Text messages presented in a Los Angeles court on Friday, July 24, 2026, reveal that 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez was pregnant and had an abortion a year before she was killed. Musician David Anthony Burke, professionally known as D4vd, has pleaded not guilty to murder, child sexual abuse, and mutilation.
Text Messages Detail Pregnancy and Abortion Preceding Teen’s Death
Text message exchanges shown in court during a preliminary hearing indicate that Celeste Rivas Hernandez had gotten pregnant at age 13 and had an abortion more than a year before her death. The evidence, recovered from iCloud data tied to an iPhone seized from the defendant, outlines a relationship between the musician and the teenager.
In early January 2024, text conversations between the two addressed a pregnancy. Burke apologized for putting her through the experience, to which Rivas Hernandez responded that neither of them was capable of caring for a baby. When Burke asked whether the child was his, she replied in a text confirming paternity. Additional messages from June 2024 show the teenager texting him about whether a prior procedure had worked, while Burke suggested that particular abortion should be the last until they had a real family later.
“It’s okay, neither of us are capable of watching and taking care of the baby. it’s for the best no?”
Celeste Rivas Hernandez, via Associated Press
The Prosecution Case and Preliminary Hearing Testimony
Prosecutors in Los Angeles are seeking to prove that Burke began sexually abusing Rivas Hernandez when she was 13 and he was 18, and that he subsequently stabbed her to death when she threatened to expose their history and ruin his career. The ongoing preliminary hearing, presided over by a judge deciding whether the case moves forward to trial, has detailed the nature of their interactions through digital media, photographs, and forensic evidence.
During Friday’s proceedings, Los Angeles Police Detective Corey Farrell described more than three dozen photographs recovered from the defendant’s seized phone that depicted explicit sexual abuse. Additional images displayed in court showed the two kissing, along with evidence that the teenager had the name David
tattooed in red ink on a finger—one of two fingers that had been cut off by the time her remains were discovered.
Investigators testified that DNA samples pulled from apparent bloodstains in Burke’s Hollywood Hills home and garage matched the DNA of Rivas Hernandez.
Autopsy Uncertainties and Discovery of the Remains
The remains of Rivas Hernandez were found on September 8, 2025—the day after she would have turned 15—stuffed inside the front trunk of a Tesla registered to Burke that had been towed from the Hollywood Hills. Dr. Grant Ho of the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner testified that the teenager died from two sharp force wounds to her upper body.
However, due to the severe degradation of the body, Dr. Ho told the court it was extremely difficult to tell
precisely when the death occurred, estimating that she had been dead for at least weeks or potentially months. Defense lawyers seized upon this uncertainty during cross-examination to question the timeline of events.
Charges, Legal Defense, and Next Steps
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman has filed seven criminal charges against Burke, including murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child, and the mutilation of remains. Burke, who gained viral fame on TikTok with songs like Romantic Homicide
and Here With Me,
has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is currently being held without bail.
Testimony in the preliminary hearing is scheduled to resume on Monday for what is expected to be its final day before the judge rules on whether to send the case to trial.
