Celeste Rivas: Medical Examiner Celebrates Autopsy Release After 'Unfathomable' Delay

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner is speaking out about being muzzled for months in the Celeste Rivas murder case, TMZ has learned.

The M.E. says Celeste's cause and manner of death was determined way back on Dec. 9 but the information was only made public on Wednesday because there was a prior court order initiated by the LAPD that had been preventing them from releasing their findings.

In a statement, Dr. Odey Ukpo, says ... "After several months, I am grateful this information can now be released, not only to the public, but also to the grieving family enduring loss. It is unfathomable they have had to wait this long to learn what happened to their daughter."

"The transparency of the information contained in our findings and reports is essential for empowering the community to make informed changes to affectively reduce fear and allowing the community to take informed action," he added. "Making the Department’s information publicly available is not just about accountability, it is about social justice and prevention."

The M.E. adds ... "By ensuring access to this information, we strengthen our ability to learn, to act, and ultimately to prevent the next tragic loss of life. I want to extend my gratitude to our partner agencies for taking the necessary step of filing an order with the court to make this disclosure possible."

As we told you back in November, cops went to a judge and got a security hold on information regarding Celeste's death as LAPD continued to investigate ... and then the M.E. put out a statement saying they wanted "full transparency" and were questioning the purpose and benefit of security holds.

Cops arrested D4vd Thursday and prosecutors charged him Monday with Celeste's murder ... and on Wednesday the M.E.'s findings were released.