In a courtroom on Thursday, a prosecutor claimed that singer D4vd, legal name David Anthony Burke, possessed “a significant amount of child pornography” in an iCloud storage account and on his phone.
Burke has been charged with murder in the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose decomposed body was found in the trunk of a Tesla registered to the singer last year. He pleaded not guilty to the charges on Monday. He is being held without bond ahead of his trial.
Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman made the claim that Burke’s phone and iCloud account contained the child sexual abuse materials during a court proceeding to schedule a preliminary hearing on the murder charges, the Los Angeles Times reports. She did not elaborate or provide further details about the materials.
Silverman said the materials were found as part of a series of search warrants that were executed on the 21-year-old singer’s phone and iCloud account.
A status hearing has been set for April 29 to go over evidence production. The first day of Burke’s preliminary hearing was also set for May 1.
Burke is exercising his right in California to have a judge decide within 10 court days of his arraignment whether there is enough evidence to proceed to trial.
“We believe the actual evidence will show David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez,” lead defence lawyer Blair Berk told a judge Monday.
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Silverman said in court that the prosecution would be “very happy” to present their evidence, and that “40 terabytes” of it have been collected and can be shared.
Thursday’s hearing comes a day after Rivas’ autopsy report revealed she died from penetrating wounds to her upper body.
Her death was ruled a homicide in the report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office that had been blocked from release for months.
The autopsy was limited by “extensive postmortem changes” to the body that was dismembered and decomposing when it was found in two bags in the trunk of a Tesla parked in the Hollywood Hills in September.
The examination revealed “two penetrating wounds of the torso with smooth edges that may represent sharp force injuries.” One wound on the upper abdomen penetrated the liver. Another, on the left chest, damaged her ribs. The tube top she was wearing appeared to be cut in three places.
A judge had ordered the report sealed late last year at the request of law enforcement, but prosecutors agreed this week to allow its release.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Monday that Burke was charged with first-degree murder, lewd and lascivious acts with an individual under 14 and mutilating a body in the killing of Rivas. She was reported missing by her family in 2024, when she was 13. Authorities say she was 14 when she died.
The murder charges included special circumstances — lying in wait, committing a crime for financial gain and murdering the witness in an investigation — that could carry the death penalty. Prosecutors haven’t announced whether they will seek it.
Authorities allege the Houston-born alt-pop singer killed Rivas to protect a career on the rise after she threatened to report their sexual relationship. His debut album, Withered, was released just two days after authorities said she was last known to be alive.
Authorities, who described Rivas on Monday as a “runaway,” said she was 14 when she was killed with a sharp object on or around April 23, 2025, a day she was at Burke’s house in the Hollywood Hills.
Prosecutors allege Burke mutilated her body about two weeks later.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said Rivas was last heard from on April 23, 2025, after she went to Burke’s home and “she was never heard from again.”
“A parent’s nightmare is a situation where your daughter goes out one night and never comes back,” Hochman said on Monday.
“Celeste was just a child, under 14 years old, when David Burke allegedly engaged in repeated lewd and lascivious sexual relations with her,” Hochman continued. “But Burke’s actions did not allegedly stop there. When she threatened to expose his criminal conduct and devastate his musical career, Burke allegedly murdered her, cut up her body and stuffed her body in two bags that were placed in the front trunk of his car.
“There the dismembered body sat for over four months, decomposing until it was found at a tow yard on Sept. 8, 2025. This horrific and gruesome murder committed by the charged sexual predator is shocking and appalling. To Celeste’s loved ones, we will get the justice you seek and deserve.”
In a statement released earlier this week, Rivas’ parents called her “a beautiful, strong girl who loved to sing and dance.”
“We love her very much and she always told us that she loved us. We miss her deeply. All we want is justice for Celeste,” her parents said in a statement released by their lawyer, Patrick Steinfeld.
— With files from The Associated Press
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