Regan Morris
Reporting from Los Angeles

This case has gripped Los Angeles for months, and sparked intense speculation on social media.

Singer D4vd, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke, has now been charged with the murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. D4vd's lawyers say he’s innocent.

Many have been asking: why did an arrest take so long?

The runaway teenager was reported missing in 2024.

In September 2025, investigators found her decomposed remains in a bag in the front boot of a Tesla registered to Burke’s address.

The car had been impounded in a Hollywood tow yard, and someone reported the smell. The medical examiner said she may have been dead for weeks.

At the time D4vd was on a world tour - his career was on a viral high, with millions of followers.

Then it all stopped. He cancelled his tour and stepped back from the spotlight. And while a grand jury had been hearing evidence since late last year, there were no public updates.

His family declined to testify.

After months of near silence — he was arrested last week. And now, charged.

What happens next will play out in court. Celeste’s family and friends have been grieving and calling for answers.

8 September 2025

The remains of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez were found in the front boot of a Tesla in a Hollywood tow yard, after authorities received reports of a foul odour coming from the vehicle.

The decomposition of her body indicated that she had already been "deceased for several weeks", investigators said. No cause of death was publicly announced and court records of the investigation were sealed.

The car, registered to 21-year old singer D4vd, had been towed from the Hollywood Hills neighbourhood five days after it had been abandoned.

23 April, 2025

Celeste Rivas Hernandez went to the singer’s home and wasn’t seen alive again, the Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman says in a press conference on 20 April 2026

19 September 2025

D4vd - real name David Anthony Burke - who was on a world tour promoting his debut album, cancelled the remaining tour stops in the US and Europe.

February 2026

Unsealed court filings revealed that D4vd was being targeted in a grand jury investigation into the murder. His representatives said he was cooperating with police.

16 April 2026

Seven months after her body is found, D4vid was arrested on suspicion of murder. The Los Angeles Police Department said on Thursday that the 21-year-old was being held without bail.

Today

The Los Angeles District Attorney’s office announces they will file three charges against D4vid, including first-degree murder. Charges also include numerous lewd sexual acts with an individual younger than 14 years old, says DA Nathan Hochman.

Image source, Reuters

Warning - this story contains content that some may find distressing

Celeste Rivas Hernandez had been reported missing since April 2024.

A first-generation daughter of immigrant parents from El Salvador, she lived about 75 miles (120km) from where her body was discovered.

Investigators found her decomposed remains in a cadaver bag in the front trunk of a Tesla car registered to D4vd's address in Texas, court documents said.

The seventh-grader’s remains were found the day after she was supposed to turn 15.

Neighbours recognised her as a girl who would visit the corner store almost daily to buy candy and soda, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Late last year, her family launched a fundraiser to help with funeral expenses, saying that she "was a beloved daughter, sister, cousin, and friend".

The BBC has contacted the lawyers for David Anthony Burke for comment today upon murder charges being filed against the singer, who is known professionally as D4vd.

We haven't yet heard back, but in a statement released after Burke's arrest last Thursday, his legal team said that they "will vigorously defend David’s innocence".

Burke’s attorneys Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter issued the following statement at the time of his arrest:

"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. 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."

Shaimaa Khalil
Los Angeles Correspondent

The atmosphere in the room here was charged – everyone in the press conference had been waiting for that moment of clarity – after months of silence from authorities.

The hum then went quite when the exhibits came out.

A picture of 14-year-old Celeste – and the mug shot of D4vd, who was arrested last week.

Then the District Attorney Nathan Hochman spoke: D4vd has been charged with first degree murder with special circumstances.

If found guilty, he could face life without parole or the death penalty.

Image source, Getty Images

Los Angeles police and the district attorney's office have finished their press conference after taking questions from reporters.

Hochman is asked by the BBC why it took so long to make an arrest.

He outlines the difficulties in interviewing multiple people, some of whom are "cooperative" and some of whom are not, and looking at all the evidence.

"It's the type of case that you went to get maximum information," he says.

He says if anyone out there has any information on Burke, they should come forward.

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell is now speaking, addressing the seven months of criticism on how Los Angeles police have handled the case and their decision not to provide details.

"I want to be clear about something. My duty is not to fuel speculation. It's to deliver justice, and that requires patience and discipline on everybody's part," he says.

"This investigation was driven by a single purpose to secure justice for Celeste Rivas and for those who loved her. We had to be certain that nothing we did or said would ever jeopardise this case."

He says conditions of Celeste's remains delayed the ability to determine cause of death and that there was a substantial amount of time between her death and her discovery, which meant evidence had degraded or disappeared.

Hochman is providing more details about the allegations against Burke.

He says there are three sets of charges.

Burke is charged with first-degree murder, with special circumstances of "lying in wait" as Celeste went to his home.

The second charge is an additional special circumstances of alleged murder for "financial gain". Hochman accuses Burke of murdering the 14-year-old to maintain his lucrative musical career "that Celeste was threatening on that particular night".

The third charge is murdering a witness to an investigation. He says evidence to be shown in court says Rivas was a witness into an investigation of sexual acts committed by Burke while she was under 14-years-old.

Hochman says that on 23 April 2025, Celeste, who was 14 at the time, went to Burke's house in the Hollywood Hills and "she was never heard from again".

He adds that her dismembered and decomposed remains were found inside a trunk of a car registered to Burk on 8 September 2025 - when the investigation first began.

Image source, Getty Images

Hochman says the charges involve numerous sexual acts with a minor, or a girl who was 14 years old, and the mutilation of a body.

The DA's office could eventually seek the death penalty in the case, Hochman says.

"A parent's nightmare is a situation where your daughter goes out one night and never comes back," he says.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman has just announced charges of first-degree murder against David Anthony Burke, the singer also known as D4vd.

Hochman describes it as a "brutal and horrific murder" of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who was 14 at the time of her death.

Regan Morris
Reporting from Los Angeles

Image source, Getty Images

The Los Angeles district attorney has charged the singer D4vd with murder.

David Anthony Burke was arrested Thursday on suspicion of murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez whose decomposed remains were found in the singer’s Tesla in Hollywood.

The DA's press conference is now under way and they have posted his mugshot and charge as an exhibit next to the podium.

Nathan Hochman, the District Attorney for LA county is now speaking, he introduces the team of prosecutors and LAPD who are with him.

You can watch live above.

D4vd, legal name David Anthony Burke, was arrested on suspicion of murder last week.

The singer, from Houston, Texas, is best known for indie-pop hits like Here With Me and Romantic Homicide.

He released his debut album in April 2025, accumulating 22 million monthly listeners on Spotify and almost four million followers on TikTok.

Shortly after Hernandez's body was found in a vehicle registered in his name, the singer cancelled his world tour and retreated from the spotlight.

Image source, Getty Images

Rebecka Pieder
US reporter

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office is expected to hold a press conference in the next few minutes after 21-year-old singer D4vd was arrested last week on suspicion of murdering a teen girl.

District Attorney Nathan Hochman and LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell will speak at 13:00 ET (18:00BST). You can watch live at the top of this page.

D4vd - whose legal name is David Anthony Burke - was arrested on Thursday, on suspicion of murdering a teenage girl who went missing last year.

The singer was the target of a grand jury investigation into the apparent murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose remains were found in his Tesla in September.

In a statement to US media, Burke's lawyers said: "Let us be clear - 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 singer must be charged or released by 17:00 local time on Monday in accordance with a 48-hour detention rule that excludes weekends and court holidays.