LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Singer D4vd remained jailed without bail Friday in connection with the death of a teenage girl whose dismembered body was found in the front trunk of his Tesla when it was impounded at a Hollywood tow yard last year.
Los Angeles Police Department officers arrested the 21-year-old singer, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, on Thursday and said the case will be presented to the District Attorney’s Office on Monday.
Video obtained by TMZ shows police taking D4vd into custody around 5 p.m. Thursday in the Hollywood Hills.
D4vd — pronounced “David” — is suspected in the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose body was found Sept. 8 in the front trunk of a Tesla registered to him. The body was found days after what would have been the teen’s 15th birthday, although she is believed to have been dead possibly for weeks in the trunk of the car, which had been parked for several weeks in the Hollywood Hills before it was towed.
D4vd’s team of defense lawyers issued a statement denying the singer killed Celeste.
“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,” lawyers Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski, and Regina Peter said. “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.”
An attorney for D4vd’s parents said in a statement to ABC News, “David’s parents believe in his innocence and support him whole-heartedly.”
The District Attorney’s Office, in a statement to City News Service, declined to comment on the investigation pending its review of the case when it is received from police next week.
“Our office is aware of the arrest of David Anthony Burke by the Los Angeles Police Department,” according to the D.A.’s Office. “The case is expected to be presented to the Major Crimes Division, at which point prosecutors will review the facts and evidence to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to file charges. At this time, additional information is not available. We will share an update on Monday once a filing decision has been made.”
Celeste, of Lake Elsinore, had been reported missing by her mother in 2024, when the girl was just 13. The mother has told reporters that her daughter had a boyfriend named David. D4vd has a tattoo on one of his fingers matching the one reading “Shhh” that the Los Angeles County medical examiner revealed previously was on Rivas’ index finger.
The teen’s brother told NBC4 last year that Celeste was last seen going to a movie with D4vd, but she never returned.
The Tesla in which her body was found had been abandoned near a home in the 1300 block of Doheny Place, not far from a home D4vd had rented. Police served a search warrant at the house and took several items as possible evidence.
“The vehicle had been parked at the location from which it was towed for several weeks, so Ms. Rivas Hernandez may have been deceased for several weeks before the discovery of her body,” police said in a statement in September.
In November, police acknowledged media reports that D4vd traveled to the Santa Barbara area during spring of last year for unknown reasons. The media reports suggested that he traveled to a remote area and remained there for several hours, and that the singer may have had help from another person to dismember the teen’s body.
Police did not provide specifics, saying only, “The reason for that trip is still under investigation and we’ve drawn no conclusions at this point about the relevance of the trip to this case.”
The dismembered and deteriorated condition of the teen’s body is believed to have played a key role in the death investigation. The county Medical Examiner’s Office has not announced a cause of death for the teen, but the office has been prevented since November from releasing any information about its investigation, due to a court order obtained by police that placed a “security hold” on probe.
Police said the security hold was necessary to ensure the integrity of the investigation.
A county grand jury had been hearing testimony from witnesses in the case, but apparently never handed up an indictment, with police saying they plan to submit their investigation Monday to the District Attorney’s Office. It’s unclear how many people testified before the grand jury.
In January, Neo Langston, a 23-year-old social media personality and friend of D4vd, was arrested in Montana, allegedly for failing to appear as a witness in Los Angeles.
In February, D4vd’s parents — Dawud and Colleen Burke — filed court papers seeking quash subpoenas they had received to appear before the grand jury. Their court papers revealed grisly details about the condition of the teen’s body when it was found, stating that her head and torso were inside a cadaver bag, and her limbs were inside a separate bag — both of which were found in the trunk of the Tesla.
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