Daniel Silva: What to Know About the ‘Ink Master’ Star

Daniel Silva, the Ink Masters star arrested in the death of YouTube vlogger Corey La Barrie Monday, made headlines as an internationally-known tattoo artist. He was in the midst of a meteoric rise to fame before the tragic crash that killed La Barrie and landed Silva with a murder charge.

Silva, 26, was driving a new McLaren sports car in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Valley Village Sunday night when he lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a stop sign and a tree, police told BuzzFeed News. He exited the car and tried to flee the scene, but a witness stopped him, Detective Arvin Buenaventura told the outlet. When the Los Angeles Fire Department arrived at the scene of the crash, they took both Silva and La Barrie to the hospital, where the YouTube star would die due to his injuries. As of Monday evening, Medical personal were still treating Silva at the hospital, but TMZ confirmed police had arrested him on a murder charge with bail set at $200,000.

Silva first broke into tattooing after serving a year in jail at age 20 for selling cocaine and marijuana, according to the Gilroy Dispatch. Coming out of jail, Silva told the newspaper he knew he wanted to tattoo, saving up for a machine by working in retail while sleeping on friends’ couches and studying the craft on YouTube.

“The trade is super hard to get into,” he told the newspaper in 2018. “You can’t learn it in school. It’s one of those trades where you have to know someone to learn it. For me, it wasn’t not a normal thing. I just taught myself studying YouTube videos. Every tattoo I did, I tried to better myself.”

With just three years of experience, Silva skyrocketed to the top of the industry, competing on the 10th season of Ink Master, where he placed seventh out of 17 of the best artists in the business. He later appeared on the spinoff series Ink Master: Angels, and has since premiered a YouTube channel where he shows off his art and discusses the industry with other professionals.

After La Barrie’s death, friends, family and fans are remembering the YouTube star. His mother, Lissa Harrison Burton, shared an emotional message about the loss of her son on Instagram. “My heart breaks right now, on my sons [sic] 25 birthday today he was very drunk and got into a car with a drunk driver,” she wrote. “The accident killed him instantly. No words can describe the sadness I feel in loosening a child. It just feels so unreal, and I’m overwhelmed with grief. I love you so much Corey and will miss you so so much. It’s just so unfair.”