Singer D4vd arrested in connection with murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, LAPD says

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:01]Major breaking news now. Detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department Robbery Homicide Division have arrested singer David Burke for the murder of Celeste Rivas. Burke is being held without bail. The case will be presented to the DA's office on Monday for filing consideration. You may remember and we've been reporting. Rivas' body was found in the trunk of David's car in September of last year. She was only 14 years old. Again, this breaking news just into our newsroom. We're working to get more information and we'll continue to follow this story.

[00:00:30]>> We do want to go ahead and bring in now ABC's Alex Stone on the phone to speak more about this case. Alex, you've been following this from the very beginning.

[00:00:37]What can you tell us uh as far as this breaking information goes this afternoon?

[00:00:41]>> Well, Mark and Michelle, yeah, sources are telling us that this is based off of evidence that the LAPD was able to gather and put together and now is going to be presenting to the the LA County DA for a filing decision on Monday. This was not from uh any kind of indictment.

[00:00:59]We know that the case had gone to a grand jury. It was expected that there might be an indictment coming sometime soon. We were thinking in the the last couple of months or in the the next few weeks. This was not from that. We we are told that this is evidence that they have been compiling going back to when her body was found last September that now they have reached a point where they believe they have probable cause and it's gone to the DA.

[00:01:27]>> All right. And so a lot of people wondering, you know, this so many so many things seem to point to him. Why did it take them this long to make the arrest? We know they're pretty methodical about how they do do things, but >> yeah, it's a a good question. Uh, one of the things that they were waiting on, Mark, was the the cause of death and that there was difficulty reaching that cause of death. Not to get too graphic, but uh her body was in multiple parts.

[00:01:56]It was in, we know from court documents, two different body bags in the the front trunk of that Tesla when uh her body was found. So, it was difficult for the medical examiner to determine the cause of death. So, they had to prove or be able to to show to the the DA that she was murdered, that it wasn't something else where, you know, let's say that that she overdosed uh and then somebody freaked out and put her body in that that trunk. They have to be able to prove that that it was murder. They now believe that they can do that.

[00:02:28]>> All right.

[00:02:29]>> Yeah. We we also know um you know, David, as many entertainers do, had an entourage of people um around him at times. I know some other individuals have been considered um as drivers of this vehicle or either around. Any information on possibly how this could impact other people that David was around that also may have been around Celeste Rivas.

[00:02:50]>> Michelle, we don't know yet. Uh and if there are any other arrests that that are going to be coming in this case. We know that there were a number of witnesses who came and and testified in front of the grand jury. again that this was not an indictment, that this is probable cause that the LAPD put together and and moved forward on, but during the the grand jury proceedings, which are secret as are ongoing, that there were a number of other people who came forward, those who are close to David, friends of David, family members of his were subpoenaed to go in front of the grand jury. So, if there are other arrests that could be coming, we don't know. But as of right now, he is the only one that we know of under arrest.

[00:03:32]>> All right. Singer David under arrest.

[00:03:35]Alex Stone, ABC News. Thank you. We have more breaking.