Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced Monday that David Anthony Burke, the 21-year-old pop singer known as D4vd, has been charged with first-degree murder with special circumstances in the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose decomposed and dismembered remains were found in the trunk of Burke's impounded Tesla Model Y in September 2025. Prosecutors also accuse Burke of lewd and lascivious sexual acts with an individual under 14 and mutilating human remains.
The charge caps a case that has shaken even hardened investigators, not just because of its grim details, but because of how many people appear to have had some knowledge of what was happening and said nothing.
Burke pleaded not guilty. His defense attorney Blair Berk told reporters, as Fox News reported: "We believe the actual evidence will show David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez." But the facts laid out by prosecutors paint a picture of a young girl who vanished into the orbit of a rising celebrity, and stayed there, in plain sight, while adults who should have acted chose not to.
Celeste Rivas Hernandez had been intermittently missing from her family's home in Lake Elsinore, about 70 miles southeast of Los Angeles, since she was 12. Her parents, Salvadoran immigrants, reported her missing for the third and final time in April 2024. She contacted them for what would be the last time the following month.
By then, she had already appeared alongside Burke in a Twitch livestream in January 2024, chatting and joking with the singer until 3 a.m. Her mother later told TMZ that by January 2024, Celeste had admitted she had a boyfriend named David.
In February 2024, someone concerned about Celeste's well-being sent a message to Burke's purported business email, saying there had "been talk" that the singer was involved. The message pleaded: "Please do the right thing and take her home. Her parents are very worried." CNN reported that Celeste went home a few days later. But she didn't stay.
The following month, she was photographed backstage during a D4vd performance at the Ford Theater in Los Angeles. She was 13 years old. Prosecutors allege Burke began sexually abusing her in September 2023, when she had just turned 13 and was living with him in Los Angeles, as AP News detailed in its timeline of the case.
Burke was no obscure figure. His 2022 debut single "Romantic Homicide", originally posted as a soundtrack to Fortnite gameplay and released on SoundCloud after clips went viral on TikTok, shot to No. 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. By the time Celeste's body was discovered, he had 33 million monthly listeners on Spotify and more than 3.6 million followers on TikTok. His management company was paying $20,000 a month for a large house in the Hollywood Hills.
That house became central to the investigation. Charging documents say Burke killed Rivas Hernandez on or about April 23, 2025, allegedly because she threatened to expose his criminal conduct and devastate his musical career. As the Daily Mail reported in its detailed account, police sources believed Celeste had been living quietly with Burke in Los Angeles.
Hochman framed the alleged motive bluntly:
"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."
And then, prosecutors say, life went on. Burke continued performing. He continued posting. He continued building his brand. The Tesla Model Y registered to him sat on a public street in the Hollywood Hills with Celeste's remains inside.
Late last August, local residents complained about the Tesla sitting for so long on the street. In early September, the vehicle was impounded and taken to a local tow yard. Three days passed before a yard worker noticed the smell of death coming from the car.
Police obtained a search warrant and opened the trunk. Inside were Celeste's remains, reportedly weighing 71 pounds, found in bags. On the day she was discovered, September 8, 2025, she would have been celebrating her 15th birthday.
Ten days later, LAPD detectives searched Burke's Hollywood Hills home and seized electronic devices, including a computer. Police announced last November that investigators were focusing on a particular trip Burke took to Santa Barbara in spring 2025. Investigators said Celeste could have died as long ago as the previous spring.
The delay between the discovery and the formal murder charge drew scrutiny. LA Police Chief Jim McDonnell confirmed that the gap was linked to the long time that elapsed before Celeste's body was found. He said "crucial evidence had degraded or disappeared," making it difficult to determine her cause or time of death. Police obtained a court order preventing the coroner's office from releasing any details about Celeste, citing potential risks to the investigation or to witnesses.
The case bears a grim resemblance to the initial shock when Burke's arrest first became public, a suspect whose alleged crimes were concealed behind a public persona that millions of fans consumed daily.
The most troubling thread running through this case is not just what Burke allegedly did. It is the widening circle of people who appear to have had at least some awareness that a missing teenage girl was entangled with an adult celebrity, and chose silence.
TMZ reported that an executive at Burke's record label, Mogul Vision, allegedly told a grand jury he did not alert police on first hearing about the girl's death because he did not believe it was his responsibility and did not want to disrupt Burke's nationwide tour. That executive was reportedly questioned by the grand jury that had been convened to hear evidence regarding possible charges.
Law enforcement sources told ABC News, as the Washington Times reported, that investigators believe others may have been involved in Celeste's death and the disposal of her remains. The dismemberment and disposal likely involved more than one person, those sources said. Burke's arrest may not be the last.
In August, while Celeste's remains sat in the Tesla, Burke posted on Discord that he was suffering from writer's block and "in a song crisis right now." Minutes later, an anonymous follower replied: "Drop the one with the missing girl celeste rivas hernandez." Burke did not respond to the message.
Even Celeste's own family reportedly refused to appear before grand jurors, a detail that raises its own set of difficult questions. The family has reportedly considered a civil lawsuit against the LAPD. Rubi Alonso, a Lake Elsinore resident who knew the family, told reporters simply: "She deserves justice."
Celeste's father, Jesus Rivas, spoke through family attorney Patrick Steinfeld after Burke's arrest. Newsmax reported his words: "Thank God... justice for Celeste."
Hochman, who is prosecuting the case, struck a personal note at the press conference:
"I am a parent of three children, and a parent's nightmare is a situation where your daughter goes out one night and never comes back, as we will show in a court of law."
He said additional special enhancements could expose Burke to a potential death penalty, though California has had a moratorium on enforcement since 2019. Burke is being held without bail.
The case raises questions that reach beyond one defendant. A 12-year-old girl was intermittently missing. By 13, she was allegedly living with an adult man in a $20,000-a-month Hollywood Hills rental. People emailed his business address begging him to send her home. She appeared on his livestreams. She was photographed backstage at his concerts. A record label executive allegedly knew about her death and kept quiet so the tour wouldn't be disrupted.
Investigators in Los Angeles have shown in other recent cases that they can build a circumstantial case when evidence is fragmentary and witnesses are reluctant. Whether they can hold the broader circle accountable here remains an open question.
California has its own troubled record with dangerous individuals slipping through institutional cracks. The D4vd case is another entry in that ledger, one where a child was not hidden in a basement or locked away from view, but present on camera, in photographs, at public events, while adults with knowledge apparently decided it wasn't their problem.
The cause and manner of Celeste's death have not been publicly released, shielded by the court order obtained by police. The basis for the investigative focus on Burke's Santa Barbara trip has not been disclosed. What specific evidence degraded or disappeared, and whether earlier action could have preserved it, is unclear.
The grand jury investigation continues. If law enforcement sources are right that others were involved, the next set of charges will test whether the system is willing to hold accountable not just the person who allegedly committed the act, but the people who allegedly helped cover it up.
A girl vanished in plain sight, surrounded by people who had every reason to notice and no apparent will to act. The charge sheet names one defendant. The failure belongs to more than one.
