On September 10, 2026, the family of Celeste Rivas Hernandez filed a civil lawsuit against David Anthony Burke, the 21-year-old musician known professionally as D4vd, according to ABC News.

The complaint alleges wrongful death, fatal stabbing, sexual battery, childhood assault, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress and human trafficking, among many other claims.

The filing came roughly seven weeks after a judge ruled on July 27, 2026, following five days of at-times graphic preliminary hearing testimony, that D4vd will stand trial on charges of murder, continuous sexual abuse and unlawfully mutilating a body.

The civil case runs parallel to the criminal prosecution, in which he has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail.

The suit is notable because it arrives while the criminal case is still pretrial, letting the family pursue accountability on their own timeline regardless of how the murder trial unfolds.

Civil claims such as human trafficking and childhood assault also reach conduct the criminal complaint frames differently, and they carry a lower burden of proof. The filing caps a rapid sequence of late-summer changes in the case.

On August 31, 2026, D4vd's private legal representation was granted a withdrawal and he is now represented by a public defender, entering a renewed not guilty plea at his post-preliminary arraignment, ABC News reports.

For devoted case followers, the defense shake-up plus a family turning to civil court marks a striking shift in the case's shape before trial even begins.

Prosecutors allege D4vd and Rivas Hernandez met when she was 11, and that he began sexually abusing her when she was 13, per the timeline ABC News published. She was last seen alive on April 23, 2025, the day prosecutors say her cellular activity ceased and he killed her 'by means of lying in wait.'

Her dismembered remains were found September 8, 2025 in the trunk of a Tesla registered to him at a Hollywood impound lot. The medical examiner's April 22, 2026 report found she died of multiple penetrating injuries, ruling the manner of death homicide.

Prosecutors allege he killed her for financial gain to protect a career she threatened to expose.

D4vd's attorneys maintain his innocence, saying the actual evidence will show he did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez and was not the cause of her death, while his parents say they support and stand by him one hundred percent.

His family's statement has been reported by both ABC News and 6abc Philadelphia. The Rivas Hernandez family, meanwhile, has said in a statement that Celeste was a beautiful, strong girl who loved to sing and dance, and that all they want is justice for Celeste.

With a public defender now leading the defense, a trial ordered after the preliminary hearing, and the civil suit pending, the case heads toward a jury trial with parallel civil proceedings likely to shape discovery and public attention in the months ahead.