Singer D4vd, legal name David Anthony Burke, was charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said on Monday.
Burke was arrested Thursday at a home near the Chateau Marmont on suspicion of murder, according to Los Angeles police. The arrest came seven months after Rivas Hernandez’s body was discovered in an impounded Tesla registered to Burke, authorities said.
Prosecutors presented evidence Monday, and charged Burke with first-degree murder with special circumstances, continuous sexual abuse of a minor, lewd acts with an individual under 14 years old, and mutilation of human remains, Hochman said.
According to the district attorney’s statement, Rivas “threatened to expose his criminal conduct and devastate his musical career.”
The home where Burke was arrested is about two miles from the Hollywood Hills location where the Tesla and Rivas Hernandez’s body were found.
In August 2025, a complaint was filed about a seemingly abandoned Tesla on Bluebird Avenue near Burke’s residence for several weeks. The car was not reported stolen. The last known driver remains unclear, authorities say.
In September 2025, the Tesla was impounded at Hollywood Tow on North Mansfield Avenue. Sept. 8, a tow yard employee discovered Rivas Hernandez’s body after reporting a foul odor. Rivas’ remains were severely decomposed, police said.
A search warrant was released for the home where the Tesla was parked, and investigators collected multiple pieces of evidence, according to police. Burke had allegedly been renting the home before beginning his Withered World Tour in August, which he later canceled after Rivas’ body was discovered. Burke’s manager subsequently ended the lease on a Hollywood Hills apartment.
Rivas Hernandez’s funeral service was held Oct. 6, 2025, at the Queen of Heaven Cemetery and Mortuary in Rowland Heights, California. Rivas Hernandez’s cause of death has not been publicly released. Her body was returned to her family Sept. 23.
Online users have attempted to piece together Burke and Rivas Hernandez’ relationship.
The two appeared together on several livestreams and videos. Several photos of them resurfaced between January and March 2024.
Rivas Hernandez had been missing since April 2024 from her hometown of Lake Elsinore, California, 70 miles southeast of Los Angeles before being discovered, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office.
In June 2024, Rivas Hernandez was photographed backstage at Burke’s show at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles. A private investigator later uncovered additional images appearing to show the two together in late December 2024 and early January 2025.
“The substantial amount of time that passed between her death and the discovery meant that crucial evidence had degraded or disappeared, and as detectives worked to uncover the truth, they also had to sift through and debunk a great deal of false information circulating publicly,” Los Angeles Police Chief, Jim McDonnell said.
Burke’s defense attorneys — Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski, and Regina Peter — said in an email, “the actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez Hernandez and he was not the cause of her death.”
Burke could face life in prison without parole or the death penalty if convicted, Hochman said. His office has not decided whether to pursue the death penalty.
“There has been no indictment returned by any grand jury in this case and no criminal complaint filed,” Burke’s attorneys said. “David has only been detained under suspicion. We will vigorously defend David’s innocence.”
Burke has not entered a plea and is being held without bail in the LAPD 77th Street Station Jail.
