Prosecutors say singer D4vd killed 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez by stabbing her multiple times.
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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 then dismembered her body using chain saws in his garage.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office shared what they said the evidence in the case would show in a court filing that provided the first detailed allegations of the killing and efforts to cut apart 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,” the filing said.
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.
Her body was found
decomposing in a Tesla towed from the Hollywood Hills in September of last year.
Prosecutors said they had obtained text messages that showed their sexual relationship, including child sexual abuse images of her on 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,” the document says. “She became extremely upset and threatened to disclose damaging information about her relationship with defendant to end his career and destroy his life.”
The filing said he sent a rideshare car to pick her up on the night of April 23, 2025, from her hometown of Lake Elsinore some 80 miles (129 km) outside of Los Angeles. The two exchanged messages until she arrived at his Hollywood home, after which her phone went silent permanently.
They allege he sent her a late-night message asking where she was in an attempt to cover up the killing.
The court filing is intended to outline the evidence that prosecutors plan to present at a preliminary evidentiary hearing beginning May 26, when a judge will determine whether there is probable cause to go to trial. The defense has not publicly provided its version of events.
The document says Burke bought two chain saws online used them to cut apart her body in an inflatable pool in his garage, where the girl’s DNA was later found.
“Defendant took horrifying measures to destroy and discard the victim’s body,” prosecutors said in the brief.
Burke drove to Lake Cachuma in Santa Barbara County about 110 miles (177 kilometers) northwest of his home to get rid of evidence three times, the document alleges. Her passport was found there in January.
On April 24, the day after her death, he gave a radio interview and had a record-release party promoting his debut full-length album, “Withered,” which was released the following day, prosecutors said in the filing.
Prosecutors allege he kept her body in his Tesla, and lied to friends and business associates who asked about the smell.
The body of Rivas Hernandez 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 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.
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.
Burke was arrested on April 16 and pleaded to first-degree murder, lewd and lascivious acts with a person under 14 and mutilating a dead body. He is eligible for the death penalty, but prosecutors said they have not decided whether to seek it.
The singer began making music for YouTube videos he created of the video game Fortnite when he was a teenager.
The songs he wrote and recorded on his phone were a blend of indie rock, R&B and lo-fi pop. The music made him a phenomenon on TikTok, Instagram, Soundcloud and Spotify, where his top songs, including his 2022 breakthrough “Romantic Homicide,” have more than a billion plays. In 2023, he released two EPs and opened for SZA on tour.
He performed at last year’s Coachella music festival just a few weeks before prosecutors said Rivas Hernandez was killed and his album was released. He was on tour promoting it in September when the body was discovered and his name became publicly attached to the case. It would be seven months before he was arrested.
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