Authorities now believe singer D4vd may not have acted alone in the disturbing case involving 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. A police source told PEOPLE the 20-year-old artist “most likely had help dismembering and disposing of the body.” While D4vd, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, hasn’t been charged, police say he “has not been cooperative” with their investigation, despite his team stating otherwise.
Rivas was discovered dead in the trunk of Burke’s impounded Tesla on September 8, just a day after her 15th birthday. The vehicle had been abandoned in the Hollywood Hills for about a month before neighbors reported a foul smell. When police opened the trunk, they found the decomposing body inside a plastic bag.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner identified Rivas and marked her cause and manner of death as “deferred.” Investigators are officially treating the case as a homicide.
Rivas had reportedly been missing from Lake Elsinore multiple times this year, and the LAPD served a search warrant at a residence near where the car was towed. A landlord told SFGate that D4vd had stayed there with his manager and moved out shortly after authorities seized electronics from the home. Her family described her death as a heartbreaking tragedy.
