D4vd charged with capital murder in Celeste Rivas Hernandez case

Los Angeles County prosecutors charged David Anthony Burke, who performs as D4vd, with capital murder after investigators said evidence tied him to the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, a 14-year-old whose remains were found in a Tesla registered to him. The district attorney’s office called the killing “horrific and barbaric,” and Burke later pleaded not guilty.

The case began in September 2025, when police discovered badly decomposed, dismembered remains in the front trunk of an impounded Tesla in Los Angeles. Los Angeles police said the vehicle had been ticketed and then towed after a foul odor was reported from it, setting off the investigation that eventually led from a tow yard to a homicide prosecution.

Over the following months, investigators said they assembled a picture that went beyond the car itself. Prosecutors presented text messages and other evidence suggesting a relationship between Burke and Celeste Rivas Hernandez, and court coverage of the preliminary hearing described graphic evidence and testimony from 12 witnesses over five days. NBC News reported that the evidence included sexually graphic photos on Burke’s phone and messages about abortion, while ABC and NBC coverage said investigators also examined DNA evidence from Burke’s rented home and other physical evidence in the case.

That hearing became the key threshold step in the prosecution. A judge later ruled there was enough evidence for the case to proceed to trial, moving the matter from suspicion to a formal criminal path based on the evidence already heard in court. Burke has also faced charges of continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 and unlawful mutilation of human remains, and he remained under those accusations after entering a not-guilty plea.

Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s family watched part of the graphic hearing proceedings, underscoring the human toll of a case built around the death of a child and allegations of exploitation. The prosecution now rests on the evidence that emerged in the months after the Tesla was towed, including digital communications, phone images, forensic testing and witness testimony that convinced a judge the case could advance to trial.