{"id":626561,"date":"2026-04-23T21:52:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/626561\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T21:52:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:52:08","slug":"d4vd-possessed-child-sexual-abuse-images-la-murder-prosecutors-say-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/626561\/","title":{"rendered":"D4vd possessed child sexual abuse images, LA murder prosecutors say | Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Los Angeles<\/a> prosecutor said that the singer D4vd, who was charged this week in the killing of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, was in possession of a \u201csignificant amount of child pornography\u201d.<\/p>\n

Police allegedly found the images on the iCloud account of the 21-year-old singer, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke.<\/p>\n

The images, prosecutors said, were found during the investigation into the killing of Celeste, whose dismembered and decomposed remains were found in September in the trunk of a Tesla that was registered to the musician and had been abandoned in the Hollywood Hills.<\/p>\n

Burke has pleaded not guilty<\/a>. His legal team has said he did not kill the girl and that evidence would show \u201che was not the cause of her death\u201d.<\/p>\n

Burke was in court on Thursday during the proceedings where prosecutor Beth Silverman alleged police came across the child sexual abuse material after executing a search warrant on the singer\u2019s phone and iCloud storage, the Los Angeles Times<\/a> first reported.<\/p>\n

The case, which had progressed quietly for months since the discovery of Celeste\u2019s remains, has seen major developments since last week<\/a> when police arrested Burke. On Monday, he was charged with first-degree murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 and unlawful mutilation of human remains.<\/p>\n

Nathan Hochman, the LA district attorney, said during a press conference on Monday that Burke engaged in a sexual relationship with Celeste that began when she was 13, and authorities believe he killed her to prevent her from reporting on the relationship and to protect his lucrative music career.<\/p>\n

The teenager went to Burke\u2019s home on 23 April 2025 and was never heard from again, Hochman said. A criminal complaint alleges Burke killed Celeste with a sharp object and dismembered the body about two weeks later.<\/p>\n

Burke faces first-degree murder with special circumstances of lying in wait, allegedly killing the teen for financial gain, and murdering a witness to an investigation.<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles county medical examiner revealed on Wednesday<\/a> that Celeste died from penetrating injuries and had significant wounds to her torso, including one that penetrated the liver. The condition of her remains delayed the medical examiner\u2019s ability to determine her cause of death, police have said, and her body was so degraded examiners could not determine her eye color.<\/p>\n

Burke\u2019s attorneys have pushed the prosecution to publicly present the evidence they have against him quickly. The singer took the unusual step of exercising his right to have a judge decide whether there is enough evidence to move to trial within 10 court days of arraignment. Few defendants choose to exercise that right.<\/p>\n

A judge set a hearing for next week in which prosecutors are expected to lay out the evidence against Burke publicly.<\/p>\n

Silverman has said the prosecution is eager to present evidence, and that investigators collected about \u201c40 terabytes\u201d in the case. But it will take time to share the vast quantity, Silverman said on Thursday, particularly due to the sensitive materials found on Burke\u2019s phone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot turn that type of materials over,\u201d Silverman said.<\/p>\n

The evidence includes the contents of Burke\u2019s phone and iCloud accounts, items seized from many search warrants and a huge amount of forensic material, Silverman said, as well as witness testimony given to grand juries.<\/p>\n

Celeste\u2019s remains were found a day after she would have turned 15. Her family had reported her missing from her home town of Lake Elsinore, about 70 miles (110km) from Los Angeles, in 2024. The seventh-grader had run away, and later returned home before leaving again, police have said.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Jesus Rivas and Mercedes Martinez, Celeste\u2019s parents, made their first public statement, calling their daughter \u201ca beautiful, strong girl who loved to sing and dance\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love her very much and she always told us that she loved us,\u201d they said. \u201cWe miss her deeply. All we want is justice for Celeste.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed<\/p>\n

In the US, call or text the Childhelp<\/a> abuse hotline on 800-422-4453 or visit their website<\/a> for more resources and to report child abuse or DM for help. For adult survivors of child abuse, help is available at ascasupport.org<\/a>. In the UK, the NSPCC<\/a> offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac<\/a>) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts<\/a> on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation<\/a> on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Los Angeles prosecutor said that the singer D4vd, who was charged this week in the killing of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":626562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,136],"class_list":{"0":"post-626561","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626561","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=626561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/626562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}