It’s been weeks since the world first learned the name Celeste Rivas Hernandez—a teen missing from Lake Elsinore, California—found in the trunk of a Tesla tied to rising R&B singer D4vd.
No one’s been charged in the case. No suspect has been named. Yet the details of the presumed homicide are gruesome. Hernandez was likely dead for several weeks according to new reporting in People – and her body was found badly decomposed.
She was just 15 years old.
What we know: The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner has completed the autopsy into Hernandez and her body was released to the family. But the exact cause of death is still listed as ‘deferred’ as of today, September 29. The office telling KTLA, “A deputy medical examiner completed an examination but requested additional testing and/or studies in order to make a determination.”
Just what testing are they doing? The Medical Examiner’s office tells us, “Due to the ongoing death investigation, the County of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner cannot disclose what testing and/or studies were requested. Deferred cases can take a few months before a cause of death is determined.”
We asked Vidal Herrera of 1-800-Autopsy for his insight. He is a former coroner investigator with the LA County Medical Examiner. Herrera worked on notable cases with LA County including the Nightstalker Richard Ramirez and started a private autopsy company 40 years ago.
Herrera tells KTLA when testing is deferred—in general—the medical examiner may want to know about toxicology—were there any drugs in the person, or medication they were taking, or even poison that may show up. Herrera says in general they also likely want the tissue histology—which is looking closely at slide samples from each organ of the body.
Herrera points out that in any case—a Medical Examiner will look for obvious signs of trauma: fractures, stab wounds, gunshot wounds, ligature marks. Even if the cause of death seems obvious, the Medical Examiner might defer a case to wait for these OTHER important tests to come back. Herrera also points to the backlog of cases across the country. In each case, they’ll look at NASH first—does the death appear… Natural, Accidental, was it Suicide, or a likely Homicide.
Then the other examinations begin and that can take a while. Here in LA County, more than 200 people die each day. Herrera says 60-80 EACH DAY will end up with the coroner. Celeste Rivas Hernandez is case number 2025-14252.
The post Celeste Rivas Hernandez: Teen found in singer D4vd’s Tesla. Why is the cause of death still deferred? appeared first on KTLA.
