LOS ANGELES (AP) — A money manager for D4vd testified Wednesday that he had heard only the first name of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the 14-year-old girl the singer is charged with killing, before her dismembered body was found in the trunk of a car.
The testimony from Benjamin Gregor came on the second day of a preliminary hearing in a Los Angeles court to determine whether there is enough evidence to put D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, on trial on charges of murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 and mutilation of a body.
Click to Gallery
FILE - D4vd appears at Variety's Power of Young Hollywood in Los Angeles on Aug. 8, 2024. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - A makeshift memorial for Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose body was found inside a vehicle owned by singer D4vd, is displayed outside her home in Lake Elsinore, Calif., on April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
FILE - A makeshift Memorial for Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who was killed and found inside a vehicle owned by singer D4vd, is placed outside her home in Lake Elsinore, Calif., on April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, file)
In this courtroom sketch, David Anthony Burke, also known as D4vd, far right, is seen in court Tuesday, July 21, 2026, in Los Angeles, during his trial for the killing of Celeste Rivas Hernandez. (Bill Robles via AP)
In this courtroom sketch, David Anthony Burke, who is known as D4vd, is seen in court Tuesday, July 21, 2026, in Los Angeles. (Bill Robles via AP)
“I knew her first name,” Gregor said.
The prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman, later asked Gregor where he had heard the name Celeste. He said from Rob Morgenroth, D4vd's manager.
“Did he tell you she was his girlfriend?” Silverman asked, but objections prevented an answer.
Burke’s lawyers have said he did not cause Rivas Hernandez’s death, and he has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Prosecutors allege Burke fatally stabbed Rivas Hernandez to prevent her from revealing their relationship and ruining his career.
Gregor was one of two witnesses called to discuss Burke’s finances, to indicate how much he had to lose, and whether the killing could have meant financial gain.
But the questioning, which got increasingly heated, swerved into who among the people around Burke knew he was in a sexual relationship with the teen.
Silverman asked Gregor if he knew Burke had taken Rivas Hernandez to London with him, and to Texas to meet his family. He said he had heard about the London trip.
The prosecutor asked if he had heard about Burke taking Rivas Hernandez to nightclubs, with both of them using fake IDs. Burke only recently turned 21.
This drew angry objections from Burke's attorney, Marilyn Bednarski.
“Counsel is testifying!” she said.
Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo, who will decide whether there is probable cause for trial, cut off the line of questioning.
Prosecutors are seeking to prove that Burke, an indie-pop singer whose music and online presence brought him a huge following, met Rivas Hernandez when she was 11 and began a sexual relationship with her when she was 13 and he was 18.
They said in a court filing that she had grown jealous of his relationships with other women and threatened to expose him.
The court filing said Burke sent a car to pick up Rivas Hernandez on April 23, 2025, from her hometown of Lake Elsinore, California, some 80 miles (129 km) outside Los Angeles. They exchanged messages until she arrived at his home, after which her phone went dead. Prosecutors say he stabbed her when she arrived.
Tuesday's first day of the preliminary hearing focused largely on what came after her death.
The lead investigator, Los Angeles police homicide detective Joshua Byers, testified that records showed Burke had ordered a body bag, chain saws, an inflatable pool and a shovel online, and most of the items were found in Burke's garage when a search warrant was served.
Prosecutors say he dismembered her body in the garage, and kept it in the front trunk of his Tesla, where it was found after the car was towed 4 1/2 months later in September.
Byers testified that when he was called to the Hollywood tow yard, a body bag matching the one Burke had ordered contained a head and torso, with arms and legs underneath in garbage bags.
Photos of the body in the open trunk were shown in court as her parents, Jesus Rivas and Mercedes Martinez, sat in the audience. The two were back in the courtroom on Wednesday. They are not expected to testify at the hearing.
The defendant, who has been held without bail since his arrest, appeared in court in his orange jail clothes and glasses.
The financial witnesses testified that Burke's music had earned him at least $10 million between 2023 and 2025.
Under the name D4vd (pronounced “David”), he began writing and recording songs for YouTube videos he created of the video game Fortnite as a teen.
The music was a blend of indie rock, R&B and lo-fi pop. The music made him a phenomenon on TikTok, Soundcloud and Spotify, where his top songs, including his 2022 breakthrough “Romantic Homicide,” have more than a billion plays.
In 2023, he released two EPs and opened for SZA on tour. Last year, he performed at the Coachella music festival and released a full album that he was on tour promoting when the body was discovered.
FILE - D4vd appears at Variety's Power of Young Hollywood in Los Angeles on Aug. 8, 2024. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - A makeshift memorial for Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose body was found inside a vehicle owned by singer D4vd, is displayed outside her home in Lake Elsinore, Calif., on April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
FILE - A makeshift Memorial for Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who was killed and found inside a vehicle owned by singer D4vd, is placed outside her home in Lake Elsinore, Calif., on April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, file)
In this courtroom sketch, David Anthony Burke, also known as D4vd, far right, is seen in court Tuesday, July 21, 2026, in Los Angeles, during his trial for the killing of Celeste Rivas Hernandez. (Bill Robles via AP)
In this courtroom sketch, David Anthony Burke, who is known as D4vd, is seen in court Tuesday, July 21, 2026, in Los Angeles. (Bill Robles via AP)
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday honored the lives of four U.S. service members who were killed in the Middle East and returned to their families at an air force base in Delaware.
The president saluted as four transfer cases carrying the service members' remains were escorted off an airplane during the dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base. The ritual is one of the most somber duties of a commander in chief. It was the third Trump has attended since he launched the war in Iran in February.
Trump was scheduled to meet privately with the grieving families. Speaking to reporters on his way to Dover, Trump called the ritual “one of the hardest things to do as a president.” His message to the families, he said, was, “We love you. We love your child.”
“There’s no games, there’s no nothing — that’s their child,” Trump said. “And all you can do is throw out your heart.”
Trump was accompanied by administration officials including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Also present were Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.
During the ritual, transfer cases draped with the American flag and holding the remains of the fallen soldiers are carried from the military aircraft that transported them to awaiting vehicles to take them to the mortuary facility at the base. There, the service members are prepared for their final resting place.
Two U.S. Army soldiers killed in Iranian missile and drone attacks in Jordan were returned during the dignified transfer. The remains of a third service member who is believed to be the soldier missing after the Jordan attacks were also returned, as well as the remains of a soldier killed in Iraq during a detonation of an Iranian drone.
The soldiers killed in Jordan were identified by the Defense Department as Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii; and Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas. The soldier who disappeared after the Jordan attacks is Angel S. Rampersad, 28, of Ozone Park, New York, the Defense Department said.
The soldier killed in Iraq was identified as Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, who lived in Spring Lake, North Carolina.
The White House said Feehan's family would be joining on Air Force One later on Wednesday as Trump travels to Georgia for an event promoting his administration's investment accounts for children.
Trump previously said the soldiers died while protecting America and other nations from Iran.
“We feel very badly, but you know, those great people, those great patriots were out there fighting so that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Trump told reporters on Sunday. He added that the U.S. was striking Iran “in honor” of the fallen troops.
The U.S. has launched multiple retaliatory strikes against Iran as an interim agreement to end the war falls apart. Trump on Monday said that every time Iran kills an American soldier, “they will pay for that killing many times over!”
Since the war began on Feb. 28, 18 U.S. service members have been killed.
Trump on Tuesday said that while almost all the incoming fire in Jordan was stopped, some made it through.
“They did slip something through in Jordan,” he said. “If we had other operators, you know, it would have not happened, unfortunately.”
He went on: “We’ve stopped almost everything, but when you let other people do your job with the United States — we let other people do the job — and sometimes it doesn’t work out so well.”
Trump did not elaborate on his comments, and it was not immediately clear who he was saying was responsible for protecting U.S. forces in Jordan.
Trump attended two previous dignified transfers since the outset of the war, most recently in March.
Feehan, a first lieutenant who was killed Saturday, will be posthumously promoted to the rank of captain and awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Combat Action Badge. He was assigned out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to the 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command.
Feehan’s family said in a statement that their hearts were shattered by his loss. They remembered Feehan, who went by “Tivo,” as someone who “packed in more living” in his 25 years than most do in a lifetime.
“He chased adventure relentlessly,” the statement said. “He believed deeply in the power of military service, especially what it builds in a person: discipline, leadership, character.”
He planned to marry his fiance and attend law school after his deployment. The family said they’re starting a scholarship in his name.
Gonzales, who was killed Friday, was a private with the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command in Ansbach, Germany. She graduated last year from Hebron High School in Carrollton, near Dallas, school officials said.
Rampersad, a sergeant who was believed to have been killed in Friday's attacks, was assigned to the 57th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 52nd Air Defense Artillery Brigade, 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command in Ansbach, Germany.
Swinton, a sergeant who was killed Sunday, will receive a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Combat Action Badge, and will be promoted to staff sergeant. He enlisted in the Army in 2017 and was assigned to the 55th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Binkley reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Michael Catalini contributed from Morrisville, Pennsylvania.
A U.S. Army carry team moves a transfer case containing the remains of 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, at Dover Air Force Base, Del. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
A U.S. Army carry team moves a transfer case containing the remains of Pvt. Isabella Gonzales of Carrollton, Texas, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, at Dover Air Force Base, Del. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
President Donald Trump, far right, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, second from right, attend the dignified transfer of four U.S. service members recently killed in the Middle East, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, at Dover Air Force Base, Del. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth salute as a U.S. Army carry team moves a transfer case containing the remains of Pvt. Isabella Gonzales of Carrollton, Texas, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, at Dover Air Force Base, Del. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump salutes as a U.S. Army carry team moves a transfer case containing the remains of Pvt. Isabella Gonzales of Carrollton, Texas, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, at Dover Air Force Base, Del. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
President Donald Trump disembarks Air Force One, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, at Dover Air Force Base, Del. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump disembarks Air Force One, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, at Dover Air Force Base, Del. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
This undated photo provided by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command shows 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan. (U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command via AP)
This undated image provided by the U.S. Army shows Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas. (U.S. Army via AP)
This undated photo provided by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command on Tuesday, July 21, 2026, shows Army Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton. (U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command via AP)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun listens as he meets with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, July 21, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
