Investigators in Los Angeles are weighing potential murder charges in the death of 15-year-old Celeste Rivas-Hernandez, whose decomposed remains were found inside an impounded Tesla registered to the 20-year-old singer D4vd, as prosecutors prepare to present evidence to a grand jury, according to multiple reports and law enforcement statements.
The discovery was made on 8 September after Los Angeles Police Department officers responded to a tow yard in Hollywood following a report of a foul odour coming from an impounded vehicle. Police said the body had been placed inside a bag and was located in the front trunk of the Tesla. The Tesla had been at the lot for a couple of days, according to police.
Celeste Rivas-Hernandez, from Lake Elsinore in Riverside County, had been reported missing after she was last seen in April 2024, authorities said. The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office has previously stated she had run away on multiple occasions and returned home before her last disappearance, with one report saying she called home at the end of May 2024 and was not heard from again.
TMZ reported that D4vd, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke, is likely to face murder charges in connection with her death and that the case is expected to be presented to a grand jury. The report described investigators’ focus on the vehicle’s registered owner and said prosecutors were moving toward murder charges, while the investigation continued.
No arrests have been announced, and the Los Angeles Police Department has not publicly confirmed a suspect. Still, televised reports in the United States have said detectives consider D4vd a suspect, citing unnamed sources with knowledge of the investigation. One ABC report said sources claimed the musician “is not cooperating” with investigators, disputing public claims from representatives that he has assisted.
The circumstances surrounding the Tesla have become a central part of the investigation. ABC reported that the car was found abandoned on a public street in Hollywood, and police sources said it was towed to the lot after being left there for days. Another ABC report, referencing a Los Angeles Times account, said a parking enforcement officer marked the Tesla on 27 August in the Hollywood Hills, later issuing a citation on 3 September for violating a 72-hour parking ordinance, before it was towed two days later. The body was discovered on 8 September after the smell was noticed, the report said.
Investigators have also been awaiting forensic findings to determine exactly how Rivas-Hernandez died. ABC reported that the precise cause of death remained undetermined because of the condition of the remains and that lab testing and toxicology were expected to be important in establishing how she died and when.
At least some early claims circulating online about the state of the remains have been challenged by police. ABC reported that the Los Angeles Police Department said reports that the body was frozen and decapitated were not true, with an LAPD captain telling the network that the body was “partially dismembered but not decapitated.”
The case has also drawn attention because of an unusual legal step involving the coroner’s file. In late November, the medical examiner’s office said it had received a court order, initiated by the LAPD, to place a security hold on the teenager’s case. The order required that “no records or details associated with the case, including the cause and manner of death and Medical Examiner report, can be released or posted on the website until further notice,” the office said in its statement, according to an AP story republished by Hawaii News Now.
LAPD Capt. Mike Bland said the hold was not intended to undermine transparency but to protect the integrity of the investigation. “It was done so that our investigators get the information before the media and the public,” Bland said, according to the same report. The Chief Medical Examiner, Dr Odey Ukpo, described such holds as “virtually unheard of in other counties” in California and said the office was constrained by the court order. “We are dedicated to serving our community with full transparency; however, the law precludes us from doing so while the court order remains in this case,” Ukpo said.
The medical examiner’s office previously said Rivas-Hernandez “was found severely decomposed” and had likely been “deceased inside the vehicle for an extended period of time before being found,” according to the AP account.
D4vd, who has built a substantial audience online, rose to prominence after his 2022 song “Romantic Homicide” went viral on TikTok and later charted, helping launch a career that blends indie rock, R&B and lo-fi pop. The AP report noted he signed to Darkroom and Interscope Records and released the EPs “Petals to Thorns” and “The Lost Petals” in 2023.
When the remains were discovered in September, ABC reported that D4vd was on tour, with a stop scheduled in Los Angeles later that month, and that the remainder of the tour was abruptly cancelled before the Los Angeles date amid the developing investigation.
Legal representation for the musician has been closely watched. Reports have identified prominent defence attorney Blair Berk as representing him, while noting that she did not respond to requests for comment in at least one news account.
Investigators have not publicly described any relationship between Rivas-Hernandez and the registered owner of the Tesla, nor have they released a timeline explaining how the teenager came to be inside the vehicle. ABC reported that investigators had been in contact with multiple people they believed were involved “in some capacity” and quoted sources saying detectives were “certain they are going down the right path for a suspect.”
As the investigation continues, the potential path to charges appears to depend on two things: establishing cause and manner of death, and connecting any suspect to the death and subsequent concealment of the body. TMZ’s report that prosecutors are preparing to take the matter to a grand jury suggests authorities may be moving toward the formal threshold needed for murder charges, though no indictment has been announced publicly.
For the family of Celeste Rivas-Hernandez, the case has turned a long missing-person search into a high-profile death investigation whose most basic details remain contested or legally sealed. With the medical examiner’s records withheld under court order and police citing investigative integrity, key facts such as the official cause and manner of death are likely to remain out of public view until the hold is lifted or charges are filed.
