D4vd dismembered underage girlfriend with chainsaw, prosecutors say

As prosecutors mount their case against disgraced singer D4vd, charged last week with the violent murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, gruesome details have been revealed about the circumstances around her death. D4vd, born David Anthony Burke, is believed to have started a romantic and sexual relationship with Hernandez when she was 13. Investigators say Burke began planning her murder once she threatened to expose their illegal relationship and ruin his emerging music career. Hernandez, whose badly decomposed and disfigured body was discovered in the front trunk of Burke’s Tesla in September 2025, was last seen five months earlier visiting his house. 

Prosecutors have now outlined a disturbing timeline of the teen’s murder, alleging that Burke, 21, used two chainsaws to dismember her body in an inflatable pool, claiming that not only were blue plastic particles from the pool embedded in Hernandez’s remains, but that bloodstain evidence collected in Burke’s garage matched her DNA. In the prosecutor’s account of events, Burke bought a body bag and heavy-duty laundry bags online and amputated Hernandez’s left pinky and ring fingers, the latter of which bore a tattoo of his name. The fingers have yet to be recovered. 

Prosecutors also created a timeline of Burke and Hernandez’s relationship, claiming they met when Hernandez was just 11 and began seeing each other two years later, when Hernandez was 13 and Burke was 18. They broke up in November 2024 but continued a sexual relationship, though Hernandez grew jealous of Burke’s relationships with other women. During an argument on April 22, 2025, the day before she was killed, Hernandez threatened to disclose their relationship publicly. On April 23, Burke sent a car to pick up Hernandez from her hometown, about 80 miles outside Los Angeles. After arriving at Burke’s home, Hernandez’s phone went permanently silent. Prosecutors allege that Burke sent Hernandez a late-night text asking where she was in an attempt to cover up her killing or give himself an alibi. On April 24, Burke hosted a record-release party for his debut album, Withered. 

Evidence in Burke’s case, including wiretap results and data from his phone and iCloud, could become public as soon as Friday. Last week, prosecutors claimed that an extensive amount of child pornography was found on Burke’s phone. His defense team maintains his innocence.

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