Judge delays hearing in D4vd murder case after grim Tesla discovery

The hearing in David Anthony Burke’s murder case did not start on June 29 as planned. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo reset it for July 21 after finding good cause for the defense request to postpone a proceeding that is expected to help sort out the backbone of the case: what evidence will come in, how the special-circumstance allegations will be handled, and how the prosecution and defense will frame Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s death.

That matters because prosecutors have built this case around a brutal discovery and a timeline they say points back to Burke. Rivas Hernandez’s remains were found Sept. 8 in the front trunk of a Tesla Model X registered to Burke, after the vehicle had been towed from about 400 feet from his Hollywood Hills home. ABC7 Los Angeles reported the body was in a black cadaver bag, with severed arms and legs in a separate plastic bag underneath. Prosecutors also say surveillance video and other evidence show Burke was the last person to drive the Tesla on July 29, 2025, before leaving Los Angeles on tour.

Burke was charged April 20 with capital murder and faces special-circumstance allegations of lying in wait, murder for financial gain and killing a witness in a criminal investigation. He also faces counts of continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 and mutilation of human remains. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has said it will decide later whether to seek the death penalty, a decision that would put the case into one of California’s most severe charging lanes.

The details prosecutors have laid out are even darker. NBC Los Angeles reported the medical examiner listed the cause of death as homicide by multiple penetrating injuries with unspecified objects, and prosecutors say the death likely occurred on April 23, 2025. ABC News reported that Burke and Rivas Hernandez first met in January 2022, when she was 11, and that the alleged abuse began in November 2023, when she was 13. Prosecutors also say she threatened on April 22, 2025, to disclose damaging information about the relationship.

From there, the state says Burke paid for a ride-share to bring her to his Hollywood Hills home on April 23, 2025, then used a fake name to order a shovel, two chainsaws, a body bag, heavy-duty laundry bags and a blue inflatable pool. CBS Los Angeles reported prosecutors allege Burke stabbed Hernandez after she threatened to expose his criminal conduct and ruin his music career. Burke’s attorneys have denied the allegations and entered a not-guilty plea.

For now, the court calendar is the next pressure point. A July 7 status conference remains on the schedule, and the July 21 hearing will be the next real test of how much of this evidence survives the first round of courtroom fights.