The Los Angeles Country District Attorney’s Office announced on Monday that they were charging singer D4vd with first-degree murder in connection to the death of a teenage girl.
The singer, best known for his official “Fortnite” anthem “Locked and Loaded,” was arrested last week following a months-long investigation into the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Hernandez’s remains were found in the trunk of an impounded Tesla belonging to the singer last September. She had been missing since April.
Authorities allege the 21-year-old artist, whose real name is David Burke, killed Hernandez to keep his relationship with the minor from jeopardizing a “very lucrative musical career that Celeste was threatening.”
Burke is also charged with crimes related to lascivious sexual acts with a minor and mutilating a corpse. His murder charge carries special circumstances because it was allegedly done with the aim of financial gain and because Hernandez was a witness to other crimes authorities claim Burke committed. Those circumstances make Burke eligible for a death penalty sentence.
“Celeste was just a child, under 14 years old, when David Burke allegedly engaged in repeated lewd and lascivious sexual relations with her,” District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement. “When she threatened to expose his criminal conduct and devastate his musical career, Burke allegedly murdered her, cut up her body and stuffed her body in two bags that were placed in the front trunk of his car… This horrific and gruesome murder committed by the charged sexual predator is shocking and appalling. To Celeste’s loved ones, we will get the justice you seek and deserve.”
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Attorneys for Burke have maintained the musician’s innocence. In a statement released after his arrest, they vowed to “vigorously defend David’s innocence.”
“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,” attorneys Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter shared.
