Parents of Celeste Rivas Hernandez Sue D4vd in Wrongful-Death Case

After a multi-day July hearing exposed evidence about 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s death, her parents have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against singer D4vd and accused his mother, managers, and business entities of negligence.

The 20-page complaint, obtained by Rolling Stone, draws heavily on evidence prosecutors presented during the hearing, where a Los Angeles County judge ordered D4vd, born David Anthony Burke, to stand trial. Burke was arraigned the previous week on renewed charges accusing him of sexually assaulting Rivas Hernandez as a minor, killing her at 14, dismembering her body with a chainsaw, and concealing her remains in the front trunk of his Tesla.

Mercedes Martinez and Jesus Rivas allege in the Los Angeles County Superior Court filing that Burke began sexually abusing their daughter in November 2023, when she was 13. The complaint says he communicated with her in text messages “concerning an abortion of a pregnancy Burke acknowledged was his” and continued the alleged abuse for more than a year.

The suit says Burke was an adult in a position of authority over a minor and used that power to exert control. It cites a concealed cellular phone that allowed him to communicate with her outside her parents’ knowledge, false online identities, and travel that he arranged and paid for.

According to the complaint, Burke arranged an Uber to take Rivas Hernandez from near her family’s home in Lake Elsinore, California, to his residence in the Hollywood Hills before her alleged death on April 23, 2025. It says he stabbed her to conceal the alleged abuse and cites the wound’s “front-to-back” path and absence of hesitation marks as evidence of an attack by another person rather than a self-inflicted injury.

The parents say they learned to positively identify Rivas Hernandez on Sept. 16, 2025, after her remains were discovered in Burke’s towed Tesla on Sept. 8. A delayed identification resulted from what the lawsuit describes as the body’s “severely decomposed condition” and the fact that parts of it were never recovered.

The complaint identifies Burke as liable for wrongful death, battery, sexual battery, childhood sexual assault, assault, false imprisonment, human trafficking, and intentional infliction of emotional distress in survival actions brought by his parents. It alleges that he caused or induced Rivas Hernandez “to engage in commercial sex acts.”

The filing says the money, food, shelter, designer gifts, travel, ring, and promise of marriage Burke gave her were connected to sexual acts and therefore met the legal element of commercial sex. “Because decedent was a minor, neither her purported consent nor any mistakes as to her age is a defense,” it says.

Several of Burke’s publishing and merchandising companies are also defendants, along with his managers, Josh Marshall and Robert Morgenroth, their company Mogul Vision, and Sheldon Jacques, identified as a live-in security guard. The complaint says Jacques drove Burke to collect Rivas Hernandez from her family’s home before it was first reported missing in February 2024.

The lawsuit contends that the company and management defendants, through their employees, agents, and funds, provided or facilitated the housing, transportation, communications, security, and logistics that enabled Burke to isolate Rivas Hernandez. It further alleges that Mogul Vision leased the Los Angeles residence where Burke lived and where the conduct described in the complaint allegedly occurred.

The complaint says Morgenroth handled Burke’s day-to-day business and “resided at” the rented mansion where the alleged murder and dismemberment took place. At the July hearing, a former Mogul Vision financial executive testified that Burke earned approximately $10 million to $11.5 million in gross revenue from recording, merchandising, and music-publishing agreements.

Colleen Burke, Burke’s mother, is identified as his former personal financial manager. According to the complaint, she signed for and controlled his accounts, approved and paid his bills, and directed the flow of money through his enterprises. It alleges that by financing his living arrangements, facilitating his access to Rivas Hernandez, and hosting the minor at her home, she undertook a duty to use reasonable care to protect her.

Each co-defendant has been accused of negligently failing to protect a minor. The filing alleges that the defendants “knew or should have known” of Burke’s dangerous conduct and sexual exploitation of Rivas Hernandez but did not take reasonable steps to protect her, supervise him, or stop the alleged abuse.

Rivas Hernandez’s parents further contend that at least one management defendant had “actual knowledge” that Burke was sexually abusing their minor daughter but continued working with him. The family says it may amend the complaint as evidence gathered through discovery becomes available.

Jacques is accused under an aiding-and-abetting theory related to sexual battery, childhood sexual assault, and false imprisonment. The parents allege that he provided “substantial assistance and encouragement” by helping take Rivas Hernandez from her home, transporting her, and facilitating Burke’s continued access to and control over her.

Lawyers representing Colleen Burke and the singer’s Mogul Vision managers did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone requests for comment Tuesday. Attempts to contact Jacques were also unsuccessful.

The parents are seeking unspecified damages to be determined by a jury. They argue that their daughter’s alleged sexual abuse resulted from a cover-up and coordinated effort to conceal evidence, making them eligible to recover triple damages.

The filing follows a Rolling Stone investigation published last month that detailed a pattern of concerning conduct by the “Romantic Homicide” singer, much of which reportedly preceded the alleged abuse of Rivas Hernandez.

Through their lawyer, Rivas Hernandez’s parents have urged Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman to seek the death penalty against Burke. Hochman has said prosecutors have not yet decided whether to pursue capital punishment or seek the alternative maximum sentence of life without parole.

In a statement shared by attorney Patrick Steinfeld, the family called Burke a person “devoid of feelings and emptiness inside, and without conscience” who caused pain to their daughter and family. They acknowledged that the decision rests with “God’s, and the California justice system,” rather than with them.

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