The Los Angeles Police Department is disputing recent reports that the body of teenage Celeste Rivas Hernandez was partially frozen when it was found in the trunk of a vehicle registered to an up-and-coming R&B singer.
Despite reports by TMZ and others indicating that Hernandez’s body had been thawing out in a Tesla registered to the singer D4vd, Capt. Scot Williams told People magazine that “Celeste’s body was not frozen.”
Williams noted that “her body was in the car for weeks,” meaning “the whole frozen thing doesn’t even make sense.”
“Even if she had been frozen solid when she was put in the car (which there is NO evidence to suggest she was), five or more weeks in the trunk of a car in sweltering heat in the middle of summer would not have resulted in a partially frozen body being discovered on September 8th,” he told People.
Williams also disputed that Hernandez had been decapitated.
Williams’ disclosures come just after the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner confirmed the LAPD had placed a security hold on Hernandez’s records, resulting in their removal from the Medical Examiner’s website.
The LAPD told KTLA’s Samantha Cortese that the hold is intended to “ensure LAPD detectives receive information from the Medical Examiner before the public.”
Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Odey Ukpo spoke out against the practice in a press release on Monday.
“The practice of security holds is virtually unheard of in other counties and has not been proven to improve outcomes in the legal system,” Ukpo said. “We are dedicated to serving our community with full transparency; however, the law precludes us from doing so while the court order remains in this case.”
No arrest has been made in Hernandez’s death, but D4vd — real name David Anthony Burke — is considered a suspect.
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