Prosecutors allege the singer D4vd dismembered the physique of a 14-year-old woman utilizing a chainsaw bought per week after she was killed — together with amputating a finger that had his title tattooed on it to “distance himself from the sufferer,” in keeping with a graphic new submitting within the murder case.
D4vd — a 21-year-old Los Angeles resident whose authorized title is David Burke — was charged final week with the homicide of Celeste Rivas Hernandez following a monthslong investigation.
He has pleaded not responsible, and his attorneys keep his innocence.
The reserving photograph for the singer D4vd — whose actual title is David Burke — is proven throughout a press briefing in Los Angeles on April 20, 2026.
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The teenager’s badly decomposed, dismembered physique was present in his Tesla in September 2025 at a Hollywood impound lot, police mentioned. Her head and torso have been in a cadaver bag and her limbs in a rubbish bag within the entrance trunk of his Tesla, prosecutors mentioned.
In a nine-page transient, prosecutors revealed disturbing particulars within the homicide case — alleging D4vd lured Rivas Hernandez to his Hollywood Hills residence months earlier in a premeditated plan to kill her as a result of she threatened to reveal their sexual relationship and smash his music profession. They are saying he then dismembered her physique and left her to decay in his Tesla.
Based on prosecutors, the 2 allegedly started a sexual relationship in 2023, when Rivas Hernandez was 13 and D4vd was 18, and broke up in November 2024. The 2 are believed to have continued to have a sexual relationship, and that Rivas Hernandez grew jealous of D4vd’s relationships with different ladies, prosecutors mentioned.
Textual content messages between D4vd and the teenager allegedly reveal that in an argument on April 22, 2025, Rivas Hernandez “grew to become extraordinarily upset and threatened to reveal damaging details about her relationship with defendant to finish his profession and destroy his life.”
Prosecutors say D4vd invited the teenager to his residence the next day, ordering her an Uber to her residence in Lake Elsinore, Riverside County, in keeping with the submitting.
A photograph of Celeste Rivas Hernandez is displayed Monday, April 20, 2026, in Los Angeles for a press convention relating to the case of singer D4vd, who was charged on suspicion of killing the 14-year-old woman whose dismembered physique was present in his automobile. (AP Picture/Damian Dovarganes)
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“Realizing he needed to silence the sufferer earlier than she ruined his music profession as she had threatened, very quickly after her arrival at his residence, defendant stabbed the sufferer to demise a number of instances and stood by whereas she bled out,” prosecutors wrote.
Prosecutors mentioned they consider Rivas Hernandez was killed on April 23, 2025 — two days earlier than the discharge of D4vd’s debut studio album — when all her cell exercise stopped.
As a part of the alleged plot, prosecutors say D4vd texted the teenager a number of instances, asking the place she was, as a part of his “premeditated plan to cowl up the homicide, as she was already lifeless by this time.” He by no means tried to contact her once more after April 26, 2025, prosecutors mentioned.
He allegedly disposed of her property at an remoted location in Santa Barbara County, the place investigators would discover the teenager’s identification in January 2026, in keeping with the submitting.
Prosecutors say that within the days after the alleged homicide, D4vd ordered two chainsaws, a physique bag, heavy-duty laundry luggage and a blue inflatable pool from Amazon. A number of the gadgets have been bought underneath the faux title, Victoria Mendez, in keeping with the submitting.
D4vd “took horrifying measures to destroy and discard the sufferer’s physique,” prosecutors allege.
He’s accused of utilizing a chainsaw to chop off her limbs within the pool “to stop her blood from spilling onto his storage flooring.” Small blue plastic fragments that have been discovered embedded within the sufferer’s stays matched the pool he bought, and DNA proof from blood stains collected from the defendant’s storage match the sufferer’s genetic profile, prosecutors mentioned.
“With a view to distance himself from the sufferer, he amputated her left ring and pinky fingers as a result of her ring finger contained a tattoo of his title,” prosecutors wrote, noting that her fingers haven’t been discovered.
Prosecutors allege he then positioned her dismembered stays within the physique bag and rubbish bag and “left the sufferer’s physique to decompose inside his Tesla.”
“He lied to associates, enterprise associates, and others who observed the sturdy odor of decay in and round his residence and automobile,” prosecutors wrote.
A makeshift Memorial for Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who was killed and located inside a automobile owned by singer D4vd, is positioned outdoors her residence in Lake Elsinore, Calif., on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Picture/Damian Dovarganes)
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D4vd was the final particular person to drive the Tesla, in keeping with prosecutors. They are saying he parked it across the nook from his residence on July 29, 2025, earlier than leaving for his live performance tour.
A preliminary listening to within the case has been scheduled for Could 26.
The briefing was filed to “help the court docket in understanding the scope and relevance of proof the prosecution intends to current on the preliminary listening to,” prosecutors wrote.
D4vd has been charged with homicide, steady sexual abuse and unlawfully mutilating a physique and stays held on no bail.
