A missing child and the terrifying discovery of a body
The case is a “parent’s nightmare,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said at a news conference Monday announcing the charges.
Rivas Hernandez’s long-dead body was found inside a Tesla that was pulled out of the Hollywood Hills on September 8, when Burke was on tour in support of his album. It was the day after she would have turned 15.
Her family had reported her missing from her hometown of Lake Elsinore, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles.
The singer was under investigation by an LA County grand jury seeking death. The investigation was officially secret, but its existence — and the designation of Burke as its target — was revealed in February when his mother, father and brother challenged in a Texas court subpoenas seeking to testify. The 2023 Tesla Model Y was registered in the singer’s name at their address, according to court filings. Authorities did not publicly identify him as a suspect until his arrest Thursday.
Police investigators searching the Tesla at a tow yard found a body bag “covered in bugs and a strong odor of decay,” court documents said. Detectives partially unzipped the bag and found a head and torso.
Investigators from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office removed the bag and “discovered that the arms and legs had been severed from the body,” according to court documents. A second black bag was found under the first one and inside it were dismembered body parts. No cause of death has been released publicly, and police got a judge to block the release of autopsy details. After the allegations, the court order was expected to be lifted.
“I have had the opportunity to meet with some of Celeste’s family members and their grief is immeasurable over what happened to their daughter,” Hochman said.
D4vd was a social media savvy singer making breakthroughs
D4vd, pronounced “David,” gained popularity among Gen Z for his mix of indie rock, R&B and lo-fi pop. He went viral on TikTok in 2022 with the hit “Romantic Murder”, which peaked at number four on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. He subsequently signed with Darkroom and Interscope Records and released his debut EP Petals to Thorns and a follow-up, The Lost Petals, in 2023.
The Associated Press confirmed that D4vd was dropped by Interscope last year.
When the body was discovered, the singer continued his North American tour, but when reports of his possible involvement became widespread, he canceled the last two shows and an upcoming European tour.
On April 11, about two weeks before the murder, he made his debut appearance at the Coachella music festival, where he spoke to the AP.
“I was such an internet kid. The internet is really what I claim as my home,” he said. “My neighborhood was Instagram and society was the Internet.”
