Celeste Rivas' Dad Refutes Rumors Family Got Money from D4vd

NEED TO KNOW

• Celeste Rivas' family denies having "any contact" with D4vd or accepting any money from him

• D4vd was charged with first-degree murder with the special circumstances of lying in wait in connection with the murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas

• Rivas' dismembered body was found in the trunk of D4vd's Tesla in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles in 2025

Celeste Rivas' father is shutting down online speculation that the Rivas family was paid by D4vd in exchange for their silence on his alleged relationship with her.

"I never had any contact with this guy and we haven't received any money from him or anyone in his family," attorney Patrick Steinfeld tells PEOPLE on behalf of Celeste's father, Jesus Rivas, on Friday, May 1.

TMZ first reported on the comments.

D4vd, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, was charged with first-degree murder with the special circumstances of lying in wait, per the Los Angeles District Attorney.

His arrest came months after Rivas' body was found in his impounded Tesla . Rivas' date of death is listed as Sept. 8, 2025, and her cause of death was "deferred," per the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner.

The new statement from Rivas' family comes days after prosecutors alleged that Burke, 22, drove to Rivas' parents' Lake Elsinore home and "paid a junior high school student in the victim's class $1,000 to give the victim a cell phone [he] purchased so they could stay in contact." Prosecutors made the allegation in a preliminary hearing brief released on Wednesday, April 29.

Rivas allegedly traveled with Burke to Las Vegas, London and Texas and spent summer weekends at his Hollywood Hills home in 2024, according to prosecutors.

"Text exchanges between the victim and defendant contain references to sex, pregnancy, abortion, and use of the Plan B emergency contraceptive," the brief stated.

Burke is facing a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole or death, and the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office has not announced whether it intends to pursue the death penalty.

District Attorney Nathan Hochman alleged that Burke killed 14-year-old Rivas on April 23, 2025, dismembered her, leaving her remains in two separate bags later found in the trunk of his impounded Tesla that September. Burke notably allegedly cut off her ring finger, which bore a tattoo of his name .

At the time, Rivas was a "witness" to a separate investigation into the "lewd and lascivious sexual acts" allegedly committed by Burke while she was under the age of 14, Hochman said.

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Burke has pleaded not guilty and is being held in custody ahead of his trial. His attorneys, Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter, said in a statement following his arrest that he "was not the cause" of the girl's death, adding they plan to “vigorously defend David's innocence.”

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