D4vd accused of killing, dismembering Celeste Rivas Hernandez, 14, to protect singer’s music career

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LOS ANGELES (AP) – Prosecutors said Wednesday that singer D4vd killed 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez by stabbing her multiple times.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office shared what they said the evidence would show in a document filed Wednesday that provided the first detailed allegations of efforts to dismember Rivas Hernandez’s body and get rid of evidence.

The court filing said D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, met Rivas Hernandez when she was 11, began sexually abusing her when she was 13 and he was 18, and killed her when she threatened to reveal their inappropriate relationship.

“Knowing he had to silence the victim before she ruined his music career as she had threatened, very soon after her arrival at his home, defendant stabbed the victim to death multiple times and stood by while she bled out.”

Her body was found decomposing in a Tesla towed from the Hollywood Hills in September of last year.

Prosecutors obtained text messages between the two from April 22, 2025, the night before all her phone activity went quiet and they believe she was killed.They also obtained child sexual abuse images of her from his phone.

“The messages reveal the victim’s jealousy over defendant’s relationships with other women, as defendant led her to believe they had a future together. She became extremely upset and threatened to disclose damaging information about her relationship with defendant to end his career and destroy his life,” the document says.

The document says Burke bought two chainsaws online that he used to cut apart her body in an inflatable pool. They said the girl’s DNA was found in his garage, where they allege the dismemberment occurred.

“Defendant took horrifying measures to destroy and discard the victim’s body,” prosecutors said in the brief.

Her body had so degraded that examiners couldn’t even determine her eye color. She had braces at the time of her death, and a tattoo that read “Shhh….” on the inside of a finger as well as his name, according to the report. Two fingers were missing — as were parts of her arms and legs.

Prosecutors had not previously described how they believed Rivas Hernandez was killed or given details on their relationship. An autopsy report said she was killed by penetrating wounds.

Prosecutors said the parents of Rivas Hernandez reported her missing from her home in Lake Elsinore some 80 miles (129 km) outside of Los Angeles in February 2024. After the February report, Riverside County Sheriff’s detectives contacted Burke, but he told them he had only met her once and did not know she was a minor.

After she returned home that February, her parents took away her cellphone but Burke drove to her hometown and paid a friend of Rivas Hernandez $1,000 to give her a phone so they could communicate.

She was reported missing again in April 2024. The document said that year, she spent much of her time at Burke’s home in the Hollywood Hills and traveled with him to Las Vegas, London, and Texas to meet his family.

Burke has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and other counts. His lawyers have said he is innocent and did not cause Rivas Hernandez’s death.

The defense attorneys asked Superior Court Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo at a hearing Wednesday to seal the document, but she declined. They had no comment outside court.