D4vd murder case: LAPD Chief slams ‘far off’ social media theories

LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell appeared on Good Day LA on Tuesday to address the high-profile murder case involving singer D4vd and 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Following Monday’s announcement of murder charges against the singer, McDonnell provided new details on the forensic challenges of the investigation and pushed back against rumors that circulated on social media during the investigation. 

What we know:

Singer D4vd, born David Anthony Burke, was officially charged Monday, April 20, with the murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office also filed special circumstances of lying in wait and killing a witness.

Burke entered a not guilty plea and remains in custody. Chief McDonnell confirmed the singer is currently being held in a segregated area away from other inmates for his own safety.

"Our thoughts go out to the family for what they’ve had to endure, the family of Miss Rivas," McDonnell said. "It’s horrible to even imagine what they had been through for the last year." While the Chief hasn't met with the family personally, he confirmed that LAPD detectives have remained in close contact.

Family of Celeste Rivas Hernandez releases a statement

The young victim's family released a statement Tuesday through their family attorney, Patrick Steinfeld. 

"We would like to thank the Los Angeles Police Department and the District Attorney’s Office for their hard work. We would also like to thank the people of Lake Elsinore for all their support. Celeste was a beautiful, strong girl who loved to sing and dance. Every Friday night was movie night and we spent wonderful times together," her parents Jesus and Mercedes said. 

Why the investigation took a year

Addressing the public’s frustration over the timeline of the arrest, McDonnell detailed the specific forensic hurdles investigators faced.

"There’s an awful lot that goes into, you know, to the investigation," McDonnell explained. "The state of the body when it was found was, you know, degraded, decomposed, and that creates another set of circumstances of complexity for the investigators and the coroner's staff to be able to come up with a determination as to cause and manner of death whenever we have a death and it's appropriate. A toxicology has to be done on it and a tox takes up to six months to be able to get the results back from that but that's critical to know what other factors other than what might have been visible were involved in in the determination of the cause of death. So it a lot of times It takes a while to be able to get the full picture, and this was one of those cases."

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

• Celeste Rivas case: Teen’s body reportedly found ‘partially frozen’ in D4vd's Tesla
• Celeste Rivas Case: LAPD refutes claims teen’s body was frozen, addresses security hold

What they're saying:

Chief McDonnell was particularly critical of the social media speculation that has surrounded the case for months, calling many of the viral theories inaccurate and harmful to the family.

"You know a lot of speculation because of the notoriety of the case, you know, so many people come up with their own ideas of what happened or didn't happen and some of it was so far off the mark through the middle months of this in particular," McDonnell said. "And you know the family, while it may be entertainment for some, the family it's certainly not. It's something very, very serious and you know I think we all need to take a step back on some of these major cases. Let the process work its way through. Our detectives did a tremendous amount of work on this under very, very difficult circumstances and ended up being criticized for not making the arrest fast enough."

He specifically noted that details being circulated about the condition of the body—such as whether it was frozen—were not accurate.

"I can only imagine what the family was going through while this was playing itself out, but things had made no sense at all," he said. "There’s things that certainly we don't put out there. It's not our role to be feeding the news media, if you will, or the concern of some of the public. We have enough to be able to have probable cause to make an arrest and we present the case to the district attorney. They view all of the evidence and weigh it and then be able to put together a presentation for a jury at some point. To say anything beyond what's necessary at this point could potentially jeopardize the case, and we don't want to do that."

Will D4vd's lyrics be used against him? 

Dig deeper:

One of the most debated aspects of the trial will be the potential use of Burke's lyrics as evidence. In 2022, California passed the Decriminalization Artistic Expression Act, which protects artists from having their creative works used against them in court without meeting a high legal threshold.

In his 2022 hit "Romantic Homicide," D4vd sang: "In the back of my mind, I killed you and I didn’t even regret it…I hate you."

When asked if the music would be part of the prosecution’s case, McDonnell remained cautious. "We’ll see how it plays itself out," he stated. "It’d be speculative for me to say anything at this point about how that will look."

Timeline:

Rivas Hernandez was first reported missing on April 5, 2024, from her Lake Elsinore home when she was 13 years old. 

Neighbors initially thought the teen ran away and were distraught when her body was discovered. 

 "She was a good student, a happy child," a neighbor previously told FOX 11, who picked up her son from school after he called her, crying. "They grew up together," she added. 

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Celeste Rivas: New details about teen girl's body found in D4vd's Tesla revealed

Her body was discovered the day after what would have been her 15th birthday.

• April 5, 2024: Celeste Rivas Hernandez is reported missing from her Lake Elsinore home at age 13.
• April 23, 2025: The last known date prosecutors say Hernandez was alive at Burke's Hollywood Hills home.
• September 8, 2025: Hernandez’s remains are discovered in the trunk of a Tesla registered to Burke.
• November 24, 2025: LAPD orders a security hold on the medical examiner's findings.
• April 17, 2026: Burke is arrested in connection with the murder.
• April 20, 2026: Burke is officially charged and pleads not guilty.

The other side:

"Let us be clear — the actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez and he was not the cause of her death. There has been no indictment returned by any grand jury in this case and no criminal complaint filed. David has only been detained under suspicion. We will vigorously defend David’s innocence," D4vd's attorneys wrote in a joint statement.

RELATED COVERAGE: D4vd hires Hollywood powerhouse defense team to fight murder charges

MORE COVERAGE ABOUT THE KILLING OF CELESTE HERNANDEZ RIVAS

• Singer D4vd pleads not guilty to murder of 14-year-old girl
• Celeste Rivas Hernandez case: Private investigator reveals date last photos of teen were taken
• Celeste Rivas: Video from former teacher could be 'smoking gun' in case
• Celeste Rivas case: Investigator says 'it's very clear' who parked D4vd's Tesla with teen's body inside
• D4vd’s friend, Neo, arrested after failing to appear as grand jury witness: TMZ
• D4vd moves out of $20,000 a month Hollywood Hills rental amid homicide investigation
• Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s case scrubbed from medical examiner’s website
• Celeste Rivas case: D4vd named grand jury target as new court docs reveal dismemberment details

Crime and Public SafetyEntertainmentHollywood HillsLake ElsinoreInstastories