A crowd of people swarmed the lobby of the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning, hoping to nab a seat for the preliminary hearing in the case against singer David Anthony Burke, a.k.a. D4vd. A scrum of reporters, YouTubers, and rubberneckers threw their names into a golden lottery spinner—not to win a million dollars or a chocolate-factory tour, but to spend the day hearing evidence in a particularly gruesome case. Twenty-one-year-old Burke has been charged with the first-degree murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, as well as lewd and lascivious acts with a 13-year-old, and mutilation of human remains.
The first day of the preliminary hearings made it clear why this case has fascinated and horrified so many, as the prosecution began laying out evidence: graphic, stomach-turning images of Hernandez’s mutilated and decomposed body, discovered in September 2025 in the front trunk (or “frunk”) of a Tesla registered to Burke, which was abandoned around the corner from his rented house in the Hollywood Hills. Burke has pleaded not guilty.
Burke entered the packed courtroom with shackles around his waist and, for a brief moment, seemed to smile shyly at the room. Judge Charlaine Olmedo denied his lawyer’s request to have Burke’s chains removed, but agreed to drop the handcuffs. He nodded appreciatively at her, and spent the rest of the day watching whoever was testifying.
But Burke did not look over at the victim’s parents, who sat stoically in the courtroom in the row right in front of me. At one point, Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman, who presented the evidence for the prosecution, leaned over to the couple and asked if they were okay. During a break in the proceedings, she murmured comfortingly to them in Spanish.
A view of the headstone and gravesite of Celeste Rivas Hernandez at Queen of Heaven Cemetery and Mortuary on May 02, 2026 in Rowland Heights, California.Bauer-Griffin/Getty Images
It’s hard to imagine how any parent could be anywhere close to okay after hearing and seeing the evidence presented. Hernandez’s mother looked stricken at various points, staring down and dabbing her eyes with a tissue during the testimony of LAPD detective Joshua Byers, which was accompanied by more grisly photos. He told the court that he was summoned after Burke’s Tesla had been impounded in a Hollywood towing lot, and that a dead body had been discovered inside it. When Detective Byers arrived, he found himself looking at “a partially unzipped body bag with a dismembered torso and head, missing some extremities.” Those missing arms and legs were quickly discovered, braided together in a garbage bag laying underneath the body bag. The whole frunk area was swarming with maggots and viscous liquid, making it impossible to preserve the body.
One of the most startling photos was of Hernandez’s right index finger, which had been severed. It curved eerily, as if permanently trapped in a state of beckoning. The letters “Shhhh” were visible on the side of the finger, tattooed in cursive. Burke looked impassive through it all, sometimes resting his chin on hand as if he were trying to make it through a slightly dull high school class. I couldn’t help staring at his fingers after the prosecution revealed that Burke has the name “Celeste” tattooed in red on his left ring finger—and on his right index finger, the letters “Shhhh,” just like Hernandez. Unlike Hernandez, all of his digits remained intact, clasped together on the table.
