Los Angeles police have obtained a court order forbidding the Medical Examiner’s office from releasing all details of their investigation into the death of a teenage girl whose body was discovered in the trunk of singer D4vd’s Tesla, officials said Monday.
Detectives discovered the heavily decomposed corpse at a Hollywood tow yard on Sept. 8. The performer’s Tesla after had been towed from a street in the Hollywood Hills after being abandoned for weeks.
Since then, Los Angeles Police Department investigators have awaited atutopsy results on the body, which authorities say belonged to Celeste Rivas Hernandez, a 14-year-old who ran away from home in Lake Elisnore.
In a prepared statement Monday, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s office said that is has received a “court order, initiated by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), to place a security hold on Medical Examiner case number 2025-14252, Celeste Rivas Hernandez.”
According to the medical examiner, the order was issued Friday and demands that “no records or details associated with the case, including the cause and manner of death and Medical Examiner report, can be released or posted on the website until further notice.”
“The Department’s mission is to have full transparency with the community by providing information about our cases to empower people to make changes that save lives,” said Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Odey Ukpo. “Since becoming the department head, I’ve worked on eradicating the practice of placing security holds on Medical Examiner cases simply by law enforcement request.
In the examiner’s statement, Ukpo seemingly questioned the move to seal the findings.
“The practice of security holds is virtually unheard of in other counties and has not been proven to improve outcomes in the legal system. We are dedicated to serving our community with full transparency; however, the law precludes us from doing so while the court order remains in this case.”
The LAPD first requested a security hold on the case on Sept. 15, “which was denied due to insufficient justification to warrant the hold,” according to the statement.
“The Department understands the public’s interest in this case and remains committed to transparency when possible. Information will be made available once the court order is lifted,” the examiner’s office said.
In reply to the mediical examiner’s announcement, LAPD Capt. Mike Bland said this remains an ongoing investigation by the Robbery Homicide Division and the purpose of the court order is to ensure the LAPD receives information before the public does.
For months, the LAPD has declined to name the singer — or anyone else — as a suspect in the case, saying that there has been no finding that the death was homicide.
The girl’s remains were found inside a black bag within the trunk of the multiplatinum musician’s Tesla. According to police, the body was found partly dismembered, but it was unclear whether that was due to force or decay. The girl’s body weighed 71 pounds and had a “Shhh” tattoo on her finger, according to the medical examiner records that were released prior to the court’s order.
Celeste’s body was found the day after her 15th birthday. LAPD Capt. Scot Williams said the girl had been “dead for at least several weeks” before the discovery.
LAPD Robbery Homicide detectives determined that the Tesla had been left parked along Bluebird Avenue since late July — around the time that D4vd, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, began a national tour.
A fresh Gen Z voice, D4vd appeared in a music video filled with murderous themes. In one part of the video, a young woman with an apparent chest wound lies on a bed as the singer hovers over her, blindfolded, his white shirt spattered with blood. In another video, “One More Dance,” D4vd drags a person — who bears the singer’s likeness — to a car, where a couple stuffs the person into the trunk.
Long before the discovery of her body , Celeste had run away from her Lake Elsinore home. She was in the seventh grade, and her family reported her missing at least three times in 2024, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office. During that time, she appeared alongside D4vd in an online appearance, and law enforcement sources indicate she resided at a rental home with the singer.
Investigators believe that more than one person was involved in an effort to dispose of the teen’s body in the months before her remains were found in the Tesla, according to two law enforcement sources familiar with the probe. She may have been dead since the spring, , according to one law enforcement source.
As part of their investigation, detectives searched the Hollywood Hills home where the D4vd lived, t, and removed electronic evidence and other items from the residence, which had been leased by the singer’s manager.
Last week, LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton, who oversees the department’s detective operations, addressed the investigation, saying “accountability is coming. Our RHD detectives have been working and not waiting for that decision (by the medical examiner). They are going to get justice for Celeste Rivas.” “No one is off the table, including him (D4vd).”
Hamilton said the probe has stepped up in recent days, but no official suspect has been named.
Celeste first disappeared last year on Valentine’s Day. It was first of three times she vanished and it sparked multiple calls to authorities. Her mother made emotional pleas on Facebook and the family sought video from their neighborhood.
According to law enforcement sources, the singer and the girl met online. Burke shot to fame posting “Fortnite” clips to YouTube and other social media and then pivoted to make his own music and scored a hit with the song Romantic Homicide.
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