Singer D4vd charged with murder of teen girl
· Toronto Sun
WARNING: GRAPHIC DETAILS
Singer D4vd faces murder charges in the death of a 14-year-old girl, last known alive less than a year ago, whose dismembered and decomposed body was found in what appears to be his abandoned Tesla, prosecutors from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office said Monday.
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The charges mark the first grim details of an investigation that was largely kept secret since the body of Celeste Rivas Hernandez was found seven months ago.
D4vd, whose real name is David Burke, faces charges of first-degree murder, lewd and lascivious acts with a person under 14 and mutilating a body. Burke’s lawyers said evidence would prove his innocence.
Missing teen
Authorities said the Houston pop singer killed Rivas Hernandez to protect his career, with his debut album released just two days after they said she was known to be alive.
Her family reported her missing in 2024, when she was 13 years old. At that age, according to a criminal complaint allegation, the singer continuously sexually abused her for at least a year starting in September of 2023. California law severely punishes abuse of children under 14.
Authorities said the “runaway” was 14 when she was slain with a sharp object in or around late April of 2025 on her way to the singer’s Hollywood Hills home. Prosecutors say Burke mutilated her body two weeks later.
Prosecutors have not announced if they will seek the death penalty, but the murder charges include circumstances that could warrant seeking it — such as lying in wait, committing crime for financial gain and murdering a witness in an investigation, in this case Rivas Hernandez, who could have testified to sex abuse allegations had she not been slain.
Burke’s attorneys say evidence will prove he did not cause the girl’s death and that they “will vigorously defend David’s innocence.”
Police arrested Burke at his home in Hollywood on Thursday . He was held without bail and was expected to make his first court appearance Monday.
‘Parent’s nightmare’
District Attorney Nathan Hochman called the case “a parent’s nightmare,” saying Rivas Hernandez was last seen heading to Burke’s home and was never seen from again. Her body was found in a Tesla that was registered in Burke’s name, according to court filings, and towed from the Hollywood Hills on Sept. 8, while Burke was on tour, a day after she would have turned 15.
Police found a body bag “covered with insects and a strong odor of decay” in the Tesla, court documents said. They found a head and torso upon partially unzipping the bag. Investigators at the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s office later removed the bag and “discovered the arms and legs had been severed from the body,” court documents said. Another black bag under the first had dismembered body parts inside it.
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Police have not publicly revealed a cause of death and had a judge block the details of autopsy from going public. That court order was expected to be lifted after the charges were laid.
Burke had secretly been under investigation by an L.A. County grand jury looking into the murder. It came to light when Burke’s family objected in a Texas court to subpoenas summoning them to testify. Authorities didn’t confirm Burke as a suspect until they arrested him.
The family of Rivas Hernandez has not made any public statements about her death, but Hochman said, “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.”
Social media star
D4vd (pronounced David) first went viral on TikTok in 2022 with the song Romantic Homicide . The song peaked at No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart . He made his debut appearance at Coachella on April 11, about two weeks before the murder.