Singer D4vd charged with murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, found decomposed in his car

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Singer D4vd has been charged with murder in the death of a 14-year-old girl who was last known to be alive nearly a year ago and whose dismembered and decomposed body was found in September in his apparently abandoned Tesla, prosecutors said Monday.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said the 21-year-old D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, was charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Celeste Rivas Hernandez. She was reported missing by her family in 2024, when she was 13. Authorities, who described her Monday as a “runaway,” said she was 14 when she was killed.

The murder charges included special circumstances — lying in wait, committing crime for financial gain and murdering the witness in an investigation — that could carry the death penalty. Prosecutors haven’t announced whether they will seek it. Burke is also charged with lewd and lascivious acts with a person under 14 and mutilating a body.

Attorneys for the Houston-born alt-pop singer said he was innocent in a statement released after homicide detectives arrested him on Thursday at a home in Hollywood.

“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,” the lawyers said. A new request for comment to Burke’s lawyers on the charges was not immediately answered.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman called the case “a parent’s nightmare” and said Rivas Hernandez was last heard from 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,” Hochman said at Monday’s press conference.

The long-dead body of Rivas Hernandez was found inside a Tesla that was towed from the Hollywood Hills on Sept. 8, a day after she would have turned 15. Her family had reported her missing from her hometown of Lake Elsinore, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles.

Authorities did not publicly name Burke as a suspect until his arrest. And his lawyers’ statement last week, in which said they “will vigorously defend David’s innocence,” was the first time they weighed in publicly.

The singer had been under investigation by an LA County grand jury looking into the death. The probe was officially secret, but its existence — and his designation as its target — was revealed in February when his mother, father and brother objected in a Texas court to subpoenas demanding they testify.

The 2023 Tesla Model Y was registered in the singer’s name at the Texas address of his subpoenaed family members, according to court filings from prosecutors. It had been towed from an upscale Hollywood Hills neighborhood where it had been sitting as though it was abandoned.

Police investigators searching the Tesla in a tow yard found a cadaver bag “covered with insects and a strong odor of decay,” court documents said. Detectives partially unzipped a bag and found a head and torso.

Investigators from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office removed the bag and “discovered the arms and legs had been severed from the body,” according to court documents. A second black bag was found under the first, and dismembered body parts were inside it. No cause of death has been publicly revealed, and police got a judge to block the release details of the autopsy. On Friday, the medical examiner told The Associated Press the court order remained in place after Burke’s arrest, and suggested to ask the police whether they would ask to lift it. Hochman said Monday that the coroner’s report would be released “shortly.”

The family of Rivas Hernandez has remained private and has not made any public statements on her death or the case.

“I had the chance to meet with some of the family members of Celeste and their grief in incalculable as to what happened to their daughter,” Hochman said.

D4vd, pronounced “David,” gained popularity among Gen Z for his blend of indie rock, R&B and lo-fi pop. He went viral on TikTok in 2022 with the hit “Romantic Homicide,” which peaked at No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. He then signed with Darkroom and Interscope Records and released his debut EP “Petals to Thorns” and a follow-up, “The Lost Petals,” in 2023.

When the body was discovered, the singer continued his North American tour, but when reports of his possible involvement spread widely, he canceled the final two shows and a European tour that was to follow.