Graphic Testimony Presented to Judge in D4vd Case

Prosecutors dug into the details of blood stains and other forensic evidence Wednesday in hopes of persuading a judge that singer D4vd should go to trial for the stabbing death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the AP reports. On the second day of a preliminary hearing for D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, Los Angeles police criminalists described collecting samples of possible blood and DNA from his garage, where prosecutors allege Burke dismembered her body, and from his Tesla, where the body was found months later. Burke has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, sexual abuse of a child, and mutilation of a body, and his lawyers have said he did not cause Rivas Hernandez's death.

On Tuesday, authorities had said they had evidence that Burke had purchased chain saws, an inflatable pool, and a shovel that were used to kill and dismember the teen who had known him for several years and even traveled to London with him. On Wednesday, the testimony focused on the forensic evidence authorities said they found that they say proves he killed her and got rid of the body by hiding it in a Tesla that was registered to him. Lauren Wallace, a criminalist with the Los Angeles Police Department, testified that she found apparent blood stains on rubber mats on the floor of the garage in Burke's Hollywood home, as well as slits—most likely from a sharp object—on the mats. Prosecutors said in a filing before the hearing that blood found in the garage matched Rivas Hernandez's DNA.

Wallace testified that she did not find blood evidence on two chain saws in the garage that purchase records showed Burke had ordered soon after the girl's death. But she said she sprayed the floor mats with a chemical that shows possible blood stains otherwise not visible by the naked eye by making it glow blue. A photo showed the whole area cloaked in bright blue, bringing soft gasps from people in the courtroom. And she said possible blood evidence was found on garbage bags and cleaning wipes, and a rowing machine in the garage. Another LAPD criminalist, Chelsea Murillo, found fewer and smaller but similar stains in the Tesla.