ExclusiveMusician D4vd Charged With 1st Degree Murder, Potentially Facing Death Penalty

David Anthony Burke, a 21-year-old musician known professionally as D4V, has been charged with the murder of 14-year-old girl Celeste Rivas Hernandez, Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hockman said on Monday. Burke was charged with first-degree murder, lewd and lascivious acts with an individual under 14, and mutilating a body in the killing of Rivas, the prosecutor said. The murder charges included special circumstances, lying in wait, committing crime for financial gain, and murdering the witness in an investigation that could carry the death penalty. Prosecutors haven't announced whether they will seek it. Burke, who gained popularity among Generation Z fans for his blend of indie rock, R&B, and lo-fi pop, was arrested on April 16 on suspicion of killing Rivas, whose decomposed body was found in Burke's apparently abandoned Tesla on September 8, 2025. The 2023 Tesla Model Y was registered in the singer's name at the Texas address of his family members. It had been towed from an upscale neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills where it had been sitting. Rivas was reported missing by her family in 2024 when she was 13. Authorities say she was 14 when she died. Attorneys for the Houston-born alt-pop singer said he was innocent in a statement released after homicide detectives arrested him on Thursday at a home in Hollywood. 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, the lawyers said. He has been held without bail.