CA- Body (IDd as Celeste Rivas Hernandez) found in vehicle at Hollywood tow yard, abandoned Tesla registered to singer D4vd – 8 September 2025

[IQuestion]

This video shows at least three garages for off street parking.

Interesting.

69K views · 863 reactions | Singer D4vd’s relationship with 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez has now been confirmed, just weeks after her body was found in the trunk of his Tesla. In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield is joined b

Singer D4vd’s relationship with 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez has now been confirmed, just weeks after her body was found in the trunk of his Tesla. In this episode of Drop Dead Serious,...

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Prequel to this saga:
D4vd eventually signed a $3 million record deal with Darkroom and Interscope Records.
According to TMZ, D4vd was paid $500,000 upfront followed by a $250,000 payment. He later received a check for $2,250,000 with an option for another $6 million.

Yep the red Tesla moved out of the garage is "really dusty".... not what one would expect if it had been garaged, huh? Just wondering if : 1)The black Tesla had been in the first garage bay, 2) body found in D's bedroom, 3) moved down to the garage (undetected/unseen by cameras, neighbors or passerby's) and put in the front trunk 4) then moved out into the street. (A body in an air conditioned room would have a longer decomp cycle, right? That could explain a lot of questions on "when.")
Hmmm, could someone have decided, "I have had it with this creep. Put CR's body in D4vd's car and put it out on the street.
Not my problem anymore!"?


I'll stop there....but have some thoughts on how 5), 6) & 7) would unfold.
What had begun as a slow process was greatly accelerated when (horrible & painful to type) moved to the vehicle outside in the summer sun and moisture (dew points?) affecting rate.

Conditions affecting the rate of putrefaction
Optimum ambient temperature range for putrefaction is between 25 and 38 degrees C. With every increase of 10 degrees C, the chemical activity doubles. The rate of putrefaction in summer is about twice as much as the rate of putrefaction in winter. Advanced stages of putrefaction can be seen as early as 24 to 36 hours in summer. Moisture is a prerequisite for putrefaction as water is required for bacterial growth, chemical, and enzymatic processes to take place. The rate of putrefaction is faster in a humid environment as compared to an arid one. Bodies kept in open-air putrefy faster than those buried or in water. ‘Casper’s dictum’ states that a body decomposes in the air twice as rapidly as submerged in water, and eight times rapidly as buried in earth. Clothed bodies decompose slower as tight clothes restrict the supply of microbes through blood vessels in that area.

Postmortem Changes - StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf

 

[AppleTreeGreen]

I'm not a professional of any kind, but I've read a bunch of books by forensic anthropologists, both autobiographical and fiction, and watched a lot of CSI. Even bones of a body buried straight in the ground will have an odour when it's been long enough there's no flesh remaining. Eventually, they'll just smell like dirt, but it takes years.

This girl was dismembered, wrapped in plastic, then put in a compartment of a car in the LA sun. It's really not a surprise that a visual identification was impossible. What is a surprise is that there wasn't a cop call-out about the smell within a week. This was a nice area, not run down or light industrial or waste ground, where an odour might not be out of place. In a nice suburb, a bad odour is bound to annoy someone at minimum, or make someone concerned for the welfare of a neighbour.

MOO

I was curious about that too. According to the PI in the Ashleigh Banfield segment none of the neighbors he spoke to mentioned anything about a foul odor and it wasn’t mentioned in any of the documented reports he shard.

In the ABC segment above one neighbor who lived 50 yards away from where the vehicle was parked also said he didn’t detect any smell odors but noted the car seemed unusual or odd because of the out-of-state license place.

Another woman in the segment mentions that it has been a really hot summer, she found the case really disturbing and that the hedges always smelled like something was decomposing and there are a lot of rats surrounding there. In the beginning she mentions that her dog was always interested in smelling “all of it” but it is unclear what “it” is because it wasn’t specified.

IMO, the strong smell that emits from decomposing human remains would have most likely not only spurred multiple calls for LAPD to come investigate but would have also been detected and reported by the LADOT employees who cited, ticketed and impounded car. In other words, the vehicle would have not even have made it to the tow yard before CR’s remains were discovered and they would have been much earlier than the 8th as well because of the type of response the scent alone would have triggered among residents and the transportation department workers. A smell like that is impossible to ignore, makes you gag and want to hold your breathe instead to avoid breathing it in. Additionally, it likely only grows worse under the hot summer sun and does tend to permeate and spread, which is what seems to have happened on the 8th when the tow lots employees first noticed it. I don’t think the residents would have, or should have for their own well-being, waited days on ends for the vehicle to be removed or inspected if that was the kind of smell coming from it. IMO, they certainly would have not been able to tolerate parking their cars or walking themselves or their dogs next to a spot with such a repugnant odor.


JMO/JMT

 

[flowershop]

I was curious about that too. According to the PI in the Ashleigh Banfield segment none of the neighbors he spoke to mentioned anything about a foul odor and it wasn’t mentioned in any of the documented reports he shard.

In the ABC segment above one neighbor who lived 50 yards away from where the vehicle was parked also said he didn’t detect any smell odors but noted the car seemed unusual or odd because of the out-of-state license place.

Another woman in the segment mentions that it has been a really hot summer, she found the case really disturbing and that the hedges always smelled like something was decomposing and there are a lot of rats surrounding there. In the beginning she mentions that her dog was always interested in smelling “all of it” but it is unclear what “it” is because it wasn’t specified.

IMO, the strong smell that emits from decomposing human remains would have most likely not only spurred multiple calls for LAPD to come investigate but would have also been detected and reported by the LADOT employees who cited, ticketed and impounded car. In other words, the vehicle would have not even have made it to the tow yard before CR’s remains were discovered and they would have been much earlier than the 8th as well because of the type of response the scent alone would have triggered among residents and the transportation department workers. A smell like that is impossible to ignore, makes you gag and want to hold your breathe instead to avoid breathing it in. Additionally, it likely only grows worse under the hot summer sun and does tend to permeate and spread, which is what seems to have happened on the 8th when the tow lots employees first noticed it. I don’t think the residents would have, or should have for their own well-being, waited days on ends for the vehicle to be removed or inspected if that was the kind of smell coming from it. IMO, they certainly would have not been able to tolerate parking their cars or walking themselves or their dogs next to a spot with such a repugnant odor.


JMO/JMT

Ashleigh Banfield indicates her surprise during the Steve Fischer interview that there was just one report of someone thinking they smelled a dead animal.

This discussion occurs at 5 min 47 seconds.

I agree with Steve Fischer's line of reasoning that one does not immediately think of a corpse in a trunk when one smells something bad in a neighborhood. JMO

 

[LadyL]

I absolutely agree with everything you've said.

The suspension of disbelief needed to believe David is not involved, is off the chart IMO. It makes more sense to assume the authorities are just biding their time and slowly collecting evidence, over the many convoluted theories of his complete innocence.

He knew Celeste well (in the least). She was found in a bag, in his 2-year-old car, which was abandoned, not reported as stolen, nor under repairs. The car was only footsteps from his home. The car was being moved and parked in different places, all close to his home. Why?

He continued to perform after Celeste's body had been found, which seems...strange. He only became inactive once the body was identified and it was impossible to deny a connection.

This is a self-made musician at the bring of huge fame. He is a prolific social media user and this is the platform he uses to engage with his fans. If this was all a misunderstanding, you'd think he'd be screaming it from the rooftops.

it being moved repeatedly can be explained as there being a time limit on street parking

Best quote of the week....."Creative geniuses can also be sick in the effin' head!"
Look at this pic from d4vdprayers tiktok series. He has really bizarre and manic bible rantings (IMO) that make no sense. Basically talking in endless loops that make zero sense.
But look at the pile of black plastic bags over his right shoulder (left side of the picture.) He is not very organized is he? Remember, this is not a run-of-the-mill-teenage bedroom. This is a supposed musical genius millionaire kid who could surely afford people to organize his room, right?? (he also mentions it is August 31st.)

https://www.tiktok.com/video/7545014381420104973

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it's stream of consciousness rambling, not unheard of with creative types, especially in urban music - it also could resemble some mental illness conditions IMO

Harvey Levin from TMZ discussed it on his podcast with a lot of local knowledge, so if you're interested go check out "2 angry men" for that.

Did the property not have off street parking? No garage?

Another thought I had while sleeping was the frunks are "sealed" as in have a weather seal to stop water getting in.
Also I saw a lot of owners put after market ones on to "create a tighter seal, preventing rainwater, dust, and leaves from entering the frunk and the cabin air filter, leading to cleaner air. "

So couid that also contribute to the smell being enclosed effectively?

Also could it have "prevented evaporation" required to minimise a body by 50% mass?

three car garage

 

[HinterlandObserver]

it being moved repeatedly can be explained as there being a time limit on street parking



it's stream of consciousness rambling, not unheard of with creative types, especially in urban music - it also could resemble some mental illness conditions IMO



three car garage

On the note of mental illness, I saw videos of him talking about his songs being prophetic and he subconsciously lives them out.
So his album is titled "withered", was she intended to be found withered?

There is also a special edition called Withered: Marcescence released 19 September 2024

Marcescence is where something, usually plant matter like leaves or flowers, withers but doesn’t fall off.
Marcēscere means ‘to wither’ or ‘begin to decay’. This comes from marcēre, meaning ‘to be weak or withered’.

marcescence — Emma Wilkin

Have you ever noticed a leaf clinging stubbornly to a tree, when all its other leaf friends have long fallen off? There’s a word for that. Marcescence is where something, usually plant matter like leaves or flowers, withers but doesn’t fall off. I can relate. Oaks and beeches are classic examples

emmawilkin.com

So was he actually insinuating she's a part of him and even though deceased was still with him?

Are there any songs that indicate suicide?

I think there's pathology here that will come out for sure.

MOO IMOO JMT

 

[jada9909]

Does the damage on the Tesla happen to look like while it was in reverse, someone was hit and run over, or is it just me and my imagination? The photos the private investigator obtained from when the car was marked for parking.

 

[AppleTreeGreen]

I agree with Steve Fischer's line of reasoning that one does not immediately think of a corpse in a trunk when one smells something bad in a neighborhood. JMO

Likely people may not jump to the conclusion that there is a body in the trunk but nonetheless the strong foul odor from decaying remains would still likely lead people to think that the smell is absolutely terrible, it is permeating through the fresh air and appears to be growing stronger and it is worse than any other type of odor they have detected in the area before (like sewage or dead rat or old garbage). Furthermore, if the residents find that they may not be able to identify what the source of the odor is or where it is coming from on their own but at a certain point they would likely turn and ask the city to come investigate and remove it since the smell is just that powerful and they and their families don’t have tolerance for it anymore.

Additionally, it is very possible and logical that residents may think that the source of it are animal remains, not human ones, but likely that wouldn’t deter them from still filing a complaint or making a report since the city offers services to remove animal carcasses and their overall goal is to make that sickening smell gone or get it away from them. Also, animal carcasses attract rats and other pests which the residents may likely want to avoid.

In other words, residents didn’t necessarily need to know there were human remains inside the trunk or that was where the smell is coming from to mount a response. Just the presence of the strange foul odor emitted could have been enough, particularly as the smell grows worse and people’s tolerance for it goes down as it can seep through windows, deter them or their kids from going outside and, for some, make them feel like they are going to throw up.

JMO

What Does a Dead Body Smell Like? | Trauma Services

Learn about what a dead body smells like with Trauma Services. Discover how to identify the odors of decomposing body, and when to call a specialist.

www.traumaservices.com

 

[catebenn]

overdose might seem most likely to me, still on the fence though

Pregnancy is still a possibility, no? Will it be difficult/impossible to detect a pregnancy with the state of the body decomposition?

 

[iamshadow21]

Likely people may not jump to the conclusion that there is a body in the trunk but nonetheless the strong foul odor from decaying remains would still likely lead people to think that the smell is absolutely terrible, it is permeating through the fresh air and appears to be growing stronger and it is worse than any other type of odor they have detected in the area before (like sewage or dead rat or old garbage). Furthermore, if the residents find that they may not be able to identify what the source of the odor is or where it is coming from on their own but at a certain point they would likely turn and ask the city to come investigate and remove it since the smell is just that powerful and they and their families don’t have tolerance for it anymore.

Additionally, it is very possible and logical that residents may think that the source of it are animal remains, not human ones, but likely that wouldn’t deter them from still filing a complaint or making a report since the city offers services to remove animal carcasses and their overall goal is to make that sickening smell gone or get it away from them. Also, animal carcasses attract rats and other pests which the residents may likely want to avoid.

In other words, residents didn’t necessarily need to know there were human remains inside the trunk or that was where the smell is coming from to mount a response. Just the presence of the strange foul odor emitted could have been enough, particularly as the smell grows worse and people’s tolerance for it goes down as it can seep through windows, deter them or their kids from going outside and, for some, make them feel like they are going to throw up.

JMO

Exactly. As I posted earlier, this wasn't an area where a bad smell might have just been accepted or tolerated, like, say, an alley behind businesses with a lot of bad smelling food waste. It's a nice suburban area where people expect things to smell nice. And if they don't, they're going to get annoyed about it. Even if the car hadn't been towed, at some point, the odour would have been investigated, to check for a dead animal or broken sewage lines at least.

MOO

 

[catebenn]

On the note of mental illness, I saw videos of him talking about his songs being prophetic and he subconsciously lives them out.
So his album is titled "withered", was she intended to be found withered?

There is also a special edition called Withered: Marcescence released 19 September 2024

Marcescence is where something, usually plant matter like leaves or flowers, withers but doesn’t fall off.
Marcēscere means ‘to wither’ or ‘begin to decay’. This comes from marcēre, meaning ‘to be weak or withered’.

marcescence — Emma Wilkin

Have you ever noticed a leaf clinging stubbornly to a tree, when all its other leaf friends have long fallen off? There’s a word for that. Marcescence is where something, usually plant matter like leaves or flowers, withers but doesn’t fall off. I can relate. Oaks and beeches are classic examples

emmawilkin.com

So was he actually insinuating she's a part of him and even though deceased was still with him?

Are there any songs that indicate suicide?

I think there's pathology here that will come out for sure.

MOO IMOO JMT

Very disturbing, dark stuff. I agree, much of this reads like mental illness. Schizophrenia often shows up in young adult males at his age. MOO

 

[tillytatler]

Pregnancy is still a possibility, no? Will it be difficult/impossible to detect a pregnancy with the state of the body decomposition?

Apologies for this dark line of thinking, but could this be part of the "reasoning" behind the removal of certain parts of the body - to remove evidence of pregnancy? I know they said they found torso but not clear how much of it, it could stop just below the chest.

I mean hiding the pregnancy evidence would imply the assumption the body would be found, & that there was a feeling (from David or someone in the entourage/ management) that - having killed OR discovered the body - that mutilating said body on top of things would somehow lead to a better outcome than David having an underage girlfriend he'd committed statutory rape with. Not logical to me but I think we can guess people weren't thinking clearly, were panicking, in some capacity, at some point.

 

[acutename]

Does the damage on the Tesla happen to look like while it was in reverse, someone was hit and run over, or is it just me and my imagination? The photos the private investigator obtained from when the car was marked for parking.

It looks as if some one hit the rear of it but ordinarily, that would be the other driver's fault and the owner would make a claim and get it repaired. Of course if a car is on the street....but the Tesla would record a bump?

 

[katydid23]

I know about them bringing Celeste home and her running away again. What I’m saying is it would be nice to be a fly on the wall and know if Celeste’s family suspected David as being the reason their daughter was missing and having something to do with her death BEFORE she was ever found in his car.

Before she was found in the car, they had no reason to believe she was dead. Her brother had been texting back and forth with her during the time she was away from home. He knew she was hanging out with David. But he thought she was alive and well, although vulnerable because of her young age.

Once they were shocked with the death reports, they probably did assume it was David's fault---she was in his trunk.

Like did they already think David did it and this just confirmed it? Or what? I hope this makes more sense. It’s hard getting thoughts to paper. MOO.

It makes sense, I understand what you are asking about.

It's just that they had no reason to believe she was dead before they were told about her body being found. They thought she was hanging around the Hollywood Hills and she was keeping in touch with her friends during that time. I'm sure they were worried about her but they didn't think she was truly missing. IMO

 

[Gemmie]

Has it been figured out yet if she has missing body parts? I've seen mention of her head and torso being found, yet the ME also said she was wearing leggings. Ya kinda need legs to wear leggings, yanno?

The victim was about 5-foot-1 with wavy black hair and was wearing a tube top, black leggings, a yellow metal bracelet and metal stud earrings, according to the medical examiner

SOURCE

and...

Rivas’ dismembered remains, her “head and torso,” according to the Los Angeles Police Department, were discovered on Sept. 8 after employees at Hollywood Tow reported a foul odor coming from the Tesla

SOURCE

Torso definition: The torso is the central, main part of the body, specifically the human trunk, which excludes the head, arms, and legs. It encompasses the chest, abdomen, pelvis, and back, containing most of the body's vital organs and the backbone.

SOURCE

 

[HinterlandObserver]

It looks as if some one hit the rear of it but ordinarily, that would be the other driver's fault and the owner would make a claim and get it repaired. Of course if a car is on the street....but the Tesla would record a bump?

Doesn't seem to be any paint missing/flaked or creases in the metal as one might expect with an impact of another vehicle though?or maybe low impact?
How easy are teslas to dent?

 

[jada9909]

Doesn't seem to be any paint missing/flaked or creases in the metal as one might expect with an impact of another vehicle though?or maybe low impact?
How easy are teslas to dent?

And the trim piece around the front wheel is missing.

Vehicles rear ended by another vehicle have damage on the lower part of the bumper from the other vehicle going under. Damage from backing into something is higher up.

Just interesting that someone living in a $20k/mo home didn't repair the minor damage to their vehicle.

 

[HinterlandObserver]

And the trim piece around the front wheel is missing.

Vehicles rear ended by another vehicle have damage on the lower part of the bumper from the other vehicle going under. Damage from backing into something is higher up.

Just interesting that someone living in a $20k/mo home didn't repair the minor damage to their vehicle.

Missing trim of wheel arch could be indicative of running something/someone over and it being torn off or damaged if the obstruction was caught up?
Or maybe it was taken during it being examined?

 

[HoneyBunOne]

Area is not completely flat. The entire neighborhood is in the hills. Bluebird goes uphill toward Doheny at a small incline (these are hilltops that were somewhat sheared off to build houses). So it's not steep, but it's not flat like the street I live on.

Where I live, the people who mark abandoned cars start with Day 1 chalk marks, made by chalk that's on some kind of pole. Day 2, they sometimes put the day and month, but they use a system either of colored chalk or symbols to make it clear it's the second day. Day 3 has another symbol or color. After that, they call the tow yard.

I've read that this Tesla hadn't moved for a couple of weeks before being chalked up. They usually mark the rear wheels (because those don't turn and the front wheels may be at an angle - the point is that they need to see quickly that they've already marked it and when). So they would have been briefly out of their own parking patrol car, near the back of the Tesla (away from its trunk). When they do it in my neighborhood, it's less than 30 seconds, I'd say, out of the car. On Day 3 in some neighborhoods, they also put a brightly colored notice under the wiper blade (which would be toward the front of the car).

LADOT manages all of this and has a huge number of compliance cars out on the roads every day. Would be fascinating to know if it was the same person doing that route that marked it before it was towed.

Towed August 28 or thereabouts - IIRC.

Burke (D4) was in L.A. until at least August 6 and my hunch is he didn't leave for the East Coast until August 15-17 (do we know? He performed in New York on the 18th).

Those of you collecting dates for this case - thank you so much! If anyone has a chronology for alleged sightings of Celeste, that would be great.

IMO

hot summer in LA I believe- like 100F and very dry, so not a lot of people outside. Some people theorized that during the tow, whatever container (bag?) CR was in broke or leaked. Not much experience with dead humans, however there are often dead deer near me- sometimes they expand and burst and smell for a long time (6 mos+) but other times they dry out and vultures help, I guess, so the smell is attenuated.

72 lbs is probably the weight of the remains. Since we've been discussing decomp and desiccation, I'd add that in LA's climate (pretty hot and dry in August), the amount of H2O in a human body would be gone quickly. Water is 50-70% of the body's weight. The trunk would have been similar to keeping remains in a cooler - it would be more humid inside the trunk than outside, so let's just guess that half the water weight from the body was gone.

That could mean that the victim weighed 100-115 in life. Or more. At least 102-105, I'd guess. The Medical Examiner has apps that autocalculate some of this based on weather, conditions inside the container of the body, etc.

I think there is definitely confusion about whether she was dismembered or simply subject to the natural decomp process. To an observer who hasn't seen lots of bodies put into trunks, this could look like dismemberment. I read that she was wrapped in plastic. Can't find the original source of the "dismemberment" part.

<modsnip: Not an approved source>

Thanks everyone for filling in my knowledge gaps, you've been very helpful.

 

[HoneyBunOne]

Harvey Levin from TMZ discussed it on his podcast with a lot of local knowledge, so if you're interested go check out "2 angry men" for that.

Did the property not have off street parking? No garage?

Another thought I had while sleeping was the frunks are "sealed" as in have a weather seal to stop water getting in.
Also I saw a lot of owners put after market ones on to "create a tighter seal, preventing rainwater, dust, and leaves from entering the frunk and the cabin air filter, leading to cleaner air. "

So couid that also contribute to the smell being enclosed effectively?

Also could it have "prevented evaporation" required to minimise a body by 50% mass?

If the Google street view images I've seen are of the actual house, there is a 3 car garage/1 garage big enough for 3 cars right on the street. That might indicate a lot of people/cars were at the house regularly, or that somebody didn't want the car stinking up the garage and home.

 

[HinterlandObserver]

Another thought:
the Tesla Model X's cabin air intake is located in the frunk, where a large filter housing is situated beneath removable panels at the back of the frunk area.
No one is moving that car once a body is in there surely since the air supply for the vehicle comes through the frunk.