Months after a younger lady’s physique was present in the trunk of his deserted automotive, singer d4vd was arrested not removed from the Los Angeles tow yard the place her stays have been found.
Prosecutors say they are going to now weigh whether or not to convey prison fees in opposition to the 21-year-old alt-pop artist, who was arrested Thursday on suspicion of killing 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
Why it has taken so lengthy for investigators to make an arrest in the case is unclear.
Rivas and d4vd had been linked to each other in a number of methods earlier than the lady’s household reported her lacking in 2024. But authorities had not publicly named d4vd as a suspect till after a squad of native and federal officers battered down the door of a Hollywood Hills dwelling Thursday and took him away.
The singer’s attorneys identified an indictment or prison criticism have but to be filed.
“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,” protection attorneys Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter mentioned in a press release.
Here is a timeline of d4vd’s connection to Rivas, the circumstances surrounding her disappearance and loss of life, and what we learn about the investigation up to now.
Signs of Rivas’ connection to d4vd started to floor earlier than she was reported lacking.
In January 2024, Rivas seems aspect by aspect with the singer in a livestream video on the social media platform Twitch. In it, the pair joke and banter till about 3 a.m. earlier than d4vd laughingly proclaims, “Delete everything.”
Sometime between January and March 2024, d4vd is photographed getting out of a black Tesla a number of blocks from Rivas’ dwelling. A neighborhood teen in Lake Elsinore later posts the photographs on TikTok. NCS geolocated and chronolocated the photographs to confirm when and the place they have been taken.
Rivas is reported lacking 3 times in early 2024 as family members and buddies fear over the seventh grader’s well-being and whereabouts.
Rivas is 13 years outdated when she is first reported lacking in mid-February 2024, in accordance to 911 name logs and lacking posters. A poster from this time says she was final seen round February 14.
Around this time, an individual involved about her well-being sends an e-mail to an tackle bearing d4vd’s identify on his document firm’s area.
The author references Rivas’ disappearance and says, “There’s been talk” that d4vd presumably had one thing to do with it. If there was any reality to that, the individual writes, “please do the right thing and take her home. Her parents are very worried.”
NCS confirmed the authenticity of the e-mail with the one who despatched it. But that individual requested not to be recognized due to security considerations.
Rivas returns dwelling inside days of that e-mail being despatched, an acquaintance of the household confirmed to NCS.
Rivas is reported lacking a second time round March 19, in accordance to 911 logs and lacking posters.
For a 3rd and closing time, she is reported lacking on April 5, in accordance to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office.
It is unclear when Rivas is killed, however photographs point out she continues to be alive nearly a yr after she was first reported lacking. Authorities mentioned in court docket paperwork she was 14 when she died, in accordance to The Associated Press.
In June 2024, Rivas is photographed backstage throughout a sold-out present d4vd carried out at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles.
Another trace linking d4vd to Rivas is present in the singer’s rented dwelling after Rivas’ physique is recognized in September 2025.
Steve Fischer, a personal investigator employed by the proprietor of the property, mentioned he uncovered a digital digicam inside the home that contained photographs of each Rivas and d4vd taken in late December 2024 and early January 2025.
During that point, the entertainer posts different photographs from the digicam’s reminiscence card to his X account, captioned “took these pics” together with a selfie of him carrying a digicam of the identical mannequin.
September 8, 2025: Rivas’ physique is discovered
A day after she would have turned 15, Rivas’ dismembered and decomposing physique is present in the trunk of a Tesla at a police impound yard.
The automotive, which was registered to d4vd, had been apparently deserted on a road not removed from the place d4vd was dwelling in the Hollywood Hills. The automobile was ultimately transferred to the tow yard, the place an worker known as police after noticing a foul odor coming from the automobile.
No trigger of loss of life is introduced publicly. The post-mortem outcomes have been later sealed by a choose at the request of the Los Angeles Police Department, whose elite Robbery-Homicide Division is investigating the younger lady’s loss of life.
When her physique is found, d4vd is on a world tour selling his first full-length album, “Withered.”
The singer cancels his final US tour stops in San Francisco and Los Angeles as information of Rivas’ loss of life attracts nationwide headlines and fervent social media hypothesis. The complete European leg of the Withered World Tour is canceled.
February 2026: Grand jury investigation revealed
Though investigators have but to publicly identify d4vd as a suspect, court docket paperwork reveal the singer is being investigated by a grand jury in reference to Rivas’ loss of life.
Prosecutors describe d4vd as a “target” of the investigation in court docket filings, submitted as half of a dispute over whether or not d4vd’s relations might be compelled to seem earlier than the grand jury.
The paperwork don’t specify what position authorities suspect d4vd could have performed in the lady’s loss of life, solely that he’s a “target” of the probe who could have been “involved” in Rivas’ loss of life.
It is unclear when precisely the grand jury investigation started and what got here of it.
The singer is arrested on suspicion of killing Rivas. He is taken from a house in the Hollywood Hills that’s simply over a mile from the tow yard the place the younger lady’s physique was present in his automotive.
A staff of Los Angeles police and US Marshals used a ramming system to breach an entryway door, photographs posted by police present. As they ready to enter, a squad of officers stood behind the breaching officer with weapons drawn at the prepared.
“There has been no indictment returned by any grand jury in this case and no criminal complaint filed,” the singer’s attorneys mentioned. “David has only been detained under suspicion. We will vigorously defend David’s innocence.”
He is being held in jail with out bail.
The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office is anticipated to share an replace Monday on the case in opposition to d4vd.
The prosecutor’s workplace advised NCS in a press release the case in opposition to d4vd will likely be reviewed by its Major Crimes Division, which can decide whether or not the accessible info and proof assist prison fees.
“At this time, additional information is not available,” the district legal professional’s workplace mentioned in the assertion. “We will share an update on Monday once a filing decision has been made.”
Rivas’ household, who’ve largely remained non-public since the lady’s physique was discovered, will likely be current at Monday’s information convention, their legal professional mentioned.
“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 legal professional for the household, mentioned.
NCS’s Alaa Elassar, Matt Friedman and Scott Glover contributed to this report.