Singer D4vd Faces Death Penalty After Murdering 14-Year-Old Girl Who Threatened To Expose Him

R&B singer D4vd is facing life in prison after being accused of the murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, with whom he is accused of having underage sex.

According to prosecutors, D4vd murdered Celeste Rivas to protect his music career because she threatened to expose him for having sex with a 14-year-old (herself).

D4vd, real name David Anthony Burke, 21, is alleged to have carried out the “brutal and horrific murder” on April 23, 2025 – just two days before the release of his debut album, Withered, which opened at No. 13 on the Billboard 200.

According to reports, D4vd met the teen online in 2022 when she was either 11 or 12 years old.

In early 2024, a teacher claimed Celeste ran away to Hollywood to be with a “rapper” she met online. Police found her and returned her home, but she disappeared again shortly after in April 2024.

D4vd would take her to parties and recording sessions, allegedly telling people she was a 19-year-old uni student.

The two reportedly shared matching “Shhh…” tattoos on their index fingers.

Prosecutors allege Celeste threatened to expose their sexual relationship that night in April. D4vd is then said to have killed her and dismembered her body to hide the evidence.

Her remains were placed in cadaver bags and hidden in the front trunk of his Tesla. The car was eventually abandoned on a Hollywood street and towed, leading to the discovery months later.

In addition to first-degree murder, D4vd is charged with having sex with a minor and mutilating a body. His murder charge also has a “special circumstances” enhancement, which makes the maximum sentence death or life in prison without parole.

The “special circumstances” is that Celeste was the primary witness (and victim) in a case that had already been opened investigating D4d’s noncery. Which means, technically, he murdered a witness.

Weirdly, D4vd had put out a music video two months earlier in February 2025 in which he drags a body and stuffs it into a car trunk. Was he already thinking about how he would dispose of Celeste’s body?

Either way, just an awful way for this young girl to die and a terrible thing for her family to have to go through. Groomed and murdered by a grown man who had written disgusting songs about how he was obsessed with her when she was aged just 12 or 13:

Oh, Celeste
The girl with my name tattooed on her chest
Smell her on my clothes like cigarettes
I hear her voice each time I take a breath
I’m obsessed
Oh, Celeste
Afraid you’ll only love me when undressed
But you look so damn gorgeous in that dress
Missing you so much makes me depressed
But I digress

Were there no adults in her life who could protect or get through to her?

We’ll have to wait and see whether prosecutors decided on pursuing the death penalty, but I don’t think there would be too many arguments against it. RIP Celeste and thoughts with her friends and family.

For the woman who sued Jason Derulo for ‘expecting sex’ after signing her to his record label, click HERE.