Singer’s Tesla ticketed in L.A. 11 days before girl, 15, found dismembered in trunk

A black 2023 Tesla belonging to a multiplatinum selling R&B artist that was reportedly abandoned in the Hollywood Hills was ticketed 11 days before the dismembered remains of a missing 15-year-old Lake Elsinore girl were found stuffed inside a bag in the trunk.  

The vehicle, registered to David Anthony Burke, 20, who performs under the name D4Vd, had been parked on Bluebird Avenue, a street over from his $20,000 a month rental in the 13000 block of Doheny Drive, for so long that residents complained to the city in late August, the Los Angeles Times reported.  

A parking enforcement officer first ticketed the Tesla on Aug. 27 for the position of its tires. One week later, on Sept. 3, it was again cited for violating the 72-hour parking ordinance.  

On Sept. 5, the vehicle was towed to a Hollywood tow yard, though another three days would pass before the grisly discovery was made.  

The remains of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, her “head and torso,” according to the Los Angeles Police Department, were discovered on Sept. 8 after employees at Hollywood Tow reported a foul odor coming from the Tesla, which had been on the lot for five days after it was reported abandoned in the Hollywood Hills.    

The teen had been missing from Lake Elsinore since April 2024 when she was just 13.   

“She appears to have been deceased inside the vehicle for an extended period of time,” the medical examiner’s report stated.    

LAPD said the vehicle, which had Texas plates, was registered to Burke, who is originally from Hempstead, Texas.   

While detectives have not yet established an exact cause of death, Rivas’ remains were released to her family on Sept. 23, likely meaning the L.A. County Medical Examiner’s Office had completed an autopsy and lab tests. 

Investigators have for weeks worked to trace Rivas’ movements prior to her death, as well as trying to determine how long the Tesla had been parked on the street.  

They have also been working to confirm many details that have emerged that seemingly tie the 20-year-old singer to the missing girl.    

The victim’s mother has said that in the days prior to her daughter’s disappearance, she had a boyfriend named David. It also later emerged that there are reportedly several photos on social media of the two together, including where the singer appears to be with the teen not far from her family’s Lake Elsinore home.   

Burke and the 15-year-old also reportedly have matching tattoos on their right index fingers with the letters “Shhh.”    

Along with a song entitled “Romantic Homicide,” TMZ reported that in a leaked song, the artist is heard singing about a person named Celeste, with lyrics that include, “Oh Celeste / The girl with my name tattooed on her chest / I hear her voice each time I take a breath / I’m obsessed.”    

Leaked in December 2023, the track was titled “Celeste_Demo unfin.”   

Last week, a former science teacher at Lakeland Village School in Lake Elsinore was filmed telling students at a different school that Rivas met the singer through social media. He also said that she had run away to Hollywood months before her April 2024 disappearance but was found by police and returned home.  

While Burke has not spoken publicly about the investigation, since news of the teen’s alleged connections to the singer broke, he has lost several endorsements, his new album has been indefinitely held back and both his U.S. and European tours have been cancelled. 

Observers have noted that some of the R&B singer’s music is eerily macabre, with him performing in what looks like a bloodied shirt, a coffin on stage and lyrics like, “In the back of my mind, I killed you// And I didn’t even regret it// I can’t believe I said it// But it’s true// I hate you.”   

There is also a music video, released in February this year, that features a body being dragged and put into the trunk of a car.    

Police have not identified Burke, who has reportedly cooperated with investigators, as a suspect. They have said, however, that a search warrant was executed on Sept. 17 at the Hollywood Hills home where D4vd had been living, according to TMZ’s reporting.     

“Several items of evidence were recovered and will be analyzed by detectives in the coming days. This is an ongoing investigation,” the LAPD spokesperson confirmed to KTLA last week. “Investigators are following up on several leads.”   

The rising star has since broken his lease on the Hollywood Hills mansion and moved to an unknown location.  

Both police and the 15-year-old girl’s family have said very little else about the investigation. A man who identified himself as Rivas’ brother would only tell KTLA that the family was “grieving.” 

On Sept. 21, a candlelight vigil was held for the teenage girl in Lake Elsinore where some of the mourners were demanding “Justice for Celeste.”    

“This really hits home as a mom,” one attendee named Evelyn told KTLA. “This could have been anybody’s kid.”  

So far, no arrests have been made in the case.