David Anthony Burke, more commonly known as d4vd, is an alternative indie/rock singer and songwriter. He began his career as a professional Fortnite Youtuber and started making music for his videos. His 2022 single,“Romantic Homicide,” blew up and marked the beginning of his music career. He later released “Here With Me,” his most popular song, which has a total of 1.59 billion streams on Spotify.
On Sept. 8, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) discovered a decomposing and dismembered body in the back of a Tesla registered to Burke. The Tesla was abandoned in a junkyard and later towed, which was when the body was discovered. Authorities said the body was not yet identified.
“When I heard the news, I was shocked,” junior Quinn Prusha said. “And if I’m being honest, I forgot who d4vd was. I was like, ‘oh wait he was the one who made the music for Invincible.’ Then I was like ‘oh my God he murdered someone?’ That was shocking and actually insane to me. That really just stunned me.”
The LAPD didn’t announce him as a suspect, but he broke the silence with the LAPD and spoke with them almost immediately and was fully cooperating with the LAPD. Most fans thought it wasn’t Burke, as there was no evidence. However, the more the police investigated, the more evidence they found. Suddenly, all the new evidence changed the story. It all started pointing towards Burke.
When the LAPD identified who the body belonged to, it started a controversy online. The victim was identified as 15 year old Celeste Rivas, who had run away from home in April 2024. Still, most fans didn’t think it was him. What could Burke possibly want from a 15 year old girl that lives 76 miles away from his home in Hollywood Hills?
Investigators noted Rivas had a tattoo on her finger reading “Shhh…” Burke has a similar tattoo on his finger. Some fans suggested the tattoo could have been a coincidence or that she might have just admired him.
In an interview, Rivas’ mother said that Rivas had a boyfriend named David.
Skepticism persisted until an anonymous account leaked messages on a Discord server that Burke and Celeste were allegedly in together. The screenshots, allegedly from 18 months before Celeste’s body was found, showed a linked account to Burke asking “Celeste in here???” and another account that allegedly belonged to Celeste responding “hi david BARK.”
The same account later leaked additional messages from another server. The texts were allegedly from one month before Celeste went missing. The conversation was allegedly about d4vd and his dating life. One person wrote “idk i know he never had a girlfriend.” Another writes “pretty sure he’s dating someone right now.” Someone else writes “yeah im pretty sure her name is Celeste.”
Another leaked screenshot from the Discord server showed a user saying “drop the one, drop the song, the one with Celeste Rivas Hernandez.”
After these tweets were posted, some people accused the account of photoshopping the images. In response, the account posted a video of all the messages instead of screenshots this time.
At Rivas’ former school in Lake Elsinore, a video of a teacher went viral, with the teacher discussing the case with students.
“She’s [Rivas] been missing since I taught her,” the teacher said in the video. “She met this dude on social media. He was a rapper in L.A. He came and got her. She ran away from home. She was gone for a month. The cops found her in Hollywood and brought her back to our school. She came back to our school and told people this story. She disappeared again. In May of that year, May 2024. That’s when her friends told me what happened. That it was this rapper that they were blackmailing in all this. And now she’s dead in that rapper’s car.”
Soon after, police conducted two searches with their homicide team in Burke’s house and were seen carrying bags of evidence and his computer.
Overall, the whole case is confusing and the public still doesn’t have the full picture. The LAPD has not been releasing any updates, and the internet is constantly getting filled with more and more allegations against him. People are just in shock.
“I was very shocked at first,” sophomore Edem Kuadey said. “I thought people were just trying to set him up since he was at the height of his career. He was collaborating with artists, even going on his first tour around America. But then when more evidence started coming out about Celeste Rivas, the 15 year old girl in the car, the matching tattoos and the picture of them together and even d4vd releasing “Romantic Homicide” like a month after her 12th birthday. It was very shocking to me, I find it very unexpected and it’s very unfortunate. I feel bad for the family.”
