Seven months after the decomposed physique of a 14-year-old lady was discovered in the trunk of his automobile, the singer d4vd pleaded not guilty Monday to first-degree homicide, a cost that carries the attainable sentence of dying or life in jail.
Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s stays have been discovered in d4vd’s apparently abandoned Tesla in September after the automobile was towed to a police impound yard. The ugly discovery sparked a monthslong investigation and solid intense scrutiny on the 21-year-old singer, which culminated in his arrest final week.
But it wasn’t till Monday that prosecutors introduced charges in opposition to d4vd.
Details concerning the case prosecutors plan to current in opposition to the musician stay unclear. His attorneys say the proof will present he’s harmless.
D4vd, whose authorized title is David Anthony Burke, was charged with first-degree homicide with particular circumstances, steady sexual abuse of a toddler below 14 years previous and mutilating human stays. Prosecutors say he had a sexual relationship with the younger lady and killed her after she threatened to expose it.
D4vd made his first look in court docket simply hours after he was charged, carrying a black sweatshirt and lightweight grey sweatpants. He did not communicate and his attorneys entered the plea on his behalf.
The musician engaged in “continuous sexual abuse” of Celeste beginning in September 2023 till September 2024, prosecutors allege in a legal grievance filed Monday.
LA County District Attorney Nathan Hochman stated Burke killed Celeste “when she threatened to expose his criminal conduct and devastate his musical career.”
Celeste’s trigger of dying hasn’t been launched however prosecutors accuse Burke of utilizing “a deadly and dangerous weapon(s),” particularly, a “sharp instrument.”
After the “horrific and gruesome murder,” Hochman stated in a information launch, Burke dismembered Celeste’s physique and put her stays in two baggage in the entrance trunk of his automobile.
Celeste had gone to the singer’s home in the Hollywood Hills on April 23, 2025, Hochman stated. “She was never heard from again,” he stated.
In a press release Monday night, Blair Berk – one of d4vd’s attorneys – wrote, “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.”
Berk is an element of a high-powered legislation agency that has represented Harvey Weinstein, Kanye West and Britney Spears, amongst different celeb shoppers.
She requested a preliminary listening to on the earliest attainable date.
The singer’s legal professionals additionally stated that that they had obtained “almost no discovery” associated to the case.
The homicide cost d4vd faces carries three particular circumstances: mendacity in wait, committing a homicide for monetary achieve and murdering “a witness to a crime.”
The “financial gain” circumstance was for “Mr. Burke to maintain his very lucrative musical career that Celeste was threatening on that night,” stated Hochman.
Additionally, Celeste was a witness to “the lewd and lascivious sexual acts committed by Mr. Burke,” stated Hochman.
The size of time between the teenager’s dying and discovery of her physique offered a problem for investigators, in accordance to Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell.
“The substantial amount of time that passed between her death and the discovery meant that crucial evidence had degraded or disappeared, and as detectives worked to uncover the truth, they also had to sift through and debunk a great deal of false information circulating publicly,” McDonnell stated.
Celeste’s household has largely stayed out of public view since her physique was found. Her mom, father and sister attended Monday’s arraignment and had little seen response to the proceedings.
In a press release, the household’s lawyer stated they 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,” Patrick Steinfeld, the lawyer for the household, stated.
Court paperwork launched in February point out a grand jury had been investigating the singer in connection with Celeste’s dying.
The charges come almost two years after the third – and last – time Celeste was reported lacking by her household, capping a sequence of pressing pleas in early 2024 as family members and associates grew more and more alarmed concerning the seventh grader’s security and whereabouts.
She was 13 on the time – an adolescent remembered in pictures for her delicate smile and thick, curly hair.
In September 2025, a day after what would have been her fifteenth birthday, her dismembered and decomposed physique was found in the trunk of a Tesla registered to d4vd whereas he was in Minneapolis on a world tour selling his debut album, “Withered.”
Authorities have not established a transparent timeline for when Celeste was killed, although court docket information point out she was 14 on the time of her dying. Photographs obtained by NCS recommend she was alive nearly a yr after she was first reported lacking.
Neighbors say the automobile appeared deserted, parked on a avenue not removed from the Hollywood Hills residence the place d4vd had been dwelling. It was later towed, and an worker on the yard alerted police after noticing a robust, foul odor coming from the car.
Authorities arrested the singer April 16 on suspicion of killing Celeste, taking him into custody at a residence in the Hollywood Hills simply over a mile from the tow yard the place the lady’s physique was discovered inside his automobile.
He is being held in jail with out bail.
Clues level to connection between Celeste and d4vd
Clues pointing to a connection between Celeste and d4vd surfaced even earlier than she was reported lacking. In January 2024, the 2 appeared collectively in a livestream on Twitch, joking and speaking into the early morning hours earlier than d4vd, laughing, stated: “Delete everything.”
Sometime between January and March 2024, the singer was photographed stepping out of a black Tesla simply blocks from Celeste’s residence. A neighborhood teenager later posted the photographs to TikTok. NCS geolocated and chronolocated the pictures to confirm when and the place they have been taken.
In June 2024, Celeste was photographed backstage at a sold-out present d4vd carried out at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles. A non-public investigator later uncovered further photographs showing to present the 2 collectively in late December 2024 and early January 2025.
This story has been up to date with further data.