Death Penalty News

D4vd has been hit with a wrongful death lawsuit from the family of Celeste Rivas Hernández, opening a new legal front against the singer and several people and companies tied to him as he awaits trial on murder and child sexual abuse charges. Celeste’s parents, Mercedes Martinez and Jesus Rivas, filed the case in Los Angeles County Superior Court against D4vd, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke, along with his mother, management company, finance manager, live-in security guard, and several businesses connected to his music career.

D4vd is being represented by a public defender after his lawyers withdrew. LOS ANGELES -- Singer D4vd is now being represented by a public defender after his lawyers withdrew from his case Monday ahead of his second arraignment on murder and other charges connected to the death of a 14-year-old girl whose dismembered body was found in the trunk of his Tesla.

Singer D4vd is set to be arraigned on charges including murder in downtown Los Angeles on Monday in connection with last year's killing of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez as the high-profile case progresses to a trial. The 21-year-old, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, has previously pleaded not guilty to the charges. LA County District Attorney Nathan Hochman is set to speak to reporters after the hearing. Hochman has previously stated that his office is working to determine whether it'll pursue the death penalty should Burke be convicted.

Judge finds sufficient evidence for jury to hear case LOS ANGELES — Prosecutors have presented sufficient evidence for the indie pop vocalist known as D4vd to stand trial on charges he fatally stabbed and dismembered a 14-year-old girl who threatened to expose their clandestine relationship, a Los Angeles judge ruled on Monday. Judge Charlaine Olmedo found there was probable cause for a jury to decide the fate of David Anthony Burke, 21, whose breakout major-label music success as a recording artist named D4vd (pronounced “David”) was cut short by his arrest last year. He spent five days in a packed downtown courtroom shackled to his seat as prosecutors presented graphic testimony and crime-scene photos in support of their case.

⚠️ Some readers may find the following content distressing LOS ANGELES — A preliminary hearing could wrap up Monday in the case of singer D4vd, who is charged in the killing of a 14-year-old girl whose dismembered remains were found last year in the trunk of his Tesla at a Hollywood tow yard. The first four days of testimony in the hearing have featured sometimes-graphic images and testimony in which prosecutors have contended that the now-21-year-old singer, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, killed Celeste Rivas Hernandez to prevent her from going public about his sexual relationship with the underage girl, potentially damaging or destroying his burgeoning music career. On Friday, Los Angeles Police Department Robbery-Homicide Detective Corey Farell testified that Burke had a series of sexually explicit photos on his cellphone of Celeste, with some images depicting him and the teen engaged in sexual activity. Farell also said he reviewed a series of text messages between the two...

The teenage girl allegedly killed and dismembered by American singer D4vd had an abortion after their sexual encounter, according to text messages revealed Friday in a Los Angeles court. On the fourth day of a hearing to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to prosecute the singer, the prosecution reviewed dozens of messages between him and Celeste Rivas Hernandez, a year before her death. D4vd, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, asks her, among other things, when she is going to have an abortion, before asking, "It is mine right," according to the texts.

⚠️ Some readers may find the following content distressing LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- A police criminalist testified Thursday that testing on evidence seized from singer D4vd's rented Hollywood Hills home showed a DNA profile consistent with that of a 14-year-old girl whose dismembered remains were found in the front trunk of the entertainer's Tesla. In the third day of a hearing to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to require the 21-year-old singer to stand trial on murder and other charges, Los Angeles Police Department criminalist Samantha Tosch told Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo that DNA collected from apparent blood stains on evidence, including a rowing machine, a green tarp, and a Tesla charger plug discovered in the home's garage were one septillion times—meaning one followed by 24 zeroes—more likely to occur if the DNA was from Celeste Rivas Hernandez than an unknown individual.

Billboard is tracking developments in the singer's criminal case for allegedly killing the 14-year-old and dismembering her body. D4vd, the 21-year-old pop singer made famous by his 2022 hit “Romantic Homicide,” is facing first-degree murder charges for allegedly killing and dismembering the body of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Prosecutors claim the musician, born David Anthony Burke, was having an illegal sexual relationship with the teenager and murdered her after she “threatened to expose his criminal conduct and devastate his musical career.”

HOLLYWOOD HILLS—David Anthony Burke, known by his stage name D4VD, is eligible to receive both life in prison and the death penalty for his alleged involvement in the murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.  Burke is facing first-degree murder with special circumstances, lewd and lascivious acts with an individual under 14, and mutilating a body. The special circumstances include lying in wait for the victim, committing the crime for financial gain, and murdering a witness in an investigation.

LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- Attorneys told a judge Tuesday they are ready to go forward with a multi-day hearing later this month for singer D4vd, who is charged with murdering a 14-year-old girl whose dismembered body was found in the trunk of his Tesla at a Hollywood tow yard. During the hearing set to begin July 21, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo will determine if there is sufficient evidence to allow the case against the 21-year-old singer—whose real name is David Anthony Burke—to proceed to trial. One of Burke's attorneys, Blair Berk, indicated Tuesday the defense would be ready for the upcoming hearing, following a series of requested postponements.

D4vd secures another court delay in his murder case, pushing the probable cause hearing to July 21 as his legal team reviews mounting evidence. D4vd walked into the Los Angeles courtroom Wednesday in an orange jail uniform and waist shackles, his legal team already preparing for another delay in what’s becoming a pattern of postponements in his murder case. The platinum-selling “Romantic Homicide” singer, 21, received his third hearing delay after his defense team requested additional time to review evidence, pushing the probable cause hearing from June 29 to July 21 with a status conference scheduled for July 7.

Kaohsiung, June 5 (CNA) A 74-year-old man was sentenced to death on Friday for killing three women in separate incidents between 2024 and 2025, following convictions for murder, desecration, and abandonment of corpses, according to a court ruling. The Kaohsiung District Court, composed of a panel of three professional and six citizen judges, also convicted Chang Chieh-tsung (張介宗) of theft, including illegally withdrawing NT$5,000 using a victim's debit card. Chang was also sentenced to the deprivation of his civil rights for life.

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — A Cumberland County Superior Court judge ruled Thursday that North Carolina prosecutors may seek the death penalty against Avantae Deven, a Fayetteville woman accused of murdering two of her adopted children. The ruling follows a Rule 24 hearing, a procedural requirement in North Carolina capital cases where the state must present evidence of at least one aggravating factor to a judge.  Deven, 63, is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Blake Deven and London Deven.

⚠️ 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.

Singer, 21, could face death penalty after being charged with murder of 14-year-old Video game Fortnite is approving refunds for any D4vd cosmetics after the singer, 21, was charged with the sexual abuse, murder and mutilation of a 14-year-old girl. He pleaded not guilty to the charges. The game first collaborated with D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, in 2024, initially releasing an emote to his track “Feel It” before releasing Fortnite’s first official anthem with Burke, titled “Locked and Loaded”, the following year.

US musician D4vd has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder in the death of a teenage girl who vanished last year. The singer, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke, is accused of murdering 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose remains were found in September in a Tesla registered to his Texas address. Burke, 21, also was charged with murder for "financial gain" and with murder of a witness to an investigation, the Los Angeles district attorney said. He did not speak during his arraignment on Monday – his first court appearance since his arrest last week. His lawyers entered his plea on his behalf.

LOS ANGELES —Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman announced today that musician David Anthony Burke, professionally known as "d4vd," has been charged with the murder of 14-year-old Celeste R. The victim’s decomposed and dismembered remains were discovered in Burke's impounded vehicle in September 2025. “Celeste was just a child when David Burke allegedly engaged in repeated lewd and lascivious sexual relations with her,” Hochman said. “But Burke’s actions did not allegedly stop there. When she threatened to expose his criminal conduct and devastate his musical career, Burke allegedly murdered her, dismembered her body, and placed the remains in two bags in the front trunk of his car.”

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Pakistan on 14 June 2021 sentenced two clerics to death after finding them guilty of kidnapping a 15-year-old student for ransom and later murdering him. According to the prosecution, Qari Abdul Majeed and Qari Ahsan Ali had kidnapped Abdul Moiz on June 26, 2016, just after his parents allowed him to sit in Aitkaaf at the Ghousia Qadriya Masjid in Khudadad Colony. The boy was kept hostage for 4 days in a house in Usmania Colony and after the payment of Rs400,000 in ransom by his family, he was killed by the accused who dismembered his body into parts, the prosecution added. The ATC-XX judge ordered that the convicts be hanged by neck till their death. The judge also ordered the convicts to pay a fine of Rs1 million to the family of the victim or else they would spend 5 years more in prison. Moiz’s father Mohammad Arif had lodged a complaint with the Brigade police station stating that his son had brought an application form for Aitkaaf and after taking ...

Jacob Sullivan, sentenced to death in March 2019 for the rape, murder and dismemberment of his then-girlfriend’s 14-year-old daughter, Grace Packer, died of natural causes Thursday, state and Montgomery County officials said Friday. Sullivan, 47, died from a ruptured aortic aneurysm, a spokesperson for the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office said. Sullivan, who was incarcerated at SCI Phoenix in Skippack, died at a local hospital, said state corrections spokesperson Maria Finn, who declined to say what he was being treated for. Sullivan made headlines for the brutality to which he and his then-girlfriend, Sara Packer, subjected Grace, her daughter, in a Quakertown, Bucks County, house in 2016. Sullivan admitted that he kidnapped, raped, and killed Grace with Sara’s help.  After raping the girl, Sullivan choked her to death, he told authorities.  The couple stored her body in kitty litter, cut up the remains with a bow saw, and disposed of them in the ...