Parents Demand Death For Singer

Judges hand holding gavel next to documents. — PARENTS DEMAND JUSTICE

A 14-year-old girl’s parents want the man accused of killing her to face execution, not a prison cell.

Story Snapshot

Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s family is publicly demanding the death penalty for singer D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, in her killing.
Burke faces first-degree murder charges with special circumstances, which legally makes him eligible for a death sentence.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney has not yet decided whether prosecutors will actually seek death.
Burke has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers insist the evidence will clear him of causing her death.

A Family’s Grief Turns Into A Public Demand

Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s parents are done waiting quietly. They filed a wrongful-death lawsuit accusing Burke of killing their daughter inside his Hollywood Hills home on April 23, 2025.

Alongside that filing, the family has told reporters directly that they want him executed, not just convicted. Their message is blunt: no sentence short of death feels like justice for what happened to their child.

The family of Celeste Rivas Hernandez is calling for the singer D4vd to face the death penalty after a Los Angeles judge ordered him to stand trial in the killing of the 14-year-old, whose dismembered remains were found in the trunk of his Tesla last year. https://t.co/4kekWBRRvK

— NBC News (@NBCNews) September 8, 2026

Why The Death Penalty Is Even On The Table

Prosecutors charged Burke with first-degree murder along with special circumstances, a legal designation that opens the door to capital punishment under California law.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman called the charges “the most severe that a District Attorney’s office can pursue,” while noting his office would decide later whether to formally seek death or life without parole. That distinction matters. Eligibility is not a guarantee, and the final call still sits with prosecutors, not the family.

Special circumstances in California cover roughly two dozen specific scenarios, from killing a police officer to murder for financial gain. A jury must find one of those circumstances true before death becomes an option at all, and even then, life without parole remains on the table instead.

That built-in gap between what a grieving family wants and what a courtroom can legally deliver is exactly where this case now sits.

The Grim Evidence That Started It All

Investigators found Celeste’s decomposed remains inside a Tesla registered to Burke, sitting in an impound lot in the Hollywood Hills. A medical examiner ruled her death a homicide and documented “multiple penetrating injuries” in the autopsy.

That homicide finding gives the family’s account real forensic weight, even though it does not by itself name who caused her death. The location of her body inside his vehicle remains the case’s most damning and most widely reported detail.

Burke’s Defense Pushes Back Hard

Burke has pleaded not guilty, and his attorneys have repeated one message across multiple outlets: the evidence will show he did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez and was not the cause of her death.

His legal team has gone further, questioning whether investigators even ran full DNA testing on key evidence tied to her killing. That is a specific, named challenge to the prosecution’s case, not vague doubt, and it will likely shape pretrial fights over what the trial jury eventually sees.

What Still Has To Happen Before Any Sentence

A judge has already ruled that Burke must stand trial, clearing an initial legal hurdle for prosecutors. But a trial still has to happen, a jury still has to convict, and the special circumstances still have to be proven true beyond a reasonable doubt before death is even legally possible.

History offers a caution here too. California death sentences, including in famous cases like Charles Manson’s, have sometimes been reduced or overturned years later on appeal.

The family’s demand reflects real anguish and a case built on serious, documented evidence, including a homicide ruling and a body found in the defendant’s own car.

But American justice does not let outrage set the sentence. It requires proof, a verdict, and a prosecutor willing to formally pursue the ultimate punishment. Until then, the demand for death remains a family’s plea, not a legal outcome.

The family of Celeste Rivas Hernandez is calling for the death penalty against singer D4vd in the murder of their 14-year-old daughter.

Hold on. He's charged with first-degree murder with special circumstances, continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, and mutilating her… pic.twitter.com/Mr8dPuHArh

— TheJonathonPryce (@JonathonPryce1) September 9, 2026

What happens next likely hinges on evidence still unreleased to the public, including full forensic testing, cell phone records, and witness accounts of Celeste’s final days.

Those details will decide whether prosecutors ever formally seek execution, and whether a jury agrees the special circumstances truly fit. For now, a family waits, a defendant denies everything, and California’s slow-moving capital process grinds forward.