Singer D4vd charged with murder of teen girl whose remains were found in his car

The singer known as D4vd was charged Monday with the murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, a missing teenage girl whose severely decomposed body was found in the trunk of his Tesla last year.

Nathan J Hochman, the Los Angeles County district attorney, said at a news conference that D4vd, whose real name is David Burke, had been charged with first-degree murder with the special circumstances of lying in wait, committing the crime for financial gain and murdering a witness to an investigation.

Burke pleaded not guilty at an arraignment Monday afternoon, US time. He was ordered held without bail, and a preliminary hearing was set for Thursday.

Because of the special circumstances, the charge carries a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole, or the death penalty. Hochman said his office had not decided whether to pursue the death penalty.

The criminal complaint filed by prosecutors includes the allegation that Burke “personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a sharp instrument” to commit the murder, Hochman’s office said in a statement Monday afternoon.

Burke, 21, was also charged with the continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 and with the unlawful mutilation of human remains.

The singer, who has millions of followers on social media and music platforms, created the anthem for Fortnite. In 2024, he was an opening act on SZA’s SOS Tour, and last year he released his major-label debut, Withered.

Lawyers for Burke have said that they will “vigorously defend David’s innocence.”

“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,” the lawyers, Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter, said in a statement.

In a separate statement a lawyer for Burke’s family, Kent Schaffer, said: “The Burkes are not surprised but are terribly disappointed that the district attorney chose to charge David. Nevertheless, they support and stand by him 100 per cent.”

According to the district attorney’s statement, after Burke sexually abused Celeste, she “threatened to expose his criminal conduct and devastate his musical career.” So Burke “allegedly murdered her, cut up her body and stuffed her body in two bags that were placed in the front trunk of his car.”

The case has captivated the public since authorities announced in September that they had discovered human remains in a Tesla registered to Burke. Officials said the car had been left on a public street for weeks before it was towed to an impound lot in Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office identified the remains as those of Celeste, who in 2024 was reported missing from her home in Lake Elsinore, California, about 100km southeast of Los Angeles.

The district attorney said that on April 23, 2025, when Celeste was 14, she went to Burke’s house in the Hollywood Hills at his invitation and “was not heard from again.”

Her body was found September 8, a day after what would have been her 15th birthday.

“A parents’ nightmare,” Hochman said at the news conference.

Jim McDonnell, the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, said Monday that detectives had learned that Celeste had “been involved in a sexual relationship with Mr Burke when she was a minor and he was an adult.”

McDonnell acknowledged that his department faced criticism for not providing more information about the case, which he called “extraordinarily difficult and complex.” He said his officers had taken the necessary precautions to avoid jeopardising the investigation.

Because Celeste’s body was “dismembered and badly decomposed” when it was discovered, McDonnell said, the county medical examiner’s efforts to determine a cause of death were delayed, and significant evidence in the case had degraded or disappeared.

In December, a judge granted a request from the Los Angeles Police Department to place a security hold on a report from the medical examiner. In the news conference Monday, Hochman said that report, which is expected to detail the medical examiner’s determination of the cause of death, would be released soon.

Hochman said details of the investigation, including physical as well as “forensic and digital” evidence, would be presented in court.

Repeated efforts to reach members of Celeste’s family have been unsuccessful. But Patrick Steinfeld, a lawyer for the family, said in a statement that family members were “committed to ensuring that Celeste’s voice is heard.”

The statement added that upon learning of Burke’s arrest, her father, Jesus Rivas, said: “Thank God ... justice for Celeste.”