Singer D4vd has been identified as a suspect in the death of a 15-year-old girl who was found dead in a vehicle he owned in September, according to a Los Angeles Police Department source with direct knowledge of the investigation.
D4vd, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, has not been charged with any crime.
He has not been cooperative, the source told NBC Los Angeles. The teen most likely died in the spring, and D4vd most likely had help dismembering and disposing of the body, the source said.
Burke’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday evening. A spokesman for the singer said in September that he was “fully cooperating with authorities.”
The remains of Celeste Rivas Hernandez were found Sept. 8 in the trunk of a Tesla at a Los Angeles impound lot, police have said.
The Tesla had been towed after having been parked for several weeks, “so Ms. Rivas Hernandez may have been deceased for several weeks before the discovery of her body,” police said Sept. 29.
She was reported missing from Lake Elsinore, California, last year. She was last seen April 5, 2024, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.
The cause and manner of her death were still “deferred” Tuesday, which indicates a determination is pending further investigation, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Department said. A manner of someone’s death includes whether it was a homicide or not.
After the teen was found dead, police said that because a manner of death had not been determined, “it remains unclear whether there is any criminal culpability beyond the concealment of her body.”
The Robbery-Homicide Division “is thoroughly examining every aspect of this case to uncover the truth and seek justice for Celeste Rivas Hernandez and her family,” the police department said on Sept. 29.
D4vd canceled the rest of his U.S tour in September as the investigation was ongoing.
