The D4vd Files

Photo credits go to the Los Angeles Police Department on Wikimedia Commons

Some celebrities have been put on blast for doing horrible things. OJ Simpson and Armie Hammer are two people who come to mind. But I don’t think any celebrity has done something as horrible as d4vd, also known as David Burke, has.

He also happened to be one of my favorite musicians, so I have a lot to say about this topic.

(Side note, I will be referring to d4vd as David Burke as well as his stage name throughout this article).

David Burke came into the music scene at the young age of 17, releasing songs on SoundCloud that he created for his Fortnite montages. After receiving some success on songs such as You and I and Runaway, he released the single Romantic Homicide, which some of you may know.

Romantic Homicide went extremely viral on TikTok, which caused it to reach Number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

After the success of Romantic Homicide, he released the song Here With Me, which also went extremely viral on TikTok and reached Number 60 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

D4vd became immensely popular at a young age with a very small catalog while also producing his songs on the app Bandlab in a closet in his room.

D4vd released two EPs in 2023, Petals to Thorns and The Lost Petals. Sleep Well, and You and I are my personal favorites off of Petals to Thorns and I never got to listen to The Lost Petals before all the controversy, and now it feels weird listening to him.

But I digress.

After releasing his two EPs, Burke went on tour with SZA as her opening act, which was an incredible milestone for the 19-year-old up-and-comer.

2024 was when D4vd reached one of his pinnacles of popularity due to releasing two songs on two hugely popular TV shows, Feel It for Invincible and Where’d It Go Wrong, which was featured in Arcane.

Personally, I discovered D4vd on Invincible, and I was listening to him constantly for a while around that time.

Then came 2025, the best and worst year for David Burke.

In early 2025, D4vd released the singles “One More Dance”, “Crashing” with Kali Uchis, followed by “What Are You Waiting For”, all of which were featured on his first full-length album, Withered.

Burke began his Withered tour in August while also making an appearance at Coachella.

But then the world received some tragic news on September 8th, 2025

This is where this article gets a bit uncomfortable. If you can’t handle reading about death and what was done to Celeste, I suggest you click off now.

14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez was found dead in the front trunk of an impounded Tesla in Los Angeles, California.

I vividly remember seeing this article come out. Hernandez’s body was only discovered because something smelled a horrible odor coming from the car, and she was so dismembered and rotted that officers couldn’t even tell who the victim was for a long time.

The Tesla was found to be registered to David Burke.

D4vd and Celeste have been seen together numerous times up to the time of his arrest. In January 2024, Celeste and Burke were seen side by side during a Twitch stream where they stayed live until around 3 am. In between January and March of 2024, d4vd was photographed getting out of a black Tesla a few blocks from Rivas’ home.

Fast forward to September 8th, 2025, when it was announced that Rivas, who had been reported missing again, was found in the back of a Tesla registered to David Burke.

While his lawyer tried to defend him, it was clear that Burke killed Celeste or was closely tied to the killer.

He had been friends (potentially more than friends) with her since she was 11 and he was around 18, leaked texts show they have been sexually active numerous times, showing a deep connection. It has been speculated that Burke killed Celeste because she threatened to make their relationship public and ruin his reputation.

While they broke up in November 2024, they still communicated, with Celeste sending, “All we do is have sex and just hang out man I wanted more than that for myself”.

It is speculated that she was killed around April 24th, 2024, when Rivas arrived at Burke’s residence and was stabbed numerous times by him.

Burke made no attempt to call 911 or save her life. Later that day he bought a shovel and ordered two chainsaws. A couple of days after that he bought a body bag, heavy-duty laundry bags, and a blue inflatable pool. Blue plastic fragments from the pool were found in Rivas’ body.

D4vd proceeded to amputate her left ring finger and pinky fingers due to her ring finger containing a tattoo of his name. After this, he allegedly placed the bags of her decomposed body in the back of his Tesla.

As soon as I read that there were fragments of the pool found in Rivas’ body, that solidified to me that d4vd was the killer.

On April 20th, 2026, d4vd was charged with first-degree murder, lascivious acts with a minor under 14, and mutilation of a body. Burke appeared in court that same day and pleaded not guilty to all charges.

After all of this news came out, collaborators such as Laufey and Kali Uchis removed songs that featured Burke from streaming platforms.

Epic Games issued refunds to players who purchased his skin in Fortnite.

D4vd’s life is officially over, even if he is found not guilty.

I was a huge supporter of David Burke before this news broke. He reminded me of Steve Lacy in a way, due to both of them creating their songs on their phones and using their resources rather than huge studios.

But this goes to show that you don’t know these people, and David Burke will most likely get the death penalty for his horrible crime and remain one of the biggest what ifs in music history.