Singer D4vd has been charged with murder over the death of a 14-year-old girl whose dismembered and decomposed body was found in September in his apparently abandoned Tesla, prosecutors say.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office on Monday (early Tuesday AEST) said the 21-year-old D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, was charged with first-degree murder; lewd and lascivious acts with an individual under 14; and mutilating a body over the killing of Celeste Rivas Hernandez.

She was reported missing by her family in 2024, when she was 13. Authorities say she was 14 when she died.

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The murder charges included special circumstances — lying in wait, committing crime for financial gain and murdering the witness in an investigation — that could carry the death penalty. Prosecutors haven't announced whether they will seek it.

Attorneys for the Houston-born alt-pop singer said he was innocent in a statement released after homicide detectives arrested him on Thursday at a home in Hollywood.

"Let us be clear — the actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez and he was not the cause of her death," the lawyers said.

The long-dead body of Rivas Hernandez was found inside a Tesla that was towed from the Hollywood Hills on September 8, one day after she would have turned 15. Her family had reported her missing from her hometown of Lake Elsinore, about 110 kilometres south-east of Los Angeles.

Authorities did not publicly name Burke as a suspect until his arrest. His lawyers' statement last week, in which said they "will vigorously defend David's innocence", was the first time they weighed in publicly.

The singer had been under investigation by an LA County grand jury looking into the death. The probe was officially secret, but its existence — and his designation as its target — was revealed in February when his mother, father and brother objected in a Texas court to subpoenas demanding they testify.

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The 2023 Tesla Model Y was registered in the singer's name at the Texas address of his subpoenaed family members, according to court filings from prosecutors. It had been towed from an upscale Hollywood Hills neighbourhood where it had been sitting as though it was abandoned.

Police investigators searching the Tesla in a tow yard found a cadaver bag "covered with insects and a strong odour of decay", court documents said. Detectives partially unzipped a bag and found a head and torso.

Investigators from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office removed the bag and "discovered the arms and legs had been severed from the body", according to court documents.

A second black bag was found under the first, and dismembered body parts were inside it. No cause of death has been publicly revealed, and police got a judge to block the release details of the autopsy.

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On Friday, the medical examiner told The Associated Press the court order remained in place after Burke's arrest, and suggested to ask the police whether they would ask to lift it.

The family of Rivas Hernandez has remained private and has not made any public statements on her death or the case.

D4vd, pronounced "David", gained popularity among Gen Z for his blend of indie rock, R&B and lo-fi pop. He went viral on TikTok in 2022 with the hit Romantic Homicide, which peaked at No.4 four on Billboard's Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart.

He then signed with Darkroom and Interscope Records and released his debut EP Petals to Thorns and a follow-up, The Lost Petals, in 2023.

When the body was discovered, the singer continued his North American tour, but when reports of his possible involvement spread widely, he cancelled the final two shows and a European tour that was to follow.

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Former champion footballer Barry Cable has been found not guilty of a slew of historical child sexual abuse accusations.

The 82-year-old faced a judge-only criminal trial over allegations he abused a girl aged about eight or nine at his family home in the late 1960s.

The former Australian Rules player returned to the Western Australian District Court in Perth today for Judge Michael Bowden's verdict more than a month after the trial ended.

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Prosecutors alleged Cable abused the girl at his family home when she was staying with him and his wife, Helen, for about a month.

The alleged victim told the trial Cable treated her well at first.

"He was loving towards me like an uncle … then things changed," she said while giving evidence in March.

"He started touching my body."

The abuse allegedly involved penetrative sex on multiple occasions when the former North Melbourne player's wife was asleep.

The woman reported the alleged abuse to police in 2023 when she spotted Cable on television, telling the court during the trial that it had "brought back memories of what he had done to me".

All told, Cable denied five counts of indecent dealing with a girl aged under 13 and two counts of unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under 13 between December 31, 1966 and December 31, 1969.

A civil trial in the same court in 2023 found Cable abused a girl over five years from 1968 when she was aged 12.

The victim was awarded $818,700 in damages.

The civil trial judge said there was compelling evidence the former footballer had violated other children.

Cable, who repeatedly attempted to have the civil case proceedings permanently thrown out and did not attend the trial, denied the abuse.

He was later stripped of his Australian Football Hall of Fame honours following an illustrious playing career in the 1960s and '70s for Perth and East Perth in the WAFL and North Melbourne in the VFL, going on to coach in both leagues.

He has been dumped from the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, and the West Australian Football Commission revoked the former champion's Hall of Fame membership, including his Legend status.

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