A staffer at Interscope Capitol Labels Group testified in court on Wednesday (July 22) that D4vd made more than $7 million from his record deal before he was accused of murdering Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
Wednesday was the second day of a preliminary hearing for the 21-year-old “Romantic Homicide” singer (David Anthony Burke), who’s charged with stabbing and dismembering 14-year-old Rivas in April 2025 to cover up their illegal sexual relationship. The Los Angeles County District Attorney is presenting evidence for a judge to decide whether there’s sufficient basis to move the case forward toward trial.
Prosecutors say D4vd’s motive was his lucrative music career; the theory is that Rivas threatened to expose their relationship just days before the release of D4vd’s debut album Withered, and he killed her to prevent the teen from going public. To that end, the prosecution sought Wednesday to establish just how much money D4vd stood to lose if his career went south.
On Wednesday, a finance executive at Interscope Capitol, which signed D4vd to Interscope/Darkroom after “Romantic Homicide” went viral on TikTok in 2022, took the witness stand. According to CBS News, the executive said the label group paid D4vd more than $7.5 million over the course of his record deal. Interscope/Darkroom dropped D4vd in December 2025, soon after Rivas’ body was found in the front trunk of a Tesla registered to the singer.
The judge also heard Wednesday from D4vd’s former financial point person at his management firm Mogul Vision. According to Rolling Stone, this witness estimated that D4vd generated gross earnings between $10 million and $11.5 million during his career from recording, publishing and merch.
The preliminary hearing began Tuesday (July 21) and is set to run for several more days. Much of the testimony so far has been from investigating officers, who’ve presented evidence showing D4vd was the last driver behind the wheel of his Tesla and that he ordered three chain saws in the aftermath of Rivas’ death. Another witness said Rivas’ passport was found on the side of a highway in Santa Barbara, Calif., in January.
In September, officers discovered Rivas’ dismembered and decomposed body after the abandoned Tesla was brought to a Hollywood tow lot. D4vd was charged in April with first-degree murder, child sexual abuse and mutilating a body. Prosecutors allege D4vd and Rivas had a sexual relationship beginning when she was 13 and he was 18, and that he called an Uber to bring the teen to his house the night of the alleged murder.
D4vd has pleaded not guilty to all charges, and his attorneys have said they will “vigorously defend” him in court. “Let us be clear,” said the singer’s defense lawyers in a statement following his arrest, “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.”
At the end of the preliminary hearing, a judge will decide whether prosecutors have met the “probable cause” burden to move the case forward. This is a lower standard than “beyond a reasonable doubt,” which would be required for a jury to actually convict D4vd if the charges do eventually go to trial.
