D4vd: DA Claims Singer Murdered 14-Year-Old To Save Music Career

David Burke, the R&B singer also known as d4vd, was arrested last week, and now, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office revealed the extent of the charges that he faces in connection with the 2025 death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Read on to find out more.

A Long List Of Charges

On Law&Crime Network on Monday, Jesse Weber discussed “disturbing new allegations” facing the musician. During his SideBar episode, Weber explained that Burke was charged with “first-degree murder, continuous sexual abuse of a minor, and the unlawful mutilation of human remains.”

It’s taken seven months to arrive at this point. Remember, Celeste Rivas Hernandez, 14, was discovered by car lot workers in a Tesla registered to d4vd. Later, confirmation arrived that she was found “decomposed and dismembered.”

Possible Death Penalty?

During a press conference, officials revealed that the murder charge includes “special circumstances” such as “lying in wait.” True crime followers had already wondered if the death penalty might apply. Well, per Deadline:

LA County DA Hochman said the “Romantic Homicide” singer could be executed if found guilty by a jury due to “special circumstances” that permit the rare use of the death penalty in California.”

Notably, the possible death penalty might be applied regarding the “lying in wait” aspect. 

After d4vd’s arrest, Jesse had wondered why the singer wasn’t immediately charged. Plus, he mentioned the secret grand jury hadn’t yet been completed. Presumably, the prosecution believes that there is enough evidence for these serious charges that he faces.

Defense Thinks They Can Prove Innocence

Nevertheless, it seems that his defense team feel confident there are no grounds for the arrest. Jesse cited Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski, and Regina Peterson’s statement as saying:

Well, it seems that the prosecution believe they found plenty of evidence. Nathan Hochman detailed some of the evidence. And it seems rather overwhelming. According to him, allegedly, “Celeste went to Mr. Burke’s home on the night of April 23rd, 2025… and was not heard from again.”

The Possible Motive 

Additionally, they believe they have a motive. The statement added, “The financial gain was for Mr. Burke to maintain his very lucrative musical career that Celeste was threatening on that particular night.” 

Apart from that, the medical examiner’s office finally revealed that the cause of death was, in fact, homicide. That seemed to take a very long time to establish. Apparently, they also have witnesses who will step up and give evidence.

Viewers React

In the comments section, many true crime followers seemed relieved that finally, something came out of a case that seemed stalled, or even covered up. One of them opined, “The wait was frustrating, but I’m glad to see that they are charging him so heavily.”

Here are a few other responses from the discussion, and they’re not waiting for a court to prove him guilty:

• I understand the frustration of it taking months for him to be arrested but I’m glad they did their due diligence to make this an airtight case.
• I can’t believe he was out in the free world all these months and I hope no one else was hurt by him during that time. Justice for Celeste.
• Yeah he killed her to preserve his career.. because murder makes sense.. what a horrible person.

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