US police arrest musician D4vd months after finding teen’s remains in his car

LOS ANGELES – The American musician known as D4vd was arrested on April 16 in connection with the death of a missing teenage girl, whose severely decomposed body was found in the trunk of his Tesla, the authorities said.

The police did not immediately offer details about the findings of their investigation or say what evidence led them to arrest D4vd, whose real name is David Burke.

He was arrested in Hollywood around 4.30pm, according to Captain Scot Williams of the Los Angeles Police Department. The police said in a statement that he was being held without bail and that the case would be presented to prosecutors on April 20.

Burke, 21, has millions of followers on social media and music platforms, and created the anthem for the online video game Fortnite. His major-label debut, Withered, was released in 2025, and he got an opening slot on American singer SZA’s SOS Tour in 2023.

In a statement on April 16, lawyers for Burke emphasised that he had been detained but not charged with a crime.

“The actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez and he was not the cause of her death,” said the lawyers, Ms Blair Berk, Ms Marilyn Bednarski and Ms Regina Peter.

They added: “We will vigorously defend David’s innocence.”

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said in a statement that it was aware of Burke’s arrest and expected the case to be presented to the major crimes division.

“Prosecutors will review the facts and evidence to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to file charges,” it said.

The case, both tragic and lurid, has captivated the public since the authorities announced in September 2025 that they had discovered human remains in a car registered to Burke.

Officials said the car had been left on a public street for weeks before it was towed to an impound lot in Los Angeles. It had not been reported stolen.

The Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office identified the remains as Celeste’s, who was 13 in 2024 when she was reported missing from her home in Lake Elsinore, California, about 110km south-east of Los Angeles. Her body was found on Sept 8, 2025, a day after what would have been her 15th birthday.

Repeated efforts to reach her family members have been unsuccessful.

Burke had begun a North American tour on Aug 5, 2025, and had several performances in Midwestern United States the week his car was towed. After Celeste’s body was found, several remaining concerts were cancelled.

The police have said they have evidence showing that Burke travelled north to the Santa Barbara area sometime in the spring of 2025, but they have not provided additional details about the trip or said why it could be relevant to their investigation.

The Los Angeles police department initially said it was unclear “whether there is any criminal culpability” in the case “beyond the concealment of her body”, in part because the medical examiner’s office had not determined the cause or manner of Celeste’s death.

The medical examiner’s office said she was 1.57m tall, weighed 32kg, had wavy black hair and was wearing a tube top and small black leggings.

But on Nov 24, 2025, the medical examiner’s office said it had been barred from publicly releasing information about the case after the Los Angeles police got a court order to place a “security hold” on it.

“No records or details associated with the case, including the cause and manner of death and medical examiner report, can be released” until further notice, the office said in a statement.

The move was criticised by the chief medical examiner, Dr Odey Ukpo, who said in a statement that he had “worked on eradicating the practice of placing security holds on medical examiner cases simply by law enforcement request”.

Police officials said they sought the hold to make sure investigators received details about the case before the public. NYTIMES