Prosecutors detail the alleged sinister reason D4vd killed 14-year-old Celeste Rivas

After months and months of theories and speculation, most people had one major question about the D4vd and Celeste Rivas case: Why?

The body of 14-year-old Celeste was discovered last September in the trunk of a Tesla registered to D4vd. She had been there for a while, so much so that it took medical examiners a week to identify her body.

Though D4vd, real name David Anthony Burke, had been cooperating with police from the get-go, he was not named as an official suspect until February 2026, and was not arrested until last week. After D4vd was charged with murder, something he pleaded not guilty to, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman addressed some major questions.

D4vd’s charges were classed as ‘special enhancement’ due to the potential motive

After seven months of investigation, the DA’s office believes it has understood the motive behind Celeste Rivas’ murder.

Officials have claimed that D4vd murdered Celeste Rivas to “maintain his very lucrative music career”, which she threatened by warning that she would go public with their sexual relationship. The prosecutors accused the singer of trying to cover up the  “lewd and lascivious sexual acts” he committed with Celeste when she was under the age of 14.

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His debut album, Withered, was released two days after she was murdered.

With a potential motive in mind, the DA’s office attached “special circumstances” to the charges, which could see D4vd jailed for life without parole or given the death penalty. Nathan Hochman said that the prosecutor’s office has yet to determine if they’ll be seeking capital punishment.

D4vd and his legal team have maintained his innocence throughout the process.

“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,” the lawyers said.

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Featured image credit: TED SOQUI/POOL/EPA/Shutterstock and TED SOQUI/EPA/Shutterstock