Missing girl, 15, found dead & dismembered in Tesla car registered to US singer D4vd, 20

The body of a missing 15-year-old girl was found dismembered and decomposing in an abandoned Tesla registered to 20-year-old alt-pop singer D4vd.

The Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office identified the body as that of Celeste Rivas.

The teenage girl was reported missing from Lake Elsinore, California in 2024.

Singer on tour

D4vd, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, was on tour when the gruesome discovery made international headlines.

At his first performance after the body was found, he was seen giving out free Labubu toys.

Police notified of smell on Sep. 8

Employees of Hollywood Tow, a place that held the impounded vehicle, called the Los Angeles Police Department on Sep. 8, after smelling something foul.

Police found the dead body in the front trunk of the discarded Tesla that was impounded.

The car had been towed to the lot from the Hollywood Hills after it was abandoned.

The body was reportedly chopped up and decomposing.

The circumstances of how the girl died and ended up in the front trunk were unclear.

Body could still be identified

However, the body was identified as a female who was wearing a tube top, black leggings, a yellow metal chain bracelet, and stud earrings.

She had wavy black hair and weighed approximately 71 pounds (32kg).

The girl appeared to have been deceased inside the vehicle for an extended period of time.

Home searched

The Tesla has Texas licence plates, and is registered in Hempstead, Texas, to the singer.

A Hollywood Hills home where D4vd had been living was searched overnight by law enforcement.

The case relies on the medical examiner determining a cause of death, which is proving difficult.

It is currently a death investigation, as authorities do not yet know how the girl died.

No arrests have been made.

Who is D4vd?

D4vd, a Houston native, is an up-and-coming artiste.

Two of his songs “Romantic Homicide” and “Here With Me” have more than 1.5 billion streams on Spotify.

Same tattoo

Rivas was found with a “Shhhh” tattoo on her right finger.

A photo of D4vd from September 2024 showed he has the same tattoo.

The design was popularised by Rihanna in 2008.

Rivas’s mother reportedly said the body matched that of her daughter.

The mother also said her daughter had a boyfriend named "David".

D4vd's response

D4vd's representative said the artiste had been made aware of the situation and was "fully cooperating" with the authorities.

He was on his Withered World Tour when the incident occurred.

His show in Seattle on Sep. 17 was cancelled.

Top photos via d4vddd/Instagram, Riverside Sheriff's Office & ABC7