Prosecutors have made a string of horrifying allegations against D4vd, accusing the singer of stabbing teenager Celeste Rivas Hernandez, watching and waiting as she bled to death, and dismembering her body with a chainsaw.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office made the claims in a new court filing on Wednesday, April 29.
In the documents obtained by the Associated Press and Los Angeles news station ABC7, prosecutors said D4vd met Celeste when she was 11 years old in January 2022.
Timeline
Investigators allege the singer groomed the young girl and started having sex with her in November 2023, when she was 13 and he was 18.
The evidence against D4vd, born David Anthony Burke, is based on a months-long LAPD investigation, according to prosecutors.
Detectives said the singer and the teen exchanged extensive text messages, revealing they had a falling out when Rivas Hernandez discovered she wasn’t the only girl Burke was seeing.
Possible Motive
Police allege the teen was killed on April 23, 2025. One day earlier, Burke and Rivas Hernandez got into a “lengthy argument” via text.
“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 filing says.
Rivas Hernandez ran away multiple times from her home in Lake Elsinore, California — about an hour from downtown Los Angeles. She had returned home before she was killed, the filing says.
On April 23, 2025, investigators said Burke ordered an Uber to bring the teen to his Hollywood Hills mansion. They were reportedly texting during the Uber ride.
The teenager arrived at the house at 10:10 p.m., according to the filing. Burke allegedly stabbed her when she walked inside and watched her bleed to death, the documents state. She was 14 years old at the time of her death.
Investigators say Burke reportedly sent a text message to the teen’s phone at 10:30 p.m. Prosecutors allege the text was part of a “premeditated plan” to cover the singer’s tracks.
The documents say Burke reportedly left his home around 11:30 p.m., and drove to an area in Santa Barbara County. He returned home the next morning, then did a radio interview to promote his debut studio album, Withered, which was released on April 25, 2025.
Chainsaws and Shovel Ordered
The court filing says Burke ordered a shovel from Home Depot on April 24, and it was delivered to his home via Postmates.
Investigators allege Burke ordered two chainsaws from Amazon on May 1. Then on May 5, the singer allegedly ordered a body bag, heavy-duty laundry bags, and a blue inflatable kiddie pool. The purchases were made under an alias, the documents state.
The filing alleges the singer placed the pool inside his garage and dismembered the teen’s body in the pool to prevent her blood from leaving a stain on the floor.
“Defendant took horrifying measures to destroy and discard the victim’s body,” the filing says.
The autopsy, released last week after it was unsealed, said Rivas Hernandez’s remains had pieces of blue plastic embedded in them, her limbs were cut off, and her left ring and pinky fingers were severed. Prosecutors say the ring finger had a tattoo of the singer’s name on it. The two fingers were never recovered, according to Wednesday’s filing.
Murder Investigation Begins
The teen’s decomposed remains were discovered on Sept. 8, 2025, when LAPD officers responded to a tow yard in Hollywood after employees noticed a strong odor coming from an impounded Tesla registered to Burke.
LAPD detectives served a search warrant at the singer’s house later that month. Detectives allegedly “discovered evidence consistent with the dismemberment of the victim’s body in the inflatable pool, which contained multiple linear cuts. Several biological samples, which tested positive for blood, were collected within the garage area.”
D4vd Linked to Lake Elsinore
Rivas Hernandez ran away from home in February and April 2024, prompting the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office to launch an investigation.
Detectives went through the teenager’s phone records and called Burke on Feb. 17, 2024, the filing says. He reportedly claimed he did not know Rivas Hernandez was a minor or that her family had reported her missing.
The court documents say the teen returned home two days after the conversation. Her parents took her phone away. However, investigators allege Burke continued to pursue her.
Alleged Payoff
The filing says D4vd drove to Lake Elsinore and allegedly paid a student from Celeste’s class $1,000 to give the teen a phone he had purchased so they could continue to communicate.
The documents allege the two began to meet up again, including at his home in the Hollywood Hills. Investigators additionally claim the two traveled to Las Vegas, London, and Texas, to meet Burke’s family.
ABC7 reported text messages between the two reportedly “contained references to sex, pregnancy and abortion.” The court filing alleges investigators found explicit photos “corroborating their sexual relationship.”
At a hearing last week, Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman said the prosecution has collected “40 terabytes” of evidence from phones, computers, tablets and an iCloud account.
Prosecutors allege that evidence includes a “significant amount” of child sexual abuse images allegedly found on the singer’s cell phone.
Arrest and Not Guilty Plea
Burke, 21, was arrested in Los Angeles on April 16, 2026. He pleaded not guilty to three charges — first-degree murder with special allegations; lewd and lascivious acts with a person under 14; and mutilating a body. He is being held without bail.
His attorneys have said, “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 singer appeared in court this afternoon in downtown Los Angeles for a procedural hearing. There is so much interest in the case that the court started a lottery for media outlets to get seats in the packed courtroom. Some seats have also been left open for the public.
A preliminary hearing has been set for May 26, when the court will determine if there is sufficient evidence for the singer to go on trial.
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