Singer D4vd was charged today with capital murder for allegedly killing a teenage girl whose dismembered and decomposing body was found in the trunk of his Tesla at a Hollywood tow yard.
The 21-year-old singer, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, appeared in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Monday afternoon, and one of his attorneys entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
Burke is charged in the killing of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose body was found Sept. 8, 2025, just days after what would have been her 15th birthday.
“Celeste was just a child, under 14 years old, when David Burke allegedly engaged in repeated lewd and lascivious sexual relations with her,” District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement. “But Burke’s actions did not allegedly stop there. When she threatened to expose his criminal conduct and devastate his musical career, Burke allegedly murdered her, cut up her body and stuffed her body in two bags that were placed in the front trunk of his car. There the dismembered body sat for over four months decomposing until it was found at a tow yard on September 8, 2025.”
The criminal complaint alleges that the murder occurred on or about April 23, 2025.
The murder charge includes the special circumstance allegations of lying in wait, murder for financial gain and killing a witness in a criminal investigation, according to Hochman.
Burke was also charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child under age 14 between Sept. 7, 2023, and Sept. 7, 2024, along with unlawful mutilation of human remain on or about May 5, 2025, as well as an allegation that he personally used a sharp instrument during the commission of the murder, according to the complaint.
The District Attorney’s Office is expected to decide later whether to seek the death penalty against Burke, who was ordered to remain jailed without bail while awaiting his next court appearance Thursday.
At a morning news conference, Hochman said the lying in wait allegation stems from D4vd’s invitation to Celeste to come to his Hollywood Hills home on April 23, 2025, after which she was never seen again, while the financial gain allegation stems from the singer’s effort to maintain his lucrative music career, which was being threatened by his alleged sexual relationship with the underage girl, Hochman said. Celeste was considered the key witness in that investigation, leading to the allegation of murdering a witness, he said.
“I want to look at this as a parent. I am a parent of three children,” Hochman said. “And a parent’s nightmare is a situation when your daughter goes out one night and never comes back. … On April 23, 2025, … Celeste, a 14-year-old at that time, went to Mr. Burke’s house in the Hollywood Hills. She was never heard from again. On Sept. 8, 2025, as alleged in the complaint, Celeste’s remains, her dismembered and decomposed remains were found inside two bags in side of a front trunk of a car registered to Mr. Burke.”
D4vd — pronounced “David” — was arrested last Thursday afternoon by Los Angeles Police Department officers, ending a months-long investigation prompted by the discovery of Celeste’s dismembered body in the front trunk of the singer’s Tesla at a Hollywood tow yard. The car had been parked for weeks in the Hollywood Hills before it was towed in September, authorities said.
D4vd’s team of defense lawyers issued a statement last week denying the singer killed Celeste.
“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,” defense attorneys Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski, and Regina Peter said. “There has been no indictment returned by any grand jury in this case and no criminal complaint filed. David has only been detained under suspicion. We will vigorously defend David’s innocence.”
Berk reiterated much of that statement in the downtown Los Angeles courtroom during Monday’s arraignment hearing, telling Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Theresa R. McGonigle that the defense wants a speedy preliminary hearing, at which a judge would determine if there was sufficient evidence to allow the case against him to proceed to trial.
She noted that there have been media reports about months of ” secret grand jury proceedings,” but said the defense has been given very little information about the case.
Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman countered that the prosecution will be “very happy to put on the evidence.”
At the prosecution’s request, the judge agreed to order the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office to release the autopsy report involving the teenager.
The medical examiner’s office has not announced a cause of death for the teen, but the office had been prevented since November from releasing any information about its investigation, due to a court order that had been obtained by police that placed a “security hold” on probe. Police said the security hold was necessary to ensure the integrity of the investigation.
An attorney for D4vd’s parents said in a statement to ABC News, “David’s parents believe in his innocence and support him whole-heartedly.”
Celeste, of Lake Elsinore, had been reported missing by her mother in 2024, when the girl was just 13. Her mother previously told reporters her daughter had a boyfriend named David. D4vd has a tattoo on one of his fingers matching the one reading “Shhh” that the medical examiner revealed previously was on Rivas’ index finger.
The Tesla in which her body was found had been abandoned near a home in the 1300 block of Doheny Place, not far from a home D4vd had rented. During the investigation, police served a search warrant at the house and took several items as possible evidence.
“The vehicle had been parked at the location from which it was towed for several weeks, so Ms. Rivas Hernandez may have been deceased for several weeks before the discovery of her body,” police said in a statement in September.
In November, police acknowledged media reports that D4vd traveled to the Santa Barbara area during spring of last year for unknown reasons. The media reports suggested that he traveled to a remote area and remained there for several hours, and that the singer may have had help from another person to dismember the teen’s body.
Police did not provide specifics, saying only, “The reason for that trip is still under investigation and we’ve drawn no conclusions at this point about the relevance of the trip to this case.”
The dismembered and deteriorated condition of the teen’s body is believed to have played a key role in the length of the death investigation.
A county grand jury had been hearing testimony from witnesses in the case, but it was unclear how many people testified before the grand jury. Silverman noted during Monday’s court hearing that the defense would have to file a motion to receive information about those proceedings.
In January, Neo Langston, a 23-year-old social media personality and friend of D4vd, was arrested in Montana, allegedly for failing to appear as a witness in Los Angeles.
In February, D4vd’s parents — Dawud and Colleen Burke — filed court papers seeking quash subpoenas they had received to appear before the grand jury. Their court papers revealed grisly details about the condition of the teen’s body when it was found, stating that her head and torso were inside a cadaver bag, and her limbs were inside a separate bag — both of which were found in the trunk of the Tesla.
The length of the investigation — roughly seven months — led to questions by some critics about the LAPD’s handling of the case and lack of public disclosure about the status of the probe. LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell on Monday defended the agency’s work.
“I want to be clear about something — my duty is not to fuel speculation, it’s to deliver justice,” McDonnell said. “And that requires patience and discipline on everybody’s part. This investigation was driven by a single purpose — to secure justice for Celeste Rivas and for those who loved her. We had to be certain that nothing we did or said would ever jeopardize this case.”
The police chief called the investigation an “extraordinarily difficult and complex case.”
“The condition of her remains delayed the medical examiner’s ability to be able to determine the cause of death,” the chief said. “The substantial amount of time that passed between her death and the discovery meant that crucial evidence had degraded or disappeared.”