D4vd’s Attorneys Withdraw From Murder Case, Replaced by Public Defender

Evidence of Blood Found in D4vd’s Garage, Forensics Expert Testifies

The murder case against D4vd in the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez is headed to trial. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo ruled July 27 that there was enough evidence to try the singer born David Anthony Burke on charges of murder, continuous sexual abuse of a minor and mutilation of a corpse.

“D4vd allegedly squandered his fame and fortune by brutally killing a young girl because he feared their illicit sexual relationship would ruin his aspiring career,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a subsequent statement. “The only headlines that will accompany his stage name from here forward will be about the vicious murder of a young girl.”

LAPD criminologist Lauren Wallace testified July 22 during a preliminary hearing that, using chemical analysis, she found evidence of blood in the garage of D4vd’s Hollywood Hills home, where he’s accused of using a chainsaw to dismember Hernandez’s body after fatally stabbing her.

Under defense cross-examination, Wallace said she couldn’t say it was “definitely” blood, but rather, “I can say it is possibly blood.”

Also under cross, L.A. County Deputy Medical Examiner Grant Ho said it was unlikely but he couldn’t entirely rule out the possibility that Hernandez was holding the instrument that injured her.

A murder weapon has not been recovered and Ho testified that he couldn’t definitively identify what the weapon was, nor could he describe the circumstances of the slaying.