Celeste Rivas Hernandez died from “multiple penetrating injuries” on her upper abdomen, according to an autopsy report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office released Wednesday and obtained by Rolling Stone.
The report, which has long been under seal, was released to the public after the singer D4vd — real name David Anthony Burke — was charged with Rivas’ murder on Monday, April 20. It alleges Rivas, who was 14 years old when she died, had one stab wound on her right abdomen that perforated her liver and was about 1.5 inches deep. A second stab wound on her left lower chest had “a depth of at least 2 inches,” the report says.
“There are two penetrating wounds of the torso with smooth edges that may represent sharp force injuries. The wound on the upper abdomen penetrates the liver, and the wound on the left chest penetrates one of the left intercostal spaces, with disruption of the adjacent ribs’ cortical surfaces,” the 26-page report reads. “The cause of death is multiple penetrating injuries. The manner of death is classified as homicide.”
The report, which determined the cause of death back on Dec. 9, 2025, says postmortem toxicology performed on liver tissue showed the presence of “a low level of ethanol” that did not appear to contribute to Rivas’ death. Investigators say it’s not clear if it was due to ingestion or “postmortem changes.”
The long-awaited report comes seven months after Rivas’ dismembered body was found in two black bags hidden in the front trunk of a towed and impounded Tesla registered to Burke. Law enforcement officials kept a tight lid on their criminal probe during that time and even got a court order barring coroner officials from releasing their findings. The ME’s office vocally opposed the security hold, saying it precluded the agency from “serving our community with full transparency.”
“After several months, I am grateful this information can now be released, not only to the public, but also to the grieving family enduring loss,” the chief medical examiner, Dr. Odey Ukpo, said in a statement. “It is unfathomable they have had to wait this long to learn what happened to their daughter.”
The report expands on information released during the effort to identify Rivas and provides new details about the condition of her remains. It reiterates that her face and body were so severely decomposed that she could not be identified visually, and that her age, ethnicity, and eye color could not be determined. The report also includes new details, noting that her arms and legs appeared to have been “dismembered into several fragments.” It said her body had undergone “liquefication,” and that she could not be fingerprinted “due to waterlogged fingers.” It further reveals that Rivas’ left ring and pinky fingers “appear to have been mutilated” and were never found.
According to the report, Rivas was wearing a tube top, underwear, black leggings, and black socks. Her tube top had “multiple holes in the front and the back,” it states. As previously reported, it confirms Rivas had a distinct tattoo on her right index finger that read, “Shhh…” (A photo of Burke with a similar tattoo was unearthed after Rivas was identified.)
An official ruling on Rivas’ cause of death did not come quickly. At the end of September, the LAPD released a statement explaining the lack of named suspects, charges, or arrests. They, in part, noted that the medical examiner still had not “determined the cause or manner” of Rivas’ death, meaning it was technically still “unclear” if there was “any criminal culpability beyond the concealment of her body.”
The first indication that a cause had been determined came in November, when the LAPD filed a declaration requesting the court order to prevent the medical examiner from releasing Rivas’ autopsy findings. In the filing, the case was described as “an investigation into murder.”
The release of the autopsy comes after Burke was arrested last week and formally charged on Monday. He’s facing one count of first-degree murder with special circumstances, including lying in wait, murdering a witness in an ongoing investigation, and financial gain. The L.A. County DA’s office revealed that, prior to her death, Rivas was a witness in an ongoing investigation into Burke for “lewd and lascivious sexual acts” with a person under 14.
Along with the murder charge, Burke is also facing charges of sexual acts with a person under 14 and mutilating the remains of a body. Burke was arraigned and pleaded not guilty on Monday.
According to prosecutors, Rivas was last seen entering Burke’s Hollywood Hills home on April 23, 2025. After that, District Attorney Nathan Hochman said, she was not heard from again. Authorities contend she was killed that same day, with her body mutilated on or about May 5.
Investigators have not detailed what they believe happened in the two weeks in between, but the autopsy report offers clues about the evidence they collected. It says investigators swabbed the handles and zippers of the cadaver bag holding Rivas’ head and torso, likely searching for DNA or fingerprints. The bag had three handles on each side, plus two more at the top and bottom. The report also notes that “small blue plastic pieces” were found at the cut sites on her arms and legs.
Burke’s lawyer, Blair Berk, issued a statement after the arrest saying her client was innocent: “Let us be clear, 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.”
The lawyer demanded an immediate preliminary hearing and is scheduled to return to court on Thursday. The proceeding in downtown Los Angeles will be the third day of a 10-day window during which Burke is entitled to hear the evidence against him at a probable cause hearing.
