The tragic case of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the teenager found dead in the trunk of a Tesla belonging to the alt-pop singer D4vd, has gripped Los Angeles for more than half a year.
The death of the missing middle schooler, and the nature of her ties to the up-and-coming musician, sparked extensive media coverage and speculation online. But aside from grim details released after the discovery of the 14-year-old’s body in September, authorities in LA said relatively little about their investigation.
Then this week came the most significant development yet: police armed with rifles arrested D4vd, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke, on Thursday afternoon at a residence on a tony Hollywood street.
David Anthony Burke, AKA D4vd, performing in Montreux, Switzerland, on 19 July 2024. Photograph: Cyril Zingaro/AP
“Detectives from Los Angeles Police Department, Robbery-Homicide Division have arrested David Burke, a 21-year-old resident of Los Angeles, for the murder of Celeste Rivas. Burke is being held without bail,” the department announced in a brief statement.
The news was sudden but not a surprise to those who had been following the case, as investigators had appeared to be homing in on the artist as a primary suspect for months.
Back in November, news outlets citing police sources reported that Burke had been identified as a suspect, and it emerged in February that the musician, known for viral songs such as Romantic Homicide and Here With Me, was the target of a Los Angeles county grand jury investigation.
The family of Rivas Hernandez had reported her missing from her hometown of Lake Elsinore, some 70 miles (110km) from Los Angeles, in 2024. The seventh grader had run away, and later returned home before leaving again, police have said.
On 8 September 2025, just one day after she would have turned 15, police found her dismembered remains in cadaver bags in a seemingly abandoned Tesla Model Y that had been transported to a tow yard. The car was registered to Burke.
Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Photograph: GoFundMe
No cause of death has been revealed yet, but the medical examiner’s office previously said that the body was found severely decomposed and that Rivas Hernandez had probably been dead for an extended period. Los Angeles police requested that a judge prevent the chief medical examiner, Dr Odey Ukpo, from releasing the findings of the autopsy. Ukpo said in a statement at the time that the practice is “virtually unheard” of in other counties, while police argued it was necessary to maintain the integrity of the investigation.
The Los Angeles police department said in a statement that it plans to present the case to the district attorney’s office for filing consideration on Monday. Burke has not yet been charged in the case.
Burke’s attorneys, Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter, said their client was innocent.
“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,” the lawyers said in a statement. “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.”
According to the Los Angeles Times, police sources “indicate[d]” that the teenager had been living with Burke in a rental home during the time her family reported her missing. Her brother, Matthew Rivas, has told NBCLA that the family was aware she knew the singer, and that before she went missing she went to see a movie with Burke and did not return home.
Police searched Burke’s Hollywood residence shortly after the body was found, and officials convened a grand jury in the case in November. The grand jury investigation into the artist became public knowledge earlier this year when his parents and brother tried to fight subpoenas demanding they testify. A friend of Burke’s, the influencer Neo Langston, was arrested after failing to appear to testify before the grand jury.
Prior to the case, Burke’s career had been on the rise – he had opened for SZA and collaborated with Kali Uchis. He was on tour when the teen’s body was discovered.
Relatively little is publicly known about Rivas Hernandez. Her parents are both from El Salvador, and she was born in California’s Riverside county. A GoFundMe for her family described the teen as a “beloved daughter, sister, cousin, and friend”. A missing-person poster for Rivas Hernandez noted she was last seen wearing Hello Kitty sandals.
The killing left her community grieving the teen who was remembered as being “quiet” and “sweet”. A family friend told the Los Angeles Times that Rivas Hernandez “was studious, a hard worker and intelligent” and “deserves justice”.