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Everything You Need to Know About the Case of D4VD
That Chapter's 51-minute breakdown of the whole case.
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What happened
Celeste Abigail Rivas Hernandez was a 14-year-old girl from Lake Elsinore, California, born September 7, 2010, to parents who had immigrated from El Salvador. According to prosecutors, she met American singer-songwriter David Anthony Burke, known professionally as D4vd, in January 2022, when she was 11, and the two began a sexual relationship in November 2023, when she was 13 and Burke was 18. Prosecutors allege Rivas spent significant time with Burke over the following year, including trips to Las Vegas, London, and Texas. Rivas's parents reported her missing to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department three times in early 2024. Investigators then traced Burke's phone number in her phone records; he denied knowing she was a minor or missing, and Rivas returned home two days later.
The relationship reportedly ended in November 2024, though the two allegedly continued sexual contact. On April 22, 2025, prosecutors say Rivas confronted Burke by text about other relationships and threatened to make theirs public. The next evening, Burke arranged an Uber to bring Rivas to his Hollywood Hills residence; investigators believe he fatally stabbed her there, and prosecutors allege a later text to her was part of an effort to conceal the killing. Burke then allegedly drove to a remote Santa Barbara County site, which he revisited twice more; Rivas's passport card was later recovered there. Beginning the next day, Burke ordered a shovel, chainsaws, a body bag, and other supplies under a false name; prosecutors allege Rivas's body was dismembered in his garage, where blood matching her DNA was found, and her remains were placed in his Tesla Model X's front trunk.
The Tesla sat on a Hollywood Hills street for weeks after Burke left on a concert tour, until impounded in early September 2025. On September 8, a tow yard worker reported a foul odor to the Los Angeles Police Department, leading to the discovery of Rivas's heavily decomposed remains; the county medical examiner identified her on September 16. An autopsy found two sharp-force wounds to her torso, determined the cause of death to be multiple penetrating injuries, and classified the death a homicide; extensive decomposition limited further findings. In November 2025, the LAPD obtained a court order sealing the medical examiner's case file, a move the office publicly opposed; the report was unsealed in April 2026.
LAPD investigators searched a Hollywood Hills property linked to Burke in September 2025. Burke was named a suspect in November 2025, as a grand jury was convened and the LAPD began describing the case as a murder investigation; Rivas's family considered suing the LAPD over delays and a lack of transparency. On April 16, 2026, Burke was arrested on suspicion of Rivas's murder. Four days later, prosecutors charged him with first-degree murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, and unlawful mutilation of human remains, citing special circumstances including murder of a witness and lying in wait, and said they would consider the death penalty. Burke pleaded not guilty, and Rivas's date of death was listed as on or about April 23, 2025. Prosecutors said they also found child sexual abuse material on Burke's iCloud account. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for July 2026.
Burke's record label and several collaborators cut ties with him, and his concert tour was canceled following the discovery. Rivas was buried at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Rowland Heights, California, in October 2025, drawing a large community turnout in Lake Elsinore. Her family described her as a beloved daughter and sister who "deserved so much more," and her mother said outside court that she wanted "justice for my daughter."
