The parents of Celeste Rivas Hernandez are suing the singer D4vd for wrongful death of their daughter, whose decomposed body was found in the trunk of a Tesla registered to him last year.
Mercedes Martinez and Jesus Rivas are also suing D4vd’s mother and managers, accusing them of negligence, according to the lawsuit viewed and obtained by the Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone and the New York Times.
Global News has not independently viewed the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, details evidence presented by prosecutors at the multi-day hearing in July that ended with D4vd, whose real name is David Burke, being ordered to stand trial in the killing of Rivas Hernandez, according to Rolling Stone.
Martinez and Rivas reportedly claim in their filing that Burke started to sexually abuse their daughter in November 2023 when she was 13 years old.
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They allege that he exchanged text messages with her “concerning an abortion of a pregnancy Burke acknowledged was his,” and that he continued the alleged abuse for more than a year, Rolling Stone reports.
“At all relevant times Burke was an adult who occupied a position of authority over decedent, a minor, and was able to and did exercise undue influence and control over her, including by providing her a concealed cellular telephone to maintain contact outside her parents’ knowledge, using false identities, and arranging and paying for her travel,” the lawsuit reportedly claims.
The lawsuit, according to the Los Angeles Times, mirrors the criminal accusations that Burke arranged for the victim to be transported in April 2025 to his Hollywood Hills home, where he allegedly stabbed Rivas Hernandez to death, then cut up her body to dispose of her corpse.
Rivas Hernandez’s parents also accuse Burke of human trafficking, saying that he persuaded their daughter to engage in sex acts by giving her “money, food, shelter, designer gifts, travel, a ring and a promise of future marriage,” the New York Times reports.
Burke is accused of wrongful death, battery, sexual battery, childhood sexual assault, assault, false imprisonment, human trafficking and intentional infliction of emotional distress in the lawsuit.
Rivas Hernandez’s parents are seeking unspecified damages and legal fees.
Global News has reached out to Rivas and Martinez’s lawyer Patrick Steinfeld for further comment but has not received a response.
Burke has been charged with murder in the killing of Rivas Hernandez.
The 21-year-old singer pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 and unlawful mutilation of human remains in April and is being held without bond ahead of his trial.
Last month, Burke lost his high-profile private lawyers at a hearing where he entered a new not guilty plea to the charges that he killed, sexually abused and dismembered Rivas Hernandez.
His lawyers Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter were replaced by a lawyer from the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office.
The defence lawyers said in a statement that the judge granted their request to withdraw after finding that Burke qualified for a court-appointed lawyer.
In July, Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman said outside court that Burke is “eligible for the death penalty.”
“The death penalty considerations are now being weighed. Part of that consideration will be any submission that the defence wants to submit to the District Attorney’s Office. It is something that we will consider on whether or not we will seek the death penalty,” Hochman told reporters.
“At this point, the death penalty determination has not been made.”
—With files from The Associated Press and Reuters
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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