It’s Valentine’s Day, and Celeste Rivas Hernandez is missing. She’s only 13 at the time, and over the next two years she will be reported missing three separate times. But on the day after her 15th birthday, it is confirmed she will not be returning home from her most recent escapade as she usually does. In early September of this year, her mother’s worst fears were realized as she confirmed the body found in the trunk of a Tesla was, in fact, Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s.
What made her case garner national attention was the fact that the Tesla her body was found inside was registered to David Anthony Burke, better known as the music artist d4vd (pronounced “David”).
Several more connections link Celeste Rivas Hernandez to Mr. Burke, though no concrete connection has been proven. One of the features Miss Rivas Hernandez’s mother was able to identify her by was a “Shhh…” tattoo on her forefinger, a tattoo that can also be found on Mr. Burke’s finger (though, admittedly, it is found on many other fingers, including Rihanna’s).
Miss Rivas Hernandez’s body was badly decomposed, suggesting she had likely been dead for weeks before her body was found. This makes a cause of death much harder to determine, which is why, as of now, no concrete connections or theories can be made.
Criminal scandals involving celebrities are drawn to headlines. A crime involving a known face is simply more relevant to the public. This is not to say that cases without celebrities are irrelevant: many cases garner public interest based on their human interest alone. But this is much more difficult. It’s harder to convince people why they should care than why they should not.
What makes it additionally difficult is as the celebrity element increases, the impact of the human element decreases. Miss Rivas Hernandez’s case was published under headlines like “Questions surround US singer D4vd weeks after teen’s body found in his Tesla,” and “Inquiry Into Death of Teen Found in D4vd’s Tesla Continues: What to Know”. The headlines reporting on the case focused on the relationship between Mr. Burke and Miss Rivas Hernandez. While attracting intrigue, this does diminish the weight her death carries. Focusing on their relationship defines Miss Rivas Hernandez in terms of it, rather than an individual. It describes her as half of the story despite the story, supremely, being about her death. Even though it was her death that cast a shadow on d4vd’s career, the darkened stardom draws more eyes, enticing reporters to focus on her only as she relates to his career. The greater the celebrity scandal, the greater the focus on the celebrity and, thus, the less focus on the victim.
However, the increased attention this connection brings does utilize the public spotlight to garner support. D4vd’s involvement increased intrigue about the case, meaning larger news agencies would pick it up and the story would spread farther. A wide audience is necessary for crimes, especially those that require difficult investigation (such as Miss Rivas Hernandez’s), because more people can look out for and call in tips, giving the investigation direction and guidance. In addition, a wider audience can support the victim’s family. For example, Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s family started a GoFundMe to pay for her funeral. It gained significantly more than the average GoFundMe campaign – $24,000+ compared to $1,000.
The greater attention a celebrity’s involvement brings is a double-edged sword. The case itself gets more attention, but the emphasis is on the celebrity and not the human importance of the victim.
Utilizing celebrity intrigue to garner support for a case also raises ethical questions. Between the months of July and August of this year, d4vd had about 4.9 billion music listeners on Spotify. Since Miss Rivas Hernandez’s body was found, d4vd has gained almost 5 million listeners. Billboard also reported that, “From Sept. 18-22, D4vd’s catalog earned 30.3 million official on-demand U.S. streams, more than double the total from the previous five-day tracking period (13.8 million streams from Sept. 12-16).” Because of the increased media attention and scandal, d4vd’s popularity grew.
A large audience is a powerful tool: it gives an artist a great platform to speak from, allowing them to spread their message far and wide – whatever that message may be.
This is concerning in the case of d4vd because his songs include many violent motifs. His most popular song – which, after the news of Miss Rivas Hernandez’s death, earned 2.9 million streams and a week after that was up 224% from the week before her death was announced – is called “Romantic Homicide.” The chorus repeats, “In the back of my mind, you died / and I didn’t even cry,” only to change to “In the back of my mind, I killed you / And I didn’t even regret it / I can’t believe I said it / But it’s true” in the final moments of the song.
In the context of a possible connection to a homicide, these lyrics are concerning. Continued listening to d4vd’s discography begs a question: at what point is it unethical to support a platform that spreads unethical messages? Can you separate the art from the artist?
To better answer this, I asked Mrs. Wright, the AP Art History teacher here at Davis, for her thoughts. As an art history teacher, she is very familiar with beautiful art created by artists who did immoral things. She drew the line at the extent to which the artist profits from their art. She said that while art from artists who did unethical things can be appreciated, “if the artist is still alive and profiting from fans, I have a hard time supporting their art,” because it gives them “a platform to spread hate.” She expanded on this with two examples:
One example of this is Kanye West. I think he’s a brilliant artist. However, he has used his platform to spread hate about Jewish people which I believe is abusive to an already vulnerable population. I feel unethical supporting his art and giving him a platform to spread hate.
Another example would be Diddy. One could argue that it was his art that gave him money and fame, which in turn gave him access to women that he abused. In that case it feels wrong to enjoy his music.
Listening to an artist’s music supports their popularity, which, in turn, supports the spread of their message – hateful or otherwise. But additionally, as Mrs. Wright points out, the platform may not only be a stage, but a steppingstone that gives the artist power to do things they would not have been able to do otherwise.
Mr. Burke has not been accused or convicted of any crime relating to Miss Rivas Hernandez – all accusations are purely speculatory. But it is important to consider the ethical implications when artists’ behaviors are under suspicion because, as Mrs. Wright pointed out, they may have physical consequences.
It could be argued that, if he were to be convicted for her death, Mr. Burke’s popularity could have drawn Celeste Rivas Hernandez to him and provided the means for him to harm her. But, regardless of d4vd’s actual connection, the popularity he has gained from these songs has already dehumanized Miss Rivas Hernandez.
The headlines about Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s death focus on her relationship to Mr. Burke. The story of her death is no longer a eulogy but has become a scandal featuring music artist d4vd, “once called the mouthpiece of Gen-Z heartache.”
If Mr. Burke’s lyrics are about the intent to dehumanize a victim, in a sense, they have already succeeded precisely because they made him popular. If Mr. Burke is responsible for Miss Rivas Hernandez’s death, his songs not only put him in a position to exploit another person, but their popularity overshadowed that victim’s death and life, killing not only Celeste Rivas Hernandez but her significance in the public mind. Celebrity scandal dehumanizes the victim.
Celeste Rivas Hernandez was a not-quite 15-year-old girl who was known for frequenting a corner store to buy “candy, sodas, and Takis.” It is this life that is gone, and this life that deserves to be mourned. But because her case is connected to a celebrity, she gets overshadowed as d4vd, once again, takes center stage. The very thing that helped fund her funeral, the attention brought by d4vd’s connection to her, erases her importance and destroys her individuality. And all the while, hums “Romantic Homicide.”
Annotated Sources
Picture:
Basic case information:
BBC, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c205g10g0nvo
The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/article/d4vd-tesla-body-murder-investigation.html
The LA Times, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-10-03/grief-hangs-over-lake-elsinore-for-celeste-rivas-who-repeatedly-ran-away
The LAPD Newsroom, https://www.lapdonline.org/lapd-newsroom/
The Mirror, https://www.themirror.com/entertainment/d4vd-celeste-rivas-death-investigation-1455379
D4vd’s Discography Statistics:
Music Metrics Vault, https://www.musicmetricsvault.com/artists/d4vd/5y8tKLUfMvliMe8IKamR32#:~:text=Emerging%20as%20a%20prolific%20artist,darker%2C%20emo%2Dlike%20elements.
Billboard, https://www.billboard.com/music/chart-beat/d4vd-streams-double-dead-body-trending-up-1236073725/#:~:text=Following%20the%20reports%2C%20D4vd’s%20overall,million%20(up%20224%25).%20%E2%80%9C
GoFundMe Statistics:
Basic GoFundMe Statistics, https://electroiq.com/stats/gofundme-statistics/
Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s GoFundMe, https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-celeste-rivas-hernandez-family
