D4vd has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. He was arrested at a rental home formerly owned by Sandra Bullock in the Hollywood Hills on Tuesday, April 14.
On September 8, 2025, Celeste’s dismembered remains were found in 2 trash bags in the front trunk of a 2023 Tesla Y registered to D4vd. The car was parked around the corner and down the street from D4vd’s rental house in the Hollywood Hills.
It had been towed from the upscale neighborhood because police suspected it was stolen or abandoned. The grisly discovery was made at the tow yard after a worker detected a foul odor.
Celeste was reported missing by her family in 2024, when she was 13.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman called the case “a parent’s nightmare” and said Celeste was last heard from on April 23, 2025. She was classified as a runaway.
“Celeste, a 14-year-old at that time, went to Mr. D4vd’s house in the Hollywood Hills. She was never heard from again,” Hochman said at Monday’s press conference.
Hochman said Celeste’s arms and legs were severed from her torso and placed in one trash bag. Her head and torso were placed in another bag and stuffed into the Tesla trunk.
The murder charges against D4vd (born David Burke) include special circumstances (lying in wait) committing crime for financial gain and murdering the witness in an investigation. The singer faces the death penalty if convicted on all charges.
D4vd is also charged with lewd and lascivious acts with a minor person under 14 and mutilating a body.
The 21-year-old “Romantic Homicide” singer is being held in the LA County Men’s Central jail without bond.
Blair Berk, D4vd’s high-powered attorney said her client is innocent of all charges.
“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,” she said in a statement on Thursday.
His legal team said they “will vigorously defend David’s innocence.”
D4vd was named as a suspect in the case in November 2025.
The weight of the evidence pointed to D4vd, who allegedly groomed Celeste on Roblox when she was only 12 years old.
In a bizarre twist, the LAPD reportedly investigated a rumor that D4vd mixed the dead teenager’s blood in red paint for his bloody shirt tour merchandise.
The button-down shirts splattered with fake blood were sold for $35 on his official site.
In a live-stream video, David is seen in the same living room holding the type of knife used by hunters to skin animals.
He abruptly removed the bloody shirts from his website days before the FBI executed a search warrant at his $20,000 a month rental property in the Hollywood Hills.
According to reports, authorities contacted fans who purchased the bloody shirts to test the merchandise for forensic evidence.
There are also rumors that Celeste’s remains were chopped up and stored in a freezer for weeks or months until D4vd went on tour on August 31, 2025.
D4vd and Celeste were allegedly involved in a 3-year relationship that began when she was 12 and he was 18.
The case took a turn when D4vd’s alleged boyfriend, Neo Langston was arrested and forced to testify before a grand jury earlier this year.
Investigators believe Neo is the man seen near the Tesla when it was parked for the final time before being towed by police in September.
No other arrests have been made.
