The tightknit and family-friendly metropolis of Lake Elsinore in Riverside County is about 70 miles southeast and a world other than the glitz and glamour of the Hollywood Hills.
Celeste Rivas Hernandez grew up in Lake Elsinore, the place she was a daily at the nook retailer down the road from her house. Neighbors nonetheless recall her strolling round along with her backpack and lengthy curly black hair atop her 5-foot-2 body.
Kayleigh Cortez, a neighbor, remembered the first time she noticed Celeste three years in the past.
“I’m like, ‘Oh, look at that girl. She had big, beautiful curls. That’s a beautiful little girl,’” Cortez recalled.
The subsequent time Cortez noticed Celeste was when her image appeared in the information after her dismembered and decomposed physique was found in the trunk of a Tesla owned by the alt-pop singer who goes by the title d4vd. The automotive was parked on a road in the upscale Hollywood Hills neighborhood the place the artist, whose authorized title is David Anthony Burke, had rented a multimillion-dollar house in the hills beneath the iconic Hollywood Sign.
Her physique was discovered a day after what would have been her fifteenth birthday.
“Hollywood will always entice kids,” stated Cortez, 36, who has a 14-year-old daughter. “Getting to meet a celebrity or doing something out of the norm is cool for any young teen. Lake Elsinore is small. It’s kind of quiet. It’s not like hustle and bustle.”
About a yr after Cortez first noticed Celeste on the road, household and pals started to report the woman as lacking, beginning in early 2024. She and d4vd appeared collectively in a Twitch livestream that January. Between then and March 2024, he was photographed getting out of a black Tesla close to the seventh grader’s house.
Celeste was additionally photographed backstage at one of his Los Angeles reveals in June 2024. She was last seen alive going to d4vd’s house in April 2025.
She was 13 at the time, an adolescent seen in extensively circulated pictures with thick, darkish curls that spotlight her mushy smile.
She cherished Hello Kitty, and the lacking individuals poster in Lake Elsinore stated she was final seen sporting Hello Kitty slippers.
“I don’t want her remembered as a rebellious kid or a runaway,” stated Cortez, who began and tends to a makeshift memorial exterior the house the place Celeste lived along with her household.
“She was a daughter, a sister, a friend. She was a young girl just trying to figure out life, and she doesn’t get to grow up,” Cortez stated. “She doesn’t get to get married or have any children because someone took that away from her.”
On Monday, following a monthslong investigation, Burke, 21, pleaded not responsible to first-degree homicide. The Los Angeles District Attorney added “special circumstances” to the cost, which makes the sentence eligible for the loss of life penalty. Prosecutors say he had a sexual relationship with the younger woman and killed her after she threatened to show it. He allegedly engaged in “continuous sexual abuse” of Celeste beginning in September 2023 till September 2024, in line with a prison criticism.
Blair Berk, one of d4vd’s attorneys, wrote in an announcement on Monday, “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. We will vigorously defend David’s innocence.”
Celeste died of “multiple penetrating injuries,” in line with an autopsy report released Wednesday. She had wounds on her chest and stomach that “may represent sharp force injuries,” the Los Angeles County health worker’s workplace stated in the report.
A tattoo studying “Shhh….” was discovered on the inside of her proper index finger, the post-mortem report stated, much like the tattoo d4vd has on his finger.
Two fingers had been severed and lacking from her different hand.
Since Celeste’s dismembered physique was found in Burke’s Tesla, most information protection of the case has centered on the budding musical sensation recognized to his legion of principally younger followers as d4vd.
But Celeste’s transient life has drawn comparatively little discover.
Celeste’s household has largely stayed out of public view since her physique was found.
In an announcement, the household’s legal professional stated the dad and mom, Jesus Rivas and Mercedes Martinez, requested for privateness as they grieve the loss of their daughter.
“The Rivas Hernandez family is committed to ensuring that Celeste’s voice is heard and her memory is honored throughout this process,” household legal professional Patrick Steinfeld stated.
“Celeste was a beautiful, strong girl who loved to sing and dance,” the household stated in an announcement.
“We love her very much and she always told us that she loved us,” they added. “We miss her deeply. All we want is Justice for Celeste.”
After the launch of the post-mortem report on Wednesday, Steinfeld stated the findings have precipitated “profound emotional pain” for Celeste’s family members.
“The Rivas Hernandez family is absolutely devastated by the findings contained in the Medical Examiner’s report involving the horrible and gruesome death of their beloved daughter,” the assertion says. “They respectfully ask for privacy, understanding, and patience as they process this information.”
For now, pals and neighbors honor Celeste’s reminiscence at the memorial that Cortez began with a lone photograph of the woman and a few flowers. It now contains recent flowers, stuffed animals, toys, candles and an enormous signal saying, “Justice for Celeste Rivas.” Neighbors cease by to pay their respects, typically leaving flowers and different mementos.
“Every holiday I make something for her, like for Valentine’s Day, for Christmas, and I just put it out there. It’s kind of become like a labor of love for me,” Cortez stated.
One day, a person who Cortez believes is an uncle of Celeste emerged from the teen’s house and knelt earlier than the memorial, sobbing uncontrollably, she stated. Family members all the time mouth the phrases “thank you” to Cortez after they drive by.
“This memorial is about Celeste and about her legacy and her impact,” Cortez stated.
Her transient life has had an affect on many residents of Lake Elsinore – together with Elie Naddaf, who owns a nook retailer a number of doorways down from the place Celeste lived.
“I feel like I know her forever, for 11 years here,” Naddaf stated.
Takis and soda had been her favourite afternoon snacks, he recalled. On wet days, Naddaf would make sizzling chocolate for Celeste and different youngsters ready for the faculty bus.
“You don’t know the future, where it’s going with this girl,” he lamented. “You don’t know what her dream… All this taken from her, from her family.”
Naddaf stated he saved his 17-year-old daughter out of faculty for about per week after he discovered of Celeste’s loss of life. He wished to “just spend time with her and talk to her” about the many dangers youngsters face.
Cortez stated she and her daughter discuss about Celeste almost day by day.
“Her friends are very protective of Celeste and her name because she’s not here to defend herself,” she stated.