D4vd: US singer accused of murdering teen girl 'told police he did not know she was a minor'

US singer D4vd, who is accused of murdering and dismembering a teenage girl, told police investigating her disappearance he did not know she was a minor, a court has heard.

The 21-year-old musician, whose real name is David Burke, is accused of fatally stabbing 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez after she threatened to make their relationship public.

Burke is accused of dismembering her body in his garage and hiding her remains in a car, which was then abandoned.

Ms Hernandez's severely decomposed body was found in a vehicle registered to Burke on 8 September last year, a court in Los Angeles heard. He was then arrested in April.

Burke has denied murdering the teenager and pleaded not guilty to several other counts, including mutilation of human remains and child sexual abuse.

During a preliminary court hearing on Tuesday, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office laid out evidence to the judge, who will then decide whether to proceed to trial.

Prosecutors showed the court a body camera video on Tuesday, where Burke told sheriff's deputies investigating a February 2024 missing person's report that he had only met then-13-year-old Ms Hernandez once in person, and he did not know she was a minor.

"She told me she was 18," the singer said in the video. "Everybody's telling me she was 13."

During the 2024 search, the court heard that Burke said he had met Ms Hernandez online on Instagram and Discord in 2020 or 2021, had seen her once in person a few months earlier and had last communicated with her a few days before the search.

He shared Rivas Hernandez's phone number with the officers and showed them photos from his phone of a yearbook picture of her and a missing persons flyer from Instagram.

It comes after prosecutors filed a court brief in April, where they said Ms Hernandez was most likely killed by Burke on 23 April last year, when her cellular activity ceased.

That filing alleges that Burke met Ms Hernandez, from Lake Elsinore in California, when she was 11 and began a sexual relationship with her when she was 13, and he was 18.

It also alleged that Burke ordered an Uber to pick Ms Hernandez up on the night of 23 April, from her hometown to his home in Hollywood.

The two were said to have exchanged messages until she arrived, after which her phone went dead.

The document alleges: "Knowing he had to silence the victim before she ruined his music career as she had threatened, very soon after her arrival at his home, [the] defendant stabbed the victim to death multiple times and stood by while she bled out."

Prosecutors also said a "significant amount" of child sex abuse images had been recovered during an investigation into Burke following his arrest on 16 April.

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The preliminary hearing could go for several days. Burke's defence has not publicly shared its version of events, but has denied the allegations.

If found guilty, the singer is eligible for the death penalty under California law. Prosecutors have not confirmed whether they will seek it.

The singer, known for his blend of indie rock, R&B and lo-fi pop, gained success with his 2022 hit Romantic Homicide and last year performed at Coachella music festival.

(c) Sky News 2026: D4vd: US singer accused of murdering teen girl 'told police he did not know she was