On September 8, 2025, the remains of 14-year-old Celeste Abigail Rivas Hernandez (September 7, 2010 – c. April 23, 2025) were discovered in Los Angeles, California, inside the front trunk of an impounded Tesla Model X registered to David Burke, a musician known professionally as D4vd.[a] In April 2026, Burke was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 years of age, and unlawful mutilation of human remains.[6][7][8]
Background
Celeste Rivas Hernandez
Celeste Abigail Rivas Hernandez[9] was a 14-year-old[b] girl from Lake Elsinore, California.[10][11] Born to parents who immigrated from El Salvador,[12] Rivas had two older siblings,[13] and attended Lakeland Village School.[12] Her parents contacted the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department three times in early 2024 to report her missing: on February 15, March 19, and April 5.[12] It is unclear when Rivas returned home afterward, but neighbors said they spotted her in the neighborhood with her parents later in the year.[12]
David Burke (D4vd)
David Anthony Burke, professionally known as D4vd,[a] is an American singer-songwriter. Best known for his songs “Romantic Homicide” and “Here with Me“, his music often explores themes of love, heartbreak, and relationship struggles. Burke released his debut studio album Withered on April 25, 2025, and embarked on a world tour months later on August 5, with performances planned across North America and Europe.[14]
Evidence
Relationship between Rivas and Burke
According to prosecutors, Rivas and Burke first met in January 2022 when she was 11 years old.[15] They began a sexual relationship in November 2023 when Rivas was 13 years old and Burke was 18 years old.[15] Over the following year, Rivas spent “significant time” with Burke, including summer weekends at his home and trips to Las Vegas, London, and Texas, where she met his family.[3][15] Rivas and Burke had matching “Shhh…” tattoos on their right index fingers,[16] and they had each other’s first names tattooed on their left ring fingers.[17][18][19] According to text messages between Rivas and Burke, Rivas became pregnant and had an abortion in January 2024.[19]
After Rivas was reported missing on February 15, 2024, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department identified Burke’s phone number in Rivas’s phone records. When they contacted him on February 17, Burke said he last spoke with her on February 13 or 14, and stated he was unaware she was a minor or that she had been reported missing.[17][20] Later that day, Riverside County authorities requested a welfare check by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department at Burke’s home in West Hollywood. Burke told deputies that he had only met Rivas once in person, in November 2023, and showed them a yearbook photo of her on his cellphone.[17][20] Rivas returned home two days later.[17] Her parents confiscated her cellphone afterward, but Burke allegedly paid one of her classmates $1,000 to give her a new cellphone that he had purchased so they could stay in contact.[20]
Rivas and Burke ended their relationship in November 2024, but they continued to communicate and have sexual relations.[21][15] Rivas sent Burke a text message in March 2025, stating “All we do is have sex and just hang out man I want more than that for myself”.[21] On April 22, 2025, they had a “lengthy argument” through text messages, where Rivas confronted Burke about his relationships with other women, as Burke had led her to believe that they had a future together, and she threatened to make their relationship public to damage his career and image.[22]
“Celeste”
An unreleased demo recorded by Burke, titled “Celeste_Demo unfin” or simply “Celeste”, leaked online on September 17, 2025, shortly after the media had identified the victim as Rivas.[23][24][25] The song, exported in December 2023[c] and nearly four minutes long,[24] includes lyrics such as, “Oh, Celeste / The girl with my name tattooed on her chest / Smell her on my clothes like cigarettes / I hear her voice each time I take a breath / I’m obsessed” and “Oh, Celeste / Afraid you’ll only love me when undressed / But you look so damn gorgeous in that dress / Missing you so much makes me depressed”.[23] Its alleged connection to Rivas and the circumstances of its circulation have not been independently confirmed.[23][24]
Homicide and aftermath
On April 23, 2025, at approximately 8:40 p.m., Burke arranged for an Uber to transport Rivas from her Lake Elsinore home to his Hollywood Hills residence.[21] Shortly after she arrived, at around 10:10 p.m., Burke allegedly stabbed Rivas multiple times and made no attempt to save her life.[26] They had been exchanging text messages before she arrived, and at around 10:30 p.m., Burke messaged her asking where she was.[27] Prosecutors allege this message was part of a premeditated cover-up by Burke, as she did not respond because she was most likely already dead.[21] Her cellphone ceased all activity on this night.[18] At approximately 11:30 p.m., Burke drove to an isolated site off of California State Route 154, near Lake Cachuma in Santa Barbara County, where prosecutors allege that he disposed of evidence. He visited this same location on two later dates, May 8 and May 31.[21][28] Rivas’s U.S. passport card was found at this site on January 17, 2026, by a Caltrans worker.[21]
Burke returned home the following morning, on April 24, before going to a radio interview and attending a release party for his Withered album.[29][30] That same day, a variety of items began to be purchased under the aliases “Trayvion Davis” and “Victoria Mendez”, and were delivered to Burke’s residence.[31][32] A shovel was purchased from Home Depot and was delivered via Postmates on April 24; two chainsaws from Amazon on May 1; a body bag, heavy-duty laundry bags and a blue inflatable pool from Amazon on May 5; and a “burn cage”[d] from Amazon on July 7.[21] Prosecutors believe Rivas’s body was placed in the inflatable pool in Burke’s garage before being dismembered with a chainsaw.[31] Blood samples that were later collected in the garage matched Rivas’s genetic profile, and blue plastic fragments that matched the pool were found in Rivas’s body.[34] Her left ring and pinkie fingers were also amputated, the former featuring a tattoo of Burke’s name, but they have not been recovered.[34]
Rivas’s head and torso were placed into the body bag, and her limbs into a garbage bag, then loaded into the front trunk of Burke’s Tesla Model X, where they remained for weeks or even months until they were discovered.[34][18] Surveillance footage from July 29 alleges Burke to be the last person to drive the vehicle before it was abandoned, as he soon left to embark on his Withered world tour.[21][35] The vehicle was parked on Bluebird Avenue, near Burke’s Hollywood Hills residence.[36] After residents complained about the vehicle, its tires were marked by a parking enforcement officer on August 27, and it was ticketed on September 3 for violating the 72-hour parking ordinance. Two days later, it was impounded and transported to a tow yard in Hollywood.[37]
On September 8, 2025, Rivas’s heavily decomposed remains were discovered after a tow yard worker called the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) to investigate a foul odor emanating from the vehicle.[38] An LAPD captain told KABC-TV the body was at least partially dismembered but not decapitated.[39] The following day, Burke was reportedly cooperating with authorities, and he performed in Minneapolis as part of his tour.[40] On September 16, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner identified the body as that of Celeste Rivas Hernandez.[41] Afterward, Rivas’s mother told TMZ that her daughter had a boyfriend named “David”,[42] but she had not met him.[43] Various pieces of evidence connecting Rivas and Burke began to surface, including photographs of them together,[44] and public interactions they had on Burke’s official server on the messaging app Discord dating back to 2022.[45][46]
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