D4vd Lured Teen, Used Chainsaw To Dismember Her — How He Did It, According To Prosecutors

LOS ANGELES, CA — Prosecutors on Wednesday provided the first detailed allegations of the killing of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, claiming the singer D4vd "took horrifying measures to destroy and discard the victim’s body."

The 21-year-old singer, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, is accused of luring the girl to his home so he could murder her by stabbing her multiple times before dismembering her body with a chainsaw in his garage. Her mutilated remains were later found at a Hollywood tow yard in a Tesla registered to Burke. Prosecutors detailed the allegations in a Wednesday court filing.

Celeste Was Reported Missing Twice

Burke met Celeste in 2022 when she was 11 and began sexually abusing her in November 2023 when she was 13 and he was 18, according to prosecutors. Text messages between the pair "contain references to sex, pregnancy, abortion and use of the Plan B emergency contraceptive," prosecutors claim.

"There are also explicit photographs documenting and corroborating their sexual relationship," prosecutors wrote.

Over a year before she was killed, Celeste's parents reported the seventh grader missing from her Lake Elsinore home in February 2024, prosecutors said.

Deputies responding to the report talked to Burke on the phone and later visited him at his West Hollywood home. They told him Celeste was a 13-year-old runaway. Burke claimed he was unaware that she was underage and that he had only met her once in person in November 2023, ABC 7 reported.

Celeste returned to her home two days later.

After she returned home, her parents took away her cellphone. Burke drove to Lake Elsinore and paid Celeste's friend $1,000 to give her a phone so the pair could communicate, prosecutors claim.

Celeste was reported missing again in April 2024. In the months that followed, she spent much of her time at Burke’s home in the Hollywood Hills and traveled with him to Las Vegas, London, and Texas to meet Burke's family, according to court records.

The pair "broke up" in November 2024, but continued to communicate. Texts "suggest they also continued to have sexual relations," prosecutors claim.

'Premeditated Plan'

Burke invited Celeste to his Hollywood Hills home on April 23, 2025 via text messages that "reveal the victim’s jealousy over defendant’s relationships with other women."

“She became extremely upset and threatened to disclose damaging information about her relationship with defendant to end his career and destroy his life," the court filing reads.

Prosecutors claim Burke sent an Uber to bring the girl from her Lake Elsinore home that night to his home. She arrived in Hollywood at around 10:10 p.m., ABC 7 reported.

But prosecutors claim Burke sent a text message to her phone 20 minutes later inquiring where she was as "part of defendant's premeditated plan to cover up the murder, as she was already dead by this time."

"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. At no time did he call law enforcement or 911 or take her to an emergency room to save her life. Despite knowing she was dead and her family was trying to find her, the evidence will show defendant lied and claimed he didn't know where she was," the filing reads.

Burke continued to text and call Celeste's phone and left his home around 11:30 p.m. that night, ABC 7 reported.

Buke then drove to Lake Cachuma in mountainous Santa Barbara County, about 110 miles from his home. Prosecutors claim he got rid of some of the evidence at the rural lake. Celeste's passport was found there in January.

Burke returned home the next day, when he gave a radio interview promoting his debut full-length album, “Withered.” It was released the following day, prosecutors said in the filing.

Prosecutors claim in the following weeks, Burke purchased a shovel, two chainsaws, a body bag, heavy-duty laundry bags and a blue inflatable pool online that were delivered to his home under a fake name. He used those items to help dispose of Celeste's body and the evidence.

"Moreover, defendant took horrifying measures to destroy and discard the victim's body. After placing her body into the blue inflatable pool to prevent her blood from spilling onto his garage floor, defendant used a chain saw and perhaps other tools to cut off her limbs. Small blue plastic fragments were found embedded in the victim's remains," the filing reads.

Prosecutors claim that Burke "amputated her left ring and pinky fingers because her ring finger contained a tattoo of his name," and her fingers have not been recovered.

Before leaving for his tour, Burke parked his Tesla on a Hollywood Hills street. The car was later towed from the street after a neighbor reported it may have been abandoned. Celeste's remains were found inside the Tesla at a Hollywood tow yard in September, the day after what would have been her 15th birthday, according to police.

Wednesday's court filing outlined the evidence that prosecutors plan to present at a May 26 hearing, when a judge will determine whether there is probable cause to go to trial.

SEE ALSO:

• Teen 'Threatened To Expose' Sexual Abuse By Famous Singer Before He Murdered Her: DA
• Cause of Death Revealed For Lake Elsinore Teen Found Dismembered In D4vd's Tesla
• Parents Of Lake Elsinore Teen Release Statement After D4vd Charged With Murder

Material from City News Service and the Associated Press was used in this report.

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