What We Know About the Teen Girl Found in D4vd’s Tesla

D4vd
Photo: Timothy Norris/Getty Images

Alt-pop singer D4vd cancelled his tour on September 19, 11 days after a dead body was found in an abandoned Tesla registered under his name. Authorities have since identified the victim as a teenage girl who was reported missing last year.

Below, what we know so far about the victim, how she was found, and D4vd’s response.

The Houston native, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, has been called the “unassuming yet undeniable mouthpiece” for his generation by GQ. His songs “Romantic Homicide” and “Here With Me” both have well over 1.5 billion streams on Spotify. His most recent album, Withered, features Kali Uchis. “I start media training tomorrow guys wish me luck …,” he wrote in an Instagram post on September 5.

The Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office identified the body as 15-year-old Celeste Rivas, who was reported missing from Lake Elsinore, California, last year, per ABC7. Rivas was found with a tattoo on her right finger that read “Shhhh,” according to the examiner on September 17. TMZ has since published a photo of D4vd from September 2024 in which he appears to have the same tattoo, a design that Rihanna popularized in 2008.

Rivas’s mother told TMZ that same day that the police description of the body matched that of her daughter, who she said had a boyfriend named David. Rivas’s cause of death was listed as “deferred,” which means that it is pending further investigation.

Police found a dead body in the trunk of a discarded Tesla registered to D4vd, according to ABC7. Employees of Hollywood Tow called the LAPD on September 8 after smelling something foul from the car, per KTLA 5. The car had been towed to the lot from the Hollywood Hills after it was abandoned. Sources told TMZ the body was chopped up and found decomposing. The Tesla has Texas license plates, per KTLA, and, according to Eyewitness News, is registered in Hempstead, Texas, to the singer.

D4vd’s team reportedly chose to cancel all dates on September 18, per TMZ. Two Los Angeles shows out of D4vd’s three remaining tour dates were removed the from the venues’ websites on September 18. The concert scheduled for September 19 in San Francisco at the Warfeld was canceled as well.

Meanwhile, his label, Interscope, has reportedly paused all musical promotion, sources told TMZ.

D4vd has not yet publicly commented on his reported connection to the car or, potentially, the body. However, he is cooperating with the police. “D4vd has been informed about what’s happened,” a representative for the singer told NBC 4 on September 9. “And, although he is still out on tour, he is fully cooperating with the authorities.” At his concert on September 9, the day the news broke, he handed out free Labubus, as seen in a clip widely circulated on X. Currently, most of his upcoming concert dates have been canceled, with the exception of a few Australian concerts that are seemingly still scheduled for December. His representatives declined to comment to TMZ on September 17, citing a desire not to interfere with the ongoing police investigation.

This is a developing story.