The preliminary hearing against Gen Z pop star D4vd kicked off Tuesday in downtown Los Angeles, and within hours, prosecutors began laying out what they say is devastating evidence against the 21-year-old singer-songwriter: a matching “Shhh” finger tattoo connecting him to 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose dismembered remains were discovered in his Tesla in September 2025.
D4vd—whose legal name is David Anthony Burke—faces first-degree murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, and unlawful mutilation of human remains. The tattoo match, revealed Tuesday as photos were displayed in court, became one of the prosecution’s centerpiece pieces of physical evidence linking Burke to the victim. According to prosecutors, Celeste had a “Shhh” tattoo on her index finger. Burke has an identical tattoo on his right index finger—visible in multiple music videos and Instagram posts. Prosecutors allege Burke then cut off her left ring and pinky fingers specifically because her ring finger bore a tattoo of his name. Her fingers have never been recovered.
The preliminary hearing, expected to span four days, marks the first public airing of the DA’s case. Judge Charlaine Olmedo will decide whether sufficient evidence exists to send Burke to trial. Burke remains jailed without bail and appeared Tuesday in court without handcuffs (though shackled to his chair), having successfully argued to have at least part of his restraints removed.
Prosecutors say the evidence will show that Burke brought Celeste to his rented Hollywood Hills home in April 2025, stabbed her multiple times, then dismembered her body using chainsaws in his garage. Court documents reveal a chilling purchase history: on April 24, Burke allegedly ordered a shovel from Home Depot via Postmates; on May 1, two chainsaws from Amazon; and on May 5, a body bag, heavy-duty laundry bags, and a blue inflatable pool—all delivered under a fake name to his home. Prosecutors believe Celeste was placed in that pool during dismemberment, supported by blue plastic fragments found embedded in her remains that experts matched to the pool.
Burke’s defense team, led by attorney Blair Berk, maintains his innocence. “The actual evidence will show David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez, nor was he the cause of her death,” the defense said during his April 20 arraignment. However, the relationship history paints a darker picture. Prosecutors allege Burke met Celeste when she was just 11 years old and began sexually abusing her when she was 13 and he was 18. According to the DA’s brief, Celeste had grown jealous of Burke’s rising music career and threatened to go public with information about their relationship—a threat prosecutors say gave Burke motive to kill her.
Burke rose to meteoric fame as a teenager after recording lo-fi indie-pop tracks on his iPhone for Fortnite gaming videos. His 2022 breakthrough single “Romantic Homicide” went viral on TikTok and landed him a deal with Interscope Records. By 2025, he’d opened for SZA, performed at Coachella, and accumulated billions of Spotify streams. But in April 2025, shortly after his Withered world tour wrapped, everything collapsed. After Celeste’s body was discovered months later in September, his label froze his career. Epic Games—the company behind Fortnite—began offering refunds for in-game items connected to the artist.
Celeste’s parents, Jesus Rivas and Mercedes Martinez, sat in court Tuesday watching evidence of their daughter’s final moments. They held hands as graphic photos showed her “Shhh” finger tattoo, the amputated fingers, and blue plastic embedded in her severed remains. Her mother had reported Celeste missing in 2024 when she was 13; she’d told reporters her daughter had a boyfriend named David. Police had contacted Burke about the girl years earlier, but he allegedly lied, claiming he’d only met her once and didn’t know she was a minor.
The 16BARS take: When a matching tattoo becomes murder evidence, when TikTok clout becomes motive, and when a 21-year-old’s Spotify billions are frozen over a dead 14-year-old girl he allegedly abused and dismembered—the culture needs to reckon with how we fast-tracked this kid to stardom in the first place. The preliminary hearing will determine if probable cause exists, but the public reckoning is already here.
