{"id":403224,"date":"2025-11-25T08:47:27","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T08:47:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/403224\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T08:47:27","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T08:47:27","slug":"lapd-describes-d4vd-probe-as-investigation-into-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/403224\/","title":{"rendered":"LAPD describes D4vd probe as ‘investigation into murder’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For the first time since Los Angeles police began investigating the gruesome discovery of a dead girl\u2019s body in<\/a> the trunk of singer D4vd\u2019s Tesla, a detective has characterized the probe as an \u201cinvestigation into murder,\u201d according to court documents. <\/p>\n

Seeking to prevent the release of autopsy findings, a Los Angeles Police detective told a court recently that the publication of details surrounding the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez could jeopardize the investigation, according to court documents. <\/p>\n

LAPD Det. Joshua Byers, a veteran of the elite Robbery Homicide Division, filed a declaration on Friday that described their probe as a murder investigation, according to court documents reviewed by The Times. <\/p>\n

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Craig Richman granted the LAPD\u2019s request and ordered that the medical examiner\u2019s findings be sealed. <\/p>\n

Up until recently, investigators have repeatedly declined to say whether they are calling the girl\u2019s death a homicide, and have said they were awaiting the conclusion of the County of Los Angeles Medical Examiner. <\/p>\n

Detectives discovered the girl\u2019s badly decomposed remains at a Hollywood tow yard on Sept. 8. The performer\u2019s Tesla had been towed from a street in the Hollywood Hills after having been abandoned there for weeks.<\/p>\n

In his court declaration, Byers said that making autopsy findings public \u201cwill reveal or tend to reveal the ongoing investigation and the integrity of the investigation as well as the identity of witnesses and\/or informants who are cooperating with law enforcement and the content of the information they have provided, which could endanger the lives of witnesses and\/or compromise the investigation.\u201d <\/p>\n

The judge ordered that the declaration, supporting documents and the court order itself, \u201cbe sealed and maintained in a secure location in the custody of the clerk of the court until further order of this court,\u201d court documents said.<\/p>\n

In a prepared statement Monday, the Los Angeles County medical examiner\u2019s office said that it has received a \u201ccourt order, initiated by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), to place a security hold on Medical Examiner case number 2025-14252, Celeste Rivas Hernandez.\u201d <\/p>\n

According to the medical examiner, the order barred the release of all \u201cdetails associated with the case, including the cause and manner of death and Medical Examiner report.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Monday\u2019s statement, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Odey Ukpo seemed to question the wisdom of sealing his department\u2019s findings.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince becoming the department head, I\u2019ve worked on eradicating the practice of placing security holds on Medical Examiner cases simply by law enforcement request,\u201d Ukpo said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe practice of security holds is virtually unheard of in other counties and has not been proven to improve outcomes in the legal system. 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,\u201d Ukpo said.<\/p>\n

The LAPD had first requested a security hold on the case on Sept. 15 \u2014 a week after the body was found. That request \u201cwas denied due to insufficient justification to warrant the hold,\u201d according to the coroner\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department understands the public\u2019s interest in this case and remains committed to transparency when possible. Information will be made available once the court order is lifted,\u201d the examiner\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n

In reply to the medical examiner\u2019s announcement, LAPD Capt. Mike Bland said this remains an ongoing investigation by the Robbery Homicide Division and the purpose of the court order is to ensure the LAPD receives information before the public does.<\/p>\n

The girl\u2019s remains were found inside a black bag in the trunk of the multiplatinum musician\u2019s Tesla. <\/p>\n

The girl\u2019s body weighed 71 pounds and had a \u201cShhh\u201d tattoo on her finger, according to the medical examiner\u2018s records that were released before the court\u2019s order. <\/p>\n

Celeste\u2019s body was found the day after her 15th birthday. LAPD Capt. Scot Williams said the girl had been \u201cdead for at least several weeks\u201d before the discovery. Williams on Monday stated the body was not decapitated and had not been frozen as some media outlets have reported.<\/p>\n

LAPD Robbery Homicide detectives determined that the Tesla had been left parked along Bluebird Avenue since late July \u2014 around the time that D4vd, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, began a national tour. <\/p>\n

A fresh Gen Z voice, D4vd has appeared in a music video<\/a> filled with murderous themes. In one part of the video, a young woman with an apparent chest wound lies on a bed as the singer hovers over her, blindfolded, his white shirt spattered with blood. In another video<\/a>, \u201cOne More Dance,\u201d D4vd drags a person \u2014 who bears the singer\u2019s likeness \u2014 to a car, where a couple stuffs the person into the trunk.<\/p>\n

Long before the discovery of her body, Celeste had run away from her Lake Elsinore home. She was in the seventh grade, and her family reported her missing at least three times in 2024, according to the Riverside County Sheriff\u2019s Office. During that time, she appeared alongside D4vd online, and law enforcement sources indicate she resided at a rental home with the singer.<\/p>\n

Investigators believe that more than one person was involved in an effort to dispose of the teen\u2019s body in the months before her remains were found in the Tesla, according to two law enforcement sources familiar with the probe. She may have been dead since the spring, according to one law enforcement source.<\/p>\n

As part of their investigation, detectives searched the Hollywood Hills home where D4vd lived, and removed electronic evidence and other items from the residence, which had been leased by the singer\u2019s manager. <\/p>\n

Last week, LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton, who oversees the department\u2019s detective operations, addressed the investigation, saying \u201caccountability is coming. Our RHD detectives have been working and not waiting for that decision [by the medical examiner]. They are going to get justice for Celeste Rivas.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one is off the table, including him [D4vd].\u201d <\/p>\n

Hamilton said the probe has stepped up in recent days, but no official suspect has been named.<\/p>\n

Celeste first disappeared last year on Valentine\u2019s Day. It was the first of three times she vanished and it sparked multiple calls to authorities. Her mother made emotional pleas on Facebook and the family sought video from their neighborhood. <\/p>\n

According to law enforcement sources, the singer and the girl met online. Burke shot to fame posting \u201cFortnite\u201d clips to YouTube and other social media, then pivoted to make his own music and scored a hit with the song \u201cRomantic Homicide.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the first time since Los Angeles police began investigating the gruesome discovery of a dead girl\u2019s body…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":403225,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[4637,1582,276,6517,128029,281,4446,3040,5022,2961,4530,190654,224,5337,40663,1013,15164,190552,90595,7829],"class_list":["post-403224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-body","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-case","tag-celeste-rivas","tag-court","tag-death","tag-department","tag-investigation","tag-la","tag-lapd","tag-law-enforcement-request","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-medical-examiner","tag-music-video","tag-singer","tag-singer-d4vd","tag-teenage-girl","tag-tesla"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115609471833994614","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403224","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=403224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}