Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the teenager whose severely decomposed body was discovered last fall in the trunk of the singer D4vd’s car, died in a homicide involving “multiple penetrating injuries,” according to a report released Wednesday by the County of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner.
In the 26-page report, the office said the body had two “penetrating wounds of the torso” — one to the right abdomen that punctured the liver and one to the left chest — and “dismemberment of the upper and lower extremities.” The injuries were caused “with object(s),” the report said.
Examiners also said that they had found multiple “skin defects,” and that when they examined the body it had undergone “severe postmortem changes.” Eventually, the report said, the body was identified through “dental radiograph comparison.”
The report listed the date and place of injury as “unknown.” The cause and manner of death were determined on Dec. 9, 2025, the office said.
In a statement, Patrick Steinfeld, a lawyer for Celeste’s family, said the family members were “absolutely devastated” by the report and described the death as “horrible and gruesome.”
“These findings have caused profound emotional pain for the family,” he said.
The report’s release comes more than seven months after Celeste’s remains were discovered in the front trunk of a Tesla registered to D4vd, whose real name is David Burke.
On Monday, prosecutors in Los Angeles charged Mr. Burke, 21, with murdering Celeste, as well as with the continuous sexual abuse of a child younger than 14 and the unlawful mutilation of human remains. Prosecutors say that Mr. Burke killed her with “a sharp instrument.”
Mr. Burke has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers have said he did not cause Celeste’s death. The lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
During the monthslong investigation into Celeste’s death, the police and the medical examiner’s office apparently clashed over whether the medical examiner’s report should be released. At the request of the police, and over the objections of the chief medical examiner, a judge placed a security hold on the case that prevented the report’s release.
The police said the hold was necessary to ensure that its detectives learned critical information about Celeste’s death before the news media and the public did. At Mr. Burke’s arraignment on Monday, a judge ordered the release of the medical examiner’s report.
“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.”
Some elements of the report were redacted, but the release did include an investigator’s observation that the dismembered body had been found inside a “large, black, zippered body bag with handles.”
At Monday’s court proceeding, Mr. Burke’s lawyers pushed for a preliminary hearing to be held soon and urged prosecutors to turn over documents, including the medical examiner’s report. That led the judge to order the report’s release.
An initial status hearing in the case is scheduled for Thursday.
The first-degree murder charge against Mr. Burke includes the special circumstances of lying in wait, committing the crime for financial gain and murdering a witness to an investigation. Those factors mean that Mr. Burke faces a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole, or the death penalty. The office of the Los Angeles County district attorney has said it has not decided whether it will pursue the death penalty.
In a felony complaint, prosecutors said Mr. Burke engaged in three or more acts of “substantial sexual conduct” with Celeste in the year between Sept. 7, 2023, and Sept. 7, 2024. At the time, she was 13 years old.
On April 23, 2025, when Celeste was 14, she went to Mr. Burke’s house in the Hollywood Hills at his invitation, according to the district attorney, Nathan J. Hochman, and “was not heard from again.” The complaint said the mutilation of human remains occurred on May 5, 2025.
According to a statement that Mr. Hochman released on Monday, after Mr. Burke sexually abused Celeste, she “threatened to expose his criminal conduct and devastate his musical career.” So Mr. Burke “allegedly murdered her.”
The car in which the remains were discovered had been left on a public street for weeks before it was towed to an impound lot in Los Angeles, according to the authorities.
Celeste’s body was found on Sept. 8, 2025, a day after what would have been her 15th birthday.
Investigators examined her body on Sept. 10, according to the medical examiner’s report. But they did not determine a cause of death for another three months.
A spokesman for the district attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
