D4vd Named Grand Jury Target in Los Angeles Probe Into Teen’s Death

A Los Angeles County grand jury is actively examining allegations connected to the death of a teenage girl whose dismembered remains were found in the front trunk of a Tesla registered to singer D4vd, according to newly surfaced court filings. The documents identify the artist, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke, as the target of an investigation involving a 14-year-old victim, Celeste Rivas Hernandez, and state she may have been the victim of foul play. He has not been arrested or charged.

The filings also describe a procedural escalation: prosecutors sought to compel testimony from family members in Texas as part of the Los Angeles grand jury process, including efforts to have his father appear as a witness, as detailed in reporting based on those unsealed records. Because grand jury proceedings typically operate behind closed doors, public visibility tends to arrive in fragments, usually when motions, subpoenas, or related petitions spill into the open.

What “Target” Signals in a Grand Jury Investigation

A grand jury is not a trial, and being labeled a “target” is not the same as being convicted. Still, the wording matters. In federal practice, prosecutors use target letters to explain that the government believes there is substantial evidence linking someone to a potential offense, as reflected in the Justice Department’s own sample target letter. In practical terms, it often means investigators have moved beyond broad fact-finding and are testing whether they can build a chargeable case.

California’s grand jury landscape has its own structure, and the state’s courts describe how county grand juries operate, including their functions and limitations, in an official judicial branch explainer. Even when the public cannot see what is being presented, subpoenas and witness disputes can signal that prosecutors are pushing deeper into timelines, communications, travel, and access.

In this case, the filings indicate prosecutors pursued testimony from D4vd’s parents, Colleen and Dawud Burke, and sought an appearance date for February 11. That type of witness demand can reflect many things, from routine background confirmation to an attempt to lock down details investigators consider pivotal.

The Tow Lot Discovery and the Sealed Autopsy File

The case’s most haunting fact remains the discovery itself. Authorities responded after tow yard workers reported an odor and insects coming from the vehicle, then found two black bags in the front storage compartment, according to the filings and subsequent reporting that summarized the record and the search steps taken at the lot. The Tesla had been impounded after it was reported abandoned on a Los Angeles street, with citations issued before it was towed.

The medical examiner’s file has also become part of the story. The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner confirmed that the case is under a court-ordered security hold, meaning the office cannot release or post records, including cause and manner of death, as explained in its official public statement. The department also notes, more broadly, that cases under security hold will not appear in its public search results, as described on its case information page.

Separately, published accounts have described investigators treating the matter as a potential homicide investigation while awaiting additional forensic clarity and while continuing to assess who had access to the vehicle and when. The key legal boundary remains unchanged: no charges have been filed against D4vd, and any allegation has not been tested in court.

What the filings do show is momentum. A grand jury process, witness subpoenas, and a sealed medical examiner record point to a case that is still moving, still being built, and still very much unresolved.