Singer D4vd could face the death penalty for the murder of a teenage girl last year, the Los Angeles County District Attorney declared today.
With a formal case expected to be filed in court later today, DA Nathan Hochman said Monday morning that the looming charges against the “Romantic Homicide” performer for the killing of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez are “the most serious charges that a DA’s office can bring, that is first-degree murder with special circumstances.”
Like with the first-degree murder charges laid by the DA’s office against Nick Reiner for the stabbing deaths of his parents Rob and Michelle Reiner late last year, those “special circumstances” are what could tip the D4vd case from life behind bars to execution. Hochman said D4vd (real name David Anthony Burke) allegedly planned to murder Hernandez with the specifics of “lying in wait, murder for financial gain and killing a witness in a criminal investigation.”
In addition, there is a “special allegation” that the accused “used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a sharp instrument, to commit the crime.” D4vd is anticipated to be in attendance today at the hearing in the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center.
Similar to the Reiner case, which will see the currently incarcerated Nick Reiner back in court next week, the DA’s office has not yet made public whether it will seek the death penalty in the D4vd case. The fatal punishment is extremely rare in California but is within prosecutors’ prerogative under those statute-sanctioned special circumstances.
However, as perhaps an indication of where his thinking is, Hochman — LAPD chief Jim McConnell by his side Monday — called the alleged killing of Hernandez last year “brutal and horrific.”
Her decomposed and mutilated body was discovered on September 8 in the trunk of a Tesla registered to D4vd. The car had been parked near the singer’s rented Hollywood Hills pad for weeks before it was towed away. The brutalized remains were identified at a Los Angeles tow yard. The extent of how horrific the state of her body was hit court dockets earlier this year, inadvertently or not, when D4vd’s Texas-based parents filed to quash grand jury subpoenas they had been served.
D4vd was on tour at the time of the body being found in the car, and out of L.A. He was said to be cooperating with the authorities.
To that, a swarm of police arrested D4vd at his Hollywood Hills residence on April 16 and taken into custody in DTLA, he remains without bail. Without providing specifics, the LAPD’s McConnell noted this morning that cops “recovered and analyzed a substantial amount of digital and forensic evidence” in their probe.
Officials also confirmed today that the 21-year-old singer was under investigation for “lewd and lascivious sexual acts” with an individual under 14 years of age. The DA made a point Monday of stating that his office believes D4vd killed Hernandez — who had been missing since 2024, according to her family — “to maintain his very lucrative musical career that Celeste was threatening.”
“A parent’s nightmare is a situation where your daughter goes out one night and never comes back,” he said.
The last time the teen was seen by anyone seems to be in April 2025, the top prosecutor said Monday. A months-delayed full coroner’s report on Hernandez is expected to be released soon now that the charges are being filed, Hochman also said today.
Likely preparing for this afternoon’s hearing, D4vd’s lawyers were silent today.
Yet, last week the defense trio of Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski, and Regina Peter were very vocal on behalf of the singer.
“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 three attorneys said in a statement. “There has been no indictment returned by any grand jury in this case and no criminal complaint filed. David has only been detained under suspicion. We will vigorously defend David’s innocence.”
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings