April 16, 2026
David Anthony Burke, known professionally as D4vd, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of murder in connection with the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed. Burke, 21, is being held without bail. The case is set to be presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office on Monday.
The arrest closes a chapter of a months-long investigation that began with a grim discovery at a Hollywood tow yard.
How It Started: A Body in a Tesla Trunk
On September 8, 2025, officers responded to Hollywood Tow on Mansfield Avenue after staff reported a foul odor coming from an impounded Tesla. The vehicle had been towed two days earlier from Bluebird Avenue and Doheny Drive in the Hollywood Hills, where it had been sitting abandoned for weeks.
When investigators opened the front trunk of the Tesla, they found a black cadaver bag covered in insects. Court filings later described what detectives found inside: a decomposed head and torso. Underneath that bag was a second one containing the victim’s severed arms and legs. Rivas Hernandez’s body had been dismembered.
The Tesla was registered to D4vd. Within days, investigators identified the remains as those of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, a teenager from Lake Elsinore in Riverside County who had been reported missing since April 2024. She was 13 when she went missing and 14 at the time of her death.
Who Is Celeste Rivas Hernandez?
Celeste was described by her family as a beloved daughter, sister, and cousin. She was 5’2″ with wavy black hair and weighed 71 pounds. When found, she was wearing black leggings, a tube top, a yellow metal chain bracelet, and stud earrings. She also had a tattoo on her right index finger that read “Shhh.”
Her mother, based in Lake Elsinore, reported her missing in 2024 and noted that Celeste had a boyfriend named David, with whom she was last seen going to a movie. Celeste had run away from home several times before, returning each time, until she disappeared for good in April 2024. She called home at the end of May 2024 and was never heard from again.
Investigators later discovered that the matching “Shhh” tattoo appeared in D4vd’s own music videos and social media posts.
The Investigation Unfolds
After identifying the body, LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Division served a search warrant on a Hollywood Hills home where D4vd had been staying — a rental at $20,000 a month that he did not own. Detectives were seen removing a laptop, a chainsaw, an unused burn cage incinerator, and several bags of evidence from the property.
On September 19, D4vd canceled the remainder of his “Withered” world tour.
By November 2025, he had been officially named a suspect. Sources told ABC News that investigators believed more than one person was involved in the dismemberment and disposal of the body, and that detectives had been in contact with multiple individuals connected to the case.
In January 2026, Neo Langston, a 23-year-old streamer and friend of Burke, was arrested in Montana after failing to appear as a mandated witness before the grand jury. He was brought before the jury in February.
Also in February, a Texas judge denied a request from Burke’s father, Dawud Burke, to quash a subpoena for his testimony before the grand jury. Burke’s mother, Colleen Burke, and his brother, Caleb Burke, were also summoned to testify.
Court filings unsealed through a Texas appellate proceeding confirmed that the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office had formally identified D4vd as the target of its grand jury inquiry, describing him as someone who “may be involved in having committed” one count of murder.
Who Is D4vd?
D4vd is a Houston-born singer-songwriter who rose to prominence in 2022 when his song “Romantic Homicide” went viral on TikTok, eventually reaching the top 40 in multiple countries including the United Kingdom. He signed to Darkroom and Interscope Records and had accumulated over 33 million monthly listeners on Spotify at the time of the investigation. He released his debut album in April 2025 and performed at Coachella that same month.
The irony of his most well-known song title has not been lost on those following the case.
What Comes Next
Burke’s attorney did not respond to requests for comment Thursday evening. His case will be presented to the LA County District Attorney’s Office on Monday, at which point formal charges could be filed.
Surveillance footage and digital evidence reviewed during the investigation revealed that Rivas Hernandez was alive as recently as September 2024 and January 2025. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner had previously listed her cause of death as deferred while the investigation continued.
LAPD Captain Scot M. Williams stated in September 2025 that it was “very likely” Rivas Hernandez had been dead for several weeks before her body was discovered.
If formally charged and convicted of first-degree murder in California, Burke faces a potential sentence of 25 years to life in prison.
-Reniel, Wav Check founder
WavCheck 
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