LOS ANGELES — Text messages between singer D4vd and Celeste Rivas Hernandez shown in court Friday indicate she had gotten pregnant and had an abortion more than a year before she was killed.
In the exchange in early January 2024, D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, apologizes for “putting her through this.”
“It’s okay,” she said in a text, “neither of us are capable of watching and taking care of the baby. it’s for the best no?”
He apologizes again before asking if it’s his, and she replies “of course it’s yours.”
The testimony came during a preliminary hearing where a judge will decide if Burke should go on trial in Rivas Hernandez’s killing. Prosecutors are seeking to prove Burke began sexually abusing Rivas Hernandez when she was 13 and he was 18, then stabbed her to death when she threatened to reveal their long sexual history and crater his career.
They allege he dismembered the body in his garage, and a police analyst testified in the preliminary hearing that samples pulled from apparent blood stains there matched the DNA of Rivas Hernandez. Rivas Hernandez’s body was discovered in a Tesla towed from the Hollywood Hills in September, nearly five months after authorities said Rivas Hernandez was killed.
Burke has pleaded not guilty to murder, sexual abuse of a child and mutilation of a body, and his lawyers have said he is innocent.
Prosecutors spent part of Friday afternoon detailing the nature of the relationship between Burke and Rivas Hernandez, showing graphic, sexual photos of the two of them.
The images were recovered from his iPhone that was seized during a search of his home. The text message conversations taken from his iCloud account often discussed contraception and pregnancy, and in early January 2024, they discuss her having an abortion.
As the images and text messages were discussed in court, Rivas Hernandez’s mother began crying and her father looked down as the detective began describing the photos. Less explicit photos of the couple kissing and lying in bed together had been shown on a screen.
Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman came over to comfort the mother, Mercedes Martinez, and the couple got up and left the courtroom.
Autopsy doctor details results of exam
Earlier in the day, the doctor who performed the autopsy on 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez gave the difficult details of her death.
Much of what Dr. Grant Ho of the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner said on the stand was already known: She had been killed by two sharp force wounds to her upper body and her dismembered, decomposing body was found in the trunk of a Tesla.
But the details he shared of what the autopsy showed – and tellingly, what it was unable to determine because of how degraded her body was when it was found – were part of what made Friday’s proceedings perhaps the most difficult so far.
The defense seized on the uncertainties to suggest there might have been other causes of death, including an overdose or self-inflicted injuries.
Autopsy conclusions were hard to reach
Ho testified that he could not say when the death occurred – one of many challenges brought on by the body’s degradation.
“It’s extremely difficult to tell,” Ho said.
He said she had been dead for “at least weeks,” later adding that it also could have been months. Authorities believe she was killed in April 2025; her body was discovered last September.
Rivas Hernandez was found the day after she would have turned 15.
“She didn’t make it to her 15th birthday, correct?” Silverman asked. “Correct,” Ho replied.
Ho said there were many “skin defects” that could have been postmortem, but the two he identified as potential stab wounds had related internal trauma. One wound on the abdomen penetrated her liver. Another, on the left chest, damaged her ribs.
Ho said, “it would take minutes, at least,” for someone to lose enough blood to die from the injuries. The prosecution has asserted in a court filing that Burke “stood by while she bled out.” When pressed, he said it could have potentially taken an hour, but wouldn’t commit to that.
Defense seizes on inconclusive drug test
He testified that toxicology tests, done only on her liver because no blood was available, showed a low level of alcohol that may have been caused postmortem by bacteria. He said the tests initially showed positives for benzodiazepines – medications typically used for anxiety – and methamphetamine. He said with further testing the benzodiazepine was negative. The methamphetamine was inconclusive, and as a result Ho said “I cannot say that it played any role in the death.”
Burke’s attorney, Marilyn Bednarski, asked if decomposition could affect the accuracy of drug test results, and Ho agreed it could.
“In the toxicology report there is not enough information to support an overdose death, correct?” Bednarski asked. Ho said she was correct.
Bednarski asked if it helps in an autopsy examination to talk to the friends and family of the deceased about their life – if they had a mental health issue, were suicidal, were a frequent drug user or were violent.
Ho answered “potentially” to each of those but said there were no such conversations in this case.
Ho said he could not tell if there had been a struggle before death, or where the wounds came from.
“You can’t rule out that she was holding an instrument that caused either of those wounds?” Bednarski asked.
Ho said self-inflicted injuries usually include surrounding superficial “hesitation marks” – and those were not found – but otherwise he could not say.
Burke’s music career was on the rise
Financial witnesses have testified that Burke’s music had earned him at least $10 million between 2023 and 2025.
Under the name D4vd (pronounced “David”), he began writing and recording songs for YouTube videos he created of the video game Fortnite as a teen.
The music was a blend of indie rock, R&B and lo-fi pop and made him a phenomenon on TikTok, Soundcloud and Spotify, where his top songs, including his 2022 breakthrough “Romantic Homicide,” have more than a billion plays.
In 2023, he released two EPs and opened for SZA on tour. Last year, he performed at the Coachella music festival and released a full album that he was on tour promoting when the body was discovered.
