{"id":204113,"date":"2026-04-21T00:55:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T00:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/204113\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T00:55:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T00:55:07","slug":"singer-d4vd-charged-with-murder-of-celeste-rivas-hernandez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/204113\/","title":{"rendered":"Singer D4vd Charged With Murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez"},"content":{"rendered":"

The singer known as D4vd was charged on Monday with the murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, a missing teenage girl whose severely decomposed body was found in the trunk of his Tesla<\/a> last fall.<\/p>\n

Nathan J. Hochman, the Los Angeles County district attorney, said at a news conference that D4vd, whose real name is David Burke, had been charged with first-degree murder with the special circumstances of lying in wait, committing the crime for financial gain and murdering a witness to an investigation.<\/p>\n

Mr. Burke pleaded not guilty at an arraignment on Monday afternoon. He was ordered held without bail, and a preliminary hearing was set for Thursday.<\/p>\n

Because of the special circumstances, the charge carries a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole, or the death penalty. Mr. Hochman said his office had not decided whether to pursue the death penalty.<\/p>\n

The criminal complaint filed by prosecutors includes the allegation that Mr. Burke \u201cpersonally used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a sharp instrument\u201d to commit the murder, Mr. Hochman\u2019s office said in a statement on Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Mr. Burke, 21, was also charged with the continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 and with the unlawful mutilation of human remains.<\/p>\n

The singer, who has millions of followers on social media and music platforms, created the anthem for Fortnite. In 2024, he was an opening act on SZA\u2019s SOS Tour, and last year he released his major-label debut, \u201cWithered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawyers for Mr. Burke have said they will \u201cvigorously defend David\u2019s innocence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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, Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter, said in a statement on Monday.<\/p>\n

In a separate statement on Monday, a lawyer for Mr. Burke\u2019s family, Kent Schaffer, said: \u201cThe Burkes are not surprised but are terribly disappointed that the district attorney chose to charge David. Nevertheless, they support and stand by him 100 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the district attorney\u2019s statement, after Mr. Burke sexually abused Celeste, she \u201cthreatened to expose his criminal conduct and devastate his musical career.\u201d So Mr. Burke \u201callegedly murdered her, cut up her body and stuffed her body in two bags that were placed in the front trunk of his car.\u201d<\/p>\n

The case has captivated the public<\/a> since the authorities announced in September that they had discovered human remains in a Tesla registered to Mr. Burke. Officials said the car had been left on a public street for weeks before it was towed to an impound lot in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles County medical examiner\u2019s office identified the remains as those of Celeste, who in 2024 was reported missing from her home in Lake Elsinore, Calif.<\/a>, about 70 miles southeast of Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

In the felony complaint filed on Monday, prosecutors said Mr. Burke had engaged in three or more acts of \u201csubstantial sexual conduct\u201d with Celeste in the year between Sept. 7, 2023, and Sept. 7, 2024. At the time, she was 13 years old.<\/p>\n

On April 23, 2025, Celeste, then 14, went to Mr. Burke\u2019s house in the Hollywood Hills at his invitation, according to the district attorney, and \u201cwas not heard from again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The complaint said the mutilation of human remains had occurred on May 5, 2025.<\/p>\n

Celeste\u2019s body was found on Sept. 8, 2025, a day after what would have been her 15th birthday.<\/p>\n

\u201cA parent\u2019s nightmare,\u201d Mr. Hochman said at the news conference.<\/p>\n

Jim McDonnell, the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, said on Monday that detectives had learned that Celeste had \u201cbeen involved in a sexual relationship with Mr. Burke when she was a minor and he was an adult.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chief McDonnell acknowledged that his department faced criticism for not providing more information about the case, which he called \u201cextraordinarily difficult and complex.\u201d His officers, he said, had taken the necessary precautions to avoid jeopardizing the investigation.<\/p>\n

Because Celeste\u2019s body was \u201cdismembered and badly decomposed\u201d when it was discovered, Chief McDonnell said, the county medical examiner\u2019s efforts to determine a cause of death were delayed, and significant evidence in the case had degraded or disappeared.<\/p>\n

In November, a judge granted a request from the Los Angeles Police Department to place a security hold<\/a> on a report from the medical examiner. In the news conference on Monday, Mr. Hochman said that report, which is expected to detail the medical examiner\u2019s determination of the cause of death, would be released soon.<\/p>\n

Mr. Hochman said details of the investigation, including physical as well as \u201cforensic and digital\u201d evidence, would be presented in court.<\/p>\n

Repeated efforts to reach members of Celeste\u2019s family have been unsuccessful. But Patrick Steinfeld, a lawyer for the family, said in a statement that family members were \u201ccommitted to ensuring that Celeste\u2019s voice is heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement added that upon learning of Mr. Burke\u2019s arrest, her father, Jesus Rivas, said: \u201cThank God \u2026 justice for Celeste.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The singer known as D4vd was charged on Monday with the murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, a missing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":204114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[22377,80731,80729,80732,32675,7373,9,11,10,80730],"class_list":["post-204113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-burke","tag-celeste-2010-25","tag-david-anthony-d4vd","tag-lake-county-calif","tag-los-angeles-calif","tag-missing-persons","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-rivas-hernandez"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}