If he did it, will California do it?
Whether singer D4vd, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke, may be facing the death penalty is one of the many questions raised by the criminal complaint filed by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office on April 20, 2026. In addition to being charged with first-degree murder for the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, Burke also faces counts of continuous sexual abuse of the 14-year-old victim and unlawful mutilation of human remains. In September 2025, Hernandez’s dismembered and decomposing remains were found in a Tesla registered to Burke, approximately four months after she was last seen alive.
While the death penalty is still a sentencing option for certain serious felonies in California, Governor Gavin Newsom used an executive order in 2019 to place a moratorium on the carrying out of executions. Life in prison without parole would be the other option if Burke is convicted of her murder, but Newsom will be termed out of office at the end of this year. If his replacement holds a different stance on capital punishment, the 21-year-old singer might be the newest addition to a Death Row that was being phased out.
I’m Tarping Because Our IGL Is Cracked, Noob
Before being suspected of the murder of a 14-year-old girl, Burke was living as what many would consider a storybook kind of success. As a player of the massively popular online game “Fortnite,” Burke began posting video montages of himself playing, accompanied by music he composed and produced. As his following grew, he parlayed his growing fame into writing music for other video games and, eventually, “Locked & Loaded,” the first-ever official anthem for Fortnite.
After releasing two singles in 2022 that both went multiplatinum, Burke’s music career began to take off. He released “Petals to Thorns,” his debut EP, in 2023, and toured in 2024 as an opening act for SZA. “Withered,” his debut album, followed in 2025. That was to be accompanied by a tour of his own, but that was scuttled after Hernandez’s remains were found on September 8, 2025, in the front trunk of the alt-pop singer’s Tesla. The vehicle had been towed by the Los Angeles police after spending weeks parked on a street, and her body was discovered in a tow yard after workers noticed the smell coming from it.
A Grisly Coda
According to court documents filed by Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman, Burke and Hernandez entered into a sexual relationship in early September 2023. Burke was a legal adult, while she was 13 years old at the time. Burke allegedly committed three or more acts of “substantial sexual conduct” and “lewd and lascivious” behavior over the next year while she resided with him.
Hernandez, originally from Lake Elsinore, was 14 on April 23, 2025, when Burke invited her to his house in the Hollywood Hills. Hochman alleges that Burke brought Hernandez there with the intent to kill her, as she had threatened to ruin his career by exposing their illegal relationship. She was not seen again until her remains were found months later. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office estimated that Hernandez’s body had been dismembered around May 5, 2025.
Aggravating Circumstances, Heightened Penalties
Under Governor Newsom’s tenure, the strictest penalty for a first-degree murder conviction is intended to be life in prison without parole. He signed the Racial Justice Act for All into law in 2022, which allows another type of review for prisoners with death sentences. Even before Newsom took office, California had shown no recent proclivity to carry out capital punishment sentences. More California death row inmates died from COVID-19 than had been executed in the previous 27 years.
However, the combination of Newsom’s scheduled departure and the special circumstances of the case has some believing that seeking the death penalty may be a possibility. The court filings accuse Burke of murdering Hernandez last year for financial gain, as his music career would be in jeopardy if the relationship were to be exposed. The charges note that Burke lured her there to eliminate a witness to his ongoing felonies. His use of a “sharp object,” either for the murder itself or the ensuing mutilation of her body, adds to the list of alleged aggravating factors that may convince a jury that, if convicted, Burke deserves the harshest penalty available.
Related Resources
- Sex Crimes (FindLaw’s Criminal Charges)
- Death Penalty Laws by State (FindLaw’s Criminal Procedure)
- Lawyer Chooses Lethal Injection for Client in South Carolina’s First Execution in 14 Years (FindLaw’s Practice of Law)
