D4vd’s Brother Caleb Denies Cover-Up Claims

Caleb Burke has had enough of the speculation — and he’s saying so publicly.

D4vd’s younger brother took to his Instagram Story Thursday to push back against social media users who have accused him of helping cover for his brother, the singer born David Anthony Burke, who was arrested April 16 and charged with first-degree murder with special circumstances, sexual abuse of a child under 14, and mutilation of human remains in connection with the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas.

“I’ve seen people say that I knew what was going on and was protecting my brother. This is not true at all,” Caleb wrote in the lengthy post.

He explained that he’s largely stayed quiet because the case is an “ongoing legal matter,” but felt he could no longer sit on the sidelines while accusations about his own conduct kept circulating. Caleb said he hasn’t lived with D4vd in years and that the two were never particularly close — crossing paths mainly during family visits or when he’d stop by tour dates.

Addressing the Backstage Video

One specific allegation Caleb went out of his way to address: a backstage video that’s been making rounds online, with some users claiming it shows him sneaking Celeste into one of D4vd’s concerts. He denied it flatly. According to Caleb, Celeste was already at the show when the clip was filmed, and the footage was captured after the concert had ended — the two were simply walking back after grabbing something from a fan near the stage.

He also said he was around Celeste only a handful of times, when he was 15, and insisted he “did not know her age.”

As for where he stands on the charges themselves — Caleb had already made that fairly clear. Back on April 25, just five days after D4vd was officially charged on April 20, he posted to his Instagram Story: “All pedefiles [sic] and rapists should die. Period.” D4vd has pleaded not guilty.

In Thursday’s statement, Caleb was direct: “I don’t want to make this horrible situation about me. I want justice for Celeste and her family.”

A Music Launch at the Worst Possible Moment

The statement comes at a complicated time for Caleb, who recently launched his own music career under the stage name Kova — opening social media accounts as Cara Kova and releasing two songs, “Imaginary Love” and “S*x,” on Spotify and Apple Music. Spotify credits him as artist, songwriter, composer, producer, and engineer. The music draws stylistic comparisons to D4vd’s sound — dreamy, emotionally-driven, built for streaming — and Caleb has previously performed live alongside his older brother and once went by the stage name Cvleb, a nod to D4vd’s own stylized branding.

Back in 2024, Caleb was featured in a short Spotify documentary about D4vd, speaking about life with his famous sibling. Now, the sibling association cuts very differently.

The timing has not gone unnoticed. On X, fans reacted with a mix of disbelief and suspicion.

“Whole family tone-deaf as hell…. Dude really saw his sibling facing murder charges and dropped sex songs!!” one user wrote. Another posted simply: “ain’t no way bro needs to take a step back and lay low.” Others were more pointed: “Is he trying to garner attention off his brother?” and “it is interesting timing to launch a whole music career right when D4VD’s case is trending.”

It’s a brutal position to be in — trying to step out of a famous sibling’s shadow at the exact moment that shadow has turned into something much darker. And Caleb’s attempt to distance himself from the case is complicated by the fact that he was previously summoned to appear before the grand jury investigating Celeste’s murder, though prosecutors were ultimately unable to get him to testify.

D4vd was dropped by Interscope Records amid the investigation, and has a preliminary hearing scheduled later this month. Celeste Rivas was 14 years old when her body was found decomposing in the trunk of D4vd’s Tesla. Her family has set up a GoFundMe to help cover costs in the wake of her death.

Caleb ended his statement the way he began it — not with a defense of his brother, but with a plea for something bigger: justice for Celeste.