Preliminary Hearing for David Burke Scheduled to Open Tuesday in Los Angeles

A preliminary hearing for singer D4vd is scheduled to open Tuesday in Los Angeles to determine if there is enough evidence to proceed to trial, New York Post reported. The hearing is expected to last about four days and will resemble an abbreviated trial without a jury. Judge Charlaine Olmedo will preside and decide whether the prosecution has demonstrated probable cause.

No cameras will be allowed in the courtroom. Burke, whose legal name is David Burke, was arrested in April and has been held without bail in a jail near the courthouse. Burke pleaded not guilty to murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14, and unlawful mutilation of human remains.

His attorney, Blair Berk, has said Burke is not responsible for Rivas Hernandez’s death. New York Post reported that prosecutors outlined evidence in a memo filed after the arrest. Prosecutors said Burke met Rivas Hernandez when she was 11, began sexually abusing her when she was 13 and he was 18, and killed her after she threatened to report him.

Rivas Hernandez was reported missing multiple times in the years before her death. Prosecutors said Burke sent a car to pick up Rivas Hernandez from Lake Elsinore, California, on April 23, 2025. Her phone went dead after she arrived at his Hollywood home.

They said Burke ordered chain saws and wading pools used to dismember her body in his garage, and that her DNA was found on blood stains there. Prosecutors said Burke drove around for months with the body in the trunk of a Tesla registered to him. The decomposing body was found in September when the car was towed from the Hollywood Hills.

Surveillance video showed Burke was the last person to drive the vehicle, New York Post reported. The final autopsy report, released in December, showed Rivas Hernandez was stabbed multiple times. Burke performed at the Coachella music festival a few weeks before prosecutors said she was killed.