Indie-Pop Star D4vd Arrested on Suspicion of Murdering 14-Year-Old Girl

Los Angeles police arrested David Burke, the 21-year-old singer known professionally as D4vd, on April 16, 2026, on suspicion of murdering 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose dismembered remains were discovered in September 2025 inside the front trunk of a Tesla registered to him. The Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery-Homicide Division confirmed the arrest in a statement posted to X, identifying Burke as a 21-year-old resident of Los Angeles. Officers took Burke into custody at his home in the Hollywood Hills area, with videos of the operation showing investigators leading him out of a villa in handcuffs. Burke is being held without bail, and the case is scheduled to be presented to prosecutors on Monday, April 20, 2026. The Los Angeles District Attorney's office stated it expects to have an update on the case on Monday, when prosecutors will review the facts and evidence to determine whether sufficient grounds exist to file charges. No formal indictment has been issued as of the time of arrest.

Dismembered remains found in Tesla trunk in Hollywood The case began on September 8, 2025, when employees at a Hollywood impound lot alerted police after reporting a foul odor emanating from a parked vehicle. The car, a 2023 Tesla Model Y registered to Burke in Texas, had been parked in an upscale Hollywood Hills neighborhood for weeks before being towed to the lot. Officers responding to the odor complaint discovered two plastic bags containing body parts in the vehicle's front trunk: one bag held a head and a torso, while the other contained severed arms and legs, according to court documents cited by CNN. The remains were in an advanced state of decomposition and covered in insects, according to the Franceinfo report citing those same court documents. Authorities subsequently identified the victim as Celeste Rivas Hernandez, originally from Lake Elsinore, California, approximately 110 kilometers southeast of Los Angeles. The discovery came one day after what would have been her 15th birthday, though American judicial authorities established that she was 14 years old at the time of her death. The cause of death has not been made public, following a court order obtained by the Los Angeles police in November 2025 sealing the medical examiner's report and related case details.

Key events in the Celeste Rivas Hernandez case: — ; — ; — ; — ; —

Defense insists evidence will clear Burke of murder Burke's legal team issued a firm denial of the allegations following his arrest. Defense attorneys stated in an email to CNN that the concrete evidence in the case would demonstrate that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez and was not the cause of her death. „The actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez and was not the cause of her death.” — D4vd's defense attorneys via CNN The lawyers emphasized that Burke had only been arrested as a suspect, that no formal indictment or criminal complaint had yet been filed, and that the process remained in a preliminary phase. They added that they would vigorously defend his innocence. Investigators had been examining the case for months before the arrest, including through a grand jury investigation, according to reporting by the Frankfurter Allgemeine. Celeste's family confirmed to sources cited by the North American press that the victim and Burke knew each other, and reporting indicated both shared a matching "Shhhh" tattoo on their right ring fingers, though the precise nature of their relationship has not been formally addressed by authorities.

TikTok star's tour canceled as case gripped Los Angeles Burke rose to prominence in 2022 after songs he originally recorded on his phone for Fortnite gaming videos went viral on TikTok, with "Romantic Homicide" helping him sign a deal with Darkroom/Interscope Records, a label associated with Billie Eilish. He released his debut album "Withered" in April 2025 and had been in the final stretch of a world tour when the body was discovered in September 2025. Following the discovery, the final two North American shows scheduled for San Francisco and Los Angeles were canceled, as was a planned appearance at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles and a European tour that had been set to begin in Norway. The case generated intense media coverage in Los Angeles over the months between the discovery of the remains and the arrest, with online speculation, leaked details, and misinformation spreading widely enough that police felt compelled to publicly deny specific claims. Capt. Scot Williams, who leads the LAPD division overseeing the investigation, stated late last year that the body had not been frozen and that the victim had not been decapitated, directly rebutting a widely circulated report by celebrity outlet TMZ. „Celeste's body was not frozen. She was not decapitated. The whole frozen thing doesn't even make sense.” — Capt. Scot Williams via The New York Times The case drew comparisons from Los Angeles legal observers to other high-profile criminal proceedings that have defined the city's media landscape over the decades.