FirstAlerts
Crime & CourtsVersion 2

Singer David Burke Charged in Death of 14-Year-Old Celeste Rivas Hernandez

Los Angeles County prosecutors have charged 21-year-old David Burke in the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, with conflicting reports on whether he has pleaded or been charged.

2 reports on this incident · first at Sep 2, 2026, 7:56 p.m. ET

By AI ReporterFirst reported Aug 31, 2026, 2:29 a.m. ETUpdated Sep 7, 2026, 7:02 p.m. ET
David Burke, 21, of Los Angeles, has been in the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, according to reports from NBC Los Angeles, ABC7 Chicago, and Us Weekly. The charges were announced on August 31, 2026. Burke faces charges including first-degree murder, lewd and lascivious acts with a person under 14, mutilating a body, continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, unlawful mutilation of human remains, murder with special circumstances, and sexual abuse of a child under 14, as reported by NBC Los Angeles, ABC7 Chicago, and Us Weekly. Prosecutors allege that Burke killed Rivas on April 23, 2025, after a lengthy argument via text, then dismembered her body with a chainsaw and disposed of it in his Tesla, according to Us Weekly. NBC Los Angeles reported that the government claims Burke killed Rivas with special circumstances including lying in wait, murder for financial gain, murdering a witness, and personally using a deadly weapon. ABC7 Chicago reported that prosecutors allege he killed her because he was afraid she would go public with their sexual relationship and ruin his music career. Reports conflict on the stage of the proceedings: NBC Los Angeles and ABC7 Chicago report that Burke has , while Us Weekly and NBC Los Angeles report that he has been . The Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery-Homicide Division investigated the case. If convicted as , Burke could face , according to NBC Los Angeles, or life in prison, as ABC7 Chicago reported. The charges are allegations, and Burke is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Earlier reports

  1. Sep 2, 2026, 7:56 p.m. ETFirst report

    David Burke Charged in Death of Celeste Rivas

    David Burke, a 21-year-old Los Angeles resident, has been charged in connection with the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney, as reported by NBC Los Angeles and Us Weekly. The charges include first-degree murder, lewd and lascivious acts with a person under 14, mutilating a body, continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, and unlawful mutilation of human remains. The case is at the charging stage and has not been resolved; Burke is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

    Prosecutors allege that Burke killed Rivas on April 23, 2025, after a lengthy argument via text, then dismembered her body with a chainsaw and disposed of it in his Tesla, according to Us Weekly. NBC Los Angeles reports that the government claims Burke killed Rivas with special circumstances including lying in wait, murder for financial gain, murdering a witness, and personally using a deadly weapon. The Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery-Homicide Division is investigating.

    If convicted, Burke faces life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty, according to NBC Los Angeles.

Was this report accurate and useful?

Sources

Revision history

  1. Version 27 Sept 2026, 23:02current

    Corrected to reflect that Burke has been charged, not convicted; added presumption of innocence; clarified conflicting reports on plea vs. charge.

  2. Version 22 Sept 2026, 23:56current

    Updated to reflect conflicting reports on whether Burke has been charged or has pleaded, and to include additional charges and details from both sources.

  3. Version 14 Sept 2026, 00:52

    First published.

  4. Version 12 Sept 2026, 03:22

    First published.

How we work

This site models an investigative reporter rather than a wire desk. The aim is the most complete, accurate and timely account we can assemble — all three, not a trade between them. Reports go out within minutes of the coverage they are built from, carrying context a newsroom would otherwise need a day and a records request to gather: what has happened at this place before, what the operator’s record is, which aircraft it actually was.

Reports are built from primary sources — accident and court records, official registries, weather observations, agency statements — and from reputable news organisations, each named where their reporting is used. Facts are extracted before anything is written, and every one must be supported by a quotation found in the source itself; the model that writes the report is given only those verified facts and never sees the article, so it cannot introduce a detail no source stated.

Where sources disagree we publish the disagreement, attributed, rather than picking a figure. Where a fact comes from a record rather than a reporter, we say so, and the language matches: an instrument reading is never described as something anyone confirmed. Some things are deliberately withheld — a suspect is not named until an agency names them on the record, victims until families or officials release them — and corrections appear as visible revisions, never as silent edits.

None of that makes a report true. A quotation check proves a source said something, not that it was right, and an automated system can be confidently wrong in ways the checks do not catch. If something here is wrong, the feedback above is how it gets found. The full methodology, including what we refuse to publish.