Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s family is taking its fight for accountability beyond the criminal courtroom, pursuing a wrongful death lawsuit against D4vd and several people they allege played a role in allowing his relationship with the teenager to continue.
The D4vd lawsuit names the singer, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke, along with his mother, Colleen Burke, manager Josh Marshall, and live in security guard Sheldon Jacques. The report says the family is also targeting entities connected to D4vd, including Mogul Vision, the management company the family alleges leased his Los Angeles residence and helped arrange for Jacques to work as his security guard.
The civil case contains 12 causes of action, according to TMZ, with nine directed at D4vd. The remaining claims target people and business interests around him. The family alleges those defendants knew or should have known that D4vd was sexually exploiting Celeste and failed to intervene, properly supervise him, or take reasonable steps to protect her.
The D4vd lawsuit also focuses heavily on what the family says happened during 2024, when Celeste repeatedly left her family’s home. The complaint alleges D4vd arranged transportation for Celeste to and from his residence and enlisted Jacques to help bring her from her family’s home to D4vd’s Hollywood Hills property. Those claims remain allegations that will have to be proven through the civil court process.
The lawsuit arrives while D4vd is already defending himself against an extraordinarily serious criminal case. According to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, prosecutors charged Burke in April with one count of murder, one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, and one count of unlawful mutilation of human remains. The criminal complaint also includes special circumstance allegations involving the murder of a witness, murder for financial gain and lying in wait. D4vd has pleaded not guilty.
The relationship now at the center of both cases began well before Celeste’s death. According to an Associated Press timeline of the criminal case, prosecutors allege D4vd began sexually abusing Celeste in November 2023, when she was 13 and he was 18. Prosecutors say Celeste would later spend periods of time with him while repeatedly leaving home.
By February 2024, authorities had become involved. According to NBC Los Angeles, law enforcement conducted a welfare check at D4vd’s Los Angeles home after Celeste had been reported missing. NBC reported that she returned to her family on February 19, two days after that welfare check.
Celeste disappeared again that April. Her brother told the outlet that she had been headed to see a movie with D4vd and that the family knew she knew the singer. Court records reviewed by NBC indicate Celeste and D4vd continued spending substantial time together throughout 2024, including summer weekends at his home and trips to Las Vegas, London and Texas.
Those details are particularly significant to the D4vd lawsuit because the civil complaint alleges people surrounding the singer either knew or should have known about the alleged exploitation. Court documents say the relationship formally ended around November 2024, though the two continued communicating and messages indicated that sexual contact continued afterward.
Prosecutors say the relationship deteriorated further in 2025. Prosecutors allege Celeste threatened to expose their illegal relationship, which they say created a motive for her killing. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office says D4vd invited Celeste to his Hollywood Hills home on April 23, 2025, where prosecutors allege she was killed after arriving.
During D4vd’s preliminary hearing, prosecutors presented evidence supporting their theory that Celeste was stabbed and later dismembered, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors said blood matching Celeste’s DNA profile was found inside D4vd’s garage and alleged that he purchased items including chainsaws, a body bag, a shovel, and an inflatable pool in the days surrounding her death.
Celeste’s decomposed and dismembered remains were discovered on September 8, 2025, inside the front trunk of a Tesla registered to D4vd after the vehicle had been impounded, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. The wrongful death action surfaced exactly one year after that discovery, giving the D4vd lawsuit an especially painful timing for her family.
A judge ordered D4vd to stand trial following a five-day preliminary hearing in July, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. If convicted as charged, prosecutors say he could face life in prison without parole or the death penalty, although the district attorney’s office has said a final decision on whether to pursue a death sentence will be made later.
Celeste’s family has already made its position known. The family said it would support the death penalty if D4vd is convicted and described him as a person “without conscience.” The civil case now widens the legal battle by asking not only what D4vd allegedly did, but whether the adults and businesses around him had opportunities to protect Celeste before her death.
