Prosecutors and investigators are sharing more alleged details about how D4vd may have murdered Celeste Rivas Hernandez and how he may have mutilated her remains.
According to court documents reviewed by Complex, prosecutors allege that the singer (born David Anthony Burke) stabbed Rivas to death on April 23, 2025 after he ordered an Uber to bring the 14-year-old over to his Hollywood Hills home from her family’s home in Lake Elsinore, California.
The following day, D4vd ordered a shovel from Home Depot, which was delivered to his home via Postmates, according to court docs.
About a week later (May 1), D4vd allegedly purchased two chainsaws from Amazon—under the fake name “Victoria Mendez”—and four days later, prosecutors claim he purchased a body bag, heavy-duty laundry bags, and a blue inflatable pool, per court docs.
From there, the “Romantic Homicide” singer allegedly placed Rivas’ body into the inflatable pool to prevent her blood from spilling on the garage floor and then used the chainsaw, and possibly other tools, to cut off her limbs.
Prosecutors also allege that D4vd amputated the ring and pinky fingers on Rivas’ left hand because she had a tattoo with his name on her ring finger. The finger was not found in the Tesla or recovered, per court docs.
Court docs say detectives found “evidence consistent with the dismemberment of the victim’s body in the inflatable pool, which contained multiple linear cuts” while searching D4vd’s rental home in September 2025.
“Several biological samples, which tested positive for blood, were collected within the garage area," said authorities, pet court docs.
The Medical Examiner’s report, according to the court docs, claimed there were blue plastic fragments consistent with the pool material found embedded in Rivas’ body parts.
Prosecutors also claim that D4vd and Rivas first met in 2022, when she was just 11 years old. However, the document claims their sexual relationship did not begin until November 2023 when she was 13 and he was 18. They also claimed D4vd was aware that Rivas was a minor.
Rivas was first reported missing in February and April 2024.
Per court documents, deputies from Riverside County called D4vd on February 17 after discovering his phone number in Rivas’ phone records. He allegedly claimed to have spoken to her on February 13 or 14, but reportedly said he didn’t know she was a minor nor missing.
Rivas reportedly returned home two days later, and her parents supposedly took her phone.
Prosecutors also claim D4vd was able to get back in contact with Rivas by paying a student in her class $1,000 to deliver a cell phone he had purchased for her.
D4vd was arrested on April 16 in connection with Rivas’s death and has since been formally charged with first-degree murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, and mutilation of human remains.
His arrest came seven months after Rivas’ dismembered and decomposed body was found in the front trunk of his Tesla.
The singer pleaded not guilty and remains in custody without bail. If convicted, he could face life in prison. A decision on whether to seek the death penalty will be made at a later date.
Attorneys for the singer maintain his innocence, claiming that “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.” His family members also said in a statement shared by an attorney that “they fully stand behind him and believe that he is innocent.”
During his court appearance on Thursday (April 23), prosecutors claimed they combed through the artist’s phone and discovered a “significant amount” of child pornography, but it remains unclear if any of the footage showed Rivas.
