Singer D4vd pleaded not guilty Monday to a murder charge in the death of a 14-year-old girl who was last known to be alive nearly a year ago and whose dismembered and decomposed body was found in his apparently abandoned Tesla, marking the first public court appearance in a case that had been under largely secret investigation for seven months.
The charges revealed key details and were among the first concrete public moves made in a grisly case that shocked the music industry. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office disclosed the 21-year-old D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, was charged with first-degree murder, lewd and lascivious acts with a person under 14, and mutilating a body.
His attorney entered not guilty pleas on his behalf to all counts, and the judge declared he would continue to be held without bail. The girl’s parents were in court for Burke’s first appearance in the case Monday. Burke appeared behind glass in a custody area of the court, dressed in black.
Authorities alleged the Houston-born alt-pop singer killed Celeste Rivas Hernandez to protect a career on the rise after she threatened to report their sexual relationship. His debut album “Withered” was released just two days after prosecutors claim she was last known to be alive—timing that takes on sinister significance given allegations he murdered her to silence potential testimony about sexual abuse.
She was reported missing by her family in 2024 when she was 13. That was her age when, according to allegations in a criminal complaint, the singer engaged in continuous sexual abuse of her for at least a year from September 2023 to September 2024. California law penalizes abuse of a child under 14 especially harshly, creating powerful incentive for concealing such crimes.
Authorities, who characterized her Monday as a “runaway,” indicated she was 14 when she was killed with a sharp object on or around April 23, 2025, and was headed to the singer’s house in the Hollywood Hills. Prosecutors allege Burke mutilated her body approximately two weeks later—a delay suggesting possible attempts to conceal the crime before resorting to dismemberment.
The murder charges included special circumstances—lying in wait, committing crime for financial gain, and murdering a witness in an investigation—that could carry the death penalty. Prosecutors haven’t announced whether they will seek capital punishment.
The witness he is alleged to have killed is Rivas Hernandez herself, who could have given testimony about the sex crime allegations—making her murder both tragedy and potential evidence destruction designed to prevent prosecution for abuse that prosecutors claim lasted at least a year.
“We believe the actual evidence will show David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez,” lead defense attorney Blair Berk stated. “We would like to have the evidence come into the light of day.”
Berk told the judge that after media accounts of months of secret grand jury proceedings, she would like a public preliminary evidentiary hearing to take place as soon as possible. Burke is entitled under California law to a public preliminary hearing, where a judge decides whether there’s enough evidence for trial, within 10 court days of his arraignment.
Nearly all defendants waive their right to have it happen that fast, but Burke didn’t—a decision suggesting defense confidence in challenging prosecution evidence or desire to accelerate proceedings rather than endure prolonged pretrial detention. A hearing to work out what will happen next was scheduled for Thursday.
Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman, the lead prosecutor, declared, “We’ll be very happy to put on the evidence that we’ve collected”—language conveying prosecutorial confidence in the strength of their case.
Burke was arrested at a home in Hollywood Thursday following the lengthy grand jury investigation.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman characterized the case as “a parent’s nightmare.” “Celeste, a 14-year-old at that time, went to Mr. Burke’s house in the Hollywood Hills. She was never heard from again,” Hochman stated at Monday’s press conference.
The long-dead body of Rivas Hernandez was found inside a Tesla that was towed from the Hollywood Hills on September 8, when Burke was on tour in support of his album. It was a day after she would have turned 15—a birthday she never lived to celebrate.
Her family had reported her missing from her hometown of Lake Elsinore, about 70 miles southeast of Los Angeles. The singer had been under investigation by an LA County grand jury looking into the death. The probe was officially secret, but its existence—and his designation as its target—was revealed in February when his mother, father, and brother objected in a Texas court to subpoenas demanding they testify.
The 2023 Tesla Model Y was registered in the singer’s name at their address, according to court filings. Authorities did not publicly acknowledge him as a suspect until his arrest—maintaining investigative secrecy for months while gathering evidence.
Police investigators searching the Tesla in a tow yard found a cadaver bag “covered with insects and a strong odor of decay,” court documents disclosed. Detectives partially unzipped a bag and found a head and torso—grisly discovery that marked the beginning of understanding what happened to the missing teenager.
Investigators from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office removed the bag and “discovered the arms and legs had been severed from the body,” according to court documents. A second black bag was found under the first, and dismembered body parts were inside it—suggesting deliberate efforts to conceal the body through dismemberment and multiple layers of containment.
No cause of death has been publicly revealed, and police obtained a judge’s order blocking release of autopsy details. The court order was expected to be lifted after charges were filed, potentially revealing how Rivas Hernandez died before her body was mutilated.
The family of Rivas Hernandez has remained private and has not made any public statements on her death or the case. “I had the chance to meet with some of the family members of Celeste and their grief is incalculable as to what happened to their daughter,” Hochman disclosed, conveying the devastating impact on relatives who will never recover from losing a child in such horrific circumstances.
D4vd, pronounced “David,” gained popularity among Generation Z for his blend of indie rock, R&B, and lo-fi pop. He went viral on TikTok in 2022 with the hit “Romantic Homicide,” which peaked at No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart—a song title that takes on macabre irony given current murder allegations.
He then signed with Darkroom and Interscope Records and released his debut EP “Petals to Thorns” and a follow-up, “The Lost Petals,” in 2023. The Associated Press confirmed that D4vd was dropped by Interscope last year—a termination that may have been related to emerging investigation though the label has not publicly disclosed reasons.
When the body was discovered, the singer continued his North American tour, but when reports of his possible involvement spread widely, he canceled the final two shows and a European tour that was to follow. On April 11, approximately two weeks before the killing, he made his debut appearance at the Coachella music festival, where he spoke to the Associated Press.
“I was such an internet kid. The internet is really what I claim as my home,” he stated. “My neighborhood was Instagram and the society was the internet”—comments reflecting the social media-driven celebrity that prosecutors now allege he sought to protect through murder.
The case illustrates disturbing intersection of online fame, exploitation of minors, and alleged violence to conceal abuse. If prosecution allegations prove accurate, Burke used his growing celebrity to access and abuse a vulnerable teenager, then killed her when she threatened to expose the relationship that could have destroyed his career and resulted in lengthy prison sentence even before murder charges.
For Rivas Hernandez’s family in Lake Elsinore, the nightmare began when their daughter went missing as a 13-year-old runaway. The months of uncertainty about her whereabouts ended with the devastating discovery of her dismembered remains—confirmation that she would never return home but leaving agonizing questions about what she endured before her death.
The special circumstances allegations—lying in wait, financial gain, and witness murder—paint picture of premeditated killing designed to eliminate testimony that could destroy Burke’s music career and result in prosecution for continuous sexual abuse of a child. Whether prosecutors will seek death penalty remains undetermined, though the heinous nature of allegations and victim’s young age create circumstances where capital punishment consideration appears likely.
As preliminary hearing proceedings move forward this week, both prosecution and defense indicated eagerness to present evidence publicly after months of secret grand jury proceedings. Whether that evidence will support Burke’s protestations of innocence or confirm prosecution’s narrative of exploitation, murder, and mutilation will determine if the rising alt-pop star spends the rest of his life in prison or potentially faces execution for crimes prosecutors characterize as calculated elimination of a witness who could have ended his career.
For now, Burke remains jailed without bail while his family presumably grapples with allegations that the son and brother they raised became someone capable of year-long sexual abuse of a middle-school-aged girl followed by her murder and dismemberment when she threatened to report the relationship that California law recognizes as continuous sexual assault of a child.
AP
