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American singer-songwriter d4vd has been charged with first-degree murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Her body was found in an abandoned Tesla registered to him in Los Angeles last September.
21-year-old d4vd – legal name David Burke – has pleaded not guilty to three charges, and his lawyers have said they’ll “vigorously defend” the singer.
ABC reports that the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Burke has been charged with first-degree murder as well as “lewd and lascivious acts with an individual under 14, and mutilating a body” in the alleged murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
The charges against Burke include special circumstances, such as “lying in wait, committing crime for financial gain and murdering the witness in an investigation.”
Prosecutor Nathan Hochman has alleged that Burke murdered Rivas to protect his career as a rising musician. Hochman also claimed that he murdered a witness and that evidence will show the victim was involved in an investigation into alleged sexual acts Burke committed against Rivas, who was under the age of 14.
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The Los Angeles Times reports that the special circumstances would potentially carry the death penalty, and the prosecution has indicated that they’ll seek it.
D4vd was arrested on suspicion of the murder of Rivas in Los Angeles last week (16 April), where he was held without bail. The Los Angeles Police Department didn’t name Burke as a suspect until his arrest last week, but he has been under investigation by a Los Angeles County Grand Jury since February.
Upon his arrest last week, Burke’s lawyers said, “Let us be clear — 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.”
Celeste Rivas Hernandez was last seen in the western Riverside County community in April 2024. Her family hasn’t publicly addressed her passing or the case.
After amassing viral fame on TikTok with songs such as Romantic Homicide and Here With Me, d4vd signed record deals with Darkroom and Interscope Records. His most recent album, WITHERED, was released last April.
D4vd was set to perform at Spilt Milk Festival and tour across Australia last December, but all his appearances and tour dates were quietly cancelled out of respect for the “unfolding story.”
