(NewsNation) — The owner of the rental home where singer D4vd was living has hired a private investigator amid a police investigation into the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
Mladen Trifunovic was renting his California mansion to the singer when Rivas Hernandez’s body was found in the trunk of a car belonging to D4vd in an impound lot near the home.
Los Angeles police searched that home shortly after the body was discovered nearly six weeks ago, but Trifunovic has opened his own investigation, reported TMZ.
“Our private investigator’s work is still ongoing, and I don’t have any findings to share at this time. It’s still early in the process, and I want to respect both the LAPD’s investigation and the memory of the victim,” Trifunovic told the outlet.
Little is known about how the teen died, but police were looking into anything resembling “blood evidence” when searching the rental home, TMZ’s Charles Latibeaudiere told “Banfield”.
“They were checking drains to see if there’s any blood evidence or blood or tissue,” he said. “So they did a scouring of this house, looking for any evidence.”
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner listed Rivas Hernandez’s cause of death as “deferred” and requested additional testing.
Without a confirmed manner of death, police are unable to make arrests. Once it’s deemed a homicide, police would be able to dig deeper into potential suspects.
Rivas Hernandez had been missing from her home in Lake Elsinore, California, since April 2024, when she was 13, authorities said.
Her remains were discovered inside a Tesla registered to David Anthony Burke, D4vd’s real name, at a Hollywood tow yard on Sept. 8.
“We know that Tesla is his,” Latibeaudiere said. “The thing that’s still not clear is who was actually driving the Tesla when the body was placed in the car? Who parked it where it was eventually found and impounded? Those are the dots that still need to be connected here.”
Questions have swirled about D4vd’s relationship with Rivas Hernandez, with some pointing to alleged matching tattoos, song titles and comments from friends.
D4vd was on tour when he was contacted by police, who told him a decomposing body was found in his car.