Fortnite anthem creator d4vd arrested in teen's death investigation

The rise that carried David Anthony Burke, known as d4vd, from gaming clips to major-label attention ended under the shadow of a homicide investigation, after authorities said the remains of Celeste Rivas Hernandez were found in the front trunk of a Tesla registered to him and he was later arrested without bail.

Los Angeles police said the case had been handled by the department’s Robbery-Homicide Division, and NBC News reported that the arrest came on April 16, 2026, with the case set to go to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office on Monday. The remains of the 15-year-old, identified by authorities as Celeste Rivas Hernandez of Lake Elsinore, California, were found on Sept. 8 in the abandoned Tesla, drawing intense scrutiny to how the teen was last seen and how the car became central to the investigation.

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office said the investigation remained active and ongoing. Earlier reporting said Rivas Hernandez had been reported missing in 2024, adding another layer to a case that has moved across jurisdictions and kept investigators and local officials under pressure as they pieced together the timeline around her disappearance and death.

The arrest also sharpened attention on the unusual path that made d4vd a breakout name. In September 2025, he released “Locked & Loaded (Official Fortnite Anthem),” which Epic Games and Universal Music described as Fortnite’s first-ever official anthem. The song was tied to the 2025 Fortnite Global Championship in Lyon, France, and followed a debut studio album rollout that had already positioned him as a young artist whose career climbed through viral music and gaming content, including Fortnite videos.

That arc made d4vd a useful case study in how online fandom and creator culture can propel an artist into the mainstream before traditional radio or label machinery fully catches up. But the criminal case now surrounding him has shifted the story far from music marketing and into a far more serious investigation, one that linked a 15-year-old missing from Riverside County with a nationally watched arrest in Los Angeles.