{"id":248527,"date":"2025-09-23T09:05:20","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T09:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/248527\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T09:05:20","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T09:05:20","slug":"she-deserves-justice-celeste-rivas-hometown-mourns-sweet-child-found-dead-in-d4vds-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/248527\/","title":{"rendered":"‘She deserves justice’ Celeste Rivas\u2019 hometown mourns ‘sweet child’ found dead in D4vd’s car"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LAKE ELSINORE\u00a0\u2014\u00a0More than 75 miles from the tony Hollywood Hills neighborhood where teenager Celeste Rivas Hernandez\u2019s decomposing body was found in the trunk of a Tesla <\/a>belonging<\/a> to the singer <\/a>D4vd sits the modest Inland Empire community of Lake Elsinore, where she lived with her family.<\/p>\n

Residents and acquaintances of the teenager there are following the case with a mixture of heartbreak, shock and anger <\/a>as details emerge that she knew the multiplatinum singer, whose real name is David Anthony Burke. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe deserves justice,\u201d resident Rubi Alonso said. \u201cIt\u2019s just so sad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alonso\u2019s son is around the same age as Celeste. She met the girl\u2019s family when Celeste was in kindergarten and remained friends with her family.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was studious, a hard worker and intelligent,\u201d Alonso said.<\/p>\n

Celeste was reported missing in 2024 from the Inland Empire, according to authorities, but her whereabouts since then remain a mystery. Though her name was initially listed as Celeste Rivas with the county medical examiner\u2019s office, it has since been updated with the Hernandez surname.<\/p>\n

Celeste\u2019s body was found in the vehicle at Hollywood Tow on Sept. 8 after it was impounded from the Hollywood Hills. Someone noticed a foul odor coming from the vehicle, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. <\/p>\n

Although the medical examiner listed Celeste\u2019s age as 15 at the time of her death, her body was discovered in the Tesla a day after her birthday. Los Angeles police officials have described her body as severely decomposed, suggesting she died while she was still 14.<\/p>\n

Police say the car was towed from the area near a home rented by Burke\u2019s manager. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear when the girl died or how long her body was in the trunk. The car had a Texas license plate, and the remains were in a bag, according to a law enforcement source.<\/p>\n

Celeste\u2019s family could not be reached for comment on Friday. They did not answer the door at their home in Lake Elsinore, and neighbors said they had not seen them recently.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, mourners held an impromptu vigil outside the home with votive candles and pictures of the teen. <\/p>\n

In a statement to The Times, officials with her school district said they were \u201cheartbroken\u201d that a student who had attended transitional kindergarten through seventh grade in their district had died.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur entire district community is deeply saddened by this loss, and we extend our heartfelt condolences to her family, friends, and all who knew and loved her,\u201d Lake Elsinore Unified School District said in the statement. <\/p>\n

The district did not name identify Celeste as that student, due to confidentiality laws, but said that grief counseling and support would be available to students and staff.<\/p>\n

In February, missing-person posters blanketed the quiet residential street where Celeste lived with her family.<\/p>\n

It was one of the first times neighbors recalled seeing the girl\u2019s face on a poster. But it wouldn\u2019t be the last time she was reported missing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI recognized her because of her big, curly hair,\u201d neighbor Kayleigh Cortez said. \u201cI would see her walking with her backpack on her way to school.\u201d<\/p>\n

The teen was reported missing on Valentine\u2019s Day 2024, when she was 13. The Riverside County Sheriff\u2019s Department confirmed Celeste was reported missing last year but did not provide any additional information about the case and referred all questions to the LAPD.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear how many times the teen was reported missing or how many times she was returned to her family by authorities.<\/p>\n

Just after 7 a.m. on March 19, 2024, a young girl walked down the street in a dark sweater and light pants, according to surveillance video from Del Lago Spirits, which is in Celeste\u2019s neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Celeste\u2019s family asked store owner Elie Naddaf for the video. He sent it to them, confident the girl in the video was Celeste.<\/p>\n

He believed that she got into a vehicle down the street from the store, but he could not make out clear details as she walked out of the frame in the video. He said that police had not contacted him for the video.<\/p>\n

The teen regularly stopped by the corner store on her way to a nearby bus stop.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was going to school with the other kids, and she would stop by all the time,\u201d Naddaf said.<\/p>\n

She would get Takis, soda, maybe candy.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was always so quiet, shy, just a sweet child,\u201d said Naddaf, who is a father and has operated his business in the neighborhood for 11 years. \u201cI feel a connection to the community. It\u2019s just heartbreaking to see this happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Celeste attended Lakeland Village School in Lake Elsinore, roughly 76 miles from Los Angeles. <\/p>\n

Then her body was found in the Tesla in Hollywood.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got goosebumps when I heard about what happened to her, when they found her in the car,\u201d Cortez said. \u201cIt was just so horrible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Celeste had returned to Lake Elsinore in the last year, said Alonso, the family friend, but she could not recall specific dates.<\/p>\n

She said that, on one occasion, Celeste came home by herself and another time with police.<\/p>\n

Authorities have said Burke, 20, was initially cooperating with investigators when news broke that a body was found in a vehicle registered to his name. It\u2019s unclear whether he remained cooperative after the medical examiner\u2019s office identified Celeste as the person in the trunk. <\/p>\n

Law enforcement sources say Burke has since retained a lawyer. <\/p>\n

Representatives for the musician did not respond to requests for comment, and the musician has canceled several show dates on his tour, which was slated to play in Europe in October. <\/p>\n

Since then, multiple photos of Burke and Celeste have circulated on social media, raising questions about how the two knew each other. <\/p>\n

Gisel Vera, who identified herself as a relative of Celeste and helped start a GoFundMe page for her funeral, told The Times the family had no immediate comment on the case. Her name was later removed from the fundraiser.<\/p>\n

An Instagram account previously used by Celeste has since been reactivated by her relatives. The Times was unable to verify the validity of the account. In a series of posts, a user who appears to be her brother Matthew Rivas made several posts saying the family tried to find her before her death. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe lost our girl,\u201d the Instagram story said. \u201cBut we did everything flyers at her school, TikToks, Instagram, FaceBook, Police, family searching everywhere. Even our family in Mexico shared and prayed for her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another post said, \u201cMy mom hasn\u2019t spoken in a week… she feels she failed her daughter, but she didn\u2019t. She did everything. Our home is quiet and broken.\u201d<\/p>\n

Times staff writer Salvador Hernandez contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAKE ELSINORE\u00a0\u2014\u00a0More than 75 miles from the tony Hollywood Hills neighborhood where teenager Celeste Rivas Hernandez\u2019s decomposing body…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":248528,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[4637,39440,1582,276,2332,6517,128029,13140,246,9872,2961,127061,13940,224,5337,7207,102952,6620,45494,6189],"class_list":{"0":"post-248527","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-body","9":"tag-burke","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-car","13":"tag-case","14":"tag-celeste-rivas","15":"tag-comment","16":"tag-family","17":"tag-girl","18":"tag-la","19":"tag-lake-elsinore","20":"tag-last-year","21":"tag-los-angeles","22":"tag-losangeles","23":"tag-police","24":"tag-rivas","25":"tag-time","26":"tag-trunk","27":"tag-vehicle"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115252817729680666","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}