Friends of singer D4vd say they are reeling after learning the dismembered body found in his Tesla belonged to 14-year-old Celeste Rivas — a girl many in the Los Angeles music scene believed was his girlfriend.
According to TMZ, insiders who partied with D4vd, 20 – real name David Anthony Burke – and Celeste believed the pair were romantically linked and thought she was far older than she really was.
Several said they were convinced she was a student at the University of Southern California and estimated her age at around 19.
The insiders noted that Celeste — who reportedly met the musician when she was just 12 — frequently attended age-restricted venues, which fueled the assumption she was legally an adult. The news she was actually 14 has left many stunned.
While authorities have not established any direct connection between Celeste’s death and D4vd – whose demeanor friends described as ‘super shy, soft spoken and gentle – the discovery of her remains in his vehicle has sparked widespread speculation and unease.
Friends of singer D4vd, 20, say they are reeling after learning the body found in his car belonged to 14-year-old Celeste Rivas — a girl many in the LA music scene believed was his girlfriend
According to TMZ , insiders who partied with D4vd – real name David Anthony Burke – and Celeste believed the pair were romantically linked and thought she was around 19
Adding to the tragic complexity, law enforcement previously revealed that Celeste had run away from home multiple times and was described as coming from a ‘troubled’ family environment.
Before officials publicly identified Celeste as the victim, her mother told TMZ she believed her daughter had been dating someone named David.
The investigation remains ongoing as authorities work to determine how the teenager ended up in the trunk of the 20-year-old singer’s car.
Police recently raided D4vd’s now vacated Hollywood Hills rental home, in search of blood evidence linked to the dismembered teen.
What was found during the search of the home is not clear. In a statement last week, a spokesperson for the LAPD said ‘several items of evidence’ were collected for analysis.
The department has not issued an update in its investigation since. No arrests have been made, and no suspects or persons of interest have been publicly named.
When approached for comment on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the department told the Daily Mail that ‘there are no updates,’ but the investigation is ongoing.
The spokesperson declined to comment on whether Burke is cooperating with investigators.
The 20-year-old was away performing on the US leg of his Withered World Tour when Rivas’ body was found.
The insiders noted that Celeste — who reportedly met the musician when she was just 12 — frequently attended age-restricted venues, which fueled the assumption she was legally an adult
The news that Celeste was only 14 has left many stunned — especially given her proximity to D4vd, whose demeanor friends described as ‘super shy, soft spoken and gentle’
Investigators made the grisly discovery after they were called to a Hollywood tow yard to investigate a foul stench coming from the front trunk of Burke’s impounded Tesla Model Y
Investigators made the grisly discovery after they were called to a Hollywood tow yard to investigate a foul stench coming from the front trunk of Burke’s impounded Tesla Model Y.
Inside, they found Rivas’s dismembered, severely decomposed remains wrapped in plastic.
The teenager was reported missing from Lake Elsinore in May 2024, when she was just 13. Her remains were found a day after what would’ve been her 15th birthday, though investigators said it appeared she’d been dead for some time.
A member of Burke’s team claimed the singer was fully cooperating with police immediately after the body was found. However, after Rivas’s remains were identified, Burke’s team issued no further responses.
Burke’s world tour was then quietly canceled, and he retained an attorney who has yet to issue a statement or reply to a request for comment.
Police are now trying to establish when Rivas died and how. They are also working to fill in the gap between her disappearance in May 2024 and the discovery of her body 16 months later.
Rivas’s family claims to have last seen her on May 4, 2024. Her brother, Matthew Rivas, said she left home to go see a movie with Burke and never came back.
Rivas was reported missing from her home in Lake Elsinore by her family in May 2024 when she was just 13
Numerous images have since emerged on social media, purporting to show Rivas and Burke together during the time she was reported missing.
The nature of Burke’s relationship with Rivas is currently being scrutinized by investigators.
Police and the girl’s family confirmed Rivas had ‘Shhh…’ tattooed in red ink on her right index finger – matching one Burke has.
Internet sleuths have also unearthed an alleged unreleased song of Burke’s, titled Celeste_Demo unfin.
The song’s authenticity has not been confirmed, but leakers claim it was recorded by Burke in December 2023, and the lyrics explicitly reference a girl called Celeste.
Neama Rahmani, a former Department of Justice prosecutor, told the Daily Mail that the seeming evidence mounted against Burke already is ‘staggering’ and he is shocked an arrest hasn’t already been made.
Burke, meanwhile, has yet to publicly acknowledge the discovery of Rivas’s remains in his car.
His Tesla had been abandoned for days near Doheny Place and Bluebird Avenue, just blocks from the rental home where he’d been staying.
D4vd has not spoken publicly about Rivas’s remains being found in his car; He is pictured in June
Neighbors previously told Rolling Stone that the car was spotted in various places in the local area over the past few months.
It was left in its final spot for about three weeks, and before that, it was seen parked a few blocks south as far back as the end of May, the outlet reported.
Burke and his representatives have not returned multiple requests for comment.
The singer shot to fame on TikTok in 2022 and made his late-night television debut on Jimmy Kimmel’s show in November 2023, aged 18.
