The singer D4vd has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the «brutal and horrific» death of a 14-year-old girl whose dismembered body was found in his towed Tesla last year, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced on Monday.
D4vd — a 21-year-old Los Angeles resident whose legal name is David Burke — was arrested last week in connection with the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez following a monthslong investigation, police said. He is being held without bail.
The booking photo for the singer D4vd — whose real name is David Burke — is shown during a press briefing in Los Angeles on April 20, 2026.
LAPD
He faces a slew of charges and special circumstances alleging he continuously committed «lewd and lascivious sexual acts» with the teen while she was under the age of 14, and that he killed her for financial gain «to maintain his very lucrative musical career that Celeste was threatening,» Hochman said during a press briefing on Monday. The charges also allege he unlawfully mutilated human remains, Hochman said.
«There is physical evidence, and there is forensic and digital evidence, that we intend to present in court to prove these charges beyond a reasonable doubt,» Hochman said.
Rivas Hernandez, a reported runaway from Riverside County, was last known to be alive on April 23, 2025, when she arrived at D4vd’s home in the Hollywood Hills, according to Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell. She was never heard from again, Hochman said.
In September 2025, her badly decomposed, dismembered body was found in the trunk of D4vd’s abandoned, impounded Tesla at a Hollywood tow yard, officials said.
In this file photo, photographs, notes, and flowers are among the items left at a memorial for slain teen Celeste Rivas Hernandez in Lake Elsinore, Calif, on Sept. 25, 2025.
Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images, FILE
Her head and torso were found in one bag, and her arms and legs in another, according to the court documents from Hochman filed in connection with a Los Angeles County grand jury investigation in connection with the teen’s death.
The Tesla had been at the impound lot for two days after being found abandoned on a Hollywood street, investigators said. The towed vehicle was registered to Burke.
Officers had responded to the impound lot «for a foul odor coming from a vehicle,» Los Angeles police said.
The teen may have been dead for several weeks before her body was discovered, police said. Her remains were found a day after her 15th birthday, according to her death certificate.
Singer-songwriter, David Burke aka D4vd sits in artist space at Coachella music festival on April 18, 2025 in Indio, Calif. (AP Photo)
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«During the course of our investigation, detectives learned that she had been involved in a sexual relationship with Mr. Burke when she was a minor and he was an adult,» McDonnell said during the press briefing.
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The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner has made a determination on how she died, according to Hochman. The medical examiner’s findings in the D4vd case are sealed.
The charges come after the Los Angeles Police Department presented the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office on Monday for filing consideration.
He faces a maximum sentence of life, without the possibility of parole, or the death penalty, Hochman said. The DA said his office will decide whether to seek the death penalty at a later time.
Los Angeles Police Department officers work during the arrest of David Burke, a 21-year-old musician known professionally as D4vd, on suspicion of murdering 14-year-old Celeste Rivas, at an undisclosed location, April 16, 2026.
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D4vd is expected to be arraigned on the charges on Monday. His attorneys maintained his innocence following his arrest last Thursday.
«Let us be clear — the actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez and he was not the cause of her death,» his attorneys said in a statement. «We will vigorously defend David’s innocence.»
Hochman said he has met with members of Rivas Hernandez’s family, saying their «grief is incalculable.»
«The Rivas Hernandez family is committed to ensuring that Celeste’s voice is heard and her memory is honored throughout this process,» an attorney for the family, Patrick Steinfeld, said in a statement following D4vd’s arrest.
The «Romantic Homicide» singer’s arrest comes after months of compiling evidence, senior officials told ABC News. The grand jury that was empaneled didn’t play much of a role in getting to this point, they said.
D4vd — who first went viral on TikTok, where he has nearly 4 million followers — had been on his «Withered» world tour when the teen’s body was discovered in his vehicle. The last few shows of the tour, including those in San Francisco and Los Angeles, were canceled.
