Rolling Stone has published the findings of an extensive investigation into musician David Anthony Burke, known as D4vd, who has been charged with murdering 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez after allegedly sexually abusing her. Her dismembered remains were found last September in the boot of a Tesla registered to Burke, though he was not arrested and charged until April. The investigation, drawing on interviews with former friends, colleagues, a label source and another young woman who says she had a similar online relationship with Burke as a minor, adds new detail to a case that has shocked fans of his moody bedroom-pop music.

Prosecutors allege Burke, now 20, began communicating with Rivas Hernandez in 2022 when she was 11, and that the relationship turned sexual in November 2023 when she was 13, including an alleged pregnancy and abortion discussion. A recovered phone and iCloud account are said to contain child sexual abuse material and messages referencing marriage and a February 2024 plan, dubbed "Operation Awesome", for her to run away and live with him. Investigators believe Burke stabbed her to death in April 2025 to prevent her exposing the relationship, later dismembering her body with a chainsaw. Burke has pleaded not guilty; a recent preliminary hearing sent the case to trial, though no date has been set.