D4vd has been charged with murder over the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
The 14-year-old girl’s dismembered body was found in September in the boot of his abandoned car. She had been reported missing by her family in 2024, when she was 13.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, was charged with first-degree murder; lewd and lascivious acts with an individual under 14; and mutilating a body in the killing of.
D4vd was arraigned on Monday afternoon after Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office announced the charges against him. He has pleaded not guilty.
The murder charges included special circumstances: lying in wait, committing crime for financial gain; and murdering the witness in an investigation. These charges could carry the death penalty. Prosecutors have not announced whether they will seek it.
The investigation into the death was officially secret, but its existence was revealed in February when D4vd’s mother, father and brother objected in a Texas court to subpoenas demanding they testify.
No cause of death has been publicly revealed, and police successfully petitioned to block the release of details of the autopsy.
Lawyers for the Romantic Homicide singer insisted he was innocent in a statement released after his arrest on Thursday at a home in Hollywood.
“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 lawyers penned.
