Prosecutors laid out a stark narrative in newly released court documents describing how D4vd, the legal name David Anthony Burke, allegedly murdered a teenager he had been sexually abusing to prevent her from exposing him and ruining his music career.
Burke, a singer, met Celeste Rivas Hernandez when she was 11 years old and began what prosecutors call a sexual relationship with her at age 13, when he was 18. The relationship deteriorated into threats and jealousy, court papers show.
According to the prosecution brief, messages from April 2025 revealed that Celeste was jealous of Burke's other relationships with women. Burke had led her to believe they had a future together, the documents state. The teenager then threatened to disclose damaging information about their relationship and end his music career.
"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, defendant stabbed the victim to death multiple times and stood by while she bled out," the prosecution alleged in the brief.
Burke's defense team maintains his innocence and says he did not kill Celeste. His attorneys had requested that the judge block release of the prosecution's brief, but the request was denied.
Prosecutors say Burke murdered Celeste the day after receiving her threatening messages in April 2025. He then purchased two chainsaws and used them to dismember her body in an inflatable pool at his Hollywood Hills home. Celeste's DNA was discovered in his garage.
Her decomposed remains were found in September 2025 in the trunk of a Tesla registered to Burke, abandoned in the Hollywood Hills. According to prosecutors, Burke was the last person to drive the vehicle.
The Los Angeles County medical examiner determined that Celeste died from penetrating injuries, with significant wounds to her torso. The advanced decomposition of her remains initially complicated the examination. Two of her fingers were missing, and prosecutors say Celeste had Burke's name tattooed on them.
Celeste had first been reported missing from her Lake Elsinore hometown, roughly 70 miles east of Los Angeles, in 2024. The seventh-grader ran away in February, returned home briefly, and then disappeared again. Police contacted Burke during the initial missing person investigation, and he told them he was unaware she was a minor and had met her only once.
After Celeste returned home the first time, her parents confiscated her phone. According to the prosecution, Burke paid one of the teenager's friends $1,000 to give her a new cellphone so they could maintain contact. She subsequently ran away again and spent extensive time at Burke's residence and traveled with him to Las Vegas, London, and Texas, where she met his family.
Prosecutors also say Burke was in possession of child sexual abuse images of Celeste.
Celeste's remains were discovered one day before what would have been her 15th birthday. A court hearing scheduled for Friday has been postponed to late May to give the defense adequate time to review evidence.
Author James Rodriguez: "The scale of calculated predation here, from grooming through alleged murder to dismemberment, paints a picture of someone who viewed a child's life as disposable once she threatened his interests."
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