Alt-pop singer D4vd has been charged with the sexual abuse, homicide, and mutilation of a 14-year-old lady, whose decomposed stays had been found in his seemingly deserted Tesla seven months in the past.
Los Angeles County prosecutors introduced the costs on Monday in opposition to the 21-year-old artist, whose authorized title is David Burke.
While the costs had been formally filed this week, the disturbing allegations date again to 2023. Mr Burke’s defence legal professional entered a plea of not responsible on his behalf throughout an arraignment on Monday afternoon.
This growth follows only a 12 months after D4vd’s debut single achieved success on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
2022: Burke’s music goes viral Burke, a content material creator who started making his personal music to accompany the online game montages he would submit on-line, goes viral on TikTok for his tune “Romantic Homicide.” The tune finally peaks at No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart, and Burke indicators with Darkroom and Interscope Records.
Sept. 7, 2023: Prosecutors say the abuse begins Burke allegedly begins the continual sexual abuse of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who had simply turned 13, in line with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s workplace. The lady has been described by authorities as a runaway, and court docket paperwork say she lived with Burke in Los Angeles.
April 5, 2024: Rivas Hernandez is reported lacking Rivas Hernandez’s household experiences the seventh grader lacking from her house in Lake Elsinore, a city about 70 miles (112 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles, for the final time. They had reported her lacking a number of occasions earlier than.
April 11, 2025: Burke makes his Coachella debut Burke performs on the music pageant Coachella and goes viral once more — this time for face-planting laborious on the stage throughout a failed backflip try. In an interview with The Associated Press throughout the pageant, Burke talked about utilizing social media suggestions from followers to refine his set lists. “I am my fans and my fans are me. And we work in tandem with each other and it’s such a beautiful poetic kind of thing that we have,” he stated.
April 23, 2025: Rivas Hernandez is final recognized to be alive The charging paperwork filed by prosecutors within the case in opposition to Burke have few particulars, however they do allege he killed Rivas Hernandez “on or about” April 23, the day they are saying she was final heard from. Prosecutors say Burke killed Rivas Hernandez as a result of she posed a menace to his profession.
April 25, 2025: Burke releases debut album, ‘Withered’ Burke releases his first album, “Withered.” In social media posts and media interviews, he describes using a recurring motif in his music and videos — an alter ego character he calls “IT4MI,” after “itami,” a Japanese word for pain. “He’s basically like the evil version of me,” Burke said in a YouTube interview with the “Tape Notes” podcast published May 2025. Burke’s videos sometimes depict the character blindfolded, in a shirt that appears covered in blood.
May 5, 2025: Authorities say Rivas Hernandez’s remains are mutilated One of the felony charges against Burke is “unlawful mutilation of human remains.” Prosecutors say Rivas Hernandez’s arms and legs were severed from her body on or around May 5.
Aug. 5, 2025: Burke launches tour Burke’s tour for the album “Withered,” begins with a show in Del Mar, California. He also released an official Fortnite anthem, “Locked & Loaded,” on Sept. 3. The collaboration with video game creator Epic Games echoed his start in the music world, when he would create and post Fortnite montages online.
Sept. 8, 2025: Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s body is discovered One day after she would have turned 15, Rivas Hernandez’s badly decomposed remains are discovered in body bags inside the trunk of a Tesla registered to Burke, prosecutors say. The 2023 Tesla Model Y had been towed from an upscale neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills where it had been sitting, seemingly abandoned. Police searching the vehicle found a cadaver bag covered in bugs with Rivas Hernandez’s head and torso inside. A second bag containing her arms and legs was found underneath the first, according to court documents.
Sept. 19, 2025: Burke’s remaining tour dates are canceled The remaining dates of Burke’s tour, which had been scheduled to wrap up Nov. 4 in Warsaw, Poland, are canceled. The Associated Press confirmed that D4vd was additionally dropped by his label, Interscope Records, in some unspecified time in the future in 2025.
Oct. 6, 2025: A funeral service is held for Rivas Hernandez Multiple information shops reported that Rivas Hernandez’s household held a funeral service for her on on the Queen of Heaven Cemetery and Mortuary in Rowland Heights, California.
Nov. 24, 2025: Police block launch of coroner’s report In an uncommon transfer, police block the discharge of the coroner’s report on Rivas Hernandez’s dying. The medical expert’s workplace stated in a press release that it had acquired a “court order, initiated by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), to place a security hold” on the case. The order stated no information or particulars, together with the trigger and method of dying, could possibly be launched till additional discover.
February 2026: Burke revealed because the goal of a secret grand jury probe The grand jury investigation into the case was stored beneath seal, as is customary in grand jury proceedings. But some paperwork had been made public by an enchantment of subpoenas by Burke’s mom, father and brother that was filed in Texas. The court docket filings stated the Tesla was registered in Burke’s title on the deal with of his subpoenaed members of the family, and that the “target may be involved in having committed the following criminal offenses against the laws of the State of California, to wit: One count of murder.”
April 16, 2026: Burke is arrested Burke is arrested on suspicion of homicide in reference to Rivas Hernandez’s dying and is held with out bail. The Los Angeles Police Department proclaims the arrest on social media pages, posting images of a number of officers carrying tactical gear and holding weapons approaching a house.
April 20, 2025: Burke is charged with homicide Burke is formally charged with homicide, lewd and lascivious acts with an individual beneath 14 and mutilating a physique. The charging paperwork additionally allege a number of elements linked to the crimes that would result in a harsher sentence if Burke is convicted. Those circumstances embrace allegations that Burke was “lying in wait” for Rivas Hernandez, who entered his house and was by no means seen once more; that she was a witness to an investigation into the lewd and lascivious acts dedicated in opposition to her; and that Burke allegedly killed her for monetary achieve.
“When she threatened to expose his criminal conduct and devastate his musical career, Burke allegedly murdered her,” the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s workplace wrote in a press release.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/d4vd-celeste-rivas-charged-case-timeline-b2961566.html