David Burke, a musician known as D4vd, has been arrested in the death of a missing teen, the Los Angeles Police Department said Thursday, months after police said her remains were found in his car. His lawyers have said he is innocent.
LAPD said in a brief statement Thursday that detectives from the robbery-homicide division arrested the 21-year-old Los Angeles resident.
“Burke is being held without bail,” the statement said, adding that the case will be presented to Monday to the district attorney’s office for filing consideration.
In a separate post on social media, Los Angeles police shared images of armed police outside a home in relation to Burke’s arrest, without elaborating on its location. Police did not offer further details of the investigation or what led to the arrest.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office said its major crimes division would review the case and determine whether there is enough evidence to file charges, in a statement to the Associated Press.
It comes after the body of Celeste Rivas Hernandez was found in the trunk of a Tesla belonging to Burke in September, LAPD previously said. She may have been dead for several weeks before her body was discovered, the statement added.
At the time, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner had not determined the cause of her death, and it “remains unclear whether there is any criminal culpability beyond the concealment of her body,” police said.
Defense attorneys Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter said in an emailed statement that they would “defend David’s innocence” and that he had been detained under suspicion.
“Let us be clear — 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 statement said. “There has been no indictment returned by any grand jury in this case and no criminal complaint filed.”
Rivas Hernandez was recorded as a missing person from Lake Elsinore, a city about 60 miles southeast of Los Angeles in April 2024, the Riverside Sheriff’s Office told The Washington Post by email, adding that she had been found dead by LAPD in September.
On Sept. 17, detectives searched a home on Doheny Place in West Hollywood in connection with her death, and several items were recovered, LAPD said, without confirming the owner of the property.
In November, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s office said records related to her death would not be made public, following a court order initiated by LAPD.
“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,” it said.
The investigation into D4vd, who is probably best known for creating the first Fortnite anthem and the 2022 hit single “Romantic Homicide,” has drawn attention from entertainment outlets and online sleuths who have scoured his content for links to Rivas Hernandez.
In September, he canceled the rest of his Withered World Tour, which included shows across the United States, Canada and Europe, amid speculation about the case. A spokesperson for D4vd said at the time that he was cooperating with authorities, NBC reported.
D4vd was born in Queens and grew up in Houston, where he started making music in his sister’s room. In recent years he became a breakout artist in the indie/alternative music and bedroom pop genres. A snippet of his iPhone-recorded song “Romantic Homicide” blew up on TikTok, and the track entered the Billboard Hot 100, leading him to be signed to Darkroom/Interscope. He released his second Hot 100 hit “Here With Me” after was included in Billboard’s 2023 21 Under 21 list.
The indie artist then opened for SZA’s North American S.O.S. Tour starting in 2023, and he released his debut album “Withered” in April 2025. During his Coachella debut last year, he made headlines for a dramatic fall on his head onstage after a failed backflip.
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