From Hollywood Hills to a Body Bag: Inside the Toxic, Deadly Abuse Case Against Musician D4vd

Singer D4vd, real name David Anthony Burke, is facing first-degree murder and child sexual abuse charges in Los Angeles after prosecutors alleged he groomed 14-year-old fan Celeste Rivas Hernandez, abused her over years and ultimately killed and dismembered her at his Hollywood Hills home in April 2025.

The news came after months of sealed proceedings, a homicide finding by the Los Angeles County medical examiner and the teen's identification from remains found in Burke's Tesla in September 2025.

How The Case Against D4vd Took Shape

Prosecutors now say the relationship between the 21-year-old musician and Celeste began when she was barely out of primary school. A Los Angeles County filing states the pair first met in January 2022, when she was 11.

By November 2023, when she was 13 and he was 18, the contact had allegedly become sexual.

Texts recovered by investigators paint a picture of a teenager who understood, at least in part, how trapped she was. In one message from March 2025, quoted in court documents, Celeste wrote: 'all we do is have sex and just hang out man I want more than that for myself.'

Her parents reported her missing in February 2024. When Riverside County deputies traced her phone and contacted Burke, prosecutors say he told them he had met her only once and did not know she was a minor.

Deputies informed him she was 13 and a runaway. Celeste returned home two days later, and her parents confiscated her phone.

Investigators now allege that Burke immediately found a way around that. According to the filings, he drove to Lake Elsinore and paid one of her classmates $1,000 (£743.21) to give Celeste a handset he had bought for her, allowing the secret contact to continue.

The court documents describe 2024 as a year in which the pair spent 'significant' time together. Prosecutors say Celeste stayed at his Hollywood Hills home at weekends and travelled with him to Las Vegas, London and Texas, where she met members of his family.

Messages between them allegedly referred to sex, pregnancy, abortion and the use of Plan B emergency contraception.

Prosecutors Say D4vd Killed To Protect His Career

The most serious allegation is that Burke killed Celeste on 23 April 2025, two days before the planned release of his debut studio album Withered. Prosecutors say the night before, on 22 April, Celeste and the musician had a long, heated argument about his relationships with other women.

In that exchange, according to filings, the teenager threatened to reveal 'damaging information' about their relationship in order to 'end his career and destroy his life.'

The following evening, Burke allegedly sent an Uber to collect Celeste from her Lake Elsinore home at about 20:40. She arrived at his rented Hollywood Hills property at around 22:10.

What happened next is at the heart of the case. The prosecution claim that 'very soon after her arrival' Burke stabbed Celeste multiple times and watched while she bled to death.

'Knowing he had to silence the victim before she ruined his music career as she had threatened,' the brief states, adding that he did not call 911, seek medical help or contact law enforcement.

Celeste died from 'multiple penetrating injuries', the Los Angeles County medical examiner later ruled. The autopsy, signed in December 2025 but initially sealed at investigators' request, noted sharp-force wounds to her chest and abdomen.

Her family, in a written statement, said they were 'absolutely devastated by the findings' and asked for privacy and patience as they processed the details.

Burke's legal team rejects the entire narrative. After his arraignment, lawyer Blair Berk insisted: 'Evidence will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez and he was not the cause of her death.'

In an April statement, his lawyers said they plan to 'vigorously defend David's innocence'. None of the allegations has yet been tested at trial, and he has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

From Shovel Orders To An Inflatable Pool: The Forensic Trail Around D4vd

The evidentiary filings also focus heavily on what prosecutors say happened in the days and months after Celeste's death.

On 24 April 2025, the day after the alleged killing, Burke is accused of ordering a shovel from Home Depot, delivered to his Hollywood Hills address via Postmates.

On 1 May, he allegedly bought two chainsaws from Amazon, using an alias, and on 5 May, he is said to have ordered a body bag, heavy-duty laundry bags and a blue inflatable pool, again under a fake name.

Prosecutors claim Celeste's body was placed in the pool 'to prevent her blood from spilling onto his garage floor' and then dismembered using the chainsaws and other tools.

Small blue plastic fragments later recovered from her remains by the county medical examiner's office were matched, according to an LAPD expert, to that same inflatable pool purchased in May 2025.

The filings say Burke also amputated Celeste's left ring and pinky fingers, because the ring finger carried a tattoo of his name. Those fingers have not been found.

In July 2025, he allegedly ordered a 'burn cage' on Amazon, again under the alias, which prosecutors argue was intended to 'incinerate evidence.'

That same month, on 29 July, Burke is said to have parked his Tesla on a Hollywood Hills street, where it later appeared abandoned. Surveillance footage, according to the state, shows him driving the vehicle that day.

On 8 September 2025, the Tesla, a 2023 Model Y registered to Burke at a Texas family address, was towed from the neighbourhood. At the tow yard, LAPD investigators opened the front trunk and found a cadaver bag covered in insects and emitting a strong odour of decomposition. Inside, they saw a decomposed head and torso. A second black bag beneath contained additional body parts.

DNA testing and dental records identified the remains as Celeste's. Her arms and legs had been severed. Two fingers on her left hand were missing.

A search warrant executed at Burke's Hollywood Hills residence on 17 September led detectives to his garage, where they say they found biological samples that tested positive for blood. According to the filing, DNA analysis linked those samples to Celeste's 'unique genetic profile.'

The inflatable pool bore multiple linear cuts consistent with dismemberment.

Courtroom Battle Ahead As D4vd Faces Life Without Parole

By the time Burke was arrested on 16 April 2026 at a Hollywood Hills address, the outline of the case against the singer was starting to emerge in fragments through multiple US news outlets and court documents.

He was booked without bail after the Los Angeles County medical examiner ruled Celeste's death a homicide. He now faces charges of first-degree murder with special circumstances, continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, lewd acts with a minor and unlawful mutilation of human remains.

Prosecutors have also told the court they recovered a 'significant amount' of child sexual abuse material on his phone, although the exact content of the more than 40 terabytes of digital evidence collected has not been made public.

If convicted, Burke faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole or, potentially, the death penalty. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office has not yet said whether it will pursue capital punishment.

Celeste's family have said through their attorney that she was a 'beautiful, strong girl who loved to sing and dance' and that 'all we want is justice for Celeste.'

A preliminary hearing, where a judge will decide if there is enough evidence for the case against D4vd to go to trial, is currently scheduled to begin on 29 June. Until a jury hears the evidence, like any defendant, Burke is legally presumed innocent.

The case against D4vd began long before the gruesome discovery of Celeste's remains. The teenager, from Lake Elsinore, California, was first reported missing by her family in early 2024, when she was 13.

According to multiple court filings cited by US outlets, detectives already had the singer's phone number in her records at that point and questioned him about his contact with her.

More than a year later, on 8 September 2025, officers found a decomposed, dismembered body in the front trunk of a Tesla registered to Burke. Dental records later confirmed the remains were Celeste.