Singer D4vd has been arrested for the murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas, police said Thursday.
It comes months after Rivas’s remains were discovered in the front trunk of a Tesla that had been impounded at a Hollywood tow yard.
Police say the vehicle was registered to D4vd’s address in Texas. He was officially named as a suspect in the killing in February, per unsealed court documents.
Based on testimony from her friends and family, it is believed Rivas was in a romantic relationship with the 21-year-old singer at the time of her death.
Rivas’s family said she was last seen in spring 2024, when she left her Lake Elsinore home age 13. They said, however, that this was not the first time she had run away.
Rivas’s remains were discovered last September after the Tesla that allegedly belonged to D4vd was left on a public street for more than 72 hours, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. It was then impounded and taken to Hollywood Tow.
Employees at the tow yard began to notice a stench coming from the vehicle and called police on September 8 last year.
Investigators said the girl had been dismembered and found her decomposed head and torso in a cadaver bag.
She was found days after what would have been her 15th birthday, but police believe she likely died much earlier, with the county medical examiner saying the remains were ‘severely decomposed.’
The Los Angeles medical examiner’s office determined that Rivas had been deceased in the vehicle for ‘an extended period of time before being found’.
The medical examiner said she was wearing black leggings, a tube top, a yellow metal chain bracelet and stud earrings when she was found.
Neighbors said the Tesla was moved several times over the preceding three months before it was left on Bluebird Avenue in the Hollywood Hills.
In petitions demanding his parents testify in front of a Los Angeles County grand jury, D4vd was described as a ‘target’ in the death of Rivas.
‘Target may be involved in having committed the following criminal offenses…: One Count of Murder,’ the petition said.
D4vd’s legal team released a statement saying that he did not murder Rivas and that he was not the cause of her death.
‘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. We will vigorously defend David’s innocence,’ his lawyers said.
After D4vd’s arrest, the LAPD said: ‘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 case will be presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office on Monday.
The grand jury investigation into D4vd began in mid-November. Jurors were presented evidence by prosecutors and relevant individuals were called testify, including D4vd’s managers and a friend of D4vd, Neo Langston.
According to ABC News, in September police obtained a search warrant for a home Burke had been staying at in Hollywood Hills, where they seized a computer.
Rivas’s mother, who reported her missing three different times throughout 2024, has said her daughter was dating a guy she never met named ‘David’.
It has also been previously reported that the two shared matching ‘Sshhh’ tattoos on their right index fingers.
Friends of D4vd have told TMZ that the two were ‘frequently’ seen together. They also believed he and Rivas were romantically involved.
After Rivas’s death, the lyrics of D4vd’s songs were the subject of much scrutiny due to their violent nature.
In one of his most popular singles, Romantic Homicide, he sings about a love interest of his no longer being around.
‘In the back of my mind, I killed you… And I didn’t even regret it… I can’t believe I said it… But it’s true… I hate you,’ were the final words of the 2022 song.
Burke rose to fame around 2022 after a string of viral TikTok hits.
His popularity led to collaborations with stars such as SZA and Kali Uchis. When Hernandez’s body was discovered, D4vd was on a tour, which was later canceled.
