Singer D4vd stabbed 14-year-old girl to death to silence her, prosecutors say

Prosecutors have said US singer D4vd killed 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez by stabbing her multiple times before dismembering her body using chainsaws in his garage.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office provided the first detailed allegations of the killing in court papers, as well as efforts to cut apart the girl’s body and get rid of evidence.

D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, is alleged to have first met Celeste when she was 11, began sexually abusing her when she was 13 and he was 18, and killed her in Los Angeles when she threatened to reveal their inappropriate relationship.

The filing said: “Knowing he had to silence the victim before she ruined his music career as she had threatened, very soon after her arrival at his home, (the) defendant stabbed the victim to death multiple times and stood by while she bled out.”

Burke, 21, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and other counts. His lawyers have said he is innocent and did not cause Celeste’s death.

Her body was found decomposing in a Tesla towed from the Hollywood Hills in September last year.

Prosecutors said they had obtained text messages that showed their sexual relationship, including child sexual abuse images of her on the singer’s phone.

“The messages reveal the victim’s jealousy over defendant’s relationships with other women, as defendant led her to believe they had a future together,” the document says.

“She became extremely upset and threatened to disclose damaging information about her relationship with defendant to end his career and destroy his life.”

The filing said he sent a rideshare car to pick her up on the night of April 23 2025 from her home town of Lake Elsinore some 80 miles outside of Los Angeles. The two exchanged messages until she arrived at his Hollywood home, after which her phone went silent permanently.

They allege he sent her a late-night message asking where she was, in an attempt to cover up the killing.

The court filing is intended to outline the evidence that prosecutors plan to present at a preliminary evidentiary hearing beginning May 26, when a judge will determine whether there is probable cause to go to trial.

Burke’s defence team has not publicly provided its version of events.

The document says Burke bought two chainsaws online used them to cut apart her body in an inflatable pool in his garage, where the girl’s DNA was later found.

“Defendant took horrifying measures to destroy and discard the victim’s body,” prosecutors said in the brief.

Burke drove to Lake Cachuma in Santa Barbara County about 110 miles north-west of his home to get rid of evidence three times, the document alleges. Her passport was found there in January.

On April 24, the day after her death, he gave a radio interview and had a record-release party promoting his debut full-length album, Withered, which was released the following day, prosecutors said.

It is alleged he kept her body in his Tesla, and lied to friends and business associates who asked about the smell.

Prosecutors had not previously described how they believed Celeste was killed or given details on her alleged relationship. A post-mortem examination said she was killed by penetrating wounds.

The papers said Celeste’s parents reported her missing from her home in Lake Elsinore in February 2024. After the February report, Riverside County Sheriff’s detectives contacted Burke, but he told them he had only met the girl once and did not know she was a minor.

After she returned home that February, her parents took away her mobile phone but Burke drove to her hometown and paid a friend of the girl 1,000 dollars (£740) to give her a phone so they could communicate.

She was reported missing again in April 2024. The document said that year, she spent much of her time at Burke’s home in the Hollywood Hills and travelled with him to Las Vegas, London, and Texas to meet his family.

Defence lawyers asked Superior Court Judge Charlaine F Olmedo at a hearing on Wednesday to seal the document, but she declined. They had no comment outside court.

Burke was arrested on April 16 on charges of first-degree murder, lewd and lascivious acts with a person under 14 and mutilating a dead body. He is eligible for the death penalty, but prosecutors said they have not decided whether to seek it.

The singer began making music for YouTube videos he created of the video game Fortnite when he was a teenager.

The songs he wrote and recorded on his phone were a blend of indie rock, R&B and lo-fi pop. The music made him a phenomenon on TikTok, Instagram, Soundcloud and Spotify, where his top songs, including his 2022 breakthrough Romantic Homicide, have more than a billion plays. In 2023, he released two EPs and opened for SZA on tour.

He performed at last year’s Coachella music festival just a few weeks before prosecutors said Celeste was killed and his album was released.

D4vd was on tour promoting it in September when the body was discovered and his name became publicly attached to the case. It would be seven months before he was arrested.