Celeste Rivas (full name often reported as Celeste Rivas Hernandez) was officially reported missing on April 5, 2024, out of Lake Elsinore, California. Her body was later found and identified in mid‑September 2025 in a Tesla in Los Angeles, meaning she was missing for roughly 17 months before being located.

Quick timeline

  • February 15, 2024: First missing‑person report for Celeste is filed.
  • April 5, 2024: Final/most‑cited missing‑person report is made; this is the date most outlets use when they say she “went missing.”
  • May 2024: Last confirmed phone contact with her family.
  • September 8, 2025: Medical examiner lists her date of death as this day, with the place of death as a vehicle.
  • Mid‑September 2025 (around Sept. 17): Authorities notify Riverside County that a body found in a vehicle has been identified as Celeste.

So how long was she missing?

There are two common ways people frame it:

  • From the main missing‑person report (April 5, 2024) to identification of her body (mid‑September 2025): about a year and five months , often described in news coverage as “nearly a year” or “over a year” missing.
  • From her last confirmed family contact (May 2024) to identification (mid‑September 2025): also about 16–17 months.

Because media and official statements anchor on the April 5, 2024 report date, it’s most accurate in everyday language to say that Celeste Rivas was missing for around a year and a half before she was found.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.