D4vd named target in Los Angeles grand jury probe after teen’s dismembered body found in his Tesla

d4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, is the target of a Los Angeles County criminal grand jury investigation into the death of a teenage girl, court documents show. The unsealed subpoenas and recent court rulings reveal graphic details of the discovery and a widening legal process involving family members and associates.

D4vd described as “Target David Burke” in subpoena

Court documents describe the 20-year-old artist as “Target David Burke” and state he “may be involved in having committed the following criminal offenses … One count of Murder. ” The filings identify his legal name and note an underlying case captioned “The People of the State of California v. David Burke, ” pending in the 506th District Court of Waller County, Texas, with Judge Gary W. Chaney presiding; the documents also say there is no public case with that name because grand jury proceedings are confidential.

Tow yard search on Sept. 8 uncovered a cadaver bag and dismembered remains

Investigators executed a search warrant on Sept. 8 after a tow yard worker noticed a rotting smell coming from a vehicle later identified as a 2023 Tesla Model Y registered to Burke. When police opened the Tesla’s front storage compartment, they found “a black cadaver bag covered with insects and a strong odor of decay. ” Detectives partially unzipped the bag and observed “a decomposed head and torso. ”

Criminalists and medical examiners processed the scene. The subpoenas say that upon removing the cadaver bag, detectives discovered the arms and legs had been severed, and that a second black bag underneath contained additional dismembered body parts.

Victim identified as 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez; vehicle towed from Hollywood Hills

The court papers identify the victim as Celeste Rivas Hernandez, 14. The body was found in an apparently abandoned Tesla that had been towed from an upscale neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills. The vehicle was registered in Burke’s name on 8 September 2025, a day after the girl would have turned 15, and court filings say her family had reported her missing from Lake Elsinore in 2024. Authorities state in the filings that Rivas Hernandez was 14 when she was killed.

The Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office previously said the body was severely decomposed and had probably been dead for an extended period before it was found. No cause of death has been made public, and in November a judge was barred from allowing the chief medical examiner, Dr. Odey Ukpo, to release autopsy findings to the public, the filings show.

Subpoenas, Texas appeals court rulings and witnesses called

Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman issued subpoenas on Jan. 15, which Superior Court Judge Craig Richman approved. The subpoenas sought testimony from Burke’s father, mother and brother—named in the court records as Dawud, Colleen and Caleb—who live in Texas. The three family members filed petitions to ignore the subpoenas; the First Court of Appeals in Texas on Feb. 9 denied those petitions, and a Texas judge ordered the family members to appear in California and testify.

Prosecutors began presenting evidence to what was described as an investigative grand jury in November, and numerous witnesses have been called, including one of the musician’s managers. A friend of Burke’s, Neo Langston, was arrested in Montana after ignoring a subpoena and was later compelled to return to Los Angeles to testify. Lawyers for the family could not be reached, and representatives for Burke did not respond to requests for comment, the filings note.

The subpoenas were unsealed as part of a legal challenge filed by Burke’s family in Texas, which made the detailed descriptions of the discovery public. While the Los Angeles Police Department has publicly declined to characterize the death as a homicide, a court filing refers to the matter as an investigation into murder.

Burke, who had been rising in popularity and had planned a global tour, continued to play several U. S. shows after the body was found but later canceled the remainder of his concerts and a European tour after his connection to the case became widely reported.

Detectives have spent months investigating the circumstances surrounding the girl’s death and the vehicle’s abandonment; multiple subpoenas and court rulings have followed as the grand jury process continues.

The next confirmed legal milestones in the filings include testimony compelled from the subpoenaed family members in California and continuation of the grand jury proceedings, which remain confidential.