Liver penetrated, ribs damaged: What did Autopsy report of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who singer D4vd is accused of killing, revel about the teenager’s death

Celeste Rivas Hernandez Murder Case: The doctor who performed the autopsy on Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the teenager allegedly killed by singer D4vd, gave his testimony in court on Friday, July 24, 2026. Dr. Grant Ho of the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner shared the difficult details of her death, much of which had already been known to the public. He confirmed that she was killed by two sharp force wounds to her upper body.

What made the proceedings especially difficult were the details Ho provided about what the autopsy revealed and what it could not determine because of the degraded condition of her body when it was found.

What was Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s exact time of death?

Ho testified that he could not establish the exact time of death, explaining that the state of the remains made it nearly impossible. “It’s extremely difficult to tell,” Ho said, as quoted by news agency AP. He added that she had been dead for “at least weeks" and later noted that it also could have been months.

Ho said there were many “skin defects” that could have been postmortem, but the two he identified as potential stab wounds had related internal trauma. One wound on the abdomen penetrated her liver. Another, on the left chest, damaged her ribs.

The testimony came during a preliminary hearing where a judge would decide if Burke should go on trial in Rivas Hernandez’s killing. According to AP, prosecutors are seeking to prove Burke began sexually abusing Rivas Hernandez when she was 13 and he was 18, then stabbed her to death when she threatened to reveal their long sexual history and crater a career that had earned him millions.

Authorities say Burke sent a car to pick up Rivas Hernandez, 14, 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. Her body was found in the front trunk of the Tesla registered to Burke on September 8, 2025, the day after she would have turned 15.

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