{"id":620157,"date":"2026-04-20T23:28:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T23:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/620157\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T23:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T23:28:11","slug":"d4vd-pleads-not-guilty-to-the-murder-of-a-teenage-girl-whose-body-was-found-in-the-trunk-of-his-tesla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/620157\/","title":{"rendered":"D4vd pleads not guilty to the murder of a teenage girl whose body was found in the trunk of his Tesla"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Burke, the 21-year-old singer known by the stage name D4vd, has been charged with murder in the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose dismembered body was found in the trunk of his Tesla last year.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced the filing of charges at a news conference early on Monday.<\/p>\n

Burke was charged with first-degree murder with special circumstances, including lying in wait, murder committed for financial gain and murder of a witness to an investigation, Hochman said.<\/p>\n

The singer was also charged with lewd and lascivious sexual acts with a person under 14 years old and the mutilation of a human body. He pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles on Monday afternoon during his first court appearance since being charged. The judge denied him bail and ordered him to remain in custody.<\/p>\n

According to Hochman, Burke engaged in a sexual relationship with Rivas Hernandez and murdered her to \u201cmaintain his very lucrative musical career\u201d when she threatened to expose him. The charges include a special allegation that Burke personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon \u2014 a sharp instrument \u2014 to commit the crime.<\/p>\n

If convicted, Burke faces a maximum sentence of death or life without the possibility of parole. The district attorney said his office had not yet decided whether to pursue the death penalty.<\/p>\n

According to the Los Angeles Police Department<\/a>, Burke was arrested on Thursday by members of the LAPD\u2019s Robbery Homicide Division at a home in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles on suspicion of murder in the killing of Rivas Hernandez. He was held over the weekend without bail.<\/p>\n

In a statement following his arrest, Burke\u2019s attorneys said they were prepared to \u201cvigorously defend David\u2019s innocence.”<\/p>\n

“Let us be clear \u200b\u200b\u2014 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,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

How the case unfolded\"Armed<\/p>\n

Armed officers in the Hollywood Hills.<\/p>\n

(LAPD via X)<\/p>\n

Rivas Hernandez was reported missing in April 2024, when she disappeared from her home in Lake Elsinore, Calif., about 70 miles southeast of Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

On April 23, 2025, Burke invited Rivas Hernandez to his house in the Hollywood Hills, according to police.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was never heard from again,\u201d Hochman said.<\/p>\n

Her body was found on Sept. 8, a day before she would have turned 15, in a Tesla registered to Burke that had been towed to an impound lot from the Hollywood Hills, where it had been parked for several weeks after seemingly being abandoned.<\/p>\n

Officers responded to the tow yard after someone reported smelling a strong odor coming from the vehicle.<\/p>\n

Inside the front trunk, detectives found a plastic bag containing \u201ca decomposed head and torso,\u201d according to court documents. A second bag containing dismembered body parts was also found inside the vehicle.<\/p>\n

Forensics later determined the remains were those of Rivas Hernandez. Hochman said Monday that investigators believe the dismembered body \u201csat for over four months decomposing until it was found.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"D4vd<\/p>\n

D4vd at Paris Fashion Week in 2025.<\/p>\n

(Edward Berthelot\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

David Anthony Burke was born in Queens, N.Y., and moved to Texas in his early teens. He rose to fame as D4vd, pronounced \u201cDavid,\u201d on TikTok, amassing more than 3.6 million followers.<\/p>\n

The singer’s blend of indie rock, R&B and lo-fi alt-pop produced a string of viral hits, including 2022’s \u201cRomantic Homicide,\u201d which has more than 1 billion streams on Spotify. He signed with Interscope Records, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group.<\/p>\n

At the time of the gruesome discovery, D4vd was performing in Minneapolis as part of a world tour in support of his first full-length album, Withered.<\/p>\n

After the medical examiner identified the body as being that of Rivas Hernandez, the tour was canceled.<\/p>\n

Why did it take so long for an arrest?\"Los<\/p>\n

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman on April 20.<\/p>\n

(REUTERS \/ REUTERS)<\/p>\n

At Monday’s news conference, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell defended the length of time it took to build the \u201cextraordinarily difficult and complex case,\u201d saying investigators were hampered by unusual circumstances.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe condition of her remains delayed the medical examiner’s ability to be able to determine the cause of death,\u201d McDonnell said. \u201cThe substantial amount of time that passed between her death and the discovery meant that crucial evidence had degraded or disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n

The coroner\u2019s report has yet to be made public.<\/p>\n

At the same time, McDonnell said investigators had to deal with rumors and misinformation about the lurid case. In November, the LAPD released a statement<\/a> saying that the teen’s body “was not frozen when it was discovered” and that she “had not been decapitated.”<\/p>\n

Hochman said it took months to develop \u201cphysical, forensic and digital\u201d evidence tying Burke to the killing.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 17, police served a search warrant at the Hollywood Hills home where Burke had been staying.\u00a0 TMZ reported<\/a> that LAPD homicide detectives walked out of the house with a computer and several evidence bags.<\/p>\n

At that point in the investigation, a spokesman for the singer said he was \u201cfully cooperating with authorities.\u201d By November, he had stopped cooperating, according to NBC News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to the Associated Press<\/a>, Burke had been under investigation by an L.A. County grand jury looking into the death of Rivas Hernandez since at least February.<\/p>\n

But he was not officially named a suspect until his arrest on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A photo of Celeste Rivas Hernandez at a press conference in Los Angeles on April 20.<\/p>\n

(REUTERS \/ REUTERS)<\/p>\n

In a statement after Burke was taken into custody, a lawyer for the Rivas Hernandez family said that family members were \u201ccommitted to ensuring that Celeste\u2019s voice is heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot undo the pain you are feeling,\u201d McDonnell said in a public message to the family members on Monday. \u201cOur hope is that today brings some measure of accountability and a step in the journey toward healing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Burke, the 21-year-old singer known by the stage name D4vd, has been charged with murder in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620158,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,300730,300729,300732,134,300735,481,300734,300731,300733],"class_list":{"0":"post-620157","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-celeste-rivas-hernandez","11":"tag-david-burke","12":"tag-dismembered-body","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-hollywood-hills","15":"tag-los-angeles","16":"tag-los-angeles-police-department","17":"tag-nathan-hochman","18":"tag-rivas-hernandez"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}