D4vd’s attorneys offered a glimpse of their possible defense as they questioned a medical examiner about the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
The lawyer, Marilyn Bednarski, pressed Dr. Grant Ho — who performed Rivas’ autopsy — on how his office
concluded that Rivas died from “multiple penetrating injuries” inflicted by another person. Over more than an hour, Bednarski suggested that Rivas may have taken some action that set in motion the events leading to her death.
She first asked whether “collateral information” about a victim’s history could help determine a cause of death, such as whether the person had been “potentially suicidal,” frequently used drugs, or had a history of violence. Dr. Ho acknowledged such information could “potentially” effect a determination. He added that he did not speak with Rivas’ family before his office ruled her death a homicide.
The defense lawyer then focused on the two penetrating wounds found on Rivas’ body. During his direct testimony, Dr. Ho said the lower wound, in Rivas’ abdomen, was about 1.5 inches deep and penetrated her liver. A second wound, on the left side of her chest, was about two inches deep and entered near her lung, damaging the surface of an adjacent rib.
Bednarski asked whether Dr. Ho could determine who had been “holding the instrument” that caused the wounds on which the homicide ruling was based. He said he could not.
“So you can’t rule out that she could have been holding the instrument,” Bednarski said.
“That is a consideration,” Dr. Ho replied, “but we would expect to find hesitation marks,” meaning superficial wounds around the deeper injury.
“Is it fair to say you don’t know the circumstances under which these wounds occurred?” Bednarski asked.
“Correct,” he said.
Bednarski then questioned what the autopsy could reveal about Rivas’ position when she was wounded. She asked whether Dr. Ho could determine if her body was moving toward the instrument at the moment of contact, or at what speed it might have been moving. He said he could not determine either.
Ho’s direct testimony was accompanied by a sequence of gruesome photographs from Rivas’ autopsy, some of which prompted audible gasps from those gathered in the courtroom. Among the most harrowing was an overhead photograph of Rivas’ body pieced back together on a metal table, her face skeletonized. Burke stared quietly at the screen, his elbow resting on the defense table and his chin propped on a closed hand that partly covered his mouth.
Elsewhere in his testimony, Ho touched on several elements of the prosecution’s case. Regarding their contention that Burke used a chainsaw to dismember Rivas, Ho said that “going through bone would require [a] power tool.” Of the powerful smell a decomposing body produces, Ho noted the stench was noticeable down the hall from the autopsy room. And of the prosecution’s claim that Burke stabbed Rivas to death, the Deputy Medical Examiner said the wound to her lower liver was consistent with being stabbed in the stomach.
In their preliminary hearing brief, prosecutors alleged that Burke “stood by while [Rivas] bled out.” Dr. Ho testified that she could have bled to death within “minutes.” When Silverman asked if it could’ve taken hours, Ho replied, “Potentially.”
Prosecutors allege Burke killed Rivas inside his Hollywood Hills rental on April 23, 2025 after she threatened to expose their sexual relationship while she was underage. They allege Burke then dismembered her body in the garage, possibly weeks later.
Rivas’ severely decomposed remains were found Sept. 8, 2025, divided between two black vinyl and plastic bags in the vehicle’s front trunk. Burke has pleaded not guilty to murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 and unlawful mutilation of human remains. His lawyers say he did not kill Rivas or cause her death.
Earlier this week, the court heard from Los Angeles police criminalist Samantha Tosch, who testified that Burke’s DNA was included in a mixture found on an outer trash bag recovered from his garage. An inner bag held stained wipes that tested presumptively positive for blood. DNA on one wipe was three trillion times more likely to have come from Rivas than from an unknown person, Tosch said. Burke’s DNA was not detected on the wipe.
Tosch said Rivas’ DNA was also found on a rowing machine, a black rubber floor mat, a Tesla charger, and a green tarp in the garage. It was further detected in a rear compartment of Burke’s Tesla, separate from the front trunk where her remains were found.
Under cross-examination, Tosch acknowledged that DNA can be transferred without direct contact and that police software only calculated the likelihood of Burke’s inclusion in the mixture, though nothing definitive. She nevertheless said it was her professional opinion that his DNA was present on the trash bag.
Another criminalist, Lisa LaHendro, testified that fragments of blue material recovered from Rivas’ remains aligned with holes in an inflatable pool found in Burke’s garage. Prosecutors allege Burke dismembered Rivas in the pool to collect the blood.
Criminalist Lauren Wallace testified that Bluestar, a chemical used to detect possible blood, produced strong reactions on the rubber mats covering the garage floor and on the bricks beneath them. She said investigators did not collect two chainsaws from the garage or a third electric saw from upstairs because they tested negative for possible blood and were not considered forensically valuable. Prosecutors have said Burke ordered the two chainsaws found in the garage from Amazon shortly after the alleged killing. A detective testified that Burke also bought a 10-inch Makita chainsaw from Home Depot on May 4, 2025, and had it delivered through Uber Postmates. That saw was never recovered.
Detective William Roecker testified that cell-tower records tracking Burke’s phone and the modem in his Tesla showed the phone and car traveling together from his home to a remote area of Santa Barbara County three times after the alleged murder. The first trip began around 11:31 p.m. on April 23, about an hour after when prosecutors say Rivas was killed. The phone and Tesla traveled to a “pretty desolate” area off Highway 154, near where a transit worker later found Rivas’ passport card. The phone and Tesla returned to Burke’s home around 7 a.m., Roecker said, and later returned to the area on May 8 and May 31.
Earlier testimony established that investigators found at least 11 air fresheners inside the Tesla, including one beneath a mass of fly larvae near the concealed remains.
Detective Joshua Byers testified that Burke had “Celeste” tattooed in red cursive on his left ring finger when he was arrested. Tesla data showed Burke’s iPhone disconnecting from the vehicle on July 29, 2025, shortly before a neighbor’s camera recorded him walking back toward his home. Police license-plate readers recorded the Tesla in the same parking spot until it was impounded on Sept. 8.
Prosecutors also played body-camera footage showing sheriff’s deputies questioning Burke in February 2024, after Rivas was reported missing. Burke said he had met her online, seen her once, and believed she was 18. Prosecutors allege Burke later bought Rivas a secret phone and paid a classmate $1,000 to deliver it after her parents confiscated another device. Investigators also found evidence that Burke bought airline tickets and traveled with her to Texas and London.
Benjamin Greger, a former financial manager at Burke’s management company, testified that he discussed transferring Texas properties from Burke to his mother to protect the assets from a potential civil lawsuit.
At the conclusion of the hearing, a judge will determine whether prosecutors have presented enough evidence to send the case to trial. Burke faces life in prison without parole or the death penalty if convicted as charged, though prosecutors have not said whether they will seek a death sentence.
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