The singer known as D4vd will be charged with the murder of a missing teenage girl whose severely decomposed body was found in the trunk of his Tesla last fall, prosecutors in Los Angeles announced on Monday.
The Los Angeles police arrested D4vd, whose real name is David Burke, last week and booked him into a local jail.
Mr. Burke, 21, created the anthem for Fortnite, and he has millions of followers on social media and music platforms. In 2024, he was an opening act on SZA’s SOS Tour, and last year he released his major-label debut, “Withered.”
Lawyers for Mr. Burke have said he is innocent.
“The actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez and he was not the cause of her death,” the lawyers, Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter, have said in a statement.
The case has captivated the public since the authorities announced in September that they had discovered human remains in a car registered to Mr. Burke. Officials said the car had been left on a public street for weeks before it was towed to an impound lot in Los Angeles. It had not been reported stolen.
The Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office identified the remains as those of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who in 2024, when she was 13, was reported missing from her home in Lake Elsinore, Calif., about 70 miles southeast of Los Angeles. Her body was found on Sept. 8, a day after what would have been her 15th birthday.
Repeated efforts to reach members of her family have been unsuccessful. Patrick Steinfeld, a lawyer for the family, said in a statement that family members were “committed to ensuring that Celeste’s voice is heard.”
The statement added that upon learning of Mr. Burke’s arrest, Celeste’s father, Jesus Rivas, said: “Thank God … justice for Celeste.”
Emmanuel Morgan reports on sports, pop culture and entertainment.
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