Singer D4vd’s phone was filled with a “significant amount” of child pornography, prosecutors have claimed, as more details come to light in the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
D4vd, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, is accused of killing Rivas Hernandez, whose body was found in the trunk of the musician’s apparently abandoned Tesla in a Hollywood tow lot last September.
The 21-year-old singer was in a sexual relationship with Rivas Hernandez, and he turned to murder when she threatened to “expose his criminal conduct and devastate his musical career,” the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said in a Monday press release.
Prosecutors alleged during a court hearing Thursday that D4vd had a “significant amount” of child porn on his phone, according to several news outlets. That is part of the 40 terabytes of evidence prosecutors said they had.
D4vd was arrested last week and charged Monday with murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 and unlawful mutilation of human remains. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges, and his lawyers have vowed to “vigorously defend David’s innocence.”
The singer is accused of engaging in three or more acts of “substantial sexual conduct” with Rivas Hernandez between September 2023 and September 2024, several news outlets have reported, citing official documents.
Rivas Hernandez, of Lake Elsinore, California, was first reported missing in February 2024. She was 13 years old at the time.
Her family reported her missing several times over the following months before she vanished for good in April 2025. Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said the teen was last seen entering D4vd’s Hollywood Hills home.
”I am a parent of three children, and a parent’s nightmare is a situation where your daughter goes out one night and never comes back,” Hochman told reporters at a news conference Monday.
Rivas Hernandez’s dismembered and decomposed body was found months later, on September 8, 2025 — the day after what would’ve been her 15th birthday — inside the Tesla trunk.
Her autopsy, which was made public Wednesday, revealed that she died from “multiple penetrating injuries.” D4vd used a “sharp instrument” to murder Rivas Hernandez, prosecutors have claimed.
The teen’s autopsy was limited by “extensive postmortem changes,” according to the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office, which noted in its report that her body was so degraded her eye color couldn’t be determined.
D4vd went viral on TikTok in 2022 with his hit song “Romantic Homicide,” which reached No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. His last two U.S. tour stops and his European leg were canceled amid the investigation into Rivas Hernandez’s death.
The musician is currently being held without bail. A preliminary hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to bring the case to trial is set for May 1. Prosecutors are yet to decide whether they will seek the death penalty in the case.
