Fans speculate about “Here with Me” singer D4vd’s connections with the body found in his impounded Tesla.
Celeste Rivas Hernandez was found by police dismembered and wrapped in a plastic bag in the front trunk of an impounded Tesla on Sept. 8. According to the LA Times, her body was found a day after her 15th birthday, severely decomposed. Twenty-year-old David Anthony Burke (known as D4vd) was registered to the vehicle she was found in.
Many fans online believe that Hernandez and Burke were dating. In a leaked song called “Celeste,” Burke says he’s in love with “the girl with my name tattooed on her chest.” According to TMZ, Hernandez and D4vd had matching “shhh…” tattoos on their right index fingers. On top of that, leaked footage shows the two livestreaming together when she was allegedly 13 years old and Hernandez’s mom told TMZ that she was dating somebody named David, though she had never met him.
Friends of D4vd reported the couple were together frequently though they didn’t know much about Hernandez other than Burke saying she is a 19-year-old student at University of Southern California. His friends believed this to be true due to her presence at many age-restricted events. However, police confirmed the Hernandez had multiple fake IDs.
Neighbors told NBC that the car had been abandoned in the Hollywood Hills for a month before being impounded. Authorities believe that the body was put in the trunk five days before being towed to the impound lot. At the impound lot, the car was reported for a foul odor believed to be from human remains which led to her body being found.
The police searched Burke’s house, and a police spokesperson said that “several items of evidence were recovered” including electronics and a computer. Burke broke his $20,000 per month lease and moved away shortly after as reported by the Daily Mail.
D4vd is known for using murder and death as metaphors and motifs in his work and fans point to this as potential evidence. In one of his stage performances, he was brought out in a casket. In his song “Romantic Homicide,” D4vd says “I killed you and I didn’t even regret it.”
In a music video for his song “One More Dance,” he drags a blood-soaked body into a trunk and it’s buried by a woman who fans believe looks similar to Hernandez. Some argue that using death as an allegory in art isn’t a confession while others argue that it shows his ideation for murder and death.
D4vd came into fame after clips of “Romantic Homicide” went viral on TikTok in the summer of 2022. The song was his debut on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 77 and he was signed to Interscope Records shortly after. By 2025, he was opening for SZA and sitting front row at Paris Fashion Week
When Riva’s remains were found, D4vd was on tour for his debut album “Withered.” His upcoming shows were cancelled, as were his brand campaigns with Crocs and Hollister. Interscope Records and Universal Music Group have suspended all promotion of D4vd.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Hernandez had been reported missing three times in 2024 and hadn’t made it past the seventh grade due to her absences. The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Hernandez was last reported missing in April 2024 in Lake Elsinore, California.
Hernandez’s body was released from the medical examiner’s office and given back to her family on Sept. 23. The cause of death has not been released by the L.A. County Medical Examiner though her manner of death has been ruled a homicide and her place of death in a vehicle.
Police say D4vd is cooperating with the investigation and is currently not a suspect or person of interest.
