused on the wounds found on Rivas’ body, asking whether Ho could determine who held the instrument that caused them or what position her body was in when she was injured. Ho said he could not determine those details, but added that if Rivas had caused the wounds herself, investigators would expect to see hesitation marks.
During his testimony, Ho said the lower wound in Rivas’ abdomen went about 1.5 inches deep and penetrated her liver, while a second wound on the left side of her chest went about two inches deep and damaged the surface of an adjacent rib. He also said the abdominal wound was consistent with being stabbed in the stomach, and that the injuries could have caused death within minutes, though it potentially could have taken hours.
Prosecutors allege D4vd, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, killed Rivas inside his Hollywood Hills rental on April 23, 2025 after she threatened to reveal their underage sexual relationship. Rivas’ decomposed remains were found Sept. 8, 2025, in two bags in the front trunk of a vehicle. Burke has pleaded not guilty to murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 and unlawful mutilation of human remains.
