Newly unsealed court records reveal that Los Angeles prosecutors have built a grand-jury investigation around the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, after her dismembered remains were discovered in the front trunk of a Tesla registered to singer David Burke, known professionally as d4vd. The filings describe a cadaver bag and additional severed body parts recovered by detectives and explicitly label Burke as the central “target” of the probe. The documents also show that Burke’s family members have been ordered to travel to Los Angeles to testify before the grand jury, even though no criminal charges have been filed publicly.
According to L.A. Magazine, Texas appellate filings that recently became public state that detectives executed a search warrant on Sept. 8, 2025, and found a black cadaver bag in the Tesla’s front compartment holding a decomposed head and torso. A second black bag beneath the first allegedly contained additional severed limbs. Those graphic details had remained sealed in Los Angeles court records until the Burkes’ out-of-state subpoena battle forced some of the material into the open.
Texas Hearings and Subpoenas
A judge in Waller County, Texas, denied a habeas petition from Burke’s family and ordered his father, mother, and brother to comply as material witnesses, the Los Angeles Times reports. An appeals panel later rejected at least one challenge to those orders, and court records show the family had until Feb. 24, 2026, to seek further relief before the subpoenas could formally take effect.
How Investigators Say the Tesla Was Found
Media accounts based on the newly unsealed documents say tow-yard workers noticed a powerful odor coming from the impounded Tesla and contacted police. When officers opened the vehicle’s front trunk, they found the bagged remains. Court TV reports that the first bag was covered in insects and confirms that investigators later recovered dismembered arms and legs in a second bag beneath it. Hollywood horror coverage first laid out the bizarre discovery and immediate fallout when the story surfaced last fall.
Coroner Hold and Secrecy
The Los Angeles County medical examiner has not released a cause or manner of death after prosecutors successfully obtained a court order restricting disclosure, the Associated Press reports. Grand-jury proceedings are confidential by design, so many investigative steps and court filings will stay under seal unless a judge or the grand jury authorizes their release or returns an indictment.
Legal Stakes and What Comes Next
The unsealed records identify Burke as a “target” and say investigators are pursuing a potential murder case that could implicate California Penal Code section 187(a), according to L.A. Magazine. Reporting from Houston indicates prosecutors sought to fly Burke’s father to Los Angeles, offering travel and certain protections, as part of their effort to secure witness testimony for a February grand-jury session. For now, prosecutors are still presenting evidence to jurors, and no public indictment has been announced. Witnesses who ignore subpoenas risk enforcement actions, and some individuals have already been detained for failing to appear.
Celeste Rivas Hernandez was reported missing from Lake Elsinore in April 2024, and forensic testing later confirmed that the remains found in the Tesla were hers, NBC Los Angeles reports. As the grand-jury process continues behind closed doors, her family and community supporters have continued to call for transparency while investigators and prosecutors remain in this tightly controlled phase of the inquiry.
