The singer known as D4vd was charged on Monday with the murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, a missing teenage girl whose severely decomposed body was found in the trunk of his Tesla last fall.
Nathan J. Hochman, the Los Angeles County district attorney, said at a news conference that D4vd, whose real name is David Burke, had been charged with first-degree murder with the special circumstances of lying in wait, committing the crime for financial gain and murdering a witness to an investigation.
Mr. Burke pleaded not guilty at an arraignment on Monday afternoon. He was ordered held without bail, and a preliminary hearing was set for Thursday.
Because of the special circumstances, the charge carries a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole, or the death penalty. Mr. Hochman said his office had not decided whether to pursue the death penalty.
The criminal complaint filed by prosecutors includes the allegation that Mr. Burke “personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a sharp instrument” to commit the murder, Mr. Hochman’s office said in a statement on Monday afternoon.
Mr. Burke, 21, was also charged with the continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 and with the unlawful mutilation of human remains.
The singer, who has millions of followers on social media and music platforms, created the anthem for Fortnite. In 2024, he was an opening act on SZA’s SOS Tour, and last year he released his major-label debut, “Withered.”
Lawyers for Mr. Burke have said they will “vigorously defend David’s innocence.”
“The actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez and he was not the cause of her death,” the lawyers, Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter, said in a statement on Monday.
In a separate statement on Monday, a lawyer for Mr. Burke’s family, Kent Schaffer, said: “The Burkes are not surprised but are terribly disappointed that the district attorney chose to charge David. Nevertheless, they support and stand by him 100 percent.”
According to the district attorney’s statement, after Mr. Burke sexually abused Celeste, she “threatened to expose his criminal conduct and devastate his musical career.” So Mr. Burke “allegedly murdered her, cut up her body and stuffed her body in two bags that were placed in the front trunk of his car.”
The case has captivated the public since the authorities announced in September that they had discovered human remains in a Tesla registered to Mr. Burke. Officials said the car had been left on a public street for weeks before it was towed to an impound lot in Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office identified the remains as those of Celeste, who in 2024 was reported missing from her home in Lake Elsinore, Calif., about 70 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
In the felony complaint filed on Monday, prosecutors said Mr. Burke had engaged in three or more acts of “substantial sexual conduct” with Celeste in the year between Sept. 7, 2023, and Sept. 7, 2024.
On April 23, 2025, Celeste went to Mr. Burke’s house in the Hollywood Hills at his invitation, according to the district attorney, and “was not heard from again.” At the time, she was 14 years old.
The complaint said the mutilation of human remains had occurred on May 5, 2025.
Celeste’s body was found on Sept. 8, 2025, a day after what would have been her 15th birthday.
“A parent’s nightmare,” Mr. Hochman said at the news conference.
Jim McDonnell, the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, said on Monday that detectives had learned that Celeste had “been involved in a sexual relationship with Mr. Burke when she was a minor and he was an adult.”
Chief McDonnell acknowledged that his department faced criticism for not providing more information about the case, which he called “extraordinarily difficult and complex.” His officers, he said, had taken the necessary precautions to avoid jeopardizing the investigation.
Because Celeste’s body was “dismembered and badly decomposed” when it was discovered, Chief McDonnell said, the county medical examiner’s efforts to determine a cause of death were delayed, and significant evidence in the case had degraded or disappeared.
In December, a judge granted a request from the Los Angeles Police Department to place a security hold on a report from the medical examiner. In the news conference on Monday, Mr. Hochman said that report, which is expected to detail the medical examiner’s determination of the cause of death, would be released soon.
Mr. Hochman said details of the investigation, including physical as well as “forensic and digital” evidence, would be presented in court.
Repeated efforts to reach members of Celeste’s family have been unsuccessful. But Patrick Steinfeld, a lawyer for the family, said in a statement that family members were “committed to ensuring that Celeste’s voice is heard.”
The statement added that upon learning of Mr. Burke’s arrest, her father, Jesus Rivas, said: “Thank God … justice for Celeste.”
