Police said the 21-year-old singer is jailed without bail as prosecutors weigh whether to file a murder case.
LOS ANGELES — Singer D4vd was arrested Thursday on suspicion of murder in the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose decomposed remains were found seven months ago inside a Tesla registered to him after the vehicle was towed from the Hollywood Hills.
The arrest pushed a case that had moved for months through sealed filings, forensic work and a secret grand jury process into open public view. Los Angeles police said David Burke, the Houston-raised performer known professionally as D4vd, is being held without bail while the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office reviews whether to file charges. The case has drawn heavy attention because of Burke’s fast rise in pop music, the victim’s age and the long stretch between the discovery of her remains and the first arrest.
Police said detectives from the Robbery-Homicide Division arrested Burke, 21, at a home on Marmont Avenue in the Hollywood Hills just after 4:30 p.m. Thursday. Investigators said the arrest was made on probable cause and happened without incident. In a brief public statement, the department said Burke was arrested “for the murder of Celeste Rivas” and that the case would be presented to prosecutors on Monday, April 20, for filing consideration. The district attorney’s office said its Major Crimes Division is aware of the arrest and will review the facts and evidence before deciding whether there is enough to bring a formal criminal complaint. Burke’s lawyers, Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter, answered within hours. “Let us be clear,” they said, “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.” They added that no indictment had been returned and no criminal complaint had been filed.
The public record shows a much longer path to that arrest. Celeste was reported missing from the Lake Elsinore area in 2024 after she was last seen April 5, according to missing-person material and later reporting by local outlets. On Sept. 8, 2025, workers at a Hollywood tow yard noticed a strong odor coming from a 2023 Tesla Model Y that had been impounded after it was reported abandoned in the Hollywood Hills. Court records say detectives opened the vehicle and found a cadaver bag covered with insects and marked by a strong odor of decay. Investigators partially unzipped the bag and saw a decomposed head and torso, according to those filings. A second black bag was found beneath the first, and officials later said severed limbs were inside. The vehicle was registered in Burke’s name at a Texas address tied to members of his family. Authorities identified the remains through forensic work and said Celeste had likely been dead for an extended period before she was found. She was discovered a day after what would have been her 15th birthday.
Even with the arrest, important parts of the case remain hidden from public view. Authorities have not publicly released Celeste’s cause of death. In November, Los Angeles police obtained a court order that blocked the county medical examiner from releasing records, including the cause and manner of death, while detectives continued their investigation. LAPD Capt. Mike Bland said at the time that the hold was meant to protect the integrity of the case and allow investigators to review information before it became public. Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Odey Ukpo said such holds are rare in California counties. That secrecy shaped much of what followed. Rumors spread online for months, but officials released only fragments of what they knew. Burke was not publicly named by police as a suspect until Thursday’s arrest, though law enforcement sources and prior court filings had already placed him at the center of the investigation. Police and prosecutors have also not publicly described when Celeste died, where they believe she was killed or what specific evidence they say links Burke to her death beyond the car and materials gathered during the inquiry.
The legal process tightened in February, when court documents made public in Texas showed Burke had been the target of a Los Angeles County grand jury investigation. Prosecutors had issued subpoenas on Jan. 15 seeking testimony from Burke’s mother, father and brother. Those family members objected in Texas, where they live, but a judge ruled they could not ignore the subpoenas and ordered them to appear in California. The documents described a possible murder investigation and gave the most detailed public account up to that point of what detectives said they found in the Tesla. The grand jury process itself remained secret, and prosecutors have not publicly said what testimony was given or what evidence was shown. Burke’s defense team pointed to that same procedural posture after the arrest, stressing that suspicion alone is not a conviction and that prosecutors still must decide whether to file a murder case in court. That distinction matters. As of Thursday night, Burke had been arrested, jailed and publicly accused by police, but he had not yet been formally charged.
The case has also unfolded alongside Burke’s rise as one of the more visible young artists to break out of TikTok-era music culture. D4vd gained a large Gen Z following after the 2022 viral success of “Romantic Homicide,” then signed with Darkroom and Interscope and released two projects in 2023 before putting out his full-length album “Withered” in 2025. He was on tour when Celeste’s remains were discovered. Several shows went forward after the body was found, but later dates in San Francisco and Los Angeles were canceled, along with a planned appearance at the Grammy Museum and a European run that was set to begin in Norway. That sudden halt in public appearances became one of the first signs that the case was affecting his career, even while police declined to say publicly how close they were to making an arrest. At one point, a representative said Burke was cooperating with investigators. Later, NBC Los Angeles reported that law enforcement sources described him as uncooperative. The shift added to questions about how the investigation was advancing behind the scenes.
For Celeste’s family, the story has stretched from a missing-girl case into a homicide investigation that moved slowly and often in silence. Local reporting last year said family members knew Celeste was familiar with Burke, though authorities have never publicly laid out the nature of their relationship or the timeline of any contact between them. Police have not explained whether detectives believe she traveled willingly to Los Angeles, how her body ended up in the Tesla or whether they think anyone else helped kill her or move her remains. NBC Los Angeles reported that law enforcement sources believe more than one person may have been involved in the death or attempted disposal of the body, but police have not announced any additional arrests. That leaves a narrow set of confirmed facts and a wider field of unanswered questions. What is clear is that investigators spent months building a case through forensic work, subpoenas and sealed proceedings before deciding they had enough evidence to take Burke into custody.
The next steps are expected to unfold quickly but not completely in public. Prosecutors are set to review the case Monday. If they decide the evidence supports a criminal complaint, Burke would be brought to court for an arraignment, where a judge would read the charges and set the schedule for future hearings. If prosecutors ask for more investigation before filing, detectives could continue serving search warrants, reviewing digital records and waiting on additional forensic analysis. Burke remains in custody without bail, Celeste’s cause of death remains under seal, and the public still does not know the full account prosecutors may eventually try to present in court. The next milestone is Monday’s filing decision, which should show whether the case moves from suspicion to formal charges.
Author note: Last updated April 16, 2026.