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 with D4vd in attendance, DA Nathan Hochman Monday morning said 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 death of his parents Rob and Michelle Reiner late last year, those “special circumstances” are what tip the D4vd case from life behind bars to execution. Those special circumstances come from D4vd, real name David Anthony Burke, supposedly planning to murder Hernandez with the specifics, according to Hochman, of “lying in wait, murder for financial gain and killing a witness in a criminal investigation.”
Similar to the Reiner case, which will see the currently incarcerated younger Reiner back in court next week, the DA’s office has not yet made public whether or not it will seek the death penalty in the D4vd case. The fatal punishment is extremely rare in California, but within prosecutor’s prerogative under those statute sanctioned special circumstances.
However, as perhaps an indication of where his thinking is, the usually verbose Hochman cut to the case, literally and figuratively, Monday. At today’s press conference in downtown LA with LAPD chief Jim McConnell by his side, the DA 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 LA tow yard. D4vd was on tour at the time and out of LA. He was said to be cooperating with the authorities.
D4vd was arrested on April 16 at his Hollywood Hills residence by a swarm of police. Taken into custody in DTLA, he remains there 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 Monday made a point 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,”
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 the charges are being filed, asserted Hochman today also.
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.”
English (US) ·