The case surrounding the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez has spiraled from a local tragedy into one of the most profoundly disturbing mysteries Los Angeles has seen in years. Weeks after her body was discovered inside a Tesla, a vehicle tied to musician David (D4vd), every new update from investigators has only made the situation more twisted, culminating in a medical examiner’s report that offers no clear answers—only terrifying new questions. The official cause of death remains deferred, but the report carries a single, chilling phrase that confirms the darkest suspicion: someone intentionally hid her body.

This is not a typical Hollywood scandal. This is a story of concealment, missed opportunities, and a web of age-related lies that has cast a shadow of deep suspicion over the prominent figure whose car became Celeste’s final resting place.

The Eerie Silence of a Parked Car

The discovery of Celeste’s body inside the 2023 Tesla Model Y, which was registered to David, was initially shocking enough. But the details surrounding its recovery are nothing short of crushing. LAPD Commander Scott Williams confirmed that the car had been sitting in the exact same spot on an LA street for weeks. This means it is “very possible” Celeste had been dead that entire time before anyone found her.

Imagine the scene: a quiet LA street, a sleek, expensive vehicle sitting still, collecting dust, while a young life lay hidden within. During this agonizing period, Celeste’s family was enduring the heartache of a missing person’s case, praying for her safe return. That image—a car parked on a seemingly ordinary street concealing an extraordinary tragedy—speaks volumes about the failure to notice something profoundly wrong.

The discovery was not due to a concerned neighbor or an official missing person’s search. It was a mundane bureaucratic detail that ultimately broke the case: parking enforcement tagged the vehicle for towing. That single, tiny action is what led to the tragic unmasking of the grim reality, highlighting a painful series of missed chances that might have occurred over those agonizing weeks.

The Medical Examiner’s Shock: Cause of Death Deferred

The most unsettling revelation came from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office. After the autopsy, Celeste’s official cause of death was marked as deferred. While this sounds like a technicality, its implication is enormous. It means that the doctors, after completing their physical examination, could not definitively figure out how she died. Something about their findings did not line up with prevailing theories, forcing them to pause the investigation until the toxicology results come in—a waiting game that is often considered a huge red flag in sensitive cases.

However, the report did confirm one vital detail that shut down the most explosive online rumors: Celeste was not pregnant. This detail instantly provided a small measure of truth, striking down the wild, speculative stories that were already twisting her name.

Despite the deferred cause of death, the LAPD released a statement through Complex that contained the most chilling indictment of the entire case: her death was “By beyond the concealment of her body.” This haunting phrase, even without officially labeling the case a homicide, confirms that foul play was involved. Someone knew Celeste was gone and, instead of calling for help or notifying authorities, made a calculated decision to hide her, choosing silence over responsibility.

The Suspect, The Tesla, and The Blood Evidence

Though the LAPD continues to maintain that David is not officially a suspect, his ties to the case are impossible to ignore. His name is on the registration of the Tesla where Celeste’s body was found, and the car was parked outside a property linked to him in the Hollywood Hills.

The investigation escalated dramatically when police entered that Hollywood Hills home, specifically testing for blood evidence. This action speaks volumes; when law enforcement reaches this level of forensic scrutiny, it means they already suspect a violent act occurred inside the residence. They are not merely chasing rumors; they are seeking solid proof to connect the location, the car, and the victim. The results of those forensic tests remain confidential, keeping the world on edge. If the blood evidence found in the house matches the evidence found in the car, the entire case will shatter and flip upside down.

Adding to the circumstantial evidence is the eerie detail surrounding the Tesla’s technology. The 2023 Model Y relies entirely on an app rather than a traditional key. Eerily, the Tesla app is designed to send an automatic push notification if the trunk stays open for more than ten minutes. This raises a disturbing possibility: if someone was loading Celeste into that trunk, David, if he was using the app, could have received a direct alert on his phone. While he may have been using a key card or had notifications turned off, the fact remains that a technological alarm system existed that could have provided a moment of truth, yet the car remained abandoned for weeks.

The Web of Lies and the Battered Car

The mystery deepened with the surfacing of shocking information regarding Celeste’s age. Friends who were part of David’s social circle and who had partied with the pair told TMZ they straight up believed Celeste was his girlfriend and assumed she was older—around 19, perhaps a USC student. When the news broke about her real, younger age, the entire narrative froze. The instant shift meant that the case now carried the weight of a potentially illegal relationship dynamic, a concern that sources indicate may have driven a panic to conceal the body in the first place.

Further complicating the crime scene is the condition of the Tesla itself. Private investigator Steve Fiser, who has been closely following the case, noted that the car was not just dusty or worn—it looked like it had been through a brutal ordeal. He described the wheel wells as “torn up” and the body coated in dirt, with “huge dents in the back.” The car, he concluded, looked like it had been “off-road in the desert or something.” This strongly suggests that the final location on that quiet LA street was not where the car had spent the whole time, nor was it the location of the initial event. This detail introduces a terrifying new chapter: where did that battered Tesla go, and what violent path did it travel before it was abandoned?

A History of Running and A Family’s Nightmare

Behind the sensational headlines and the forensic chaos, Celeste was a young woman who, according to a former classmate, was struggling. He described her as kind and thoughtful, but clearly unhappy at home, often joking about running away or just disappearing. In the days before the tragedy, this kind of talk might have been dismissed as typical teen frustration. Looking back, however, the words feel like a desperate cry for help.

TMZ reported that Celeste had, in fact, run away from home more than once in 2024. Security footage from a liquor store near her Lake Senor home captured her walking alone early one March morning, confirming she was not just talking about leaving—she meant it. It suggests that Celeste was trying to escape something long before she ever crossed paths with the tragedy that ultimately found her. She was not chasing fame or chaos; she was likely searching for peace, which is the one thing this story has never contained.

For Celeste’s family, the nightmare has been protracted. They endured the heartache of waiting nearly two weeks for her body to be released from the medical examiner’s office due to the ongoing investigation. On October 6th, she was finally laid to rest at the Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Roland Heights, California. The funeral was a quiet, intimate service—a moment of somber, heart-wrenching peace for a family trying to make sense of a reality that still does not feel real, far from the flashing cameras and the online chaos.

The case has even been subject to further disruption: days after the story broke, David’s Texas home was targeted by a devastating swatting incident—a false 911 call reporting gunshots and a screaming woman. Officers rushed in only to find eerie silence, realizing the call was a malicious fake, someone deliberately trying to keep the storm alive and potentially endanger another family in the process.

Now, with the investigation barely hanging together, all attention is fixed on the toxicology report. That final analysis holds the power to finally expose the truth about how Celeste Rivas Hernandez died and, by extension, to whom the official label of “concealment of body” should be applied. If the findings confirm even half of the evidence that insiders are whispering about, the silence surrounding the key person of interest will be utterly indefensible. The truth is still buried, waiting only for the final, conclusive report to bring it to light.