Despite earlier reports, officials say 15-year-old Celeste Rivas’ remains were not discovered cut up or frozen.
LAPD Captain Scot Williams told the Los Angeles Times on Monday (Nov. 24) that while Rivas’ body was severely decomposed when it was found on Sept. 8, claims that she had been decapitated or frozen were false. Those details had previously circulated through TMZ and other outlets.
The Times also reports that the LAPD is now formally treating the case as a murder investigation. For the first time, a detective described the probe in court filings as an “investigation into murder.”
LAPD Detective Joshua Byers, a longtime member of the Robbery Homicide Division, submitted a declaration asking a judge to block the release of autopsy details, arguing that making them public “will reveal or tend to reveal the ongoing investigation and the integrity of the investigation as well as the identity of witnesses and/or informants who are cooperating with law enforcement and the content of the information they have provided, which could endanger the lives of witnesses and/or compromise the investigation.”
Judge Craig Richman approved the request, sealing the medical examiner’s findings and related documents.
Rivas’ remains were found inside a black bag in the trunk of singer D4vd’s Tesla at a Hollywood tow yard on Sept. 8, weeks after the vehicle had been abandoned. The body weighed 71 pounds and had a “Shhh” tattoo on one finger.
A law enforcement source told The Times that Rivas may have been dead since spring. Other sources said investigators believe more than one person may have helped dispose of her remains.
The Tesla had been left parked on Bluebird Avenue since late July, around the time D4vd (born David Anthony Burke) went on tour in support of his Withered album.
Rivas had a history of running away from her Lake Elsinore home and had been reported missing three times in 2024.
During that period, she was seen online with D4vd and reportedly stayed at a rental home with him. Detectives have already searched his Hollywood Hills residence and seized electronic devices.
Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton stated, “Accountability is coming. Our RHD detectives have been working and not waiting for that decision [by the medical examiner]. They are going to get justice for Celeste Rivas. No one is off the table, including him [D4vd].”
The 20-year-old “Romantic Homicide” singer — along with everyone else — has not been named as a suspect by police.
