What if a hacker just cracked open the vault to a pop star’s darkest secrets? One leaked message could end it all: ‘I did it… she had to go.’ The confession no one wanted to believe.
Deep in a private Discord server, whispers turned to screams—exposing a trail of grooming, rage, and a chilling admission that ties a rising icon to unthinkable horror. As fans reel and investigators pounce, the truth bubbles up from the digital depths, begging: How far does the cover-up go?
Dive into the leaked chaos and what it means for justice. Read the full exposé:
In a stunning escalation of the homicide probe gripping the music industry, the private Discord server of singer D4vd was reportedly hacked late Tuesday night, unleashing a torrent of leaked messages that investigators are now poring over for potential confessions tied to the death of 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. The breach, which sources describe as a sophisticated phishing attack on server moderators, has flooded social media with screenshots alleging everything from graphic grooming discussions to a direct admission of violence against the teen whose decomposed remains were found in the artist’s Tesla last month.
The hack comes amid mounting pressure on David Anthony Burke, the 20-year-old known as D4vd, whose meteoric rise from TikTok sensation to Interscope Records signee has been derailed by the September 8 discovery of Rivas’s body in the front trunk of his black Tesla Model 3. Registered in Texas but abandoned on a Hollywood Hills side street, the vehicle yielded a grim scene: Rivas’s partial remains—her head and torso, wrapped in black trash bags amid crumpled fast-food wrappers and tour flyers—after a foul odor alerted impound lot workers. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office pegged her time of death at several months prior, with preliminary findings pointing to blunt force trauma and possible dismemberment, though toxicology results remain pending.
Word of the Discord breach broke around 10 p.m. PT on September 30, when anonymous accounts on X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit began posting zipped archives of over 3.7 million chat logs from D4vd’s official server, a 46,000-member hub for fans, collaborators, and the artist himself. The server, branded as “d4vd’s closet” and accessible via a public invite link, had long been a semi-private enclave where Burke shared unreleased tracks, hosted Q&As, and bonded with superfans. But according to cybersecurity experts consulted by this outlet, the intrusion exploited weak moderator credentials, granting hackers full admin access for nearly 12 hours before the server was taken offline.
Among the deluge of files—spanning from 2022 to just weeks before the body’s discovery—the most incendiary are private direct messages (DMs) purportedly between Burke and Rivas, dated as early as October 2022 when she was just 11 years old. Screenshots circulating on platforms like X show exchanges laced with affection that quickly veer into explicit territory: Burke allegedly writing, “You’re my little secret, Celeste. No one else gets this,” followed by descriptions of clandestine meetups in Lake Elsinore, her hometown. One thread from March 2024, when Rivas was 13 and already reported missing by her family, reportedly has Burke instructing her to “lie about your age in the server—say 18 so no one asks questions.”
But it’s a cluster of messages from late July 2024 that has law enforcement buzzing. In a voice note timestamped July 28—amid reports of Rivas attempting to distance herself from Burke’s circle—a user ID linked to the artist allegedly confesses: “I did it. She wouldn’t listen, kept threatening to tell. It had to end like this… wrapped her up tight, no mess in the Hills house.” The 45-second audio, shared via a now-deleted Imgur link on Reddit’s r/popculturechat, features a voice matching Burke’s Brooklyn-inflected drawl from Twitch streams, per forensic audio analysts speaking off the record. Accompanying text chats reference “the trunk drop” and “bribing the drive”—allusions, sources say, to the Tesla’s impoundment and payments to associates for silence.
Rivas’s mother, Maria Hernandez, who first spoke out last week in a tearful ABC7 interview, confirmed the DMs’ authenticity based on timestamps and emojis her daughter favored—a yellow heart and anime stickers. “These aren’t fakes,” Hernandez told this reporter via phone from her Riverside County home, her voice cracking over the line. “Celeste saved everything on her old phone. She told her best friend about the rapes—two men, including David. They tortured her when she tried to leave. This ‘confession’? It’s him admitting he ended her life because she wouldn’t stay quiet.” Hernandez, a supermarket cashier raising two other children alone, has seen the GoFundMe for her daughter’s memorial swell past $200,000, with donors citing the leaks as a “turning point for justice.”
The leaks paint a damning portrait of complicity within Burke’s inner circle. Server logs show moderators—many teenage superfans—discussing Rivas’s “special role” as early as 2023, with one chat from August 2024 pleading for a “song about our missing Celeste” just days before her 14th birthday. Another thread reveals alleged bribes: “$500 Venmo hits to keep quiet about the Lake trips,” with usernames tied to Burke’s security detail and tour crew. A former mod, posting anonymously on X under the handle @DiscordLeak2025, claimed ignorance of Rivas’s age: “We thought she was 18 from her profile. D4vd handled the privates.” But skeptics point to a now-locked subreddit where Burke was accused of solo-moderating, scrubbing critical posts about Rivas’s disappearance.
Burke’s legal team, led by celebrity attorney Blair Berk, fired back in a statement to Variety: “These so-called leaks are unverified fabrications from malicious actors seeking clout. Mr. Burke remains fully cooperative with the LAPD and has no knowledge of any ‘confession.’ He mourns Celeste deeply and prays for her family’s healing.” The artist, who canceled his entire U.S. tour leg on September 19 citing “personal turmoil,” has gone radio silent on socials, his last post—a cryptic black square—drawing 1.2 million views and #JusticeForCeleste tags.
LAPD sources confirm the department’s cybercrimes unit is authenticating the files, subpoenaing Discord Inc. for originals as of early Wednesday. “We’re treating this as a potential break in the case,” one detective told Fox News, noting luminol traces from a September 18 raid on Burke’s $4.1 million Doheny Drive rental that tested positive for blood in trace amounts. The search also netted hard drives with deleted gore videos—content echoing Burke’s admitted fascination, per resurfaced clips where he praised “real-life Romantic Homicides.” Matching “Shhh…” tattoos on Rivas’s right index finger and Burke’s hand, confirmed by autopsy photos, further bind them.
Public fury has reached fever pitch. On X, posts like one from @ERAOFMONE—”his team, that Discord server, and his friends all knew… they all must rot”—garnered over 68,000 likes, amplifying calls for accessory charges. Streamers like Pokimane and xQc, once collaborators, distanced themselves in live reactions, with Ludwig tweeting, “If even half this is real, it’s over.” Rivas’s brother, Matthew, 18, told NBC: “She drew stars in her notebooks, dreamed of art school. Not this nightmare. The leaks? They’re her voice now.”
Experts warn of the leaks’ double edge. “Hacks like this contaminate evidence chains,” said digital forensics prof Dr. Elena Vasquez of USC. “But the volume—millions of messages—makes denial tough.” Broader implications loom for the creator economy: Discord’s role in youth predation, with Rivas’s case echoing warnings from child safety groups about unmonitored fan servers. Burke’s label, Darkroom/Interscope, suspended promo for his April album Withered, whose tracks like “One More Time”—a blood-drenched anime murder tale—now face boycotts.
As dawn broke over L.A. on October 1, Hernandez lit a candle at a makeshift memorial outside the impound lot, whispering, “You fought, mija. Now we finish it.” The hack’s fallout could rewrite the narrative—from suspected groomer to confessed killer—or unravel as digital smoke. For Rivas, a girl who sketched escape in stolen moments, the server that ensnared her may yet deliver reckoning. LAPD vows swift action; the internet, unfiltered outrage. In Hollywood’s underbelly, where likes mask horrors, one leak might just shatter the silence.