Police say David Burke was jailed without bail after a monthslong investigation into the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose remains were found in a Tesla registered to him.
LOS ANGELES — Singer D4vd was arrested Thursday on suspicion of murder in the killing of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose remains were found last fall in a Tesla registered to him, as Los Angeles prosecutors prepared to decide whether to file charges.
David Burke, the 21-year-old performer known professionally as D4vd, was taken into custody by Los Angeles police and remained jailed without bail late Thursday. The arrest moved a case that had been shaped for months by sealed records, forensic delays and a secret grand jury process into a new phase, but not yet a final one. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said it will review the evidence on Monday, April 20, to decide whether to file a criminal complaint. Until then, Burke is publicly accused by police but has not been formally charged in court, and several central facts in the case, including Celeste’s cause of death, remain undisclosed.
Police said Robbery-Homicide Division detectives arrested Burke at a home on Marmont Avenue in the Hollywood Hills just after 4:30 p.m. Thursday. Investigators said the arrest was made on probable cause and happened without incident. The public path to that arrest began much earlier. Celeste, who lived in the Lake Elsinore area, was reported missing in 2024 after she was last seen April 5. On Sept. 8, 2025, workers at a Hollywood tow yard reported a strong odor coming from a 2023 Tesla Model Y that had been impounded after being found apparently abandoned in the Hollywood Hills. Officers opened the vehicle’s front storage area and found human remains. In a statement released after the arrest, Burke’s lawyers, Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter, said, “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.”
Court filings made public over the last several months show how investigators built the case. Prosecutors said the Tesla was registered in Burke’s name at a Texas address tied to members of his family. According to those filings, detectives found a cadaver bag covered with insects and a strong odor of decay inside the front compartment. Investigators wrote that they partially opened the bag and saw a decomposed head and torso. A second bag underneath contained severed body parts, according to the documents. The Los Angeles County medical examiner later identified the remains as Celeste through forensic work. Detectives also searched a Hollywood Hills home where Burke had been staying and removed items they believed could help establish a connection between the teen, the vehicle and the property. Even now, officials have not publicly said where they believe Celeste was killed, when exactly she died, or what specific evidence beyond the car and seized materials they believe ties Burke directly to her death.
The case drew intense attention long before Thursday’s arrest because it combined a missing-child investigation, a high-profile young musician and an unusually secretive court process. Celeste was 13 when her family first reported her missing. Court records later described her as 14 when she was killed, and investigators found her remains on Sept. 8, one day after what would have been her 15th birthday. In November, a judge granted a request to keep medical examiner details under seal, barring the public release of information about the timing, cause and manner of death while detectives continued their work. Then in February, court papers from Texas showed that Los Angeles prosecutors had issued Jan. 15 subpoenas seeking testimony from Burke’s mother, father and brother in a grand jury investigation. Those records identified Burke as the target of a possible murder case and gave the clearest public look yet at what detectives said they found in the Tesla. At the same time, Burke’s music career stalled. Remaining tour dates and overseas shows were canceled as his connection to the case became widely known.
What happens next is narrower, but no less important. Police said they will present the case to the district attorney’s office on Monday for filing consideration. Prosecutors then must decide whether the evidence supports a formal murder charge, a different charge or more investigative work before any complaint is filed. Burke’s attorneys stressed Thursday that no indictment has been returned and no criminal complaint has been filed, a distinction that matters because an arrest on suspicion is not the same as a filed case. If prosecutors move forward, Burke would likely be brought to court for arraignment, where a judge would read the charges, consider bail and set future hearing dates. If prosecutors decline to file immediately, detectives could continue reviewing digital records, forensic testing and witness testimony gathered through the grand jury inquiry. No other arrests were announced Thursday, and authorities have not publicly said whether they believe anyone else helped kill Celeste or dispose of her remains.
Outside the legal filings, the human side of the case has remained visible in bursts. NBC Los Angeles reported that detectives were seen leaving the arrest scene Thursday night with evidence boxes. In Lake Elsinore, neighbors and relatives have followed the case for months with little public information from authorities. Kayleigh Cortez, a neighbor who helped create a memorial for Celeste, told NBC Los Angeles that she felt a chill when she heard about the arrest after more than 200 days had passed. Celeste’s brother said last year that the family knew she was familiar with Burke, and he said she had told him she was on her way to see a movie with him before she disappeared. Authorities have not publicly described the nature of any relationship between the two, and police have not confirmed the timeline of any contact between them. That leaves the broad shape of the case in public view, but many of the most important details still inside investigative files and sealed records.
As of Thursday night, Burke remained in custody without bail, Celeste’s cause of death was still not public and the next milestone was Monday’s charging decision, which will show whether the case moves from suspicion and sealed filings to an open criminal prosecution.
Author note: Last updated April 16, 2026.