A California teacher has come forward claiming Celeste Rivas, the teen identified as the human remains discovered in a Tesla registered to D4vd, was once his student.
In a TikTok video, the teacher shows his class a photo of himself with Celeste, taken in front of a classroom poster. He also pointed out that another teen seen next to D4vd in a viral parking lot photo—snapped just 0.3 miles from Celeste’s former home—was also one of his students.
Speaking to TMZ, the unnamed teacher said he taught Celeste at Lakeland Village Middle School in Lake Elsinore, though he no longer works there.
“When I taught her, she met this dude on social media. He was a rapper in LA,” the teacher recalled in the clip, referencing D4vd. “He came and got her. She ran away from home. She was gone for like a month. The cops found her in Hollywood, brought her back to our school.”
He added, “She came back, told people this story, then disappeared again in May 2024.”
According to him, students later told him that Celeste’s situation involved blackmail connected to the artist, allegedly D4vd. That was the last he heard about her.
The teacher explained he shared the story with his class as a “cautionary tale” about the risks of social media.
Celeste Rivas’ dismembered and badly decomposed remains were discovered in the front trunk of the impounded Tesla after complaints of a strong odor coming from the car. The teen was identified partly by a “Shhh” tattoo on her right index finger—the same spot where D4vd has the identical ink.
Rivas’ mother told TMZ her daughter had a boyfriend named David. D4vd, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, is also said to have recorded a demo track titled “Celeste.”
According to a statement obtained by Complex, the LAPD confirmed that “several items of evidence were recovered” during a search of the Hollywood Hills home where D4vd had been staying, per ABC News. Investigators are now set to review the findings in the coming days.
