On September 8, 2025, popular singer and songwriter, d4vd or David Anthony Burke, known for Romantic Homicide and Here with me was named suspect in the death of 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. According to investigators, Hernandez was found deceased in the trunk of Burke’s Tesla .
Once the news was released on September 8th, Burke canceled his upcoming tour in Europe and the United States. Thousands of fans were in disbelief after hearing the news about d4vd. Some of those fans were students.
Freshman Irene Cheong had been listening to d4vd since 2022 and found him on social media. She enjoyed watching the tv shows he produced music for and listened to the collaborations he did with other artists.
“I first saw the news on my TikTok FYP, and I just thought it was a skit or a joke at first,” Cheong said. “But when I saw more videos from multiple news channels confirming that the investigation was real, I just thought ‘No way…’ It was just an avalanche of information, and by the time I went to school the next day, everyone was talking about it and it was all over the news and social media.”
Like Irene, many students also shared scepticism and shock. Freshman Maha Khan was a great fan as she had been listening to d4vd since his EP album, Petals and Thorns, She attended his album release for WITHERED and received a shirt, a poster and a signed vinyl record. She had also made a sticker for her computer of his logo, but took it off after hearing the news from Cheong.
“At the very least, I was shocked.” Khan said.“I couldn’t believe that one of my favorite artists could have done such a thing. At first, I had defended him, because he really did seem like a good person to me from what I had seen. However, it stayed in the back of my head that his personality could have just been fabricated, as many music artists fake their personas. As more and more evidence against him got added, I stopped defending him.”
Artists like Kali Uchis are trying to take down their collabs with d4vd from all streaming services. Khan still listens to the other artists d4vd has collaborated with despite the investigation, explaining that she doesn’t associate them with him.
Once the news had spread, fans started to realize the great number of dark references and motifs potentially about the victim. Sophomore Katelyn Harrison has been listening to podcasts about the investigation and started paying close attention to his lyrics.
“Honestly, I was very surprised because I thought his morbid topics and themes were just a persona.” Harrison said.
Like Katelynn, people all over social media, whether fans or not, had noticed the similarities between the persona and storyline in d4vd’s music videos and tour and the ongoing investigation. In the music video One More Dance, a scene of d4vd putting his alter ego in the trunk of a car caused speculations of whether this was a mere coincidence or a strange way of demonstrating the truth.
As of now, investigators have not charged anyone.
“This situation reminded me that even someone who’s music means so much to you could end up to be a completely different person than who you think”. Cheong said. “I think it’s really sad, since D4vd is a really talented artist and was on his way to become even more successful than he already was.”
