The Misery Machine - The Case of D4vd & Celeste Rivas Hernandez
Episode Date: September 29, 2025This week, Drewby and Yergy head to California to discuss the case of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, a 15-year-old girl who was found decomposing in an impounded Tesla owned by singer/songwriter, D4vd. What... we found after falling down the rabbit hole will shock you...Support Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachinePayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachineJoin Our Facebook Group: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1Instagram: miserymachinepodcastTwitter: misery_podcastDiscord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM#themiserymachine #podcast #truecrimeSource Materials:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D4vdhttps://lluh.org/health-professionals/gme/resident-fellow/anatomic-clinical-pathology-residency/meet-ushttps://me.lacounty.gov/case-detail/?caseNumber=2025-14252https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-lay-celeste-rivas-hernandez-to-resthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCQUYb7lf7shttps://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-09-19/d4vd-celeste-rivas-final-days-evidence-hollywood-hills-homehttps://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-09-18/teenage-girl-missing-found-dead-singers-teslahttps://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/decomposed-body-found-singer-d4vds-impounded-tesla-identified-teenage-rcna231868https://www.instagram.com/p/DOv3cV8k7ou/https://x.com/mz_lev/status/1969468112534732935https://x.com/chickmagnet6000/status/1969166006602887525https://www.reddit.com/r/Music/comments/1nl569b/d4vd_us_tour_canceled_in_wake_of_homicide/https://nypost.com/2025/09/19/us-news/d4vd-cancels-world-tour-as-cops-investigate-murder-of-celeste-rivas-hernandez/https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=805524228629174https://www.eonline.com/news/1422775/d4vd-tesla-case-celeste-rivas-hernandezs-family-speakshttps://www.tyla.com/news/crime/police-major-update-celeste-rivas-hernandez-found-car-812381-20250919https://people.com/d4vd-coachella-debut-withered-album-interview-exclusive-11708547https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/09/19/singer-d4vd-cancels-us-tour-what-we-know-about-investigation-into-dead-body-found-in-singers-car/https://tribune.com.pk/story/2567955/d4vds-romantic-homicide-climbs-charts-did-the-lyrics-foreshadow-celeste-tragedyhttps://abc7.com/post/hollywood-hills-home-where-d4vd-has-stayed-is-searched-body-teen-girl-celeste-rivas-found-singers-tesla-sources-say/17842387/https://people.com/d4vd-investigators-following-several-leads-after-missing-teen-girl-found-dead-in-singer-car-11813310https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/music/article/d4vd-reportedly-cancels-us-tour-after-body-of-15-year-old-girl-found-in-his-impounded-car-police-search-home-in-hollywood-hills-192055136.htmlhttps://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/celebrity/articles/crocs-hollister-remove-singer-d4vd-191114333.htmlhttps://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/singer-d4vd-cancels-us-tour-investigation-15-year-old-girls-death-rcna232507https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/how-long-was-celeste-rivas-dead-for-cops-look-for-vital-answers-in-d4vd-case-manager-josh-marshall-comes-under-fire/articleshow/124032915.cmshttps://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp98npjkje2ohttps://www.facebook.com/share/v/19miye93tD/https://www.tmz.com/2025/09/17/d4vd-sings-about-celeste-leaked-song/https://www.tmz.com/2025/09/17/d4vd-photographed-near-victims-home/https://www.tiktok.com/@thecalisesh/video/7551586384096529719?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7471094305995277870https://www.tmz.com/2025/09/18/celeste-rivas-former-teacher-claims-met-d4vd-on-social-media/https://www.tmz.com/2025/09/19/d4vd-removes-bloody-shirt-merch/https://www.tmz.com/2025/09/19/d4vd-discord-twitch-moderator-distances-from-celeste-rivas/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9eSDSbI3kkhttps://nypost.com/2025/09/22/us-news/vigil-held-for-celeste-rivas-15-year-old-girl-found-dismembered-in-back-of-d4vds-tesla/
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David Anthony Burke was born on March 28, 2005 in Queens, New York, and later moved with his family to Houston, Texas.
He grew up in a religious household loved gospel music.
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And described himself as a devout Christian. In an interview with Astrophy magazine, he shared
that, I get my personal power from God for sure. I'm a heavy believer in the Christian faith.
But in that same interview, he said he wanted to take Haley Williams to the Eiffel
tower, so make of that what you want.
In another interview with YouTuber Takashi from Japan, he also cited anime as one of his biggest
influences.
What's your most favorite anime of all time?
Just one, just one.
Shinkekii No Kyojin, a.khaa, attack on Titan.
When he was in sixth grade, David began listening to secular music after downloading
SoundCloud on his school laptop.
Once he discovered mainstream artists, he claimed that his mind started going crazy.
He shared that.
My mom was big on like, you're going to be the smartest kid in the world.
You're going to be a genius.
I listened to Mozart.
I listened to Bach.
I listened to Beethoven.
He added that.
I had to hide it from my parents because my parents would check my phone every week
to make sure I was staying on the right track.
I found XXXTentasione, smoke perp, little pump, ski mask the slump god,
Playboy Cardi, little Uzi.
It was like only eating M&Ms your whole life and then figuring out that Skittles exist.
Should be noted that after seventh grade, David was homeschooled.
Now, for those unfamiliar, David is a singer-songwriter that stylizes his name with the number four in place of the letter A,
and the letter I is dropped entirely.
He began creating music at his mother's suggestion to avoid copyright strikes for his Fortnite streams.
So basically, I played Fortnite from 2017 to 2021.
Game came out of 2017.
I was one of the first people to ever to play the game.
My goal on Fortnite.
How?
I had like this small group of friends that would literally spend eight hours today looking for the newest games that released on PlayStation.
And I was playing Fortnite season one, like had all the passes, everything.
So I played that game.
I became a YouTuber.
I was playing Call of Duty for it and all these different types of games.
So you had to become like the biggest next thing, streamer, Kaisana, everything.
Now then what happened?
So then fast forward like a month or two, I'm making a lot of money.
My mom's like, okay, maybe the game's not rotting your brain.
I started getting copyright strikes left and right from UMG.
And I'm like, where in the world is UMG?
Oh, so I'm not making any money now.
I got the red money sign on all my videos.
And I'm like crying a mom about it.
I'm like, yo, I don't know what to do.
I'm not making any money anymore, blah, blah, blah.
And she was like on a phone or something.
She was like, just make your own music.
Go get on my face.
Make your own music.
I was like, wait a minute.
In 2022, he released the single Romantic Homicide, which went viral on TikTok,
which led to him being signed to darkroom
Interscope Records. Now, even if you're not familiar with his music, you might have seen
his name in the news lately, which brings us to today's story. At around 1230 p.m. on September 8th,
2025, the Los Angeles police were called to Hollywood Toe located on the 1,000 block of North
Mansfield Avenue. According to sources, there had been complaints from area residents of a foul
odor emanating from a Tesla, which had been impounded after being abandoned. Car had Texas
plates and was later revealed to be registered to one David Burke, otherwise known as David.
Apparently, the car had been at the impound lot for several days before the call was made.
Inside of the front trunk, police located the remains of a young girl. Her body was heavily
decomposed and had been dismembered into several pieces and wrapped inside of a plastic bag.
It was clear she had been inside of the car for a very long time. She was wearing a
tube top black leggings, a gold chain bracelet, and metal stud earrings. She's described as having
wavy black hair and weighing about 71 pounds, standing at five feet two inches tall. On her right
index finger was a small tattoo with the word shh. Now it should be noted that David has the
exact same tattoo in the exact same spot, which raises the question, why? Well, we'll get to why
in just a bit. According to medical examiner, Dr. Ansel Nam, the remains belonged to Celeste
Rebus Hernandez, an inland empire resident who had vanished from Lake Elsinore in Riverside
County on April 5, 2024. She was just 13 years old at the time for disappearance. Her body was
located one day after what would have been her 15th birthday. The statement, the Los Angeles Police
Department shared that at this time, the LAPD does not have a crime classification from the
coroner as to the mode or manner of death. Thus, we do not have any suspect information at this time.
In September 10th, detectives with the LAPD served a search warrant at a Hollywood Hills home,
which the L.A. Times described as being located in an upscale neighborhood on Doheny Drive
north of Sunset Boulevard. This was the same neighborhood where the Tesla was found abandoned.
According to reports, the home was not owned by David, but he had been staying there prior to
touring. Sources claimed that his manager, Josh Marshall, had rented it for him. The LAPD's
robbery homicide division reportedly searched for blood evidence and various items were confiscated,
including electronics and computers. According to a neighbor, he noticed the Tesla parked on the
street and found it a bit suspicious and shared, it's a little weird to see a car that I haven't
seen here for a long time. It had a big dent on it, a Texas plate on it. So all a little odd,
but at the same time, you know, people could be hanging out with friends for a long time.
Now, while all of this was going on, David was on tour, handing out Lububoos to his audience in Minneapolis.
We recently discussed the whole Laboooooo craze on our second channel, so if you've not seen it yet,
we'll be sure to link it for you in the description and pin comment.
Allegedly, the LAPD contacted David who claimed to be completely clueless.
However, according to sources, he's been cooperating with the police in their investigation.
Now, even after the news of Celeste's body being discovered hit the news,
David still had tour date schedules, international dates at that.
He recently canceled the remainder of his U.S. tour,
as well as the release of the deluxe edition of his album Withered,
as his record label refused to promote it.
As of the date of this recording,
he still got international dates online.
However, there have been several credible publications
that claim that those dates have been canceled as well.
In the wake of the news, Hollister dropped
David as their spokesmodel for their collaboration with Crocs.
In a statement of footwear news, the brand shared that, we are aware of this developing story.
With respect to the current situation, we have removed campaign content featuring David
while the investigation continues.
Celeste's family launched a GoFundMe campaign with the goal of raising $20,000 before her
October 5th service date.
The organizer, Esmeralda Lozano, shared the following.
As many of you know, Celeste Revo.
Vos Hernandez has been identified as the body found last week. She was a beloved daughter,
sister, cousin, and friend. Her family is heartbroken and devastated by this tragic loss.
They are seeking help to lay her body to rest. Any funds you are able to donate are greatly
appreciated. As of the date of this recording, September of 2025, it has already exceeded that goal.
At 7 p.m. on September 21st, a vigil was held for Celeste in Lake Elsinore on the street where she grew up.
Neighbors gathered together to erecting makeshift memorial filled with flowers and heartbreaking messages.
One banner read, Justice for Celeste Rivas.
Tears flowing during an emotional candlelight vigil in Lake Elsinor,
a large crowd gathering near a memorial on the street where Celeste Rivas once lived to mourn the 15-year-old's death.
I'm feeling heartbroken, um, devastated for here.
hearing about the news.
I didn't know so less personally, but it hits home.
Even though I didn't know her, I just couldn't even breathe,
knowing that a child had to go through that.
My nephew went to school with her since kindergarten.
And I just want to say just as a whole, just if it was my daughter,
I wouldn't want her to be forgotten.
I just want justice for this little girl because whatever happened to her,
it wasn't just an accident.
I don't want her to be forgotten.
Celeste's 18-year-old brother Matthew shared that his whole family was struggling to cope with her death, stating, I'm just trying to stay positive, I'm just trying to move forward.
My mom's grieving really bad. My dad's grieving really bad.
Meanwhile, Celeste's mother told news outlets that after police released the descriptions of the remains found in David's car, she had a feeling that they may have belonged to her daughter.
Mother also shared that Celeste had been dating someone named David before she disappeared back in 2025.
But this wasn't the only connection between David and Celeste that would come to light.
There were many.
As soon as her identity was announced, information immediately began pouring in all over social media.
Now, we're not going to go too deep down the rabbit hole because it feels like the information is literally never ending.
Keeping an eye out for updates, that spiel applies here because the info is changing by the day.
As this is an open case, we'll give you just a taste of what.
we found. Screenshots of old messages on David's Discord server, David's closet,
showed that he was rumored to be dating a girl named Celeste. On July 11th, 2024, user
asked David if he was happily married or single, to which he replied, me and deleted user got a kid
on the way. Discord shows any messages from the deleted account as deleted user, but in this case,
the deleted user is reported to be Celeste by members of the server.
In another post, the deleted user account post a picture of an engagement ring on her left finger
in the name David scrawled across her skin.
Recently, David's mods made a post claiming that they didn't know that Celeste was underage
or that she was even missing.
Now, it should be noted that within the last 48 hours,
the mods completely locked down the server.
I know this because I joined and nothing is viewable.
anymore but the announcement.
It really feels like someone is trying to do massive damage control.
So if you want to join a Discord server without a bunch of creeps, come join ours.
Outside of Discord, several photos began surfacing that depicted David with a young girl
that bore a striking resemblance to the missing teen.
And even more eerie, David was photographed in Lake Elsinor interacting with a man holding
a bag.
The picture was taken 0.3 miles from the home that Celeste.
was living in with her family.
A year prior to her disappearance,
David composed an unreleased track
in which he mentioned Celeste,
which include the lyrics,
O Celeste, the girl with my name
tattooed on her chest.
Smell her on my clothes like cigarettes.
I hear her voice each time I take a breath.
I'm obsessed.
As well as, oh, Celeste,
afraid you'll only love me when undressed,
but you look so damn gorgeous in that dress.
Missing you so much makes me to
but I digress because.
According to reports, the song was leaked in December of 2023 and was titled Celeste Demo
on Finn.
And if the internet couldn't get disgusting enough, weirdos on TikTok have turned the lyrics into a
trend.
Someone resembling Celeste also appeared on a live stream with David, which will play for you now.
Please note that part of the audio cuts out and it's not the part that we obviously have to censor.
I media trained you.
That's controversial.
It's controversial of fucking kids.
Really good.
It's been a good one.
Bye.
Bye guys.
Mw-Muha,
muha,
oh my.
Delete everything.
Delete everything.
Everything goes.
Everything goes.
Everything goes.
Everything.
In a post to TikTok made by user David Clips,
David explains how he wanted to retire
and live off grid on an island with no social media in the next three to four years,
which has less some wondering if that time frame has anything to do with the fact that in three to
four years, Celeste would have turned 18.
Where do you see yourself in the next five years?
Okay, so the plan is hopefully this music thing takes off crazy next year.
Why is he saying, why are you saying that like you're not like up there again?
Well, it's not there yet, but hopefully it's like even crazier next year.
And then I'm going crazy year after year for the next three years.
And then on the fourth year, I retire.
And on the fifth year, I'm off the grid, living somewhere like on an island with this crazy
crib.
No social media, no digital footprint.
I'm just gone.
I'm just gone.
In five years, I'm going to be gone.
Will you still remember me?
Yeah, bro.
You'll have like the secret code to the mansion.
You can pull up on a new year.
What's the secret code?
Give us the first two numbers of the secret.
Absolutely not.
On September 19th, user Julian two away posted a video to TikTok
that included a video of Celeste's former teacher.
In it, he warns students about the dangers of meeting people via social media.
However, this teacher is a mandated reporter, which begs the question,
If he knew something about the relationship, why wasn't it reported before?
Hold up. That's her in my classroom in front of this poster right here.
Okay, hold up. I got another one because I got a picture on TMZ of this other kid exchanging stuff with the rapper who we alleged did this stuff.
Hold on a second because he's also in my classroom.
How long ago was this? We all just found out yesterday who it was, but she's been missing since I taught her. So when I taught her, she met this dude on social media. He was a rapper in LA. 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. She came back to our school, kind of told people this story. She disappeared again in May of that year, May of 2024. That's when her friends told me what happened. And it was this rap.
that they were like blackmailing him, all of this stuff.
And then I found out yesterday that she's now dead in that rapper's car cut into pieces.
You want to know how they meant?
I feel like I just said it.
Social media.
Let me tell you another story.
Another story.
Hold on.
Since the news broke, David's song Romantic Homicide has gone viral once again in the wake of recent
events.
It rose 102 places on Spotify's global top 50, climbing to number 4,000.
worldwide and number 13 in the U.S.
It has amassed over 1.7 billion streams.
Online discussions have centered around the lyrics specifically
in the back of my mind I killed you.
I didn't even regret it.
I can't believe I said it, but it's true.
It's also been pointed out by some
that the song was released on Celeste's birthday.
Song's sudden surge has divided fans
with some condemning its rise in popularity as exploitation.
One commenter made a pretty valid point that a tragedy shouldn't turn into a chart fuel.
But that's not all.
In an article written by the LA Times, it was noted that The Withered World Tour includes themes of death and remembrance.
Fans entering Burke's show are greeted by a casket and guestbook where they can pay condolences to a character Burke's sometimes reprises in his performance and music videos.
Part of that character's uniform includes a shirt covered in bloody handprints and a blindfold.
similar shirts were available in David's merch store until recently.
For $35, you could purchase a white button-down shirt splattered with fake blood.
In April of 2025, David sat for the following interview with Zach Sang.
In it, he discusses his album Withered and the success of romantic homicide.
To art, like, is a means of coping.
Yeah, basically, yeah.
But you saying expecting it, meaning like you get into a friendship,
expecting it to end in a devastating, tragic, sad way so it can inspire art.
But are you manifesting that in a certain area?
I don't know.
I hope I'm not.
I really hope I'm not because it feels that way.
Because I look back to old songs like Life's a Dream and all these songs I wrote in my closet
or my sister's closet in 2022 when I'm looking at my life in the past eight to nine months.
I'm like, whoa.
Like, bro, these songs are soundtracking my life.
So I hope I'm not involuntarily doing that.
but it might be that way to me,
because that's a real conversation that happened.
And the irony of it was that person
that was saying, I love you, I love you.
She's not in my life anymore.
So it's like people say that the string can't be cut
and the connection cannot be severed,
but I feel like it can sometimes.
And that's where I wanted to put, you know,
afterlife and all these songs
that feel like endings and conclusions
and goodbyes on the project
to kind of solidify that message of
this is the end of something, not the beginning.
You didn't, didn't you say you never experienced love
Or how didn't, been in love you didn't?
Yeah, I wasn't in a relationship then.
Nah.
But today you are?
Or you are?
I've been through a couple.
I'm single there right now.
But I've been through a few.
And they've taught me a lot of things.
And they've shown me what love is and what love isn't and how to approach it and how to
be human with it and not be so artists, you know.
And I look for the things to write about in these types of situations.
And I've kind of been more mature about it and getting emotionally intelligent with it.
As of the date of this recording, a cause of death has not been released for Celeste.
And police have an efficient.
named David as a suspect.
It's not been arrested, and in fact,
according to his subreddit,
he's been lurking on Discord and playing
Fortnite and Roblox.
I wonder if he's trying to find his next
underage girlfriend on there.
I mean, why was he trying to pass Celeste off
as a 19-year-old?
See this picture right here?
This is when Celeste met David.
She was 11.
A fact that David's 22 song,
Decide, seems to touch on.
And that's not it.
Look at the song Decide by David
that was dropped in 20,
It says, I know what the problem is. Save your tears seven years. I know life is complicated.
In 2022, Celeste was 11 years old.
In closing, I'd like to leave you with a title to a post by user Sad Bread 4302 because I feel like it really sums everything up.
It reads, A Little Girl is Dead and all you care about is losing your favorite song.
