LOS ANGELES (AP) — Alt-pop singer D4vd has been charged with sexually abusing, murdering and mutilating the body of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose decomposed remains were found in his apparently abandoned Tesla seven months ago, Los Angeles County prosecutors say.
The allegations in the disturbing case stretch back to 2023 — just a year after the singer’s first single made it onto the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The 21-year-old has pleaded not guilty and his attorneys have said he did not cause her death.
Here’s a look at the timeline of the investigation, the allegations and the career of D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke.
2022: Burke’s music goes viral
Burke, a content creator who began making his own music to accompany the video game montages he would post online, goes viral on TikTok for his song “Romantic Homicide.” The song ultimately peaks at No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart, and Burke signs with Darkroom and Interscope Records.
November, 2023: Prosecutors say the abuse begins
Burke allegedly begins to sexually abuse Rivas Hernandez, who was 13, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office. She was described by authorities as a runaway, and court documents say she lived with Burke in Los Angeles.
Feb. 17, 2024: Investigators first contact Burke about Rivas Hernandez
Investigators have said Rivas Hernandez was reported missing from her home in Lake Elsinore, a town about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles, several times before her death. According to prosecutors, Riverside County authorities contacted Burke about her during one disappearance. He told authorities he was unaware she was a minor and had last had contact with her a few days earlier. Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies checked out Burke’s house looking for Rivas Hernandez and also informed him she was 13.
She returned home two days later, prosecutors say, and her parents took her phone away. They allege that Burke paid $1,000 to a junior high classmate of Rivas Hernandez to give her a phone so he could keep in contact with her.
April 5, 2024: Rivas Hernandez is reported missing
Rivas Hernandez’s family reports the seventh grader missing from her home in Lake Elsinore, for the last time.
Prosecutors allege that in the months that followed, she spent lots of time with the singer and traveled with him to Las Vegas, London and Texas to meet his family.
November 2024: The two break up
Burke and Rivas Hernandez “broke up” but continued to have contact, according to prosecutors. She returned to her home in Lake Elsinore at some point.
April 11, 2025: Burke makes his Coachella debut
Burke performs at the music festival Coachella and goes viral again — this time for face-planting hard on the stage during a failed backflip attempt. In an interview with The Associated Press during the festival, Burke talked about using social media feedback from fans to refine his set lists. “I am my fans and my fans are me. And we work in tandem with each other and it’s such a beautiful poetic kind of thing that we have,” he said.
April 22, 2025: Rivas Hernandez and Burke argue in text messages
“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,” prosecutors said in a document outlining evidence in the case.
April 23, 2025: Rivas Hernandez is last known to be alive
Prosecutors say they believe Burke stabbed Rivas Hernandez to death “on or about” April 23, the day they say she was last heard from. Prosecutors say Burke killed Rivas Hernandez because she threatened to expose their inappropriate relationship and posed a threat to his career.
Burke sent a rideshare car to pick up Rivas Hernandez from her Lake Elsinore home and drop her off at his Hollywood Hills home at around 10:10 p.m. that night.
Prosecutors allege Burke sent text messages beginning at 10:30 p.m. asking Rivas Hernandez where she was to conceal that he had killed her.
At 11:30 p.m., he texted Rivas Hernandez’s cell again asking where she was and drove away from his home to a remote area of Santa Barbara County.
April 24, 2025: Burke ordered a shovel online
Prosecutors say Burke used the Postmates delivery app to have a shovel delivered to his home.
April 25, 2025: Burke releases debut album, ‘Withered’
Burke releases his first album, “Withered.” In social media posts and media interviews, he describes using a recurring motif in his music and videos — an alter ego character he calls “IT4MI,” after “itami,” a Japanese word for pain. “He’s basically like the evil version of me,” Burke said in a YouTube interview with the “Tape Notes” podcast published May 2025. Burke’s videos sometimes depict the character blindfolded, in a shirt that appears covered in blood.
May 1, 2025: More tools are ordered
Burke ordered two chainsaws to be delivered to his home, according to prosecutors. They were ordered using a fake name.
May 5, 2025: Authorities say Rivas Hernandez’s remains are mutilated
One of the felony charges against Burke is “unlawful mutilation of human remains.” Prosecutors say Rivas Hernandez’s arms and legs were severed from her body on or around May 5.
In a subsequent filing, prosecutors allege Burke cut up Rivas Hernandez in an inflatable pool in his garage. DNA evidence that matched hers was later found in the area.
Burke returned to the remote part of Santa Barbara County two more times, and Rivas Hernandez’s passport was found in the area in January 2026, according to a prosecution filing.
They also allege that Burke kept the girl’s body in the front trunk of his Tesla. “He lied to his friends, business associates, and others who noticed the strong smell of decay in and around his home and vehicle,” prosecutors said in a filing.
In late July, before embarking on a tour, Burke parked the car around the corner from his home.
Aug. 5, 2025: Burke launches tour
Burke’s tour for the album “Withered,” begins with a show in Del Mar, California. He also released an official Fortnite anthem, “Locked & Loaded,” on Sept. 3. The collaboration with video game creator Epic Games echoed his start in the music world, when he would create and post Fortnite montages online.
Sept. 8, 2025: Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s body is discovered
One day after she would have turned 15, Rivas Hernandez’s badly decomposed remains are discovered in body bags inside the trunk of a Tesla registered to Burke, prosecutors say. The 2023 Tesla Model Y had been towed from an upscale neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills where it had been sitting, seemingly abandoned. Police searching the vehicle found a cadaver bag covered in bugs with Rivas Hernandez’s head and torso inside. A second bag containing her arms and legs was found underneath the first, according to court documents.
Sept. 17, 2025: Burke’s home searched
Authorities searched Burke’s home and found blood evidence that matched Rivas Hernandez’s DNA. They also found the inflatable pool that they say was used to dismember her, with several cut marks in it, according to a court filing.
Sept. 19, 2025: Burke’s remaining tour dates are canceled
The remaining dates of Burke’s tour, which had been scheduled to wrap up Nov. 4 in Warsaw, Poland, are canceled. The AP confirmed that he was also dropped by his label, Interscope Records, at some point in 2025.
Oct. 6, 2025: A funeral service is held for Rivas Hernandez
Multiple news outlets reported that Rivas Hernandez’s family held a funeral service for her on at the Queen of Heaven Cemetery and Mortuary in Rowland Heights, California.
Nov. 24, 2025: Police block release of coroner’s report
In an unusual move, police block the release of the coroner’s report on Rivas Hernandez’s death. The medical examiner’s office said in a statement that it had received a “court order, initiated by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), to place a security hold” on the case. The order said no records or details, including the cause and manner of death, could be released until further notice.
February 2026: Burke revealed as the target of a secret grand jury probe
The grand jury investigation into the case was kept under seal, as is standard in grand jury proceedings. But some documents were made public by an appeal of subpoenas by Burke’s mother, father and brother that was filed in Texas. The court filings said the Tesla was registered in Burke’s name at the address of his subpoenaed family members, and that the “target may be involved in having committed the following criminal offenses against the laws of the State of California, to wit: One count of murder.”
April 16, 2026: Burke is arrested
Burke is arrested on suspicion of murder in connection with Rivas Hernandez’s death and is held without bail. The Los Angeles Police Department announces the arrest on social media pages, posting photos of several officers wearing tactical gear and holding weapons approaching a home.
April 20, 2025: Burke is charged with murder
Burke is formally charged with murder, lewd and lascivious acts with a person under 14 and mutilating a body. The charging documents also allege several factors connected to the crimes that could lead to a harsher sentence if Burke is convicted. Those circumstances include allegations that Burke was “lying in wait” for Rivas Hernandez, who entered his home and was never seen again; that she was a witness to an investigation into the lewd and lascivious acts committed against her; and that Burke allegedly killed her for financial gain.