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By Lisa Richwine
LOS ANGELES, April 22 (Reuters) – The teenager who Los Angeles prosecutors allege was killed by musician D4vd and found inside the trunk of a car in Hollywood died from “multiple penetrating injuries” from objects, a medical examiner’s report released on Wednesday said.
The dismembered body of Celeste Rivas Hernandez was discovered in September in the trunk of a Tesla registered to D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, police and prosecutors have said. Authorities had kept details about the manner of death secret while they launched an investigation.
D4vd pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and other charges on Monday, the same day the judge in the case ordered that the autopsy report be made public.
In the report, Los Angeles medical examiners said they found two “penetrating wounds to the torso” and “dismemberment of the upper and lower extremities.” The report said the torso wounds may have been “sharp force injuries” but did not specify what objects may have caused them. The autopsy was limited by “extensive postmortem changes,” the report added. The time of death was listed as unknown.
Prosecutors say that Celeste, who was 14 at the time, went to D4vd’s Hollywood Hills home in April 2025 and then disappeared.
D4vd gained fame in 2022 after songs he recorded on his phone for his Fortnite gaming videos went viral on TikTok, with the hit “Romantic Homicide” helping him sign a deal with Interscope Records. He performed at the Coachella music festival in 2025.
“We believe the actual evidence will show David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez, nor was he the cause of her death,” defense attorney Blair Berk said during D4vd’s arraignment on Monday.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by David Gregorio)
