David Anthony Burke, the twenty-one-year-old musician known as D4vd, was arrested on April 16, 2026, by LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division detectives on suspicion of the murder of fourteen-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. He is being held without bail. The case is expected to be presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for filing consideration. No formal charges have been filed, and no grand jury indictment has been returned, despite an ongoing grand jury investigation that began in late 2025.
Burke’s defense team — attorneys Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski, and Regina Peter — issued a statement asserting that the evidence will demonstrate Burke did not cause Celeste’s death. The arrest was made on a probable cause warrant, not an indictment.
Celeste’s remains were discovered on September 8, 2025, inside two cadaver bags in the front trunk of a Tesla registered to Burke. According to grand jury documents unsealed in a Texas court proceeding, her body was dismembered — head and torso in one bag, limbs in another. The vehicle had been towed from the Hollywood Hills after being abandoned for an extended period. The cause and manner of death remain sealed by court order.
The legal landscape is complicated. A grand jury had been convened and heard testimony from record label executives, Burke’s family members, and other witnesses. Burke’s parents and brother filed objections in a Texas court to subpoenas demanding their testimony — an action that publicly revealed the grand jury’s existence and Burke as its target. Investigators are also reportedly examining a trip Burke took to Santa Barbara County in early 2025.
Robin Dreeke and Tony Brueski take your listener questions and examine the procedural realities, the potential charging decisions, and what the legal road ahead looks like for a case where celebrity status and institutional failures have collided with devastating consequences for a vulnerable child.
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