Doctor to testify on autopsy findings in teen's killing

Los Angeles County medical examiner Dr. Grant Ho will present the autopsy findings of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez at a preliminary hearing on Friday, where a judge will decide if singer David Burke, known as D4vd, will be ordered to stand trial. The April autopsy concluded that Hernandez’s death was a homicide resulting from penetrating wounds to the upper body. The body, found dismembered in a Tesla in the Hollywood Hills about four and a half months after the alleged killing, had undergone extensive post-mortem changes, limiting the examination.

The report noted a wound to the upper abdomen that pierced the liver, another to the left chest that damaged ribs, and cuts to a tube top the victim was wearing. Toxicology testing showed a low level of alcohol in the liver, which investigators said could have been produced after death by bacteria and was not a factor in the killing.

Prosecutors allege Burke began sexually abusing Hernandez when she was 13 and he was 18, and that she was stabbed after threatening to expose their relationship. They also claim he dismembered the body in his garage, with DNA evidence linking blood-stain samples to the victim. Burke has pleaded not guilty to murder, child sexual abuse and mutilation of a body.

LA County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Odey C. Ukpo criticized the delay in releasing the autopsy results, calling it “unfathomable” for the grieving family. > “It’s so important for us to release the information that she did not die from something natural, she did not die from drugs, she was stabbed,” Ukpo said. > “Keeping information sealed goes completely against our mission.”

Burke’s defense may focus on ambiguous language in the report, which states the wounds “may represent sharp force injuries,” in an effort to challenge the forensic evidence.