Hernandez

A cellphone belonging to David Anthony Burke, better known as the singer D4vd, contained “a significant amount of child pornography,” a prosecutor said in court Thursday morning.

Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Beth Silverman made the claim during a court proceeding to schedule a preliminary hearing on murder charges in the killing of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. The images were uncovered as part of a broad series of search warrants executed on Burke’s phone and iCloud account, Silverman said.

Burke’s attorneys have insisted he is innocent and are demanding his preliminary hearing begin next week, meaning evidence in the closely followed case could become public as soon as May 1. He appeared in court Thursday in an orange jail jumpsuit and walked into court with his hands in his pockets.

A status hearing was set for April 29. Silverman and a district attorney’s office spokesperson declined to comment outside the courtroom. The singer’s attorney, Blair Berk, also declined to comment.

The D.A.’s office spokesperson declined to say if the child sex abuse material allegedly found on Burke’s phone was related to Hernandez or another victim.

Burke was arrested by Los Angeles police last week and charged Monday with murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child and corpse mutilation, according to a criminal complaint. He has pleaded not guilty.

Defendants have a right to have a preliminary hearing, in which a judge determines whether prosecutors have enough evidence to bring a case to trial, within 10 business days. But Berk’s push to move quickly is unorthodox. She has publicly grilled Silverman about needing access to more discovery materials, and the medical examiner’s report detailing how Hernandez died was not made public until Wednesday.

Joshua Ritter, a former L.A. County prosecutor, said Berk was playing a “hell of a game of chicken” but she may be aiming to pressure test the prosecution’s case.

“The defense might want to put the D.A. on their heels if they feel for some reason there was a rush to make an arrest. But this case is nearly the opposite of that,” he said. “They’ve had more than adequate time … this does not seem like a situation where the D.A. made a hasty decision to file.”

Silverman said police amassed “40 terabytes” of digital evidence in the case, which has made uploading and transmitting materials to the defense difficult. Silverman also said police had conducted a wiretap operation in the case, but did not disclose the nature of it. The veteran prosecutor said even she had “not received anything” related to that operation.

She also confirmed prosecutors convened three secret grand jury hearings after Hernandez’s death — two in November and December in 2025 and one in February. Those were investigative grand jury hearings, meaning prosecutors could use them to enshrine testimony against Burke, but could not use the proceedings to secure an indictment against Burke. Transcripts from all three hearings will also need to be unsealed.

L.A. County Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo also warned Berk that if she does push for the immediate preliminary hearing, she may not have access to the entire compendium of evidence before May 1.

Ritter also mused that Burke could be pushing his attorneys to fight the case without delay. Beyond that, he said, the approach “makes no sense.”

“The defense is seven months behind the eight ball on this. They not only have the grand jury transcripts to catch up on but who knows what kind of digital forensics and wiretaps and everything else,” he said.

Silverman also seems intent on bringing the case to trial as soon as possible. Silverman noted Thursday marked the one-year anniversary of the date prosecutors believe Hernandez was killed, and said she intended to put the case before a jury within 60 days of the completion of a preliminary hearing.

The singer allegedly began sexually abusing Hernandez in September 2023, when she was just 13. Burke’s attorneys have said the case cannot stand up to scrutiny and pushed for the immediate preliminary hearing.

Hernandez was reported missing from her family’s Lake Elsinore neighborhood three times in 2024, and she was spotted at some of D4vd’s concerts during that time frame.

Prosecutors allege Hernandez was last seen at Burke’s Hollywood Hills residence on April 23. She “threatened to expose his criminal conduct and devastate his musical career,” according to L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman, though the prosecutor has not answered questions about whether Hernandez was going to report Burke to police.

Burke surged in popularity after one of his tracks was included in the wildly popular video game “Fortnite,” and he has also collaborated with artists like 21 Savage. He was beginning to tour in support of his debut album, “Withered,” when reports surfaced linking him to Hernandez’s death. He quickly canceled all shows.

The details of the crime echoed some of the violent imagery associated with Burke’s songs. The Queens-born vocalist has appeared in a music video filled with violent imagery: a young woman with an apparent chest wound lies on a bed as the singer hovers over her, blindfolded, his white shirt spattered with blood. In another video, “One More Dance,” D4vd drags a person — who bears the singer’s likeness — to a car, where a couple stuffs the person into the trunk.

Hernandez’s badly decomposed body was found in the trunk of a Tesla at a Hollywood tow yard last September. An autopsy report made public this week revealed she died from a pair of stab wounds to the chest and abdomen. When police arrived on the scene, they found Hernandez’s body was “dismembered” and two of her fingers had been amputated, according to the medical examiner’s report.

Prosecutors charged Burke with murder with special circumstances, including allegations that Hernandez was a witness to a crime — her own sexual abuse — and that Burke killed her for financial gain to protect his ascendant music career. If convicted as charged, he faces life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. Prosecutors have yet to decide if they will seek capital punishment in the case.

Singer faces first-degree murder and additional charges that could lead to life without parole or the death penalty.

Singer D4vd has been charged in the United States with murder in the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, a 14-year-old girl who was last seen alive nearly a year ago.

The 21-year-old musician, whose legal name is David Burke, ⁠faces first-degree murder and additional charges, including lewd acts with a minor and mutilation of a body. D4vd pleaded not guilty on Monday.

The prosecutor said Rivas Hernandez’s dismembered and decomposed body was discovered in September inside an apparently abandoned Tesla linked to the singer.

Authorities said the case includes special circumstances – lying in wait, committing crime for financial gain and the alleged killing of the witness in an investigation – making Burke eligible for life without parole or the death penalty.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said prosecutors would decide later whether to seek the ‌death penalty.

Burke was arrested at a home in Hollywood on Thursday and was being held without bail.

The witness he is alleged to have killed is Rivas Hernandez, who could have given testimony about the sex crime allegations.

Rivas Hernandez had disappeared in 2024, when she was 13. That was her age when, according to an allegation in a criminal complaint, the singer engaged in continuous sexual abuse of her for at least a year from September 2023 to September 2024.

Hochman said authorities believed the girl went to D4vd’s Hollywood Hills home on April 23, 2025, and “was never heard from again”.

Burke’s lawyers said on Monday that the evidence would show he is innocent.

“The actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez and he was not the cause of her death,” they said. “We will vigorously defend David’s innocence.”

Court documents outline secret probe

The singer had been under investigation by a Los Angeles County grand jury looking into the death.

The probe was officially secret, but its existence, and his designation as its target, was revealed in February when his mother, father and brother objected in a Texas court to subpoenas demanding they testify.

The 2023 Tesla Model Y was registered in the singer’s name at their address, according to court filings. Authorities did not publicly acknowledge him as a suspect until his arrest.

Police investigators searching the Tesla in a tow yard found a cadaver bag “covered with insects and a strong odor of decay”, court documents said.

Detectives partially unzipped a bag and found a head and torso.

Investigators from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office removed the bag and “discovered the arms and legs had been severed from the body”, according to court documents.

A second black bag was found under the first, and dismembered body parts were inside it. No cause of death has been publicly revealed, and police got a judge to block the release of details of the autopsy.

The court order was expected to be lifted after the charges.

Rising to fame

D4vd gained popularity among Gen Z for his blend of indie rock, R&B and lo-fi pop. He went viral on TikTok in 2022 with the hit Romantic Homicide, which peaked at number 4 on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart.

He then signed with Darkroom and Interscope Records, and released his debut EP, Petals to Thorns and a follow-up, The Lost Petals, in 2023.

When the body was discovered, the singer continued his North American tour, but when reports of his possible involvement spread widely, he cancelled the final two shows and a European tour that was to follow.

Former Galaxy forward Javier “Chicharito” Hernández, a three-time World Cup standout for Mexico, will return to the tournament this summer but in a new role as a studio analyst for Fox Sports. And he’s approaching his broadcast debut the same way he approached his playing career, with excitement not fear.

“It’s the same as our sport: if you do a mistake, you cannot change it,” he said. “I’ve always been a guy who sees opportunities, who sees the positives. I’m going to try to deliver my best point of view on each game, player, the tournament.

“I’m going to enjoy this opportunity.”

Hernández said he had other broadcast offers to do the World Cup in Spanish but chose to work in English instead.

“I’m not going to be speaking in my first language. And that’s something I think my Mexican fellows can be inspired by, right? That I don’t go to my comfort zone,” he said. “I want to make all of this an experience for myself. But as well I can show people that whatever you have in your mind, you can achieve it.”

Hernández, 37, is Mexico’s all-time leading scorer with 52 goals, including four in World Cup play. He started and ended his club career with his hometown team, Chivas de Guadalajara, but in between he played for five clubs in Europe and spent four injury-plagued seasons with the Galaxy, scoring 38 times and making two All-Star teams.

He made his final appearance for the Mexican national team in 2019, but he played with and against many of the players still on the team and he was chosen for his first World Cup roster by Javier Aguirre, who will be coaching El Tri again this summer. Hernández said those friendships won’t affect his commentary.

“Truth always needs to be there,” he said. “When someone needs to say hard truths, you have to say it. I’m going to see how I feel. Maybe I end up being the most critical person or the other way around. Maybe Mexico does amazingly and I don’t have to criticize.”

He’ll join four other former Galaxy players — Cobi Jones, Landon Donovan, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Alexi Lalas — on the Fox broadcast team for the World Cup. Hernández, however, is the only one who hasn’t formally announced his retirement as a player.

“I will speak about that later on,” Hernández, who played his final club game last November, said Wednesday. “I just want to focus on this amazing opportunity.”

The L.A. man who was filmed punching and kicking the Mercedes-Benz of “Gown and Out in Beverly Hills” stars Patrik Simpson and Pol’ Atteu in Hollywood was arrested this week and booked on felony vandalism.

The reality stars shared the dramatic video of the incident on social media with the caption, “Emergency! We need your help! We were just attacked at an intersection.”

“This man just blocked the intersection of our car at Melrose and Vine and then kicked our door in attacking us. Police were called and the license plate is on the video. If you know who this is, call the police immediately and send me a DM. He is dangerous and the police are looking for him!”

In the video, a man wearing a Cheech & Chong tee that reads “Don’t Panic, It’s Organic” blocked the Melrose Avenue and Vine Street intersection Sunday around 9:20 a.m. and hopped out of his Toyota 4Runner.

Contrary to instructions on the man’s shirt, the married co-stars of the Amazon Prime reality series did begin to panic as the man, who has been identified as Los Angeles resident Kevin Antonio Hernandez, approached their vehicle and punched the driver’s side window and kicked the driver’s side door. “Lock the door!” Simpson is heard saying in the video. “Call the police!”

Hernandez continued to yell at the fashionistas as he returned to his vehicle, but it’s unclear what he was saying because the techno music playing on the radio in Simpson and Atteu’s Benz drowned out any outside noise. Hernandez climbed into the driver’s side of his Toyota and pointed at the couple, yelling one last time, before speeding off.

“Go get him!” Simpson is heard yelling as they continue to film, while chasing the Toyota through the streets of Hollywood and calling 911. The reality stars’ exchange with the emergency dispatcher played out in the video, with the dispatcher urging the couple to stop following the car.

According to Simpson and Atteu, Hernandez had a baby in the car during the heated exchange and ran stop signs and ignored traffic lights as he sped away.

“This is it, I’m going to die here,” Atteu told KTLA of his headspace during the ordeal. “I’ve never been faced with that kind of fear in my life on the streets of L.A.”

The Los Angeles Police Department told The Times that Hernandez was arrested Wednesday. He has since been released.

PHOENIX — A three-time World Series champion, Dodgers utilityman Kiké Hernández has had his fair share of clutch hits, home runs and game-saving, series-defining moments that will forever be etched in baseball lore.

Earlier this month, however, he witnessed something new.

On March 7, hours after Atlanta Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies hit the first walk-off home run in World Baseball Classic history to power Team Netherlands past Nicaragua in Miami, Athletics prospect Darell Hernaiz delivered a game-winning blast of his own to lift Team Puerto Rico over Panama in extra innings in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Hernández stormed out of the dugout at Hiram Bithorn Stadium alongside his teammates to greet Hernaiz at home plate and celebrate the monumental moon shot.

“There had never been a walk-off homer in the history of the WBC, and we [got] to see two in the same day, which was pretty cool,” Hernández said at his clubhouse stall at Camelback Ranch. “For me personally, I was running to home plate, conscious that I wasn’t necessarily part of the team so I couldn’t run laps around home plate, like I did on Freddie [Freeman’s] walk-off homers [in the World Series], but it’s still up there as one of those really cool moments that I’ll always remember.”

Unable to participate in this year’s WBC as he recovers from offseason left elbow surgery, Hernández left Dodgers camp to spend the first leg of the tournament with Team Puerto Rico.

“I got to experience it in a different way this year,” said Hernández, who has played twice in the WBC. “I was just kind of there as a fan, almost in like a coaching role. I get a lot more nervous when I’m not playing, because I really don’t have any power over it. I don’t have any control over what’s going on, so it was pretty nerve-wracking.”

He added: “Obviously, seeing that stadium packed out was pretty special. And of course, I’m still bummed that I don’t get to be a part of it, but I still support my people, and I’m still hoping they can win.”

During a Team Puerto Rico news conference last week, Hernández told reporters in Spanish that the WBC rates above the World Series. Hernández, who’s played in five World Series, elaborated on his statement.

“I said it feels bigger,” Hernández said. “I didn’t say it’s bigger. Atmosphere, crowd, you’re representing your country. You’re not representing a city. You don’t always choose who you play for. Sometimes that’s out of your control and you know, when you’re representing your country, you’re playing along with your homies. Sometimes you’re playing along with people that you grew up with. Your people back home are rooting for you, at times.

“You’re playing in the United States, you’re playing for different teams, and sometimes they’re rooting against you. And for us, coming from our little island, the things that we can do for our island while the tournament is going on, it becomes a lot bigger than baseball, to where, it does not always feel that way when you’re playing for an organization in Major League Baseball.”

Hernández will be in Houston for Puerto Rico’s quarterfinal game against Italy on Saturday, and he said he doesn’t know if he would go to Miami if Puerto Rico reached the semifinals.

“I haven’t had the conversation yet with Andrew,” Hernández said, referring to Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman. “I only asked permission to go to Houston. We win in Houston, he might get another text message if I can go along for the ride, but haven’t decided yet.”

As for his rehab from surgery, Hernández said he’s progressing rapidly and hopes to return in late May, when his 60-day IL stint expires.

“I’m not surprised that it’s going well,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “End of May, beginning of June is probably a safe bet. Something like that.”