American singer David Anthony Burke, popularly known as D4vd, has been charged with the murder of a 14-year-old girl, Celeste Rivas.

The county district attorney, Nathan J. Hochman, announced on Monday that D4vd faces multiple felony counts, including murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 and unlawful mutilation of human remains.

According to prosecutors, the victim was last seen on April 23, 2025, after visiting D4vd at his Hollywood Hills residence, and she never returned home. 

On September 8, 2025, her decomposed and dismembered remains were discovered in the front trunk of a car registered to the singer that had been seized.

“The criminal complaint includes special circumstance allegations such as murder of a witness, murder for financial gain and lying in wait, as well as a special allegation that Burke personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a sharp instrument, to commit the crime,” the prosecutors said.

If convicted, he faces either the death penalty or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors said they would decide later whether to pursue the death penalty.

“This is a parent’s nightmare, a situation where your daughter goes out one night and never comes back,” Mr Hochman said during a press briefing, describing the case as “brutal and horrific”.

He added that the charges represented “the most serious” his office can bring.

Los Angeles Police Department chief Jim McDonnell said the LAPD remained committed to seeking justice for the victim.

The 21-year-old singer is scheduled to be arraigned at the Foltz Criminal Justice Centre. 

The singer’s legal team, led by Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski, and Regina Peter, has maintained D4vd’s innocence. 

In a statement, the lawyers said the evidence would show that D4vd “did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez and he was not the cause of her death”.

D4vd was arrested on April 16 in connection with the teenager’s death. Police said the discovery was made after reports of a foul odour coming from the vehicle.

Investigators reportedly recovered the victim’s head and torso inside a cadaver bag in the front compartment of a Tesla linked to the singer. 

Following the discovery, the singer cancelled his planned 2025 ‘D4VD withered’ world tour and was dropped from brand partnerships, including campaigns with Hollister Co. and Crocs.

D4vd rose to prominence in 2022 with his viral hit ‘Here With Me’ and later released ‘Romantic Homicide’, a song whose visuals featured a lady in a blood-covered white cloth and the artiste blindfolded with a knife.

At the time, the singer said the title of the song was metaphorical, referring to the killing of a memory and not literal violence.