Body of girl found mutilated in rising R&B singer’s Tesla released to family

LOS ANGELES (KTLA) – The body of 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, found mutilated inside a bag stuffed into the trunk of a rising R&B singer’s impounded Tesla earlier this month, has been released by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner to the teen’s family.

The development means the medical examiner has completed the autopsy and lab tests, and may indicate a cause of death has been determined. 

Rivas’ dismembered remains, her “head and torso,” according to the Los Angeles Police Department, were discovered on Sept. 8 after employees at Hollywood Tow reported a foul odor coming from the Tesla, which had been on the lot for five days after it was reported abandoned in the Hollywood Hills.  

The teen had been missing from Lake Elsinore since April 2024 when she was just 13. 

“She appears to have been deceased inside the vehicle for an extended period of time,” the medical examiner’s report stated.  

LAPD said the vehicle, which had Texas plates, was registered to David Anthony Burke, 20, a musician out of Texas who performs under the name D4vd and has millions of followers on Instagram.  

Details of the case have continued to emerge since the investigation began. A medical examiner’s report further determined that the deceased had a tattoo on her right index finger reading “Shhh.” Photos of Burke performing also show what appears to be a matching tattoo on his own finger.

Last week, a former science teacher at Lakeland Village School in Lake Elsinore was filmed telling students at a different school that Rivas met the singer through social media. He also said that she had run away to Hollywood months before her April 2024 disappearance, but was found by police and returned home.

Burke has not spoken publicly about the investigation. But since news of the teen’s alleged connections to the singer broke, he has lost several endorsements, his new album has been indefinitely held back and both his U.S. and European tours have been cancelled. 

Police have not identified Burke, who has reportedly cooperated with investigators, as a suspect. They have said, however, that a search warrant was executed at a home where Burke had reportedly been living. 

“Several items of evidence were recovered and will be analyzed by detectives in the coming days. This is an ongoing investigation,” an LAPD spokesperson told TMZ. “Investigators are following up on several leads.” 

Both police and the 15-year-old girl’s family have said very little else about the investigation. A man who identified himself as Rivas’ brother would only tell Nexstar’s KTLA that the family was “grieving.”

On Sept. 21, a candlelight vigil was held for the teenage girl in Lake Elsinore where some of the mourners were demanding “Justice for Celeste.”  

“This really hits home as a mom,” one attendee named Evelyn told Nexstar’s KTLA. “This could have been anybody’s kid.”