00:00A decaying body of a 14-year-old girl found in a car abandoned in the Hollywood Hills.
00:05A popular New York-born singer tied to the vehicle is being eyed as a suspect in the
00:09teen's death, sources told TMZ.
00:12All while fans and internet sleuths dig up mysterious links between the singer and the
00:16young victim.
00:17Here's everything you need to know about the musician David and Celeste Rivas Hernandez,
00:22the young teen found dismembered in his abandoned Tesla.
00:25On September 8, workers at a Los Angeles tow yard noticed a putrid smell coming from a
00:31Tesla that had been abandoned in the Hollywood Hills.
00:34When police arrived to investigate, they made a grim discovery.
00:37Inside the Tesla's front trunk was a dismembered body wrapped in plastic.
00:42The Tesla in question was registered to David Anthony Burke, a 20-year-old New York-born artist
00:47known professionally as David, stylized as D the number 4VD.
00:52At the time the body was found in the Tesla, Burke had been on a worldwide tour and performed
00:57in Minneapolis that same night.
01:00Burke shot to fame in 2022, currently boasting more than 37 million monthly listeners on Spotify
01:06after two of his singles, Romantic Homicide and Here With Me, went viral on TikTok.
01:12He latched onto the momentum and released his debut album in April.
01:17The tragedy led to Burke seeing a streaming boost on Spotify.
01:21In late September, David's single, Romantic Homicide, jumped to number 8 on the music platform's
01:27daily top songs in the U.S.
01:30But there were already signs the incident would impact the up-and-coming singer negatively.
01:36As he was scrubbed from a campaign by the brands Crocs & Hollister mere days after they both announced
01:42him as the face of their Dream Drop collaboration.
01:45Things took a further turn when the body was eventually identified.
01:49A little more than a week after the body was found inside David's abandoned Tesla, California
01:55authorities identified the deceased as 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez Riverside Sheriff's Office
02:04confirmed that Rivas had been reported missing from Lake Elsinore in 2024 when she was only 13 years old.
02:11Rivas' body was found on September 8th, the day after what would have been her 15th birthday,
02:16but she had already been dead for some time.
02:19Once Rivas was named as the victim, police jumped into high gear labeling the case as a homicide investigation.
02:25Cops raided a Los Angeles house where the singer had reportedly been living and seized several items of evidence.
02:32The raid on Burke's pad comes as connections between the pop star and the dead teen keep piling up online by internet sleuths.
02:40Screenshots of old messages on David's Discord fan server show he was rumored to be dating a teen named Celeste years before Rivas was found dead.
02:52In one disturbing message in the fan chat room, apparently dug up by the online detectives,
03:00a user allegedly responded to a post from Burke in 2024 telling him to release the song about Celeste Rivas Hernandez,
03:10which would have been posted four months after she was reported missing.
03:16In 2023, Burke allegedly made an unreleased track in which he mentions the name Celeste twice,
03:23which was leaked on X following Rivas' identification.
03:27In the song, Burke allegedly sings,
03:30Oh Celeste, the girl with my name tattooed on her chest, smell her on my clothes like cigarettes.
03:37Rivas' mother told TMZ that the young teen had been dating someone named David before she went missing.
03:44The teen also mysteriously had a tattoo on her right index finger that read,
03:48Shhh.
03:49Several celebrities also have the same tattoo, including Rihanna and Lindsay Lohan,
03:54neither of whom is connected to Rivas, but perhaps more mysteriously, so does Burke.
04:01Internet sleuths have also been hard at work digging up unverified videos and photos of Burke with a young woman
04:07bearing a strong resemblance to Rivas, many times with her face partially covered.
04:12Confirmed photos of Rivas were circulated on missing posters in 2024.
04:17In one alleged livestream video that is particularly disturbing,
04:20a girl resembling Rivas was seen answering fan questions with Burke and mentioned rape.
04:26I media trained you.
04:27No, you didn't.
04:28That's controversial.
04:30It's controversial of raping kids.
04:33No!
04:34Video also popped up of Rivas' former teacher telling students about how he had taught the teen.
04:39He later told TMZ that he was trying to warn the kids about the dangers of social media.
04:43Hernandez likely died in the spring, and a police source told NBC4 investigates that it
04:48likely took multiple suspects to dismember and dispose of her body.
04:54The source, who has direct knowledge of the probe, said that Burke has not been cooperating with investigators.
04:59Burke has since canceled his world tour and hired high-powered lawyer Blair Burke, who previously
05:05worked for disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
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