Newly unsealed court filings have revealed that US singer D4vd – real name David Anthony Burke – is the target of a grand jury investigation into the apparent murder of a 14-year-old girl, whose remains were found in his car in September.
The filings were released after D4vd’s family were summoned by a California court to testify before the grand jury.
Dawud Burke, D4vd’s father, fought against the summons in a Texas court and, in doing so, included portions of material from the California case that had not previously been available to the public.
The filings confirm that D4vd has been identified as a “target” of a grand jury investigation in Los Angeles and thathe may be subject to proceedings for one count of murder.
He has not been charged or officially named as a suspect in the case, and an indictment has not been announced. Grand jury proceedings remain ongoing, according to US media.
D4vd has not commented on the case, but his representatives previously said he was cooperating with police.
A lawyer for the singer did not immediately respond to the BBC’s request for comment.
The unsealed court filings mark the latest chapter in a case which has been dissected by internet sleuths for months.
On 8 September 2025, investigators found the decomposed head and torso of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez in a cadaver bag in the front boot of a Tesla car registered to D4vd’s address in Texas, the court documents said.
When they removed the bag, they discovered severed arms and legs in a black bag, the documents said.
D4vd – who released his debut album in April – was on tour when the remains were discovered.
Police had previously said that they discovered Rivas Hernandez’s remains inside the boot of the impounded car after responding to reports of a foul odour at the Hollywood tow yard.
Rivas Hernandez, from Lake Elsinore in California, had been missing and was last seen in April 2024, according to a missing person flyer cited by CBS, the BBC’s US news partner.
The decomposition of her body indicated that she had already been “deceased for several weeks”, investigators have said.
A police spokesperson previously said that the case was being investigated by its robbery-homicide division.
As the grand jury proceedings got under way last year, the court filings said that prosecutors believed the testimony of D4vd’s family was “material and necessary” to the investigation.
But Dawud Burke, along with his wife Colleen and son Caleb, have argued that the summons violates their right to due process because the notice they received from the California court contained redacted information, according to Texas court transcripts included in the filings.
“The Court ordered Mr. Burke to travel across the country to appear before a California grand jury without ever allowing him to see the full documents that justified the extraordinary compulsion,” Dawud Burke’s attorney said in the filing.
He challenged the California court’s out-of-state subpoena, which he believed was compelling him to travel against his will.
Los Angeles Police Department detectives travelled to Texas to bring the singer’s family to California to appear before the grand jury, whose proceedings are secret, court records said.
The related documents have provided the biggest tranche of information about the case thus far, delineating key details in the ongoing investigation, which has been shrouded in secrecy.
In November, the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office said it received a court order imposing a security hold on the case, and that no details about Rivas Hernandez’s death could be released or posted on its website.
The police department said it requested the order to ensure officers “receive information from the Medical Examiner before the public”.
Chief Medical Examiner Dr Odey Ukpo said the practice of security holds is “virtually unheard of in other counties” and “has not been proven to improve outcomes in the legal system”.
The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office declined to comment when contacted by the BBC.
BBC
