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Los Angeles: Singer D4vd has been charged with murder in the death of a 14-year-old girl whose body was found in September in her abandoned Tesla, prosecutors said.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said 21-year-old D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, was charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who was reported missing by her family in 2024, when she was 13. Authorities say she was 14 when she died.
Attorneys for the Houston-born singer said he was innocent in a statement issued after homicide detectives arrested him on Thursday at a home in Hollywood.
“Let’s be clear – the actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not kill Celeste Rivas Hernandez, and he was not the cause of her death,” the lawyers said.
The body of Rivas Hernandez was found inside a Tesla that was driven from the Hollywood Hills on September 8a day after she turned 15. Her family had reported her missing in her hometown of Lake Elsinore, about 70 miles (112 km) southeast of Los Angeles.
Authorities did not publicly name Burke as a suspect until after his arrest. And a statement from his lawyers last week, in which they said they would “vigorously defend David’s innocence,” was the first time they had publicly weighed in.
The singer was being investigated by an LA County grand jury to investigate the death. The investigation was officially secret, but his existence – and his designation as a target – were revealed in February when his mother, father and brother challenged in a Texas court a subpoena to testify.
The 2023 Tesla Model Y was registered in the singer’s name at the Texas address of his named family members, according to court filings from prosecutors. It had been towed from the high Hollywood Hills neighborhood where it had been sitting as if it had been abandoned.
Police investigators searching the Tesla at the tow yard found the cadaver bag “covered in insects and a strong odor of decay,” court documents said. Detectives unzipped the bag and found the head and torso.
Investigators from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office removed the bag and “discovered the arms and legs had been separated from the body,” according to court documents.
A second black bag was found under the first one, with severed body parts in it. No cause of death has been made public, and police got a judge to block the release of autopsy details. On Friday, the medical examiner told The Associated Press a court order remained after Burke’s arrest.
Rivas Hernandez’s family has remained private and has not released any public information about his death or the case.
D4vd, pronounced “David,” gained popularity among Gen Z with his mix of indie rock, R&B and lo-fi pop. He rose to fame on TikTok in 2022 with the song Romantic Murderwhich peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. He then signed with Darkroom and Interscope Records and released his first EP Petals to Thorns and monitoring, The Lost Petalsin 2023.
When the body was discovered, the singer continued his North American tour, but when reports of possible involvement became widespread, he canceled the last two shows and the European tour that was to follow.
AP
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