Teen’s dismembered body reportedly found partially frozen in D4vd’s car

More than two months after the body of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez was discovered partially dismembered in a vehicle, new details reveal her body was reportedly found partially frozen.

On Sept. 8, the girl’s body was found after employees at Hollywood Tow reported a foul odor coming from a Tesla SUV, which had been on the lot for five days after it was reported abandoned in the Hollywood Hills.    

The Tesla with Texas plates was registered to David Anthony Burke, 20, a rising R&B musician known as D4vd with millions of fans and followers. 

The report by TMZ said the girl’s decomposing body parts, including a head and torso, had apparently been thawing out inside the front trunk when the grisly discovery was made. 

The Tesla was parked on Bluebird Avenue, not far from a Hollywood Hills rental home that Burke was living in, before it was towed. Los Angeles Police Department detectives later served a search warrant at the home where several pieces of evidence were seized.

On Nov. 18, LAPD sources told KTLA that Burke was considered a suspect in Rivas Hernandez’s death.

The teen had been missing from Lake Elsinore since April 2024, when she was just 13. The potential relationship between her and Burke has been a critical part of the investigation, with images that have surfaced online, which appear to show the two together. 

The girl’s mother had told investigators that she had a boyfriend named David at the time of her disappearance.

The two reportedly have matching tattoos on their right index fingers with the letters “Shhh.” Friends in Burke’s circle also reportedly believed Rivas Hernandez was 19 years old.

Following the gruesome discovery, Burke cancelled the remainder of his U.S. and European tour dates and shelved an album release. He is allegedly “not cooperating” with investigators, a police source told People magazine, and has not commented on the investigation or his alleged relationship ties to the teen.  

Citing law enforcement officials, TMZ reported that detectives are also investigating whether the killer had help dismembering and disposing of the teen’s body.

“Another thing that we are told is that they know now, based on the manner in which Celeste’s body was dismembered, that investigators believe it’s very likely whoever did that to her had help,” TMZ’s Charles Latibeaudiere told KTLA.

The outlet said investigators are looking into a trip that Burke made to a remote area of Santa Barbara County in spring 2025, in the middle of the night, where he reportedly spent several hours.

“We know that investigators are looking closely at that journey to Santa Barbara,” Latibeaudiere said. “They believe it may be connected to whatever ended up happening to Celeste.”

The teen’s body was discovered the day after her 15th birthday, but the L.A. County Medical Examiner’s Office said her death likely happened weeks earlier.

The frozen state that her decomposing body was found in may make it difficult for coroners to establish a cause of death, sources told TMZ.

In October, a funeral for Rivas Hernandez was held at Queen of Heaven Cemetery & Mortuary in Rowland Heights, as family members were seen carrying the teen’s casket to her final resting place.

In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, officials with the Lake Elsinore Unified School District, where the teen had attended middle school when she disappeared, said, “Our 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.”

So far, no arrests have been made and any decision to arrest or prosecute will likely be made once an official autopsy is released.