LAPD medical examiner records

Photo Credit: Joshua Coleman

Records about the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the teen whose body was found in singer d4vd’s car, have been sealed from the public.

The Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office revealed it received a court order imposing a security hold on the case, meaning no details about the death of teenager Celeste Rivas Hernandez can be released to the public. The LAPD said it requested the order to ensure officers “receive information from the Medical Examiner before the public.”

“The practice of security holds is virtually unheard of in other countries and has not been proven to improve outcomes in the legal system,” said Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Odey Ukpo, who stresses that the mission of the Department of the Medical Examiner is “to have full transparency with the community by providing information about […] cases to empower people to make changes that save lives.”

“Since becoming the department head, I’ve worked on eradicating the practice of placing security holds on Medical Examiner cases simply by law enforcement request,” Dr. Ukpo added. “We are dedicated to serving our community with full transparency; however, the law precludes us from doing so while the court order remains in this case.”

Meanwhile, the Department of the Medical Examiner said it “understands the public’s interest in this case and remains committed to transparency when possible. Information will be made available once the court order is lifted. For questions about the court order, timeline, and the law enforcement investigation into this death, please contact the LAPD.”

Singer d4vd, whose real name is David Burke, is considered a suspect in the investigation into the death of Rivas Hernandez. Sources say he was cooperating with authorities initially, but that has since changed, presumably since he was named a suspect.

The medical examiner has not yet determined an official cause of death—and they are barred from revealing that information to the public at present, anyway—but investigators say her body was dismembered. Reports have stated that her body was also decapitated, and that she was found partially frozen inside the car; the LAPD says these reports are false.

Rivas Hernandez was reported missing from Lake Elsinore in early 2024, when she was 13. Authorities discovered her body on September 8, just after her 15th birthday, after responding to a call at a Hollywood tow yard reporting a foul odor coming from an impounded Tesla. The Tesla was registered to Burke.

Burke was on tour when the body was discovered, and has since cancelled the remainder of the tour amid the investigation.