Singer D4vd arrested on suspicion of murdering missing teen

by · UPI

April 17 (UPI) -- Authorities in Los Angeles said Thursday that police have arrested singer D4vd for the murder of a missing 14-year-old girl whose decomposing body had been found late last summer in the trunk of his Tesla.

Police have been investigating the 21-year-old singer D4vd since late summer, when the body of Celeste Rivas Hernandez was found in his car, which had been sitting for weeks in the Los Angeles impound lot.

In a brief statement Thursday, the Los Angeles Police Department announced that detectives arrested Burke for Rivas' murder.

He was being held without bail and the case was to be presented to the district attorney's office on Monday, the LAPD said.

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Burke's attorneys issued a statement Thursday night stating their client has only been detained, no criminal complaint has been filed and they will "vigorously defend David's innocence."

"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," attorneys Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski and Reinga Peters said.

Police discovered a decomposed body of a girl in the trunk of a Tesla registered to Burke in a Los Angeles impound lot on Sept. 8 following reports of a foul smell emanating from the vehicle.

The body was later identified as belonging to Rivas, of Lake Elsinore, Calif., who was reported missing April 5, 2024, when she was 13.

Authorities said the vehicle had been parked at the location for several weeks and she may have been deceased for a while before her body was found.

After he body was found, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner had said it had yet to determine the cause or manner of her death and it remained unclear whether there was any criminal culpability beyond the concealment of her body.

The cause and manner of Rivas' death have yet to be made public.