US singer D4vd pleads not guilty to murder in death of missing teen girl

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.

Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell responded to criticism of how police have handled the case and their decision not to provide details since the body was discovered in a Hollywood tow yard seven months ago.

"I want to be clear about something. My duty is not to fuel speculation. It's to deliver justice, and that requires patience and discipline on everybody's part," McDonnell said.

"This investigation was driven by a single purpose to secure justice for Celeste Rivas and for those who loved her. We had to be certain that nothing we did or said would ever jeopardise this case."

He added that conditions of the teen's remains delayed determining a cause of death. Given the "substantial amount of time that passed between her death and the discovery", evidence had degraded or disappeared, he said.

Asked by the BBC why it took so long to make an arrest, Hochman outlined the difficulties in interviewing multiple people, some of whom were "cooperative" and some who weren't, plus looking at all the evidence.

"It's the type of case that you went to get maximum information," he said, asking anyone with information to come forward.

Burke had remained in custody without bail after his arrest on Thursday.

The singer is from Houston, Texas, and is best known for moody, indie-pop hits like Here With Me and Romantic Homicide. He initially made his name as a teenager, by posting videos of himself playing the video game Fortnite.

After teaching himself music production, he released his debut EP, Petals To Thorns, in 2023. That same year, he landed on Variety's Young Hollywood list and opened for SZA on her SOS tour.

He released his debut album in April 2025, accumulating 22 million monthly listeners on Spotify and almost four million followers on TikTok.

D4vd was on tour when the remains were discovered. The singer cancelled his world tour and retreated from the spotlight shortly after.

In court documents made public in February, he was named as the "target" of a grand jury investigation into the death. It is unclear how the grand jury investigation will proceed.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office on Monday told the BBC it "cannot comment on grand jury investigations".