- D4vd, the 21-year-old TikTok-famous singer behind “Romantic Homicide,” was arrested April 16 by the LAPD on a murder charge in connection with the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
- Rivas Hernandez’s decomposed remains were discovered in September 2025 inside the front trunk of an abandoned Tesla registered to the singer — a case that had been building for months.
- D4vd is being held without bail, and his attorneys have denied the allegations, insisting the evidence will clear their client.
D4vd, the singer-songwriter whose legal name is David Anthony Burke, was arrested Thursday in the murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the teenager last seen alive a year ago, whose decomposed remains were found in the trunk of the singer’s abandoned Tesla. He’s 21. She was 14.
According to the LAPD, D4vd was arrested by the Robbery-Homicide Division for the murder of Hernandez and is being held without bail. The department wasted no time making it official on social media, posting: “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.”
Burke was arrested shortly after 4:30 p.m. at a house on Marmont Avenue in the Hollywood Hills. LAPD Capt. Scot Williams explained the timeline leading up to the arrest: “We did the best we can to keep tabs on him, but once we developed probable cause to arrest him for murder, then we were on him pretty diligently.”
Sources told NBC News the arrest is based on evidence and probable cause that was developed. It was not an indictment. The LAPD said the case will be presented to the L.A. District Attorney’s Office on Monday for filing consideration.
Celeste Abigail Rivas Hernandez was a 14-year-old girl from Lake Elsinore, California. Born to parents who immigrated from El Salvador, Rivas was reported missing three times in the final year of her life, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office. She last ran away in April 2024 and last contacted her family in May 2024.
Officers responded to an impound lot in Hollywood on Sept. 8, 2025, “for a foul odor coming from a vehicle,” Los Angeles police said. What they found was devastating. Workers at Hollywood Tow had reported a strong odor coming from the Tesla registered to the singer. The car was impounded after someone reported it was abandoned in the Hollywood Hills, where neighbors say it had been parked for more than a month.
Her remains were discovered a day after what would have been Celeste’s 15th birthday.
According to sources, the girl’s body was dismembered, and the process of dismembering and disposing of her body is believed to have likely involved more than one person. The teen may have been dead for several weeks before her body was discovered.
Much of the case waited on determining how Rivas Hernandez died to prove she was murdered. Investigators tell NBC News that they can prove the teen’s death was murder. Investigators also confirmed they were looking into a trip Burke took to the Santa Barbara area in the spring of 2025, following Hernandez’s death.
On November 24, 2025, the LAPD publicly characterized the case as an “investigation into murder” for the first time. LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton stated that “accountability is coming” and assured that detectives were actively pursuing justice for Rivas, emphasizing that “no one is off the table, including Burke.”
The relationship between Burke and the teen had been the subject of intense public scrutiny long before Thursday’s arrest. Rivas’s mother stated that her daughter had a boyfriend named “David,” and Rivas and Burke had matching tattoos.
The singer and Rivas Hernandez shared matching “Sshhhh” tattoos on their right index fingers, drawing speculation across social media that D4vd may have been involved in the teen’s death.
Rivas’s brother told NBCLA that she went missing after Burke picked her up in his Tesla. Sources reported that she resided in a rental property with Burke and met him through the internet.
According to a 2025 report from TMZ, D4vd’s friends thought Rivas Hernandez was a 19-year-old student at USC because she was spotted at multiple age-restricted events.
The “Romantic Homicide” singer had been mid-tour when the story broke wide open. The singer’s world tour was in Minneapolis at the time of the discovery with a stop in Kansas City the next day. Days after the discovery, the remainder of Burke’s “Withered 2025 World Tour” was canceled and his shows in Los Angeles and California were canceled. A vigil for Rivas was held in Lake Elsinore, and her body was released to her family for memorial services.
D4vd’s legal team came out swinging Thursday night. Attorneys Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter said in a statement: “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. 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.”
The case will be presented to the District Attorney’s office on Monday. Until then, Burke remains behind bars — and the family of Celeste Rivas Hernandez is still waiting for justice.
