Los Angeles police arrested 21-year-old singer D4vd, legal name David Anthony Burke, on suspicion of murder Thursday in connection with the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose severely decomposed and dismembered remains were discovered last September inside the front trunk of a Tesla registered to Burke. He is being held without bail.
The arrest, which ABC News reported came at 5 p.m. local time, was not the result of a grand jury indictment. No criminal complaint has been filed. LAPD said it will present the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office on Monday for filing consideration.
Burke was booked Thursday night at LAPD's 77th Street Station in south Los Angeles. Online booking records from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department confirmed the details. His defense attorneys moved quickly to deny his involvement.
The grim facts of the case stretch back months. Celeste Rivas Hernandez, a girl from Lake Elsinore in Riverside County, was reported missing in 2024. Court filings described by ABC News state that on September 8, 2025, a day after what would have been her 15th birthday, officers responded to a Hollywood tow yard after reports of a foul odor coming from a vehicle.
Inside the front trunk of Burke's impounded Tesla Model Y, they found what Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman's filings described as a "severely decomposed, dismembered body." Her head and torso were in one bag. Her arms and legs were in another. AP News reported the bags were cadaver bags.
The Tesla had sat at the impound lot for two days after being found abandoned on a Hollywood street. Police said the teen may have been dead for several weeks before the discovery.
LAPD Captain Scot M. Williams told People, as Newsmax reported:
"We know for sure that Celeste Rivas Hernandez died and someone placed her body in the front trunk area of David Burke's Tesla. We don't know for sure if anyone has any criminal culpability for her death beyond the concealment of her dead body."
That statement was made last fall. By this week, investigators had apparently moved well past the question of concealment. Sources connected to the investigation told ABC News the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner determined the manner of death was "homicide," though the examiner's full findings remain sealed and the official cause of death has not been publicly released.
The arrest of D4vd at his Hollywood Hills residence may not mark the end of the investigation. Law enforcement sources believe the dismemberment and disposal of Rivas Hernandez's remains likely involved more than one person.
The Washington Times reported that investigators believe others may have been involved in both the death and the disposal. Prosecutors are expected to review the case for possible charges against additional suspects. Authorities believe Rivas Hernandez was killed in spring 2025, months after she was last in contact with her family in May 2024.
District Attorney Hochman filed petitions in Texas seeking to compel Burke's parents and brother to testify before a Los Angeles County grand jury. Court filings identified Burke as the "target" of that grand jury investigation and stated he "may be involved in the death of 14-year-old victim Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who may have been a victim of foul play."
Senior officials told ABC News the grand jury "didn't play much of a role in getting to this point." The arrest, sources said, was based on evidence and probable cause developed over the course of the investigation. What that evidence consists of has not been disclosed.
Earlier reporting noted that Burke had not been cooperative with investigators. Breitbart reported last November that an LAPD source identified him as a suspect, that police raided a home where he had been staying, and that the victim's mother said her daughter had been dating someone named "David."
Burke's attorneys, Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski, and Regina Peter, issued a forceful denial. Their statement, reported by both ABC News and AP, drew a clear line between an arrest on suspicion and a formal charge:
"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. 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."
That distinction matters legally. The district attorney's office has not yet filed charges. Monday's presentation will determine whether prosecutors believe the evidence meets the threshold to proceed. Until then, Burke sits in a cell without bail, his world tour canceled and promotion of the deluxe edition of his debut album paused.
D4vd, who rose to fame on TikTok and has nearly four million followers on the platform, had been on his "Withered" world tour when the body was discovered in his vehicle last September. The album's deluxe edition had been set for release on September 19.
Patrick Steinfeld, attorney for the Rivas Hernandez family, said Friday the family plans to "fully participate" in the court proceedings. His statement carried the weight of a family that has waited more than a year since their daughter vanished and months since her remains were found in circumstances that defy easy comprehension.
"The Rivas Hernandez family is committed to ensuring that Celeste's voice is heard and her memory is honored throughout this process."
Rubi Alonso, a Lake Elsinore resident who knew the family, put it more plainly: "She deserves justice." That sentiment is difficult to argue with. A 14-year-old girl, reported missing in 2024, was found dismembered in a pop singer's car trunk. Someone did that to her. The question now is whether prosecutors can prove who.
The case raises uncomfortable questions about how a teenager goes missing, apparently falls into the orbit of a 21-year-old recording artist, and ends up dead, with her body hidden for weeks before anyone finds it. The LAPD has handled several high-profile homicide investigations involving young victims in recent months, and public confidence in the department's ability to see these cases through to prosecution will be tested again here.
The sealed medical examiner findings, the unidentified potential co-conspirators, and the still-absent criminal complaint all leave significant gaps. How did Rivas Hernandez come into contact with Burke? What happened in the months between her disappearance and her death? Did anyone else know the body was in that vehicle?
These are questions that forensic evidence and thorough investigation should eventually answer, if the system works the way it is supposed to. The grand jury process has already reached across state lines to compel testimony from Burke's own family members in Texas. That alone signals prosecutors believe the circle of knowledge extends beyond the man now sitting in a Los Angeles jail cell.
Monday's filing decision will be the next concrete marker. If the district attorney's office moves forward with murder charges, the case enters a new phase. If it declines, the questions only multiply.
For now, the facts are stark enough. A missing girl. A dismembered body in a trunk. A sealed autopsy ruling it homicide. And a young celebrity in custody, insisting through his lawyers that he bears no responsibility. The legal system owes Celeste Rivas Hernandez, and the public that watched a criminal justice process unfold in real time, a clear and honest accounting.
A 14-year-old girl doesn't end up dismembered in a car trunk by accident. Somebody is responsible. The people of Los Angeles deserve a prosecution that matches the gravity of what was done to Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
