Prosecutors allege singer killed, dismembered teenager in Hollywood Hills case

Prosecutors have laid out their most detailed account yet of how they say David Anthony Burke killed Celeste Rivas Hernandez and tried to conceal the crime. In a legal filing, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office alleged that Burke killed the 14-year-old after she threatened to expose an illegal sexual relationship, then mutilated and stuffed her body in his Tesla.

The filing marked the first time prosecutors publicly described how they say the singer carried out the killing. They say Rivas Hernandez’s remains were found on Sept. 8, 2025, in the front trunk of a Tesla registered to Burke after workers at a Hollywood tow yard reported a foul smell. Burke, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke, has pleaded not guilty and remains held without bail.

Prosecutors said the investigation has produced 40 terabytes of evidence, including a significant amount of child sexual abuse material found on a phone belonging to Burke. He is charged with first-degree murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, and unlawful mutilation of human remains. Special-circumstance allegations include murder of a witness and murder for financial gain, placing the case among the most serious charges the office can pursue.

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner ruled Rivas Hernandez’s death a homicide and said she died from multiple penetrating injuries caused by object(s). The autopsy described her body as being in an advanced state of decomposition. It weighed 71 pounds when found and showed stab wounds to the right abdomen and left chest, along with mutilation of the fingers and body dismemberment.

The criminal complaint says Rivas Hernandez was last seen on April 23, 2025, when she went to Burke’s Hollywood Hills home, and prosecutors say she had been reported missing from Lake Elsinore, California, in April 2024, when she was 13. Her family thanked the Los Angeles Police Department, the district attorney’s office and people in Lake Elsinore for their support, saying, “We miss her deeply. All we want is justice for Celeste.”

The case has also drawn scrutiny because of earlier discoveries at Burke’s Hollywood Hills home. Investigators previously found a chainsaw and a burn cage at the property, and a private investigator later said the chainsaw still had its protective shield on. Burke is due back in court for a preliminary hearing on May 1, 2026, as prosecutors continue to build a case that now rests on a vast digital record and the medical examiner’s grim findings.