A classroom video featuring a former teacher of Celeste Rivas Hernandez has begun circulating again online, drawing fresh attention to the early stages of the teenager’s connection with singer D4vd as the high-profile murder case against the artist continues.
In the footage, first reported in September 2025 shortly after Rivas’ remains were identified, an unidentified science teacher addresses his current students about the risks of social media. He identifies Rivas as a former pupil from his time teaching at Lakeland Village Middle School in Lake Elsinore, Calif., and recounts how she met the then-rising artist online.
“When I taught her, she met this dude on social media. He was a rapper in LA,” the teacher says in the clip. “He came and got her. She ran away from home. She was gone for, like, a month. The cops found her in Hollywood, brought her back to our school.”
He continues that Rivas later disappeared again around May 2024 and that her friends claimed the artist was being blackmailed. The teacher shows students a photo of himself with Rivas and notes that another former student of his appears in a separate image with D4vd near the Lake Elsinore area. He presents the story as a cautionary tale about online interactions.
Later versions of the recording that have recirculated in recent days include additional remarks that Rivas frequently spoke about D4vd in class and that the teacher had observed the singer picking her up from school on more than one occasion.
The teacher, who has since moved to a different Southern California school, confirmed the account to TMZ at the time the video first emerged. He described Rivas as frequently absent from class but said he knew little about her personal life. He shared the details solely as a warning about the dangers of social media.
Rivas, who was 14 at the time of her death, was found deceased on Sept. 8, 2025, inside the front trunk of a Tesla registered to David Anthony Burke, known professionally as D4vd. The singer has been charged with murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, and related counts. He has pleaded not guilty.
According to prosecutors, the two first connected in January 2022, when Rivas was 11 years old. Authorities allege a sexual relationship began in November 2023, when she was 13 and Burke was 18. Court filings and hearing testimony have referenced text messages and photographs that prosecutors say document the relationship, including discussions of pregnancy and an abortion in early 2024.
Rivas was reported missing multiple times by her family in early 2024. Prosecutors claim that after authorities informed Burke of her age and her parents took away her phone, he arranged for a new device to be delivered so they could maintain contact. They further allege she spent substantial time with him throughout 2024, including at his Hollywood Hills residence and on trips outside California.
The relationship reportedly soured in the months leading up to her death. On the night of April 22, 2025, according to prosecutors, Rivas texted threats to expose details about their relationship that would damage Burke’s career. Authorities allege he arranged for an Uber to bring her to his home the following evening, where she was killed.
At the time of the alleged events, D4vd was building momentum as a rising voice in alternative R&B and pop, with growing streaming numbers and festival appearances. The case has cast a long shadow over that trajectory.
Burke’s legal team has maintained his innocence and stated they will contest the allegations. The teacher’s video is not formal evidence, but its recirculation has once again focused public attention on the period when Rivas was still a middle school student and the adults who encountered her during those years.
The case remains ongoing.
