Singer D4vd arrested in connection with death of teen found in Tesla, police say

WASHINGTON — Singer D4vd has been arrested in connection with the death of teenager Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose body was found decomposing the trunk of a Tesla last year.

The Los Angeles Police Department said that the singer, whose legal name is David Burke, is being held without bail. 

“Detectives from Los Angeles Police Department, Robbery-Homicide Division have arrested David Burke, a 21-year-old resident of Los Angeles, for the murder of Celeste Rivas,” officials said. 

Police said investigators would present a case to the District Attorneys Office for consideration of charges on Monday.

In November, investigators said the singer was being viewed as a suspect in the 14-year-old’s death. Her decomposed remains were discovered in September 2025 in a Tesla registered to D4vd. 

Officers found the remains in a plastic bag in the vehicle’s front trunk, according to police. At the time the body was found, officials said it was too decomposed to determine even the person’s sex, and had been hidden in the car for some time in the burning Los Angeles summer heat. 

Defense attorneys Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter said in an email to the Associated Press: “Let us be clear — 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.”

The defense lawyers added, “There has been no indictment returned by any grand jury in this case and no criminal complaint filed. David has only been detained under suspicion. We will vigorously defend David’s innocence.”

It was their first public statement on the case. Authorities did not publicly name Burke as a suspect until his arrest. He was being held in jail without bail.

The singer had been under investigation by an LA County grand jury looking into the death of Hernandez. The probe was officially secret, but its existence — and the designation of D4vd as its target — was revealed on Feb. 25 when his mother, father and brother filed an objection in a Texas court to subpoenas demanding they testify.

Hernandez was found in a Tesla on Sept. 8, a day after she would have turned 15. She was a 13-year-old seventh grader when her family reported her missing in 2024 from her hometown of Lake Elsinore, about 70 miles southeast of Los Angeles. Authorities give her age as 14 when she was killed in court documents.

The 2023 Tesla Model Y was registered in the singer’s name at the Texas address of his subpoenaed family members, according to court filings from prosecutors. It had been towed from an upscale neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills where it had been sitting, seemingly abandoned.

D4vd, pronounced “David,” gained popularity among Generation Z fans for his blend of indie rock, R&B and lo-fi pop. He went viral on TikTok in 2022 with the hit “Romantic Homicide,” which peaked at No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. He then signed with Darkroom and Interscope Records and released his debut EP “Petals to Thorns” and a follow-up, “The Lost Petals,” in 2023.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.