Despite earlier reports, authorities say the remains of 15-year-old Celeste Rivas were not found cut up or frozen.
Los Angeles Police Captain Scot Williams told the Los Angeles Times on Monday (Nov. 24) that although Rivas’ body was badly decomposed when it was discovered on Sept. 8, claims that she had been decapitated or frozen were incorrect. Those details were previously reported by TMZ and other outlets.
The Times also confirms that the LAPD is now officially treating the case as a murder investigation. For the first time, a detective has described the probe in court documents as an “investigation into murder.”
LAPD Detective Joshua Byers, a veteran of the Robbery Homicide Division, filed a declaration asking a judge to prevent the release of autopsy findings, saying that making them public "will reveal or tend to reveal the ongoing investigation and the integrity of the investigation as well as the identity of witnesses and/or informants who are cooperating with law enforcement and the content of the information they have provided, which could endanger the lives of witnesses and/or compromise the investigation."
Judge Craig Richman granted the request, sealing the medical examiner's findings and related documents.
Rivas' body was discovered in a black bag inside the trunk of singer D4vd's Tesla at a Hollywood tow yard on Sept. 8, just weeks after the car had been abandoned. The remains weighed 71 pounds and had a "Shhh" tattoo on a finger.
A law enforcement source told The Times Rivas may have been dead since spring. Other law enforcement sources said they believe more than one person may have been involved in disposing of her body.
The car had been left along Bluebird Avenue since late July, around the time D4vd (born David Anthony Burke) headed out on tour in support of his Withered album.
Rivas had repeatedly run away from her Lake Elsinore home and had been reported missing three times in 2024.
During that time, she appeared online with D4vd and reportedly lived at a rental home with him. Detectives have searched his Hollywood Hills residence and removed electronic evidence.
Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton said, "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]."
The 20-year-old “Romantic Homicide” singer nor any other individual have been named as a suspect in the investigation by police.