Detective says body found in singer D4vd's car was unrecognizable

A Los Angeles police detective testified Tuesday that the body of a teenage girl found in the trunk of US singer D4vd's car had decomposed so much that it was unrecognizable.

D4vd, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, is 21 and faces charges including murder in the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Her body was found in Burke's Tesla last September within days of what would have been her 15th birthday.

Los Angeles Police Detective Joshua Byers testified on the first day of a preliminary hearing that officers opened the trunk of Burke's car in a tow yard and he recognized the smell of a corpse. Photographs of the girl's dismembered remains were shown in court. Byers said a large black bag contained her head and torso. Asked whether he could recognize any facial features, he said decomposition and skin slippage made the body unrecognizable.

Byers also testified that the girl's arms and legs were found in a separate bag with insect activity, including maggots and flies at various stages.

Burke attended the hearing in an orange prison jumpsuit. Body camera footage played in court showed Burke telling sheriff's deputies: "She told me she was 18. Everybody saying she was 13."

Prosecutors said Burke met the girl when she was 11 and began a sexual relationship with her when she was 13. The victim's mother had reported her missing in 2024, when she was 13.

Prosecutors alleged in charging papers that Burke killed Rivas Hernandez after she threatened to make their long-standing and illegal sexual relationship public, putting his music career at risk.

Burke has denied one count each of murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14, and unlawful mutilation of human remains. He could face life imprisonment or the death penalty if convicted.

Los Angeles chief prosecutor Nathan Hochman said the preliminary hearing, in which a judge will decide whether the case should proceed to trial, would last three to five days. Hochman said prosecutors believed they would meet the probable-cause burden needed for Burke to answer the three felony charges.