Details are emerging about the arrest of the musician known as D4vd in the 2025 slaying of teenager Celeste Rivas Hernandez in Hollywood.
David Anthony Burke, 21, was taken into custody shortly after 4:30 p.m. Thursday in Hollywood and booked at LAPD’s 77th Street jail hours later.
Images, posted on social media, show members of the Robbery Homicide and Gang and Narcotics divisions approaching a home on a tree-lined street wearing tactical gear and carrying rifles. The road sits off of Sunset Boulevard on a celebrity-filled lane where the likes of Kendall Jenner and Emily Blunt have lived and where Jimmy Kimmel once described himself as the neighborhood watch captain.
On Thursday afternoon a procession of LAPD vehicles proceeded up the narrow avenue blocking access to the road on either side of the property. At some point after 4:30 p.m. detectives with Robbery Homicide Division and heavily armed members of the Gang and Narcotics Division, who specialize in high-profile arrests, moved in and banged loudly on the main door, announcing they are LAPD and there for David Burke, better known as D4vd, and ordered him to come out and surrender.
The singer surrendered and was formally arrested at 5 p.m
In one image from the arrest, an officer appears to use a handheld battering ram to force entry into the front gate of the home.
Burke is being held without bail and the case will be presented to the L.A. County district attorney’s office on Monday for filing consideration, according to LAPD. Burke’s attorneys, Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter, released a joint statement after his arrest, saying, “Let us be clear — 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.”
Authorities have released no details about the evidence that led to the arrest.
David Anthony Burke performing.
(Cyril Zingaro / Associated Press)
Timeline of case
Aug. 27: L.A. parking officials first ticket a Tesla in a Hollywood Hills neighborhood that some residents worried had been abandoned.
Sept. 8: A girl’s severely decomposed body was found in the Tesla registered to D4vd at Hollywood Tow after it was impounded. Someone had noticed a foul odor coming from the vehicle and detectives arrived at the tow yard to investigate.
Sept. 18: Detectives served a search warrant at D4vd’s home in an upscale neighborhood on Doheny Drive, north of Sunset Boulevard. Law enforcement sources with knowledge of the case but not authorized to speak publicly said the detective received various items, including electronics and computers. Police say the singer is cooperating.
Sept. 21: A memorial is held in the Lake Elsinore neighborhood of the victim, Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
Mid-November: The Los Angeles district attorney’s office convened a secret investigative grand jury to hear evidence, including testimony from witnesses.
Nov. 21: Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner received a court order to seal autopsy results and any documentation in Celeste’s death at the request of a Los Angeles police detective.
Feb. 12: A key grand jury witness was brought back to L.A. from Montana to testify. A swarm of police officers apprehended the witness at his mother’s residence in Helena, Mont., after he failed to appear in a Los Angeles County criminal proceeding. L.A. County jail issued the warrant, officials said.
Feb. 23: Documents show D4vd is the “target” of a Los Angeles County criminal jury investigation into Celeste’s death. The records also reveal that her “arms and legs had been severed from the body.”
April 16: Singer D4vd was arrested on suspicion of murder in connection to Celeste’s death.
Photographs, intimate notes and flowers, among other items, left at a memorial for Celeste Rivas Hernandez
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Who is D4vd?
Burke was raised in Houston and has collaborated with musicians Kali Uchis, Stray Kids’ Hyunjin, Laufey and 21 Savage. He also created an anthem for the game “Fortnite.”
In August, he started a national tour promoting his debut album “Withered.” He performed in Boston, Montreal and Toronto in late August and in early September had stops in Detroit, Chicago and Indianapolis. The tour was paused after his name was linked to Celeste‘s case.
The Withered world tour includes themes of death and remembrance. Fans entering Burke’s show were greeted by a casket and guest book, where they could pay condolences to a character Burke sometimes reprises in his performances and music videos. Part of that character’s uniform includes a shirt covered in bloody handprints and a blindfold.
“Withered” was released on Darkroom and Interscope Records in April. The album charted at No. 13 on the Billboard 200 and has more than 521 million streams on Spotify.
In September, Celeste‘s decomposing body was found.
According to a grand jury subpoena that was part of a legal challenge filed by the singer’s family in Texas, when police opened up the Tesla trunk, they found “a black cadaver bag covered with insects and a strong odor of decay” inside. Investigators had been granted a search warrant to look in the vehicle Sept. 8 after a tow yard worker noticed a rotting smell emanating from the vehicle.
According to the document, detectives partially unzipped the bag and found “a decomposed head and torso.”
Who is Celeste Rivas Hernandez?
Celeste Rivas Hernandez lived in the suburb of Lake Elsinore but had connections to Hollywood, the music scene and singer D4vd.
Last September, the Los Angeles Police Department announced her decomposing body had been found inside the trunk of a Tesla owned by the singer. The vehicle was found parked on a street where D4vd was renting a home.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office said Celeste was declared dead on Sept. 8, one day after her 15th birthday. But authorities believe she had been dead for weeks before she was discovered.
How Celeste met Burke remains unclear. Law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation say they met online. Burke gained an online following by posting “Fortnite” clips to YouTube and pivoted to making his own music. He was signed to a record label by 2022.
Celeste, a first-generation daughter of immigrant parents from El Salvador, attended Lakeland Village School.
People in Lake Elsinore said she was a typical teenager.
She visited the corner store almost every day with her friends, wearing a backpack and her usual long, curly black hair. She got candy, soda and Takis. She was a familiar face to neighbors and local business owners.
But she had run away from home several times, and that sparked worries from friends and family.
There was an emotional memorial in her honor near her home in September.
