Los Angeles prosecutors Thursday continued to connect the dots between forensic evidence and singer D4vd to demonstrate that there’s enough proof to put him on trial for the murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
One day after alleging the singer, born David Burke, killed Rivas Hernandez to prevent her from exposing their illegal relationship and protect his lucrative career, prosecutors on Thursday presented more evidence against Burke.
More on inflatable pool found in Burke’s garage
Criminalist Lisa LaHendro with the LAPD took the stand Thursday morning, explaining what she saw and analyzed from a blue inflatable pool found in the garage of Burke’s rented home in Hollywood Hills.
The trace analyst with more than 20 years of experience observed that the kiddie pool had “cuts,” with some of them marked in straight lines while others in irregular or scalloped shapes.
LaHendro testified that she noticed pieces of the kiddie pool were missing, possibly because they had been cut away, and those fragments looked familiar to her.
D4vd attended the third day of the pretrial hearing as Lisa LaHendro, an LAPD criminalist, took the stand. (Credit: Mona Edwards)
‘Like pieces of a puzzle’
Before examining the inflatable pool with cuts and missing pieces, LaHendro said she inspected the clothing Rivas Hernandez was wearing when she was found after the autopsy was completed.
When LaHendro received the clothing from the medical examiner’s office, she noticed it included socks by Skechers, Victoria’s Secret underwear, a Forever21 tube top and leggings with no tags.
After noticing a strong odor from the clothing that was packaged together, LaHendro said there were medium blue and dark blue material fragments from the teen’s leggings.
The criminalist testified there were three pieces that matched the inflatable pool almost like jigsaw puzzle pieces. Nine others looked consistent, she said, but they couldn’t be fit together.
DNA from 14-year-old’s toenail
Samantha Tosch from the LAPD crime lab, took the stand Thursday afternoon, explaining she compared the DNA collected from Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s toenail to swab samples from the Tesla SUV registered to Burke.
The red stains found inside the lower compartment of the rear trunk matched the teen’s DNA. Tosch said. She explained the DNA profile is 1 septillion times more likely if it came from Rivas Hernandez than from an unknown, unrelated individual. (That’s one followed by 24 zeroes.)
Another sample collected from the lower compartment was tested to be also 1 septillion times more probable if Rivas Hernandez contributed the DNA than if it came from a random, unrelated person.
Tosch testified she analyzed DNA evidence from samples collected from Burke’s garage, specifically 27 locations. Among them, the DNA profile of red stains found on a rowing machine and Tesla charger plug inside the garage was 1 septillion times more likely to have come from Rivas Hernandez, indicating extremely strong support that the 14-year-old was the source of the DNA.
Tosch noted that Burke was included as a possible contributor involving DNA test results on a swab from the outside of a trash bag that was also found in the garage and contained a mixture of DNA from four people.
Another trash bag contained wipes with brown stains that were consistent with the teen’s profile but not Burke’s, she said.
