Parents of Celeste Rivas Hernandez Sue Singer D4vd for Wrongful Death
The parents of Celeste Rivas Hernandez have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against D4vd, the singer born David Anthony Burke, and widened their civil case to include his mother, his managers and a security guard. The complaint, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, accuses the adults in Burke’s inner circle of negligence and says they failed to protect a child who prosecutors say was sexually abused and killed at age 14.
The 20-page filing, obtained by Rolling Stone, mirrors much of the evidence aired during a July court hearing that ended with a judge ordering Burke to stand trial. He is accused of sexually assaulting Rivas Hernandez, murdering her in April 2025, dismembering her body with a chainsaw and hiding the remains in the front trunk of his Tesla. Burke was arraigned last week on renewed charges.
In the civil complaint, Rivas Hernandez’s parents, Mercedes Martinez and Jesus Rivas, say Burke first abused their daughter in November 2023, when she was 13, and that the abuse continued for more than a year. The filing describes a relationship built on control: Burke allegedly gave her a hidden phone, used false identities, paid for her travel and exchanged messages with her about an abortion he acknowledged was his. As an adult in a position of authority, the lawsuit says, he exercised undue influence over a minor.
The alleged murder took place on April 23, 2025, according to the lawsuit. Burke arranged an Uber to take Rivas Hernandez from near her family’s home in Lake Elsinore, California, to his house in the Hollywood Hills. The complaint says he then stabbed her to cover up the abuse, pointing to the wound’s front-to-back path through her abdomen and the absence of hesitation marks as evidence of an attack by another person.
Her remains were found Sept. 8 after Burke’s Tesla had been towed. The parents say they had to wait eight more days for positive identification because the body was severely decomposed and some parts were never recovered.
The lawsuit brings claims for wrongful death, battery, sexual battery, childhood sexual assault, assault, false imprisonment, human trafficking and intentional infliction of emotional distress. On the human-trafficking count, the parents say the money, food, shelter, designer gifts, travel, ring and promise of future marriage Burke provided were given in exchange for sexual acts. Since Rivas Hernandez was a minor, they argue, consent and mistakes about her age are not defenses.
Burke’s publishing and merchandising entities are also named as defendants, along with his managers Josh Marshall and Robert Morgenroth and their company Mogul Vision. The complaint alleges those companies financed and facilitated the abuse, leased the Los Angeles residence where Burke lived and helped keep him alone with Rivas Hernandez. Morgenroth managed Burke’s day-to-day affairs and lived at the same rented home where the alleged murder and dismemberment took place. A former Mogul Vision financial executive testified in July that Burke, known for his hit song “Romantic Homicide,” had gross earnings of roughly $10 million to $11.5 million from recording, publishing and merchandising.
Colleen Burke, the singer’s mother, is accused of acting as his personal financial manager: she signed off on his accounts, paid bills and controlled the flow of the enterprise’s money. The lawsuit says she hosted Rivas Hernandez overnight and approved arrangements that gave Burke access to the girl, creating a duty to protect her. All defendants are accused of negligence, and the parents say some management defendants had actual knowledge of the abuse but continued to work with Burke.
The security guard, Sheldon Jacques, is the target of an aiding-and-abetting claim tied to sexual battery, childhood sexual assault and false imprisonment. The filing says Jacques provided substantial assistance by driving Burke to collect Rivas Hernandez from her parents’ home, transporting her and helping Burke keep access to her. The pickup described in the complaint came before Rivas Hernandez was first reported missing in February 2024. The parents say they may amend the complaint as more evidence emerges through discovery.
Lawyers for Colleen Burke and the Mogul Vision managers did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and attempts to reach Jacques were not immediately successful. The parents are seeking unspecified damages and a jury trial, and they argue that concealment of the abuse entitles them to triple damages.
The civil case creates another layer of exposure for the business and family infrastructure around Burke. It is likely to focus on what the management team and his mother knew about his conduct toward Rivas Hernandez and whether any of them took reasonable steps to intervene. The filing follows a Rolling Stone investigation last month that detailed a pattern of troubling behavior by Burke that largely predated the alleged abuse.
Over the weekend, Rivas Hernandez’s parents also urged Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman to seek the death penalty. Hochman has said his office has not decided between capital punishment and life in prison without the possibility of parole. “If the death penalty were activated, it would be perfect for this kind of human being, devoid of feelings and emptiness inside, and without conscience, who only caused pain to our daughter, our family, and the world that supports our precious daughter,” the family said. “But that’s not in our hands, but rather in God’s, and the California justice system.”