More than a month after 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez was discovered partially dismembered in the trunk of a multiplatinum R&B artist’s Tesla, a private detective claims to have uncovered new information regarding the teen’s unsolved death.
The remains of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, her “head and torso,” according to the Los Angeles Police Department, were discovered on Sept. 8 after employees at Hollywood Tow reported a foul odor coming from the Tesla, which had been on the lot for five days after it was reported abandoned in the Hollywood Hills.
The teen had been missing from Lake Elsinore since April 2024 when she was just 13.
“She appears to have been deceased inside the vehicle for an extended period of time,” the medical examiner’s report stated.
LAPD investigators said the vehicle, which had Texas plates, came back to David Anthony Burke, 20, a rising musician known as D4Vd with millions of fans and followers.
“I think she had been deceased a lot longer than what people may have originally thought,” Private Investigator Steve Fischer said. “It could go back to as early as January or February, which is hard to fathom.”
Hired by the owner of the $4 million Hollywood Hills mansion the singer was renting for $20,000 a month before moving out in late September, Fischer recently scoured the property to help determine whether a crime was committed in the home.
Police have not identified Burke, who has reportedly cooperated with investigators, as a suspect. They have said, however, that a search warrant was executed at the residence on Sept. 17.
“Several items of evidence were recovered and will be analyzed by detectives in the coming days. This is an ongoing investigation,” an LAPD spokesperson previously confirmed to KTLA. “Investigators are following up on several leads.”
As the investigation into Rivas’ death continues, details have emerged that seemingly tie Burke to the missing girl.
The Tesla was reportedly located not far from the rental home Burke was staying in. Hernandez’s mother claims that before she went missing, she had a boyfriend named David. It also later emerged that there are reportedly several photos of the two together on social media, including where the singer appears to be with the teen not far from her family’s Lake Elsinore home.
Burke and the 15-year-old also reportedly have matching tattoos on their right index fingers with the letters “Shhh.”
TMZ also reported that friends in the 20-year-old’s circle believed Hernandez was 19 years old.
Fischer now says that even after LAPD’s search of the home, he found items that could be linked to the crime, items left behind by detectives.
“There were disturbing items,” he told KTLA. “There are some physical items that I unfortunately can’t disclose, but they are significant because be something that could have been used in a plan to actually get rid of her body.”
The private detective also said he’s uncovered video from neighborhood security cameras and claims that he knows who was behind the wheel of the Tesla when it was abandoned in late July, presumably with the 14-year-old’s remains in the trunk.
“I’m certain I know who it is,” Fischer said. “I can’t say but there is surveillance from the 29th and I’m certain I know who this person is.”
That footage, he added, has been handed over to police.
An autopsy on Hernandez’s body showed no obvious signs of death and that the teen was not pregnant. Investigators now say they are waiting for toxicology reports.
Nearly seven weeks after the grisly discovery, no arrests have been made, nor have police identified any potential suspects.
While the singer’s album was indefinitely shelved and both his U.S. and European tours were cancelled, the 20-year-old himself has been completely silent on the investigation and his alleged ties to Hernandez, who, according to some observers, he likely met on social media.
“It’s been shocking how silent he’s been, for somebody that really lived online,” Fischer said. “Not only him but the people around him in his immediate orbit. They’ve gone completely silent.”
The teen’s remains were released on Sept. 23 to her family, who held funeral services in early October.
The private investigator said that at least one crime was committed in concealing the teen’s body and believes that the toxicology reports could indicate a more serious crime.
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