Singer D4vd (David Anthony Burke), known for the 2022 hit "Romantic Homicide", has been charged with first-degree murder over the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Prosecutors allege the 21-year-old was in an illegal sexual relationship with the teenager and killed her in April 2025 after she threatened to expose him and damage his music career; he has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers say they will contest the evidence. The case matters both as a serious criminal matter involving a minor and because of its impact on a high-profile music career, with D4vd's label, publisher and management all cutting ties with him.

Rivas's dismembered remains were found on 8 September 2025 in a Tesla registered to D4vd that had been impounded, and she was identified as a runaway who had gone missing from Lake Elsinore, California, in 2024 aged 13. Reports that D4vd was a suspect emerged in November 2025 following a grand jury investigation, he was confirmed as its target in February 2026, arrested on 16 April 2026, and formally charged with murder on 20 April 2026. The alleged killing is said to have occurred on 23 April 2025, two days before the release of his debut album Withered, which subsequently had its tour cut short and a planned deluxe edition shelved.