Mystery deepens after missing schoolgirl found dead in pop star’s Tesla

The day after a body was discovered in his car in Hollywood, singer D4vd performed his TikTok hit Romantic Homicide — a wistful breakup song about killing an ex without regret — in front of a sold-out crowd in Minneapolis.

The American singer began his music career on his own, in his sister's closet, working part-time at Starbucks. It catapulted him to viral fame, millions of online followers and a world tour.

But that all came to an abrupt end last month when a badly decomposed body was discovered in the front trunk of his Tesla.

The body was identified as that of 15-year-old runaway Celeste Rivas Hernandez.

A month later, the girl's death remains a mystery, as does her relationship with the 20-year-old singer, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke.

A deep dive into his macabre work, peppered with references to death, memories, violence and gory motifs, has led some to wonder whether life imitated art, and vice versa.

The young singer has not yet publicly commented on this case and the grim discovery in his car. His rep would only say that he was “cooperating fully with authorities” and he has since hired a prominent criminal defense lawyer who has represented celebrities such as Mel Gibson, Lindsay Lohan, Kanye West and Britney Spears.

Representatives for the singer, including his lawyer Blair Burke, Universal Music Group, Darkroom Records and Sony Music Publishing, did not respond to the BBC's requests for comment.

The cause of death of Rivas Hernandez has not yet been determined.

The county medical examiner said her body was “extremely decomposed” when it was found and delayed ruling on how she died – an investigation they said could take months.

Police also have not named a suspect or person of interest in the case, even weeks after her body was discovered.

The Los Angeles Police Department did not release details of the case or the investigation, calling it an open death investigation. The department did not comment on numerous questions from the BBC about this case, the investigation and any connections between the singer and Rivas Hernandez.

“It's very strange,” Niama Rahmani, a former Los Angeles prosecutor and lawyer, told the BBC. “Every day that no one is arrested, the situation becomes more and more strange.”

The lack of information also seems to be fueling the intrigue. Fans, true crime enthusiasts and internet sleuths have launched their own investigations, trying to unearth details that appear to link the teenage girl to the gamer-turned-songwriter who GQ once hailed as the “mouthpiece of Gen Z's heartache.”

Rivas Hernandez, who lived about 75 miles from where her body was found, was last reported missing by her family in April 2024, but it wasn't the first time she ran away from their Lake Elsinore home.

The daughter of first-generation immigrant parents from El Salvador, neighbors recognized her as the girl who stopped by the corner store almost daily to buy candy and soda. according to the Los Angeles Times.

She first went missing on Valentine's Day in 2024, and her family filed a missing person report the next day.

Posters of her were posted in her neighborhood and her mother posted pleas in Spanish on Facebook for her return – public efforts that apparently irritated the teen.

Her parents will file at least two more missing persons reports over the next two years.

Her family and friends told the newspaper that every time Rivas Hernandez ran away, she eventually returned and settled back into her life as a high school student.

When the teen's remains were found in a bag in D4vd's Tesla on Sept. 8, the medical examiner said she was wearing a sleeveless top, small black leggings and jewelry, including a yellow metal stud earring and a yellow metal chain bracelet.

She also had a tattoo that read “Shh…” on her index finger, a mark almost identical to the one on the pop singer's index finger.

Investigators said the decomposition of her body showed she had already “died several weeks ago.”

Her family, who described her as a beloved daughter, sister, cousin and friend, said they were “heartbroken and devastated by this tragic loss.” They have since applied for money on a crowdfunding site to pay for her funeral, which took place earlier this month.

D4vd's rise to fame, fueled by TikTok and online gaming, is paradigmatic for his generation.

Growing up near Houston, Texas, he was homeschooled and said he listened exclusively to gospel music until he was 13 years old. In 2017, he became an avid Fortnite player and began his music career by using pop songs to soundtrack game montages that he posted on YouTube.

He began creating his own music when he encountered copyright hurdles, starting with recording songs on the app The BandLab in 2021 and uploading his work to SoundCloud.

He soon saw his music receive thousands of plays. He then released what would become his two biggest hits to date: “Romantic Murder” and “Here With Me.”

The songs went viral on TikTok and led to billions of streams on Spotify, where he has 33 million monthly listeners.

He signed with Darkroom and Interscope Records and released his debut EP Petals and Thorns in 2023. That same year, he was named to Variety's Young Hollywood list and opened for SZA on her SOS tour.

Last spring, he made his debut at Coachella, known as a festival of up-and-coming talent going mainstream. Fortnite, which he says shaped his story as an artist, commissioned him to create the game's first official anthem, Locked & Loaded.

But that rise to fame was put on hold when his Tesla was towed to an impound lot. police found a bag in the front trunk it contained the decomposing remains of Rivas Hernandez after someone complained of a foul odor.

His world tour was canceled days after the opening, and Sony Music Publishing reportedly suspended promotion of his second album.

Los Angeles police soon raided the singer's posh Hollywood Hills mansion, just a few blocks from where his Tesla was towed.

US retailer Hollister and shoe giant Crocs have dropped D4vd from their marketing campaigns, and Telepatía singer Kali Uchis has announced the end of their collaboration.

But although his career came to a screeching halt, authorities have remained silent about the investigation into Rivas Hernandez's death.

Investigators have not released any new information about the case since September 29.

The agency also reported that this it is still unclear whether there is any criminal liability beyond hiding her body.

While internet sleuths are quick to speculate, legal experts say there's still a lot we don't know.

“You have a connection with David that seems quite strong,” former prosecutor Rahmani told the BBC. “There's a lot of smoke, but look, he could be completely innocent and it could be someone else who had access to his car.”

Mr. Rahmani said that while there are many questions in the case, the biggest question for him is “why is the LAPD taking so long.”

“They didn't provide any real information,” he said. “This is not a good option for LAPD and terrible for D4vd.”

He added that such a case had increased the pressure: it involved the death of a teenage girl, attracted the attention of the world media, and a celebrity was involved in the investigation.

Mr Rahmani said technology and video recording capabilities were likely to be a “godsend” for investigators. Telsa vehicles are equipped with advanced technology that tracks vehicles, notifies users when the trunk is opened, and is equipped with multiple cameras as part of the Sentry Mode system.

In addition, the Hollywood house where he lived also had cameras. When authorities searched the home last month, investigators seized a dash cam that stores video and other surveillance data.

Malden Trifunovic, the owner of the Hollywood Hills home that D4vd filmed, told the BBC he hired a private investigator to help uncover what may have happened at his multimillion-dollar abode.

D4vd manager Josh Marshall, founder of Mogul Vision, rented the house for D4vd and distanced himself from the singer. He categorically denied rumors about his involvement in the death investigation.

Aside from the mystery surrounding Rivas Hernandez's cause of death, it is still unclear what kind of relationship the teenager had with the 20-year-old singer.

Rivas Hernandez would have turned 15 the day before police found her body.

In California, the age of consent is 18 years old.

Family, friends and those who knew her told local media that she was dating someone named David and said he was a music artist.

A former high school science teacher blamed her latest attempt to run away from home in the spring of 2024 on her dating a music artist she met online.

“She’s been missing since I taught her,” the teacher said in a viral video after Rivas Hernandez’s body was identified.

Internet sleuths have also linked her to the singer in a variety of ways, from their matching tattoos to photos he posted online that appear to show them together.

But neither D4vd nor the police denied these rumors.

Like many who don't follow indie pop music, his landlord, Mr. Trifunovic, said he had never heard of D4vd until news of the opening broke. He didn't even know that it was D4vd who was renting his house because the lease was signed by the singer's manager, Mr. Marshall.

“I share the same concern and desire to understand what happened to poor Celeste as everyone else,” Mr Trifunovic told the BBC.

While he said he trusts the LAPD to conduct a thorough investigation, he, too, is hungry for information.

“There is absolutely no doubt that a crime was committed,” he said.

“It did not fit in the front trunk of the Tesla and did not move the vehicle to where it was found.”