Parents of 14-Year-Old Celeste Rivas Hernandez File Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Singer D4vd
The parents of Celeste Abigail Rivas Hernandez filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the singer D4vd in Los Angeles County Superior Court on September 8, 2025, accusing the artist of sexually abusing their daughter over more than a year before murdering her at age 14.
The 20-page complaint, obtained by Rolling Stone, was filed by Mercedes Martinez and Jesus Rivas. Their lawyer is Patrick Steinfeld. The suit names D4vd — born David Anthony Burke — alongside his managers Josh Marshall and Robert Morgenroth, their company Mogul Vision, live-in security guard Sheldon Jacques, and D4vd's publishing and merchandising companies as co-defendants. It alleges those business entities were the vehicles that funded the abuse.
According to the complaint, D4vd began sexually abusing Celeste in November 2023, when she was 13. The abuse allegedly continued for more than a year. The lawsuit states D4vd exchanged text messages with Celeste concerning an abortion of a pregnancy he acknowledged was his, and alleges he induced her to engage in commercial sex acts by providing money, food, shelter, designer gifts, travel, a ring, and a promise of future marriage in exchange — a trafficking claim under California law.
The complaint alleges that on April 23, 2025, D4vd arranged an Uber to transport Celeste from near her family's home in Lake Elsinore, California, to his house in the Hollywood Hills. There, the lawsuit states, he murdered her, dismembered her body with a chainsaw, and concealed her remains in the front trunk of his Tesla.
Celeste's remains were discovered on September 8, 2025, when D4vd's Tesla was towed in Hollywood. Positive identification came on September 16, 2025, delayed because the body was severely decomposed. Reuters has described D4vd as charged with fatally stabbing and dismembering the girl.
The lawsuit brings survival actions for wrongful death, battery, sexual battery, childhood sexual assault, assault, false imprisonment, human trafficking, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. A Los Angeles County judge has ordered D4vd to stand trial on renewed charges alleging he sexually assaulted Celeste as a minor before killing her, and he was arraigned on those charges.
D4vd recently lost his private lawyers and entered a new not guilty plea in the criminal case, according to WBAL-TV. He has not yet been tried.
The complaint seeking damages arrives as the criminal proceedings continue. The family's civil action allows them to pursue financial accountability even as the criminal case moves through the courts.
Celeste Rivas Hernandez was born on September 7, 2010. She was 14 when she was killed.
