LAPD opens homicide probe after remains found in singer’s Tesla
A Tesla registered to chart-topping artist D4vd sat on a Los Angeles street for more than three days. It was towed for violating the 72-hour parking rule, brought to a Hollywood police garage, and then a sickening smell led workers to open the trunk. Inside a bag, they found human remains.
The discovery on Monday afternoon triggered a full review by the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division, the unit that handles the city’s most serious and sensitive cases. The 2023 Tesla—registered in Hempstead, Texas to the 20-year-old musician, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke—had been impounded last Friday by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation after being tagged as abandoned on a public street.
Once the vehicle reached the police facility in Hollywood, garage staff reported a strong odor and checked the trunk. What they found was a decomposing body. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner said the victim is a woman, severely decomposed, which makes it hard to determine age or ethnicity at this stage.
Even so, investigators released key identifiers in hopes of speeding up a match. The woman is about 5 feet 1, with wavy black hair. She was wearing a tube top, black leggings, a yellow metal bracelet, and small metal stud earrings. One detail stands out: a tattoo on the right index finger that reads "Shhh..."—the kind of specific marker that can help connect the case to a missing-person report or a family’s description.
Police notified Burke, who is on his "Withered" world tour and performed in Minneapolis on Tuesday night. LAPD sources say the artist owns several cars and that multiple people may have access to them. Detectives have not named any suspects and have not arrested Burke. Officials also haven’t formally labeled the death a homicide yet, but the Robbery-Homicide Division’s involvement underscores how seriously they are treating it.
The timeline matters. According to city rules, vehicles left in the same spot on a public street for over 72 hours can be cited and towed. Once LADOT impounded the Tesla on Friday, it was taken to a police garage. Staff there, following safety steps that kick in when a vehicle emits a strong odor or appears unsafe, opened the trunk on Monday and found the remains. That chain—from street, to tow, to discovery—gives detectives a starting point to reconstruct where the car had been and who had access to it.
Identification could take time. In cases where a body is badly decomposed, the Medical Examiner leans on fingerprints if possible, dental records if available, and ultimately DNA. Toxicology—which can reveal drug exposure, poison, or other clues—usually takes weeks. Establishing cause of death is crucial. A bullet wound or blunt-force trauma would point one way; a lack of obvious trauma might suggest suffocation, overdose, or other scenarios. For now, investigators are keeping their cards close.
What investigators are focusing on—and the fallout
Detectives will pull every thread a modern car offers. Late-model Teslas maintain detailed logs, and many owners use Sentry Mode, which can record video when the vehicle senses motion. If those features were active, they could show who approached the car, when the trunk was opened, or where the car traveled. Even without onboard footage, license plate readers, neighborhood security cameras, and city traffic cams can help build a timeline.
They’ll also track the paper trail: parking citations, tow records, and the precise location where the car sat for days. Expect a push to collect phone location data, ride-share receipts, and surveillance footage from nearby homes and businesses. A simple question drives the work: when was the victim placed in the trunk, and who was with the car before and after?
Police are also working to match the physical description to any recent missing-person reports. The tattoo reading "Shhh..." is rare enough to matter. Clothing and jewelry can help families recognize someone they haven’t heard from. If fingerprinting isn’t possible, DNA from the remains can be compared to relatives who come forward. That outreach usually ramps up once investigators release more specifics about where the car was parked and for how long.
Burke, who built a massive audience on TikTok and streaming platforms with viral songs like "Romantic Homicide" and "Here With Me," has been cooperating with police, according to law enforcement sources. He has more than 33 million monthly listeners on Spotify and 3.6 million followers on TikTok. His "Withered" tour launched last month and is scheduled to stop in Los Angeles on September 20; as of midweek, no changes had been announced.
The commercial impact arrived fast. Footwear brand Crocs and apparel retailer Hollister said they’ve pulled marketing materials that feature the singer while the investigation unfolds. Brands often use what’s known as a morals clause in contracts, which lets them pause or end partnerships when a public controversy could damage reputation—even if no crime is alleged against the artist. In practice, companies tend to act quickly, then reassess once facts are clearer.
The case spotlights a common problem in big cities: vehicles left on public streets for days before anyone realizes something is seriously wrong. In Los Angeles, the 72-hour rule is meant to keep cars from becoming abandoned, blighted, or misused. Tow yards are accustomed to dealing with hazardous materials or contraband, but finding a body is rare and triggers a tightly controlled process to protect evidence. The discovery in Hollywood will likely prompt internal reviews of procedures at both LADOT and the police garage.
What’s still unknown looms large. Investigators haven’t said:
- Who last drove or had primary access to the Tesla before it was abandoned
- When and where the victim died
- How long the remains were in the trunk
- Whether video or telematics data captured critical moments
None of that stops the rumor mill, but LAPD officials have stayed measured. They have not accused Burke of a crime, and they’ve stressed that the case is active. In similar investigations, detectives typically wait for preliminary autopsy results before sharing more. That early read can shape search warrants, interviews, and the scope of evidence collection.
Families with missing loved ones don’t have to wait to reach out. The Medical Examiner’s office regularly fields calls and matches details—height, tattoos, jewelry—to open cases. If the "Shhh..." finger tattoo rings a bell for someone, that could be the break investigators need. Once the Medical Examiner confirms an identity, next of kin will be notified before the name is made public.
For fans, the story is jarring: a young artist on a world tour suddenly tied to a grim discovery far from the stage. For police, the path forward is methodical. Map the car’s movements. Verify who had keys or digital access. Check every camera. Let the science—autopsy, DNA, toxicology—speak. When those pieces line up, the narrative of what happened, and to whom, will get sharper.
Until then, detectives are piecing together the most basic questions in any death investigation: Who is the victim? How did she die? When did it happen? And how did her remains end up in a trunk of a car registered to a rising star?
