D4vd's younger brother, Caleb Burke, is speaking out amid online accusations tying him to the ongoing Celeste Rivas Hernandez murder case.
On Thursday (May 7), the 18-year-old broke his silence in a series of lengthy Instagram Story posts, where he clarified his relationship with both D4vd (born David Anthony Burke) and 14-year-old Rivas.
"I've been wanting to say something for a while, but I have to be careful about what I say as this is an ongoing legal matter. I don't want to make this horrible situation about me. I want justice for Celeste and her family," he wrote.
"I've seen people say that I knew what was going on and was protecting my brother," he went on. "This is not true at all, I have not lived with my brother for years, and was not very close with him. We didn't speak often other than when our family was brought on tour or he was visiting home."
Caleb noted that he "was around" Rivas a few times when he was 15 years old but "did not know her well" and wasn’t aware how old she was. He went on to clarify his exact relationship with the murder victim.
"People have been posting a video showing me backstage with her at one of d4vd's concerts when I was 15 and I have been wanting to address it for awhile. People have even gone as far as to say that I was sneaking her backstage, which is not true," he claimed. "She was already at the show, and the video takes place after the show had already ended. In the video, we were sent to grab something from a fan that was in front of the stage, and we were walking back."
From there, Caleb called out numerous outlets such as TMZ and The Daily Mail for suggesting he was taking advantage of the whole situation to promote his music and that he only recently launched a music career.
"This is not true at all," he said of the reporting. "I have been releasing and posting music over the last 3-4 years, and took over a half-year hiatus due to what happened."
He continued: "I changed my name online from culeb to Kova as I did not want to associate myself with any of this. I have not once mentioned this situation, or my identity on the new accounts."
Caleb also pointed out that TMZ erroneously reported that he was 20 years old, when in fact he turned 18 in November. He also claimed that he always intended to release music under his new stage name "long before any of this became a headline again" and that a new song was released two days before D4vd’s arrest.
"This project (music, videos & songs) was already in motion long before any news coverage around my brother resurfaced," Caleb said. "My intent has never been to use this to bring attention to myself or my music. This is the whole reason why I started over from scratch."
He concluded: "My decision to continue releasing music is not about using any of this for attention. Music is my life, and after stepping away for months because of everything that's happened, I want to build my own path."
D4vd was arrested on April 16 and was later charged with the murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Prosecutors have released a number of alleged details of how they believe the "Romantic Homicide" singer may have mutilated Rivas’ body.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for later this month.
