David Anthony Burke, the 21-year-old musician who performs as d4vd, is facing capital murder charges in Los Angeles County over the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Prosecutors allege he stabbed her to death at his Hollywood Hills home on April 23, 2025, dismembered her body, and concealed the remains in the front trunk of his Tesla, where they were found months later at a Hollywood impound lot. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail.
The Charges Burke Faces
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced the charges on April 20, 2026, four days after Burke’s arrest. The complaint includes:
- First-degree murder with special circumstance allegations of lying in wait, murder for financial gain, and murder of a witness
- Continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14
- Lewd and lascivious acts with a minor under 14
- Unlawful mutilation of human remains
A special allegation of personal use of a deadly weapon, described as a sharp instrument, is also attached. Hochman called the killing “brutal and horrific” and said the special circumstances represent “the most serious charges that a D.A.’s office can bring.” The financial gain allegation reflects the prosecution’s theory that Burke killed Rivas Hernandez to protect his music career, which she had allegedly threatened to expose.
If convicted on all counts, Burke faces death or life in state prison without the possibility of parole. The DA’s office has not decided whether to seek the death penalty. California has not carried out an execution since January 17, 2006.
Who the Victim Was
Celeste Rivas Hernandez was a 14-year-old from Lake Elsinore, California. Prosecutors say she first met Burke in January 2022, when she was 11 and he was 17. The criminal complaint alleges Burke began sexually abusing her in November 2023, when she was 13, and that the abuse continued through at least September 2024. According to prosecutors, Burke “resided with, and had recurring access to” her during that period, and investigators recovered explicit photographs along with text messages referencing sex, pregnancy, and abortion.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office confirmed she was reported missing at least three times in 2024. In February 2024, deputies contacted Burke about one of those reports and told him she was a 13-year-old runaway. Prosecutors allege he then paid one of her classmates $1,000 to give her a cellphone so the two could stay in contact.
What Prosecutors Say Happened the Night of the Killing
According to the prosecution’s timeline, Burke and Rivas Hernandez argued by text on April 22, 2025, with the teenager threatening to expose their relationship and “end his career and destroy his life.” The next evening, prosecutors allege, Burke sent an Uber to her Lake Elsinore home around 8:40 p.m. She arrived at his Hollywood Hills residence at approximately 10:10 p.m.
Prosecutors say Burke killed her “by means of lying in wait,” stabbing her multiple times and watching her “bleed to death” without calling for help. By 10:30 p.m., according to the complaint, he was sending text messages to her phone even though she was already dead. The killing came two days before the scheduled release of his debut studio album.
The Alleged Dismemberment and Concealment
In the weeks that followed, prosecutors say, Burke took extensive steps to dispose of the body. Using the fake name “Victoria Mendez,” he allegedly ordered two chainsaws, a body bag, heavy-duty laundry bags, and a blue inflatable pool from Amazon on May 1 and May 5, 2025. On July 7, 2025, prosecutors say he used the same alias to order a “burn cage” incinerator.
Prosecutors allege Burke used the chainsaws to dismember the body inside the inflatable pool in his garage. Forensic investigators later found blue plastic fragments from that pool embedded in the cut surfaces of the remains. The complaint also alleges Burke amputated the victim’s left ring and pinky fingers because the ring finger carried a tattoo of his name. Those fingers have not been recovered. The remains were stored in two black bags in the front trunk of his Tesla.
How the Body Was Found
Burke’s 2023 Tesla Model Y, bearing Texas plates, was found abandoned on a street in the Hollywood Hills and towed to Hollywood Tow, an impound lot on North Mansfield Avenue. On September 8, 2025, employees reported a foul odor coming from the vehicle after it had sat on the roof of the parking structure for several days. LAPD detectives arrived around 12:20 p.m. and found decomposing human remains inside the front trunk. The remains were officially identified as Celeste Rivas Hernandez on September 16, 2025.
The next day, police searched Burke’s Hollywood Hills home. Forensic testing confirmed the victim’s blood in the garage. LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell later acknowledged that with months having passed between the killing and the discovery, “crucial evidence had degraded or disappeared.”
Arrest, Plea, and Defense
LAPD homicide detectives arrested Burke on April 16, 2026, in the Hollywood Hills. He was booked at the 77th Street Station and held without bail. At his arraignment on April 20, 2026, before Judge Theresa McGonigle at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, he pleaded not guilty to every count.
Burke is represented by Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski, and Regina Peter. Berk said in a statement that “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.” She requested a fast-tracked preliminary hearing and criticized the prosecution for months of secret grand jury proceedings and a lack of discovery turned over to the defense.
Where the Case Stands
Burke is being held at Twin Towers Correctional Facility, segregated from other inmates because of the notoriety of the case. He remains without bail.
The preliminary hearing has moved twice. A May 12, 2026, hearing pushed it to June 29 to let the defense review the evidence, and on June 17, 2026, Judge Charlaine Olmedo granted a further defense continuance following a sealed filing and a closed-door discussion. The preliminary hearing is now set for July 21, 2026, with a status conference on July 7.
The evidence volume is unusual. Prosecutors reported that Burke’s iCloud account alone contains eight terabytes of data, including what Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman described as “a significant amount” of child sexual abuse imagery. The full case file spans 20 to 30 terabytes drawn from phones, computers, and tablets. As of the April 29 filing, prosecutors had produced roughly 30 percent of the discovery to the defense. Silverman, of the Major Crimes Division, is the lead prosecutor. Hochman has said the investigation is ongoing as to any additional crimes or potential accomplices.