California | Singer D4vd used Amazon chainsaws to hack up teen’s body

California | Singer D4vd used Amazon chainsaws to hack up teen’s body – Prosecutors

⚠️Some readers may find the following content distressing.

Prosecutors have put forward worrying new details in their case against US singer D4vd.

It comes after the Los Angeles Police Department arrested the 21-year-old star on 16 April in connection with the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.

Prosecutors allege that Burke met Celeste when she was just 11, and claim that he started sexually abusing her when she was 13 and he was 18.

The body of Celeste was discovered in the trunk of a vehicle owned by the rapper in September. The car, a Tesla, had been moved to a Hollywood tow yard after seemingly being abandoned in an upscale neighbourhood in the hills.

The discovery was made by police after they received reports of a 'foul odour' being emitted from inside the car.

Celeste had disappeared from her Lake Elsinore, California home in April 2024 at the age of 13, and she was identified by her wavy black hair and an 'Shh' finger tattoo.

A spokesperson from the Medical Examiner's Office later confirmed that the teen had been 'deceased inside the vehicle for an extended period of time before being found' by police.

Following his arrest, D4vd, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, is being held without bail and has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and other counts. His lawyers have said he is innocent and did not cause Celeste’s death.

New Disturbing Details

Now, new disturbing details about the allegations against the singer have been released in an evidence filing

R&B singer D4vd used chainsaws he bought from Amazon to cut up the body of the teenage girl he murdered and left to rot in the trunk of his Tesla, prosecution documents claimed Wednesday.

The internet breakout star killed Celeste Rivas Hernandez because she threatened to reveal their long-standing and illegal sexual relationship, which began when she was just 13, charging papers allege.

He then hacked up her corpse, using a plastic paddling pool to contain the blood, and stuffed it into bags that he left in his car on the streets of the swanky Hollywood Hills neighbourhood, before leaving for his music tour around the United States, prosecutors said.

The 21-year-old, whose real name is David Burke, could face a life sentence or the death penalty if convicted of the child’s murder. He denies the charge.

A short court appearance in Los Angeles on Wednesday revealed the first full accounting of what detectives believe happened to Celeste, who had been reported missing from her home east of Los Angeles.

Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman filed a brief outlining the evidence she intends to present at any eventual trial.

The document says numerous text messages between Burke and Celeste — which include references to sex, pregnancy and emergency abortion, as well as explicit photographs — attest to an ongoing sexual relationship between the two that prosecutors believe continued even after they officially broke up in November 2024, two months after Celeste’s 14th birthday.

In April last year, the teenager, who had seemingly become jealous, told Burke she would expose their relationship — potentially derailing the imminent release of his first studio album, an event that was expected to kickstart a multi-million dollar career.

“Knowing he had to silence the victim before she ruined his music career as she had threatened, very soon after her arrival at his home, defendant stabbed the victim to death multiple times and stood by while she bled out,” the document says.

Chainsaws

Over the coming weeks, he ordered two chainsaws from Amazon, as well as a body bag, heavy-duty laundry bags and an inflatable pool.

“After placing her body into the blue inflatable pool to prevent her blood from spilling onto his garage floor, defendant used a chainsaw and perhaps other tools to cut off her limbs,” the document alleges.

“In order to distance himself from the victim, he amputated her left ring and pinky fingers because her ring finger contained a tattoo of his name. Her fingers have not been recovered.

“Defendant then placed her head and torso into the cadaver bag he purchased. He placed her limbs into a garbage bag, which he deposited into his front trunk, laying the cadaver bag on top. For several weeks, or possibly months, defendant left the victim’s body to decompose inside his Tesla.”

Her body was found in the vehicle after it had been taken to a tow yard, following an official report that it had been abandoned.

Detectives who were called to the yard because of a foul smell emanating from the car discovered Celeste’s remains within days of what would have been her 15th birthday.

Burke has denied one count each of murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14, and unlawful mutilation of human remains.

Burke was arrested on April 16 on charges of first-degree murder, lewd and lascivious acts with a person under 14 and mutilating a dead body. He is eligible for the death penalty, but prosecutors said they have not decided whether to seek it.

Fortnite

The singer began making music for YouTube videos he created of the video game Fortnite when he was a teenager.

The songs he wrote and recorded on his phone were a blend of indie rock, R&B and lo-fi pop. The music made him a phenomenon on TikTok, Instagram, Soundcloud and Spotify, where his top songs, including his 2022 breakthrough Romantic Homicide, have more than a billion plays.

In 2023, he released two EPs and opened for SZA on tour.

He performed at last year’s Coachella music festival just a few weeks before prosecutors said Celeste was killed and his album was released.

D4vd was on tour promoting it in September when the body was discovered and his name became publicly attached to the case. It would be seven months before he was arrested.

The singer remains in jail. His case is next expected to be dealt with on May 12.

Source: Agence France-Presse, The Associated Press, Staff, April 30, 2026

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

Death Penalty News For a World without the Death Penalty

Comments

After Nearly 30 Years and a Supreme Court Reversal: Assessing the Likely Result of Richard Glossip’s Oklahoma Retrial

DPN asked Grok for a legal analysis of Richard Glossip’s upcoming murder retrial and its likely disposition. Most likely outcome of Richard Glossip’s retrial: acquittal or a hung jury leading to dismissal or no further prosecution, rather than a conviction for first-degree murder. A conviction remains possible but is the less probable result given the severely damaged core evidence and the state’s own prior admissions. Death is off the table. Case background

Iran executes 20-year-old protester as fears grow for other detainees

Iranian authorities executed 20-year-old protester Arvin Kheirkhah at Shahroud prison on Saturday morning, according to information obtained by Iran International, amid concerns that several other detainees could also face execution. Kheirkhah was arrested during the January protests and sentenced to death by a Revolutionary Court on charges including moharebeh , or “waging war against God.” He was transferred to solitary confinement on Wednesday ahead of the execution. His family gathered outside Shahroud prison on Friday night in an attempt to stop the sentence from being carried out. According to information received by Iran International, Kheirkhah told his family in a final conversation: “Don’t let them forget me. We stood up for the liberation of our homeland. Don’t let the path we chose be silenced.”

Florida | 49 years on death row, killer of Bonita Springs teen learns death date

A Fort Myers man on death row for nearly five decades learned his execution date as Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his order Thursday, July 30. Harold Gene Lucas, then 24, shot and killed his 16-year-old girlfriend, Anthia Jill Piper in Bonita Springs on August 14, 1976. Lucas was 24 when he was charged in Piper's shooting death at her parents' home on Aug. 14, 1976. The execution is set for Sept. 1 in a state that has accelerated its pace under DeSantis the past two years, with a record of 19 executions in 2025. Piper was shot seven times by Lucas, who claimed to be intoxicated.

Doctors warn against Tennessee death penalty protocols

Tennessee’s execution protocol is medically unethical and should be revamped before further executions occur, nearly 40 health care professionals said in a letter to Gov. Bill Lee. Like the coalition of faith leaders who asked for a moratorium on executions earlier this month, the physicians, nurses, and other medical professionals who signed the July 28 letter said they were motivated to speak up after the gruesome and botched execution of Tony Carruthers in May. Carruthers spent 90 minutes bleeding and writhing in agony as an attending physician made repeated unsuccessful attempts to insert an IV into the inmate’s chest after being unable to find useable veins in the arms, legs, and feet. Lee granted Carruthers a one-year reprieve after the ordeal.

Idaho | How Bryan Kohberger’s Guilty Plea Move Could Be His Death Sentence

If Bryan Kohberger successfully withdraws his guilty plea and goes to trial for the murders of four University of Idaho students, it could lead to him being sentenced to death, experts told Newsweek . Kohberger, 31, filed a handwritten petition on Monday from the Idaho Maximum Security Penitentiary, where he is serving four consecutive life sentences for the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen in a rental home near the university's campus in Moscow, Idaho, in 2022. Kohberger pleaded guilty to the fatal stabbings just over a year ago, a month before jury selection was set to start.

Florida executes Dominick Occhicone

Florida executes 2 men in a day. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has made Florida's death chamber the nation’s busiest at the end of his final term. STARKE, Fla. — Florida on Tuesday became the first state in nearly a decade to carry out two executions in a single day, the last an 80-year-old man who was the second-oldest inmate known to receive a lethal injection in modern U.S. history. Hours earlier, the state executed a former police officer convicted of killing a young girl.

Florida executes James Duckett

Double execution: 1st of 2 inmates is put to death in Florida Florida has executed James Duckett, a 68-year-old former cop convicted of killing an 11-year-old girl in 1987. The state is set to execute an 80-year-old man 6 hours later for a 1986 murder. Florida carried out the 1st double execution in more than 60 years, executing former police officer James Duckett and later scheduling the execution of 80‑year‑old Dominick Occhicone, amid Governor Ron DeSantis’s aggressive push to increase death penalties in the state. Florida has put to death the 1st of 2 inmates in the state's 1st double execution in more than 60 years amid an aggressive death penalty push by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

North Korea | 'I was only 9': North Korean defector recalls childhood memory of public execution

Kim Eun-joo was 9 years old when her teacher stopped their lesson and told the class to follow her outside. The children were marched to a public execution ground in North Korea. “I would cry even when our family dog died,” Kim said in a recent interview with The Korea Times. “But the first time I watched humans killing a human, I had no words for what I was feeling. It was the most brutal scene I have ever seen, in any movie or in real life.” The memory has stayed with her ever since. Now a human rights advocate after defecting from North Korea, Kim recently brought that childhood scene to the 9th World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Paris, where North Korea’s use of public executions and capital punishment was officially placed on the agenda for the first time.

Texas | New Evidence Challenges Rodney Reed Death Penalty Conviction

AUSTIN, Texas — Nearly three decades after Rodney Reed was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of Stacey Stites, prosecutors and law enforcement officials are urging Texas’ highest criminal court to fully examine new evidence they argue raises serious questions about his conviction before the state carries out an irreversible punishment. Fair and Just Prosecution, joined by the Law Enforcement Action Partnership and 29 current and former prosecutors and law enforcement officials, filed an amicus brief urging the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to fully review new evidence in Reed’s death penalty case, according to an FJP press release.

Florida | Former warden recalls botched electrocution that left him battling PTSD for 13 years and turned him into an abolitionist

Ron McAndrew anticipated it would be just another standard execution. He had been assigned to carry out the death of Cuban refugee Pedro Medina via electric chair within the confines of Florida State Prison. Fifteen years had passed since Medina's conviction for the murder of 52-year-old Dorothy James, and McAndrew's responsibility was to oversee the administration of lethal electrical currents to his brain. Having already supervised two previous executions using the identical procedure and raised in a community that strongly supported capital punishment, he expected a swift conclusion with justice delivered.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog