David Anthony Burke, the 21-year-old rapper known as d4vd, was arrested by Los Angeles police on Thursday on suspicion of murdering 14-year-old Celeste Rivas, the LAPD said. He is being held without bail pending further action.
Authorities say Rivas’s badly decomposed body was discovered last year in the trunk of an impounded Tesla registered to Burke. Investigators reported finding two black bags in the vehicle: one containing a decomposed head and torso and the other holding additional body parts. An autopsy indicated Rivas had been dead in the vehicle for an extended period; her remains were found one day before what would have been her 15th birthday.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office will review the investigation and determine whether to file formal charges on Monday. Burke’s attorneys said they will “vigorously defend” him and contend the evidence will show he did not kill Rivas or cause her death.
Burke, a native of Queens, New York, rose to online prominence in 2022 after his song “Romantic Homicide” went viral on TikTok. He canceled the remainder of his U.S. and European tour dates last year amid the fallout from the investigation.