US musician D4vd has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder in the death of a teenage girl who vanished last year.
The star, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke, is accused of murdering 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose decomposing remains were found in September in a Tesla registered to his Texas address.
Burke, 21, also was charged with murder for “financial gain” and with murder of a witness to an investigation, the Los Angeles district attorney said.
He did not speak during his arraignment on Monday – his first court appearance since his arrest last week. His lawyers entered his plea on his behalf.
In a Los Angeles courtroom on Monday, the musician’s defence team said it believed the “actual evidence will show that David did not kill Celeste” and was not the cause of her death – echoing remarks his attorneys made after his arrest last week.
“We will vigorously defend David’s innocence,” attorneys Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter said in a statement to BBC.
After months of speculation around the case, there was a sense of tension and anticipation in the courtroom ahead of the hearing. It grew quiet when the girl’s parents walked in.
All eyes were then on the door Burke was meant to enter. He was barely visible to the audience in the courtroom.
Burke’s team asked for an open hearing after months of grand jury hearings behind closed doors. The court ordered the coroner to share the report on the teen’s death, which has been barred from public release in a rare move by authorities.
In a statement to the BBC’s US media partner CBS News, the Rivas Hernandez family said it is “committed to ensuring that Celeste’s voice is heard and her memory is honored throughout this process”.
Their attorney did not immediately respond on Monday to the BBC’s request for comment on the charges.
During an earlier press conference on Monday, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said that on 23 April 2025, Rivas Hernandez went to Burke’s house in the Hollywood Hills and “she was never heard from again”.
Her dismembered and decomposed remains were found on 8 September 2025 – when the investigation first began – in the front trunk of a Tesla registered to Burke, court documents said.
When authorities removed the bag, they discovered severed arms and legs inside, the documents said.
“A parent’s nightmare is a situation where your daughter goes out one night and never comes back,” Hochman said.
He announced three sets of charges against the singer.
The first is first-degree murder with special circumstances of “lying in wait”.
The second is an additional special circumstances of alleged murder for “financial gain”. Hochman accused Burke of murdering the 14-year-old to maintain his lucrative musical career “that Celeste was threatening on that particular night”.
The third charge is murdering a witness to an investigation. He said evidence shows Rivas Hernandez was a witness in an investigation of sexual acts committed by Burke.
Hochman added that the charges involve numerous sexual acts with a minor and the mutilation of a body.
The DA’s office could eventually seek the death penalty in the case, he added.
