Authorities have identified the body of a young female found in the front trunk of an impounded Tesla at a Hollywood tow yard. The vehicle is registered to singer D4vd.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner confirmed the victim as 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. KTLA 5 has learned that Hernandez was reported missing from Lake Elsinore in 2024, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office.
The department said it is working with the Los Angeles Police Department, which is investigating the case as a homicide.
Initially, the Medical Examiner described the victim as approximately 5’2″, weighing 71 pounds, with dark wavy hair. She was wearing a tube top and had a distinctive tattoo on her right index finger.
A missing person’s poster for Hernandez stated she was last seen on April 5, 2024, in Lake Elsinore and was 13 years old at the time. She was last seen wearing gray pants, a black sweater, Hello Kitty sandals and a hat.
KTLA 5 has reached out to Hernandez’s family for comment but has not yet received a response.
Last week, TMZ reported that the Tesla is registered to singer D4vd. Police told the outlet the vehicle is registered to David Anthony Burke, the artist’s legal name, from Hempstead, Texas.
The singer is currently on tour. According to his online schedule, he performed in Seattle on September 16 and is set to appear in Los Angeles on September 20. He is known for songs such as “Romantic Homicide” and “Here With Me.”
On Sept. 8, human remains were discovered in the trunk of the impounded Tesla at Hollywood Tow, located on Mansfield Avenue near La Brea.
Police told KTLA 5 that officers responded to the 1000 block of Mansfield Avenue around 12:20 p.m. after receiving reports of a “foul odor coming from a vehicle at a tow yard.”
“Detectives responded and located possible human remains,” Officer Drake Madison said at the time. “It is currently a death investigation. We do not have information on the owner of the vehicle.”
LAPD said the Tesla had been towed from the Hollywood Hills, near Doheny Drive and Bluebird Canyon Drive, after it was reported abandoned nearly a week before the body was discovered.
According to residents, the vehicle may have been sitting there for some time. One resident described it as damaged and dusty.
KTLA 5 has also reached out to D4vd’s team for a statement and is awaiting a response.
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