{"id":408969,"date":"2026-04-20T22:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T22:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/408969\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T22:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T22:30:11","slug":"singer-d4vd-charged-with-murder-of-girl-14-found-dismembered-in-his-tesla-car-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/408969\/","title":{"rendered":"Singer D4vd charged with murder of girl (14) found dismembered in his Tesla car \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Singer D4vd has been charged with murder in the death of a 14-year-old girl whose dismembered and decomposed body was found in September in his apparently abandoned Tesla, prosecutors said on Monday.<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles County District Attorney\u2019s Office said 21-year-old D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, was charged with first-degree murder, lewd and lascivious acts with an individual under 14, and mutilating a body in the killing of Celeste Rivas Hernandez.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman said that the remains of Rivas Hernandez were found \u2060last year in the front trunk \u200cof \u200ca \u200bcar registered to D4vd. She had been missing for nearly \u2060a \u200byear-and-a-half when she was 13. Her \u200bdecomposed remains were discovered in September 2025.Authorities say she was 14 when she died.<\/p>\n

The murder charges included special circumstances \u2014 lying in wait, committing crime for financial gain and murdering the witness in an investigation \u2014 that could carry the death penalty, though prosecutors haven\u2019t announced whether they will seek it.<\/p>\n

\"D4vd’sD4vd\u2019s lawyers say he is innocent Photograph: Alamy\/PA <\/p>\n

Lawyers for the Houston-born alt-pop singer said he was innocent in a statement released after detectives arrested him at a home in Hollywood on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us be clear \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 the lawyers said.<\/p>\n

The body of Rivas Hernandez was found inside a Tesla that was towed from the Hollywood Hills on September 8th, a day after she would have turned 15.<\/p>\n

Her family had reported her missing from her hometown of Lake Elsinore, about 70 miles (112 kilometres) southeast of Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Authorities did not publicly name Burke as a suspect until his arrest.<\/p>\n

His lawyers\u2019 statement last week, in which said they \u201cwill vigorously defend David\u2019s innocence\u201d, was the first time they weighed in publicly.<\/p>\n

The singer had been under investigation by an LA County grand jury looking into the death.<\/p>\n

The probe was officially secret, but its existence \u2014 and his designation as its target \u2014 was revealed in February when his mother, father and brother objected in a Texas court to subpoenas demanding they give evidence.<\/p>\n

\"AuthoritiesAuthorities say Celeste Rivas Hernandez was 14 when she died. Photograph: Damian Dovarganes\/AP <\/p>\n

The 2023 Tesla Model Y was registered in the singer\u2019s name at the Texas address of his subpoenaed family members, according to court filings from prosecutors.<\/p>\n

It had been towed from an upscale Hollywood Hills neighbourhood where it had been sitting as though it was abandoned.<\/p>\n

Police investigators searching the Tesla in a tow yard found a cadaver bag \u201ccovered with insects and a strong odour of decay\u201d, court documents said.<\/p>\n

Detectives partially unzipped a bag and found a head and torso.<\/p>\n

Investigators from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner\u2019s Office removed the bag and \u201cdiscovered the arms and legs had been severed from the body\u201d, according to court documents.<\/p>\n

A second black bag was found under the first, and dismembered body parts were found inside.<\/p>\n

No cause of death has been publicly revealed, and police got a judge to block the release of details of the post-mortem examination.<\/p>\n

\"AA mugshot of David Anthony Burke, whose stage name is D4vd, who was arrested on suspicion of killing a 14-year-old girl whose dismembered body was found in his car. Photograph: Damian Dovarganes\/AP <\/p>\n

The family of Miss Rivas Hernandez has remained private and has not made any public statements on her death or the case.<\/p>\n

D4vd, pronounced David, gained popularity among Gen Z for his blend of indie rock, R&B and lo-fi pop.<\/p>\n

He went viral on TikTok in 2022 with the hit Romantic Homicide, which peaked at number four on Billboard\u2019s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

When the body was discovered, the singer continued his North American tour, but when reports of his possible involvement spread widely, he cancelled the final two shows and a European tour that was to follow. – PA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Singer D4vd has been charged with murder in the death of a 14-year-old girl whose dismembered and decomposed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408970,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[179754,93,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-408969","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-celeste-rivas-hernandez","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}