The body found in artist D4vd's car may have been dead for several weeks.

Question

The body found in David Burke's (known as D4vd) Tesla was found to be 15 year old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. As investigation continues, it has been found that she has been dead for several weeks, possibly a month. Investigators still do not know her cause of death, and D4vd's representative still has not been reached.

Answer 1

1. Looking into the credibility of the claim that Celeste Rivas Hernandez had been left in rapper David Burke’s car for about a month, I found zero primary sources that would prove this claim to be factual. I have found many news articles with similar claims to this article, but I was unable to find the primary evidence that they cited.

2. Looking for primary sources, many news articles I came across cited and quoted a statement from LAPD Captain Scot Williams in which he spoke to TMZ, including TMZ themselves stating that “Captain Scot Williams tells TMZ ... they are working with the L.A. County Medical Examiner to establish Celeste's cause of death.” (www.tmz.com/2025/09/29/celeste-rivas-cause-of-death-undetermined-critical/#continued). Although TMZ themselves state that Scot Williams had a statement with them, I was unable to find video nor transcript of this statement.

3. Looking beyond the NBC article given, I found a Fox 11 article that provides a timeline surrounding Celeste’s disappearance. (www.foxla.com/news/celeste-rivas-hernandez-d4vd-homicide-investigation) This article states that Celeste had gone missing in May of 2024. With this information it is possible that she died long before her body was recovered. Also, according to an article from the Mirror US in which they cite an interview with a legal expert named Chad D. Cummings, "The extensive decomposition and mutilation of the corpse introduces a high probability of inconclusive autopsy findings.” (www.themirror.com/entertainment/celeste-rivas-d4vd-cause-death-1422769) Unfortunately, I was unable to find a transcript or video for this interview either. From the quoted interview with Cummings, there is not a possibility to find a definite amount of time that Celeste had been deceased. 

4. All the sources I found were secondary sources in the form of news articles, there are some exaggerated terms that had been used to catch the attention of users. Many news sources used the term “dismembered” to describe the state that Celeste’s body was found in, while I found no evidence stating that anything more had happened to her body beyond heavy decomposition.

5. Supporting the claim, there is evidence of a possibility that Celeste had been deceased for multiple weeks and maybe a month. The interview with Cummings does support this given that her body was found in such an extreme form of decomposition that the cause or time of death were unable to be determined.

6. Unfortunately, the lack of any prominent primary sources of information harms the credibility of this statement. There are no accessible transcripts or videos of the interviews quoted from professionals or officials like Chad Cummings and Scot Williams. Also, the bias present from news sources stating that Celeste’s body was “dismembered” harms the credibility of their own information.

7. As of now, I have messaged the author of the NBC article, but I have not yet got a response. I will update on this fact-check if I do get a response, because it would allow me to have access to a primary source to support the claim of this article.

Fox 11 article: www.foxla.com/news/celeste-rivas-hernandez-d4vd-homicide-investigation

The Mirror article: www.themirror.com/entertainment/celeste-rivas-d4vd-cause-death-1422769

TMZ article: www.tmz.com/2025/09/29/celeste-rivas-cause-of-death-undetermined-critical/#continued

Comments

Good work investigating every angle of the claim and even reaching out to the author of the NBC article.

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You did a really thorough job at making sure you look at this claim from a few different perspectives. I think that reaching out to the NBC author was a good move and will hopefully bring some new information to better factcheck the claim.

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I really liked reading this post because it follows current events that are popular and the answer is very in depth.

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I believe that Celeste could have been dead in D4vds' trunk for over a month. According to Forbes, "LAPD Capt. Scot Williams confirmed to the Los Angeles Times on Monday that Hernandez had been dead for weeks before her body was found on Sept. 8 in the trunk of D4vd’s car, which was impounded at a lot in Hollywood."

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/09/29/body-found-in-singer-d4vds-car-was-likely-dead-for-weeks-police-say/

Answer 2

Although there has been lots of speculation that Celeste Rivas Hernandez had been deceased for several weeks before being found, at the moment it is nothing more than a rumor.  According to multiple sources such as ABC, NBC, People, and The St. Louis American the LAPD and the "commanding officer of Olympic Detective Division", Scot Williams have claimed that her body may have been deceased for several weeks before being discovered but, it has not been confirmed. "ABC News obtained the death certificate for Hernandez, which lists her cause of death as "deferred" -- just as it has been for weeks as the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner continues to try to determine cause and manner of death" this quote from ABC confirms that Celeste's body was deferred according to her Death Certificate, but it was not confirmed that it was there for weeks. Outside the range of mainstream news sources, I found an article by Cecilia Nowell posted by Gale Academic OneFile, which is a database of trusted journalists. In Nowell's article she provides quotes from the LAPD and the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner stating that her body seems like it had been a long period of time before the body was found, but it has still not been confirmed as a fact. 

Comments

You raise a very valid point on the difference between assumption and reality. Official comments from the LAPD and medical examiners and the reliable sources you listed should be the ones we trust. When officials use vague phrases "may have been deceased for several weeks," it offers some space for misunderstanding, which can confuse the public. It brings attention to how current investigations need to find a balance when releasing stories so fake and unrealistic rumors don't spread. Overall, your answer is a helpful reminder to avoid drawing conclusions before all the data is known.

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This is a valid response, I also went and googled some other sources to see if the medical examiner had released any information other than what you mentioned and was unable to find a counter argument. This article is very similar to the one you describes, it's also on Gale.
https://go.gale.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T004&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&retrievalId=488ebf12-609b-4861-8747-dd0cd01a57b0&hitCount=21201&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=1&docId=GALE%7CA857632140&docType=Brief+article&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=ZONE-MOD1&prodId=AONE&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE%7CA857632140&searchId=R1&userGroupName=oregon_oweb&inPS=true