November 24, 2025 – At 10:54 a.m. on Friday, November 21, the County of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner (Department) received a court order, initiated by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), to place a security hold on Medical Examiner case number 2025-14252, Celeste Rivas Hernandez. No records or details associated with the case, including the cause and manner of death and Medical Examiner report, can be released or posted on the website until further notice.
“The Department’s mission is to have full transparency with the community by providing information about our cases to empower people to make changes that save lives,” said Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Odey Ukpo. “Since becoming the department head, I’ve worked on eradicating the practice of placing security holds on Medical Examiner cases simply by law enforcement request. The practice of security holds is virtually unheard of in other counties and has not been proven to improve outcomes in the legal system. 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.”
The Department previously received a request for a security hold from the LAPD on this case on September 15, 2025, which was denied due to insufficient justification to warrant the hold.
The Department understands the public’s interest in this case and remains committed to transparency when possible. Information will be made available once the court order is lifted.
For questions about the court order, timeline, and the law enforcement investigation into this death, please contact the LAPD.
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