The family of Celeste Rivas Hernandez is suing D4vd over her death ahead of his highly publicized murder trial. They also issued a statement asking for the singer to face the death penalty if he is convicted.
The family of Celeste Rivas Hernandez has filed a lawsuit against singer D4vd, who is facing charges of sexually assaulting the teen before killing her and dismembering her body in an attempt to cover up the alleged abuse.
Mercedes Martinez and Jesus Rivas, Celeste’s parents, claimed that the singer, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, killed their daughter when she was just 14 years old on April 23, 2025. Their allegations echo those of prosecutors, who have not yet confirmed if they will seek the death penalty if Burke is convicted.
The family’s lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, seeks damages from Burke as well as his various companies and managers, his mother, and a live-in security guard. According to the filing, these parties knew or should have known of Burke’s inappropriate behavior and relationship with the underage girl.
The lawsuit alleges that Burke began a “continuous sexual relationship” with Rivas Hernandez in November 2023, when she was just 13. The suit claims, and evidence shown by prosecutors in a preliminary hearing supports, that the couple exchanged thousands of texts, many of which were of a sexual nature.
In 2024, texts suggest that the couple discussed a pregnancy and the use of the “morning after pill,” the contraceptive Plan B. According to prosecutors, Burke pressured Celeste to get an abortion. The sexual relationship allegedly continued even after a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy told Burke that Celeste was underage.
The night before authorities believe that Celeste was killed, she and Burke got into an argument, and she allegedly messaged, “I will end ur career and ur life.” The lawsuit alleges that Burke certainly had motive to silence the teen, as his music career was taking off to the tune of millions of dollars and his debut album was only days away from release.
The family’s lawsuit claims that in April 2025, he arranged for an Uber to pick her up from her home in Riverside County and bring her to his rental home in the Hollywood Hills, where she was then killed.
Both the family’s lawsuit and prosecutors allege that Burke used a chainsaw to dismember Celeste’s body in his garage and tried to collect the blood in an inflatable pool. He also allegedly removed two of her fingers to hide evidence of matching tattoos the couple had gotten together.
The family claims that others in Burke’s circle enabled him to “isolate the decedent” and “facilitated” his travel, housing, and security. Burke’s bodyguard allegedly lived in the house at the time of the sexual abuse and helped transport Celeste.
On September 8, 2025, authorities discovered Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s remains in the trunk of Burke’s Tesla at a Hollywood tow yard. The car had spent weeks on a street near the singer’s home, according to authorities, and decomposition of the girl’s dismembered body was severe.
On Monday, which would have been Celeste’s 16th birthday, her family also called for District Attorney Nathan Hochman to seek the death penalty for the singer if he is convicted. Hochman has previously said that he had not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty.
“If the death penalty were activated, it would be perfect for this kind of human being, devoid of feelings and emptiness inside, and without conscience, who only caused pain to our daughter, our family, and the world that supports our precious daughter,” the family said in a letter addressed to Hochman. “But that’s not in our hands, but rather in God’s and the California justice system.”
To make matters worse for the singer, Burke’s high-powered legal team recently departed, leaving him to be represented in his impending murder trial by the Los Angeles County public defender’s office. It’s unclear why the change was made. However, the attorney for the family of Celeste Rivas Hernandez alleged that the singer was using his companies to shield money he earned from his music career and had transferred assets to his mother, who ran his companies.
