Authorities publish new information about D4vd and the murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
After months of online speculation, singer D4vd was arrested last week for the alleged murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez, a 14-year-old girl. Celeste’s body was found in the trunk of D4vd’s Tesla in September 2025. This was followed by rumors and even evidence that D4vd had groomed the underage girl into a "relationship." Last week, the authorities officially confirmed these claims. More information has now been released, including the circumstances of Celeste’s death.
Timeline Of The Abuse
According to prosecutors, D4vd and Celeste met when she was only 11 years old. The sexual abuse began when she was 13 and he was 18.
Celeste’s parents first reported her as missing in February 2024. The police informed D4vd about the missing person report because they found his number in her phone. They also informed him that she was a minor. He got back in touch with her by paying a student $1,000 to deliver a new phone to her because her parents had taken away her old one.
Prosecutors found that D4vd and Celeste were a "couple" in 2024. They traveled together, and he introduced her to his family. Explicit material on D4vd’s phone confirms that they were "sexually active" around this time. Text messages between them mention sex, pregnancy, abortion, and the Plan B emergency contraceptive.
Last week, authorities announced that they had found approximately 40 terabytes of child sexual abuse material on his iCloud and phone.
Celeste threatened to disclose damaging information about their relationship to ruin his career and destroy his life, which motivated the murder. The night before, the two fought via text message because D4vd was sleeping with other women. The information Celeste was about to disclose could have ruined the release of his first album on April 25.
D4vd has been formally charged with the murder of Celeste Rivas. He faces life imprisonment or even the death penalty if convicted. The singer has pleaded not guilty.
D4vd Ordered Two Chainsaws And A Body Bag
The newly published documents claim that he killed Celeste on April 23, 2025. He ordered a 90-minute Uber to pick her up from her home in Lake Elsinore, California, and take her to his house in the Hollywood Hills. He attacked and stabbed Celeste and watched her bleed out and die.
The day after the crime, he purchased a shovel from Home Depot. Two chainsaws from Amazon followed a week later. Four days after the chainsaws, he ordered heavy-duty laundry bags, an inflatable pool, and a body bag. According to the released documents, he used the alias "Victoria Mendez" for all of these orders.
Investigators assume the pool was used to contain the blood while he cut off her limbs with the chainsaws in D4vd’s garage. He may have amputated the ring and pinky fingers of her left hand. She had a tattoo of his name on her ring finger. The fingers have not yet been found.
Further Evidence
A significant amount of evidence was collected during a search of his home in September 2025. This evidence includes DNA samples from the garage and cuts in the inflatable pool. The autopsy revealed that multiple pieces of blue plastic, made of the same material as the pool, were found in Celeste’s dead body.
As stated in the report, D4vd immediately tried to cover up the crime. He sent text messages to Celeste’s phone regarding her location after she had already arrived. About an hour after the murder, he tried to destroy evidence, including Celeste's property in Santa Barbara County. He returned in time for a radio interview about his album on the next day. In May, he came to Santa Barbara two more times. Celeste’s passport was found in the same area.
Authorities claim that he destroyed the rest of the evidence by incinerating it in a "burn cage," which he ordered on Amazon using the aforementioned alias.
The End Of D4vd’s Career
D4vd ruined his career on his own. His YouTube channel has already been demonetized. Musicians who have collaborated with him, including Kali Uchis and Damiano David, have removed their work with him from all streaming platforms.
An advocacy group called Industry Blackout has even started a petition to remove D4vd’s music from Spotify and other streaming services. The petition has received over 4,000 signatures so far. The statement on the petition's homepage says:
“Celeste's case is not isolated. It is part of a devastating global pattern of femicide, the targeted killing of women and girls by men who sought to control them, silence them, or eliminate the consequences of their own predatory behavior. (...) That is femicide. That is what it looks like when a girl's life is treated as a threat to be neutralized. She was a child, and she deserved protection from the very industry that gave this artist a platform, a label deal, and global visibility.
The music industry has a responsibility that goes beyond commerce. When an artist has been charged with the sexual abuse and murder of a minor, a child who was drawn into his orbit through his music and public persona, continuing to stream, promote, and profit from his catalog is a choice. It is not a neutral one.”
