Rapper D4vd is being investigated as a suspect in the death of 15-year-old Celeste Rivas, two months after her dismembered body was found in the trunk of his Tesla, according to LAPD insiders.
The teenager’s decomposed remains were discovered on September 8 inside the impounded car registered to 20-year-old D4vd – real name David Anthony Burke.
According to TMZ, law enforcement sources have now started to investigate D4vd as a potential suspect in the case.
‘One source claims the police investigation revealed that around the Spring of 2025, D4vd took a trip in the middle of the night to a remote area of Santa Barbara County and remained there for several hours,’ the publication stated.
The report noted the matter was being tentatively treated as a possible homicide, though there is no official paperwork identifying D4vd as a suspect and authorities are still waiting on an official cause of death from the medical examiner.
An LAPD insider later told NBC4 that police believe Rivas likely died in the spring and that ‘D4vd likely had help in dismembering and disposing of the body.’
That source claimed the rapper has not been cooperative during the months-long investigation.
The teenager’s decomposed remains were discovered on September 8 inside the impounded car registered to 20-year-old D4vd – real name David Anthony Burke
Rivas had been missing for more than a year after running away from her home in Lake Elsinore, California, in April 2024
Rivas had been missing for more than a year after running away from her home in Lake Elsinore, California, in April 2024. She would’ve turned 15 the day before her body was found.
D4vd has remained silent about any potential connection to the victim discovered in his car. Daily Mail has contacted his team for comment regarding the latest alleged development.
The singer reportedly broke his $20,000 lease and moved out from the Hollywood Hills home that his Tesla had been parked near before the gruesome discovery. The home had been searched by police.
An LAPD spokesperson said ‘several items of evidence’ were found during the raid, but there have been no updates on specific information gathered in the search.
Private investigator Steve Fischer previously told the Daily Mail that he had recovered strange items from inside the home that served no clear domestic purpose.
‘There were multiple of these items that could all be used together… [that] you’d never need in a Hollywood Hills home. You’d be more likely to find them on a farm,’ he said.
Images screenshotted from Burke’s social media pages show him with a girl who closely resembles descriptions and photos of Rivas
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the department was unable to confirm the reports that D4vd was being treated as a suspect.
D4vd has tried to stay out of the public eye, canceled his planned tour and delayed the release of an expanded deluxe edition of his album Withered, in the aftermath of the discovery.
Rivas’s cause of death has been deferred pending further tests.
Sources close to Rivas previously told the Daily Mail that D4vd was in a relationship with the teenager, while others said she had been seen ‘partying’ with the rapper.
She was reported missing back in May 2024, when she was 13 years old, but the timeline was complicated when a video emerged appearing to show her at home on September 8, 2024.
The clip, which was obtained by TMZ, appears to show Rivas shouting and hurling abuse at her neighbors for allegedly ding-dong ditching her parents’ home.
Police haven’t yet said if they were aware that Rivas may have returned to her family’s home after she was initially reported missing.
This is a breaking news story. More to come.
