A knife is splattered with blood. It’s pouring rain, and a woman’s body lies lifeless. This scene seems straight from a horror movie. Instead, it’s from 20-year-old singer David Anthony Burke’s — known to fans as D4vd — “Romantic Homicide” music video.  

     Just three years after the music video was uploaded to YouTube, a 15-year-old girl was found dead in a car registered under the singer’s name. Her birthday? Sept. 7th, the same day the “Romantic Homicide” music video was released.

     On April 5, 2024, then 13-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez was reported missing. A little over a year later, she was identified as the dismembered body discovered in the trunk of D4vd’s Tesla. The car was impounded and later inspected by authorities after a “foul, rotting odor” was reportedly coming from inside.

     Authorities state that there’s no connection between the singer and the murder. They aren’t releasing much information about the case, either, but the internet isn’t convinced. Many speculators are finding their information on TikTok, which is, ironically, the same place D4vd’s career started. This isn’t without reason, though: several incriminating links between D4vd and Hernandez’s life — like the music video release date — have surfaced in the wake of the tragedy.

     News outlets including the New York Post and the LA Times have reported connections between D4vd and Hernandez, despite the police statement. One of the connections includes a song leaked in 2023 on soundcloud by D4vd called “Celeste_Demo unfin.,” in which D4vd professes his love for a girl named Celeste, the very name of the victim. Footage has also resurfaced of D4vd and Hernandez livestreaming together in the months before she went missing in 2024.

     Senior Alex Lewis, who attended a D4vd concert in late August, expressed her shock about the situation.

     “I thought, ‘There’s no way he did it. I just did not see him as that type of person,’” she said. “It just made me question a lot of celebrities’ personas and what goes on behind closed doors.”

     Fans like Lewis were appalled at first and simply didn’t believe the singer could’ve been at fault for something so horrible — especially since the victim was younger than most high schoolers. Reckoning with the implications has been difficult for many.

     “With all the stuff coming out, I think it just kind of shows us there’s a lot of things you don’t know about celebrities and people as a whole,” Lewis said.

     Others have chosen to disconnect themselves from D4vd’s alleged actions and only admire his music.

      “In terms of how I view David as a person, that is as low as you can possibly get,” junior Andrei Imensek said. “But Michael Jackson also allegedly did a lot of bad things, but I still love his music. You have to separate the artist from the art.”

    A nineteen-year-old music star hanging out with a thirteen-year-old girl? Yikes. The implications can’t be ignored. Despite what authorities have stated, the singer is unquestionably connected to Hernandez’s death. Like it or not, when cryptic lyrics turn to grim reality, putting aside the truth fails to hold people accountable. Much like the case of Kanye West, there isn’t much left after divorcing the art from the artist. 

     While D4vd has been named a suspect in the case, no one has been convicted or even charged for Hernandez’s murder.