Singer and songwriter d4vd has been arrested on suspicion of murder in the death of a 14-year-old girl whose dismembered body was found last year in a Tesla registered to the musician.
Detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division arrested David Burke, a 21-year-old Los Angeles resident, and LAPD said he is being held without bail. TMZ obtained video showing officers arresting the singer. Detectives will present the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office for formal charges; prosecutors said they plan to announce their decision on whether to file charges on Monday.
Burke’s attorneys — Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter — issued a statement saying 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.” They added that “there has been no indictment returned by any grand jury in this case and no criminal complaint filed. David has only been detained under suspicion. We will vigorously defend David’s innocence.”
The arrest follows a grand jury investigation into the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani noted that some grand juries are convened for investigative purposes and do not return indictments, saying investigative grand juries typically prepare reports that go to the district attorney’s office rather than issuing indictments.
Rivas’s remains were discovered Sept. 8, 2025, in the trunk of a Tesla registered in d4vd’s name that was parked at a Hollywood tow lot. Court records said her body was “severely decomposed” and “dismembered.” Police responded to reports of a foul smell at the tow yard and found a decomposed head and torso in a cadaver bag inside the Tesla; additional dismembered body parts were located in another bag in the car.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department confirmed Rivas had been reported missing from Lake Elsinore over a year earlier. A missing-person flyer states she was last seen on April 5, 2024, leaving her home at 9 p.m.
When Rivas’s identity was released, Burke — identified elsewhere in reporting as 20 — canceled a Seattle concert the same day and later canceled additional shows while on the d4vd Withered 2025 World Tour.