After Los Angeles Police Department sources revealed to news outlets Tuesday that D4vd is a suspect in the death of teenager Celeste Rivas Hernandez, and that the case is being treated as a homicide, police sources also told one news outlet that no arrest is “imminent.”
Harvey Levin, the founder of the celebrity news website TMZ, said Tuesday that investigators are still not close to solving the crime because the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office is still working to determine the cause of death.
The 15-year-old had reportedly run away from home in 2024 and may have been in a romantic relationship with the 20-year-old “Romantic Homicide” singer, whose real name was David Anthony Burke. Her dismembered, decomposing body was found in the trunk of D4vd’s Tesla on Sept. 8, after the car had been abandoned for nearly a month in the Hollywood Hills, near his home.
“We have spoken with people at the LAPD today, and they are not close to making an arrest,” Levin said. “We are told it is nowhere imminent that an arrest will be made.” Levin also said that he and his reporters tried to push police sources on whether the Medical Examiner’s Office had weighed in, or whether the toxicology findings were in.
Levin, who also is an attorney and a veteran Los Angeles-based legal analyst, said that toxicology results were needed to determine the cause of Celeste’s death. “That’s what everybody’s waiting for,” Levin said.
Levin noted that police sources had offered conflicting information on the case Tuesday to TMZ and to other outlets. “But authoritatively today, what we got back was they are nowhere near solving this crime,” Levin added.
Sources involved in the case also told ABC News that the investigation is “ongoing,” though detectives also are “certain they are going down the right path for a suspect.” TMZ reported that the case is being treated as a homicide, while NBC4 cited a source “with direct knowledge of the investigation” who said that Celeste probably died in the spring and that D4vd “likely had help in dismembering and disposing of the body.” That same source told NBC4 that the musician had not been cooperative in the investigation.
D4vd’s lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment from news outlets.
But even if LAPD appears to be making progress in the case, Levin has questioned whether police will ever be able to arrest anyone in the girl’s death — largely because of the state that her body was found in. On the Oct. 25 episode of his podcast “2 Angry Men,” which he co-hosts with famed criminal defense attorney Mark Geragos, they talked about why Celeste’s death investigation is so “complicated.”
“The problem they have here, I’m told, is that because of the decomposition of the body, the length of time between when she passed and from when (the body) was actually delivered to the coroner, there are all kinds of complications scientifically with them drawing any conclusions (about the cause of death),” Geragos said.
Until a cause of death is known, authorities can’t say whether she was a victim of foul play, Geragos also said, while Levin noted: “If they can’t determine cause of death because they can’t do a proper tox evaluation, the DA is going to have a hell of a time charging anybody.”
Levin raised the possibility that Celeste could have died of a drug overdose, then someone tried to dispose of her body. Even if that person did so by dismembering her, that’s a “mutilation of a body, and that’s a crime, but it’s not (necessarily) murder of manslaughter,” he said.
“You know, if they’ve got video of somebody putting the body in the Tesla, that doesn’t mean that person is responsible for the death of Celeste Rivas,” Levin continued. “It just means that they put a body in a car. And of course, you can talk to that person, and maybe that person will talk. Maybe that person won’t talk. Maybe that person has direct knowledge of who did what, but we don’t know any of that.”
Levin and Geragos furthermore noted that they were told that multiple people had keys and access to the $5 million Hollywood Hills home that D4vd was renting, as well as to his Tesla. Levin said D4vd’s home was “a party house” and was “so notorious that all the neighbors were complaining and they were having parties right up until the time that Celeste’s body was discovered.”
The girl, who reportedly came from a troubled home and met D4vd when she was 12, became part of that party scene, insiders previously told TMZ . They believed that she was D4vd’s girlfriend but assumed she was legally an adult and even a student at the University of Southern California. She was a frequent companion of the rising star musician and they assumed she was 19 or older, based on seeing her at age-restricted venues.
The discovery of Celeste’s body sent shock waves through the Los Angeles music scene, with people finding it hard to believe that D4vd could be connected to anything violent, given his “super shy, soft-spoken and gentle demeanor” and well as his low-key musical style, which has been described as a mix of R&B and indie pop, the Daily Mail and Vanity Fair also reported.
Celeste was last seen by family in the Riverside County community of Lake Elsinore in April 2024. Some 17 months later, her body was found in the Tesla, which was registered to D4vd, after the car had been towed to a tow yard and workers there noticed a strong order coming from the front trunk, which also is known as a frunk. Police told NBC4 that her remains were found in a bag and that they were not intact.
D4vd was on his “Withered” world tour when Celeste’s body was found, NBC 4 reported. He canceled his remaining tour dates, which includes shows in San Francisco.
Since Celeste’s death, D4vd’s music and his self-presentation on stage and in videos have been seen in a new, darker light, according to Vanity Fair. For example, D4vd has brought a casket on stage at performances and made a music video in which one blood-soaked version of his body carries another into a trunk, Vanity Fair reported. And, in his 2022 breakout single, “Romantic Homicide,” he also sings, with flat affect, “In the back of mind, I killed you and I didn’t even regret it/I can’t believe I said it/But it’s true/I hate you.”