Downtown Los Angeles was filled with eager journalists during the press conference and arraignment for pop-rock singer D4vd. The artist was arrested last week in the murder of fourteen-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose dismembered and decomposed remains were found in the trunk of an abandoned Tesla registered to the “Romantic Homicide” vocalist last September.
On Monday morning (April 20), during the press conference at the city’s Hall of Justice, the media room was packed as attendees awaited remarks from Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman and LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell. The shock among attendees was most palpable as the mugshot for D4vd, born David Anthony Burke, was unveiled in the room opposite a picture of the late Rivas Hernandez. D4vd’s mugshot, which reporters impatiently snapped pictures of before the conference began, also sat beside a repeating news brief about the teen’s murder.
Hochman listed off a breakdown of charges, including first-degree murder with special circumstances, which include lying in wait, committing a crime for financial advantages, and murder of a witness in an investigation. Additionally, D4vd was charged with committing “lewd and lascivious sexual acts” against a minor (this charge was for the entire duration of his relationship with Rivas Hernandez, beginning in fall 2023) and “mutilating the human remains of a body.”
The 21-year-old artist is alleged of murdering the teen with a sharp object and stuffing her remains into two bags. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison or the death penalty if found guilty.
The D.A. noted his personal connection to the death of Rivas Hernandez, who was considered a runaway before her passing.
“I am a parent of three children,” Hochman said, per KTLA. “And a parent’s nightmare is a situation where your daughter goes out one night and never comes back.”
A bomb threat was also reported during the proceedings, sending the immediate area into hysterics as the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center was temporarily evacuated.
In the afternoon, a not guilty plea was entered on behalf of D4vd by his legal team in front of the public, the media, and the family members of Rivas Hernandez, who wore all black. The singer was placed in a plastic holding box out of the crowd’s view.
Similar to the press conference, the arraignment was speedy, lasting just eight minutes as lawyers for D4vd requested a preliminary hearing within 10 days, eventually landing on a date of April 23. Prosecutors, for their part, laid out that they have 40 terabytes of evidence against the singer. Judge Theresa McGongle denied bail for D4vd.
