Celeste Rivas Hernandez dead weeks before discovery in D4vd's Tesla: police

(NewsNation) — Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s body was “likely” in R&B singer’s D4vd’s Tesla weeks before she was found, the Los Angeles Police Department told People Magazine.  

LAPD Captain and Commanding Officer Scot M. Williams told the outlet there are still questions related to her death, "we know for sure that Celeste Rivas Hernandez died and someone placed her body in the front trunk area of David Burke's (d4vd's legal name) Tesla." 

"We know that the Tesla had been parked at the location from which it was towed for several weeks, so it is very likely Celeste Rivas Hernandez had been dead for several weeks prior to her body being discovered," Williams said. 

Celeste's body was found in the trunk of a Tesla Model X registered to Burke on Sept. 8. She had been missing since April 2024, when she was just 13. 

TMZ obtained surveillance video believed to show Celeste walking hastily in Lake Elsinore, Calif., her hometown, early March 19, 2024 — around the period when the teen was known to be running away. 

D4vd’s Tesla was abandoned, neighbors say 

Private investigator Steve Fischer obtained the initial complaint report, vehicle impound report and photos of D4vd’s Tesla resulting from when it was declared abandoned. He told NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield on Sept. 26 that neighbors noticed the car had been parked in the same spot for a while. 

Fischer told NewsNation that when he spoke to neighbors of D4vd, one of them noted that they were “certain” the car had been there for “over a month.” 

To be towed from a street where there were no parking restrictions, “It had to be there quite a while,” Fischer added. 

"The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner has not determined a cause or manner of her death, so we don't know for sure if anyone has any criminal culpability for her death beyond the concealment of her dead body," Williams said.  

D4vd moves out of Hollywood Hills home  

Movers arrived at D4vd’s Hollywood Hills residence on Wednesday as authorities investigate the death of Celeste. 

People could be seen moving boxes from the home as well as a red Tesla registered to the singer’s manager, John Marshal, who leased the house, according to NewsNation’s Los Angeles affiliate KTLA.   

D4vd’s reported connection to Celeste Rivas Hernandez 

The “Romantic Homicide” singer allegedly had a casket on the stage while he was performing, and he released a music video in February, “One More Dance,” which featured a body being dragged and put into a trunk.   

In the video, D4vd is playing both the killer and the victim. 

Friends of D4vd, 20, believed the 15-year-old was his college-aged girlfriend, NewsNation learned. 

TMZ senior news reporter Charlie Neff told “Banfield” on Thursday that D4vd’s friends in the Los Angeles music scene were shocked to hear that Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s decomposing body was discovered inside his trunk. 

They told Neff that Burke is a “very gentle person,” adding they thought the fact that it was his car “was just extremely disturbing and confusing.” 

NewsNation's Ashleigh Banfield and Zach Kaplan contributed to this report