Lawyers for singer D4vd say he didn't kill 14-year-old girl after his
arrest
[April 17, 2026]
By ANDREW DALTON
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Singer D4vd has been arrested on suspicion of killing
a 14-year-old girl whose decomposed body was found seven months ago in
his apparently abandoned Tesla, authorities said Thursday, while his
lawyers declared his innocence.
Los Angeles police said in a brief statement that homicide detectives
arrested the 21-year-old Houston-born alt-pop singer, whose legal name
is David Burke, on suspicion of murder in the investigation of the
killing of Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
Defense attorneys Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter
responded in an email: “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.”
Police said investigators would present a case to prosecutors at the Los
Angeles County District Attorneys Office on Monday. The office said in
its own statement that it is aware of the arrest and its Major Crimes
Division will review the case to determine whether there is enough
evidence to file charges.
The defense lawyers added, “There has been no indictment returned by any
grand jury in this case and no criminal complaint filed. David has only
been detained under suspicion. We will vigorously defend David’s
innocence.”
It was their first public statement on the case. Authorities did not
publicly name Burke as a suspect until his arrest. He was being held in
jail without bail.
The singer had been under investigation by an LA County grand jury
looking into the death of Rivas Hernandez. The probe was officially
secret, but its existence — and the designation of D4vd as its target —
was revealed on Feb. 25 when his mother, father and brother filed an
objection in a Texas court to subpoenas demanding they testify.
The long-dead body of Rivas Hernandez was found in a Tesla towed from
the Hollywood Hills on Sept. 8, a day after she would have turned 15.
She was a 13-year-old seventh grader when her family reported her
missing in 2024 from her hometown of Lake Elsinore, about 70 miles (112
kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles. Authorities give her age as 14
when she was killed in court documents.
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American singer-songwriter, David Anthony Burke, aka D4vd, performs
on the Casino stage during the 58th Montreux Jazz Festival (MJF), in
Montreux, Switzerland, July 19, 2024. (Cyril Zingaro/Keystone via
AP, File)
 The 2023 Tesla Model Y was
registered in the singer's name at the Texas address of his
subpoenaed family members, according to court filings from
prosecutors. It had been towed from an upscale neighborhood in the
Hollywood Hills where it had been sitting, seemingly abandoned.
Police investigators searching the Tesla in a tow yard found a
cadaver bag “covered with insects and a strong odor of decay,” court
documents said, and “detectives partially unzipped the bag and
observed a decomposed head and torso.”
Investigators from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office
removed the bag and “discovered the arms and legs had been severed
from the body,” according to court documents. A second black bag was
found under the first, and dismembered body parts were inside it. No
cause of death has been publicly revealed.
D4vd, pronounced “David,” gained popularity among Generation Z fans
for his blend of indie rock, R&B and lo-fi pop. He went viral on
TikTok in 2022 with the hit “Romantic Homicide,” which peaked at No.
4 on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. He then signed
with Darkroom and Interscope Records and released his debut EP
“Petals to Thorns” and a follow-up, “The Lost Petals,” in 2023.
When the body was discovered, D4vd had been on tour in support of
his first full-length album, “Withered.” Later, the last two North
American shows, in San Francisco and Los Angeles, along with a
scheduled performance at LA’s Grammy Museum, were canceled, as was
the European tour that was to have begun in Norway.
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