A preliminary hearing unfolding in a Los Angeles courtroom has laid bare damning text message exchanges that link rising TikTok singer D4vd — whose legal name is David Anthony Burke — to the pregnant 14-year-old he is accused of murdering, exposing a years-long pattern of alleged abuse that preceded the teen’s death. The chilling communications, presented by prosecutors this week, offer unflinching insight into the dynamics between Burke, now 21, and victim Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose remains were discovered last September hidden in the trunk of Burke’s Tesla, one day after she would have marked her 15th birthday. The hearing’s core purpose is to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to order Burke to stand trial for the killing.
According to testimony from law enforcement and iCloud data recovered from Burke’s iPhone, the text exchanges lay out that Celeste became pregnant when she was 13, when Burke was already 19, and underwent an abortion before her death. In a message sent to Burke in June 2024, Celeste asked, “What [if] the first abortion didn’t work?” Five months earlier, in January 2024, Burke had apologized to the teen for “putting her through this,” court records show. Celeste responded that neither of them was prepared to care for a child, writing, “neither of us are capable of watching and taking care of the baby. it’s for the best no?”
In a line that underscores his awareness of the situation, Burke asked Celeste to confirm the pregnancy was his, writing, “also my mother always told me to ask this question if I was ever in this situation … it is mine right?” Celeste replied affirmatively, per detective testimony. Months later, Burke texted a comment that hints at ongoing contact, writing: “Let’s let this abortion be the last one til we have the real one…”
Prosecutors have advanced the theory that Burke murdered Celeste after she threatened to expose his long-term sexual abuse of a minor, a move that would have destroyed his burgeoning music career. Burke has entered a plea of not guilty to all charges, which include murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child, and mutilation of human remains.
The recovered iCloud data pushes the start of the pair’s inappropriate contact back even further than prosecutors initially alleged: messages date to August 8, 2022, when Celeste was just 11 years old and Burke was 17. Prosecutors and Los Angeles Police Detective Corey Farell also confirmed Friday that Burke’s iPhone contained explicit photos of Celeste taken during the period of alleged abuse. When details of these graphic images were read aloud in court, Celeste’s mother, Mercedes Rivas Hernandez, became visibly overwhelmed with emotion and left the courtroom alongside her husband.
Burke catapulted to mainstream fame after his tracks *Romantic Homicide* and *Here With Me* went viral on TikTok, launching him on a planned worldwide tour that was immediately scrapped after Celeste’s remains were found in September 2025. Following the discovery, Burke withdrew almost entirely from public life and social media, and he was formally arrested by authorities in April 2026. Celeste had been reported missing by her family months earlier, after she was last seen at Burke’s Hollywood Hills home on April 3, 2025 — five months before her remains were uncovered. Prosecutors note the pair first connected online when Celeste was 11, with the alleged sexual abuse beginning two years later, when she turned 13 and Burke was 18.