{"id":316311,"date":"2025-11-27T07:26:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T07:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/316311\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T07:26:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T07:26:08","slug":"l-a-grand-jury-hears-case-of-dead-girl-in-d4vds-tesla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/316311\/","title":{"rendered":"L.A. grand jury hears case of dead girl in D4vd’s Tesla"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Los Angeles County grand jury is hearing evidence related to the death of a teenage girl whose body was discovered stuffed inside the trunk<\/a> of singer D4vd\u2019s Tesla earlier this year, two law enforcement sources told The Times. <\/p>\n

The revelation follows the gruesome discovery of the remains of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez<\/a> in a Hollywood tow yard on Sept. 8. Although the Los Angeles Police Department has publicly declined to characterize the girl\u2019s death as a homicide, a recent court filing by an LAPD detective referred to the case as a murder investigation. <\/a> <\/p>\n

Now, the Los Angeles County district attorney\u2019s office has begun presenting evidence to what\u2019s known as an investigative grand jury, according to one of the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case with the media. <\/p>\n

One of the sources said the grand jury was in session for several days in mid-November, but it was unclear whether prosecutors had completed their presentation of evidence. <\/p>\n

Prosecutors may convene an investigative grand jury to subpoena witnesses and compel other evidence, including videos. Such investigative panels may recommend charges, but cannot themselves return an indictment. <\/p>\n

In addition to the two law enforcement sources, a court petition provided to The Times on Monday contained a \u201cGJ number,\u201d referencing the existence of a grand jury. <\/p>\n

In that document, LAPD Det. Joshua Byers of the Robbery Homicide Division successfully persuaded a judge to bar the L.A. County Medical Examiner from divulging autopsy results and other details related to the girl\u2019s death that would otherwise be public. <\/p>\n

It was Byers who characterized the probe into the girl\u2019s death as \u201can investigation into murder,\u201d according to the document.<\/p>\n

Deputy Dist. Atty. Beth Silverman, who handles some of the county\u2019s most high-profile murder cases, has called several witnesses before the grand jury, according to one of the law enforcement sources.<\/p>\n

Silverman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. The district attorney\u2019s office said in a statement it could not \u201cdisclose any information about grand jury proceedings.\u201d An LAPD spokesman referred The Times to a statement issued earlier this week, which did not address the existence of a grand jury.<\/p>\n

An attorney for the 20-year-old singer, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Detectives have spent months investigating the circumstances surrounding the girl\u2019s death, as well as her relationship with D4vd.<\/p>\n

The performer\u2019s Tesla had been abandoned on a street in the Hollywood Hills for several weeks before it was removed. A tow yard worker noticed a foul smell coming from the Tesla and alerted the LAPD. <\/p>\n

Inside the trunk, police found a black bag containing Celeste\u2019s remains. She weighed 71 pounds and had a \u201cShhh\u201d tattoo on her finger, according to details released by the medical examiner prior to the court order.<\/p>\n

Celeste\u2019s body was discovered the day after her 15th birthday. LAPD Capt. Scot Williams, who leads the Robbery-Homicide Division, said the girl had been \u201cdead for at least several weeks.\u201d On Monday, Williams said the body had not been decapitated or frozen, as some media outlets have reported.<\/a> <\/p>\n

Detectives determined that the Tesla had been left parked along Bluebird Avenue since late July \u2014 around the time that D4vd began a national tour. The tour was canceled soon after the death investigation drew worldwide media attention. <\/p>\n

D4vd \u2014 a young singer whose music straddles the line between R&B and indie rock \u2014 has raised eyebrows with some of his musical themes, particularly in the wake of Celeste\u2019s death. <\/p>\n

The Queens-born vocalist has appeared in a music video<\/a> filled with violent imagery: a young woman with an apparent chest wound lies on a bed as the singer hovers over her, blindfolded, his white shirt spattered with blood. In another video,<\/a> \u201cOne More Dance,\u201d D4vd drags a person \u2014 who bears the singer\u2019s likeness \u2014 to a car, where a couple stuffs the person into the trunk.<\/p>\n

\u201cRomantic Homicide\u201d \u2014 his most popular track with more than 1 billion plays on Spotify \u2014 ends with the lyrics \u201cIn the back of my mind \/ I killed you \/ And I didn\u2019t even regret it \/ I can\u2019t believe I said it \/ But it\u2019s true \/ I hate you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Celeste had previously run away from her Lake Elsinore home. She was in the seventh grade, and her family reported her missing at least three times in 2024, according to the Riverside County Sheriff\u2019s Office. During that time, she appeared alongside D4vd online, and law enforcement sources said she resided at a rental home with the singer. The pair met through social media, sources previously told The Times.<\/p>\n

Celeste first disappeared last year on Valentine\u2019s Day. Her mother made emotional pleas on Facebook for help in locating her daughter. <\/p>\n

Detectives have been working for weeks to trace Celeste\u2019s final movements and determine any connections with D4vd. As part of their investigation, detectives searched the Hollywood Hills home where D4vd lived and removed electronic devices and other items from the residence, which the singer\u2019s manager had leased, according to the owner. <\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the LAPD said it had some evidence that D4vd went to Santa Barbara County in the spring. The reason for the trip is under investigation, but it has \u201cdrawn no conclusions\u201d about the relevance to the case.<\/p>\n

D4vd shot to fame posting clips from the video game \u201cFortnite\u201d to YouTube and other social media, then pivoted to making his own music and scored a hit with \u201cRomantic Homicide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Investigators believe that more than one person was involved the handling of the teen\u2019s body in the months before her remains were found in the Tesla, according to two law enforcement sources familiar with the inquiry.<\/p>\n

LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton, who serves as the department\u2019s chief of detectives, said this week that \u201caccountability is coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur RHD detectives have been working … They are going to get justice for Celeste Rivas,\u201d Hamilton said. \u201cNo one is off the table, including him,\u201d referring to D4vd. <\/p>\n

Hamilton said, contrary to some reports, investigators haven\u2019t sought the performer\u2019s cooperation.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner\u2019s office revealed it had been barred from disclosing any details about Celeste\u2019s death by the court order.<\/p>\n

Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Odey Ukpo seemed to question the wisdom of sealing his department\u2019s findings. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe practice of security holds is virtually unheard of in other counties and has not been proven to improve outcomes in the legal system,\u201d Ukpo said. \u201cWe are dedicated to serving our community with full transparency; however, the law precludes us from doing so while the court order remains in this case.\u201d <\/p>\n

In his court declaration, Byers wrote that making autopsy and medical findings public \u201cwill reveal or tend to reveal the ongoing investigation and the integrity of the investigation as well as the identity of witnesses and\/or informants who are cooperating with law enforcement.\u201d <\/p>\n

Disclosure, he wrote, \u201ccould endanger the lives of witnesses and\/or compromise the investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Craig Richman agreed and granted the LAPD\u2019s request that the medical examiner\u2019s findings be sealed, pending another court decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Los Angeles County grand jury is hearing evidence related to the death of a teenage girl whose…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[162450,675,36412,106775,89930,162449,8609,88,36010,162447,162448,30941,94461,28016,1019,90039],"class_list":["post-316311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-20-year-old-singer","tag-body","tag-case","tag-celeste","tag-d4vd","tag-dead-girl","tag-death","tag-entertainment","tag-evidence","tag-l-a-grand-jury","tag-lapd-detective","tag-law-enforcement-source","tag-murder-investigation","tag-other-detail","tag-tesla","tag-trunk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}