Prosecutors say singer D4vd — 21-year-old Los Angeles resident David Burke — dismembered 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez and removed a finger bearing a tattoo of his name, according to a detailed nine-page filing in the homicide case. Burke has been charged with murder and other offenses; he has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers maintain his innocence.
Authorities say Rivas Hernandez’s badly decomposed, dismembered body was discovered in September 2025 inside Burke’s Tesla at a Hollywood impound lot. Prosecutors allege her head and torso were in a cadaver bag while her limbs were placed in a garbage bag stored in the vehicle’s front trunk.
The filing outlines investigators’ theory that Burke lured the teenager to his Hollywood Hills home months earlier as part of a premeditated plan after she threatened to reveal their sexual relationship, which prosecutors say began in 2023 when she was 13 and Burke was 18. The filing says they reportedly broke up in November 2024 but continued to have contact and a sexual relationship, and that Rivas Hernandez became jealous of Burke’s other relationships.
Prosecutors cite text messages showing an argument on April 22, 2025, in which Rivas Hernandez allegedly threatened to disclose damaging information about their relationship and end his career. They say Burke arranged for an Uber to pick her up the next day from her Lake Elsinore home and invited her to his house.
The filing alleges that on April 23, 2025 — two days before Burke’s debut studio album was released and when Rivas Hernandez’s cell activity stopped — Burke stabbed her multiple times and stood by as she bled out. Investigators say he then took steps to conceal the killing.
In the days after the alleged homicide, prosecutors say Burke purchased two chainsaws, a body bag, heavy-duty laundry bags and a small blue inflatable pool from Amazon, with some purchases made under the alias Victoria Mendez. They contend he used a chainsaw in the pool to sever the victim’s limbs to avoid blood on his garage floor. Small blue plastic fragments found embedded in the remains reportedly matched the inflatable pool, and DNA from blood stains in Burke’s garage matched the victim, the filing states.
To “distance himself from the victim,” the prosecution alleges, Burke amputated the victim’s left ring and pinky fingers because the ring finger contained a tattoo of his name; those fingers have not been recovered, the brief says. Prosecutors say he then placed the dismembered remains in the body bag and garbage bag and left them to decompose inside the Tesla, despite others reporting a strong smell near his home and vehicle.
The filing also alleges Burke disposed of some of the victim’s personal items in an isolated area of Santa Barbara County; investigators recovered the teen’s identification there in January 2026. Prosecutors say Burke was the last person to drive the Tesla and that he parked it near his home on July 29, 2025, before leaving on a concert tour.
Burke is charged with murder, continuous sexual abuse and unlawfully mutilating a body, among other counts, and is being held without bail. A preliminary hearing has been set for May 26; prosecutors say the filing was submitted to help the court understand the scope and relevance of the evidence they plan to present at that hearing.