Lake Elsinore mourns teenage girl amid mystery

Last year, she disappeared over Valentine's Day.

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KIMI GILLENWATER visits a memorial in Lake Elsinore for Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who was found dead in a car at an L.A. tow yard.

(Photographs by GINA FERAZZI Los Angeles Times)

It was the first of many episodes of her running away from home, something that brought tensions in her household and worry in her community.

According to Riverside County Sheriff's Department records, Celeste was reported missing three times by her family, in three incidents that occurred in early 2024 and sparked multiple calls with local police.

Her mother made emotional pleas on Facebook for her to come home. Neighborssawmissing posts onlocal streets. Her family sought video surveillance from their neighborhood that could yield clues.

She usually returned home to Lake Elsinore and blended back into her life as amiddle schooler.

Then in early September, the Los Angeles Police Department announced her decomposing body had been found inside the trunk of a Tesla owned by singer D4vd. The vehicle was found parked on a street in an upscale Hollywood Hills neighborhood where 20-year-old D4vd, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, was renting a home.

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office said Celeste was declared dead on Sept. 8, one day afterher birthday. But authorities believe she had been dead for weeks before she was discovered and probably did not see her 15th birthday.

Police are now trying to connect her life in sleepy Lake Elsinore to her deathin one of Los Angeles’ celebrity-studded neighborhoods. And they are seeking to understand any connections between Celeste and D4vd.

Law enforcement sources said detectives are reviewing videos that appear to show her alongside D4vd. They have also obtained some photos of them apparently together, according to the sources, who were not authorized to discuss the details of the case publicly.