D4vd exchanged multiple text messages with Celeste Rivas Hernandez regarding an abortion she allegedly had in January 2024, when she was only 13 years old and the singer was an adult, according to cell phone records shared by prosecutors Friday.
The messages were extracted from a phone found in the singer’s home along with a trove of alleged child sex abuse material. The singer, born David Anthony Burke, is accused of murdering Rivas on April 23, 2025, after she allegedly threatened to go public with the abuse. (Burke has denied the allegations.)
Testifying as the last witness at a hearing that will determine whether Burke’s case proceeds to trial, LAPD Detective Corey Farrell read the text messages aloud from the witness box and described dozens of images depicting Burke’s alleged sex abuse of the girl. The photos, depicting multiple sex acts at Burke’s residence, were too sensitive to show on the courtroom screen, the prosecutor said.
During a description of one photo allegedly showing penetration, Rivas’ mother, Mercedes Martínez, began to cry. Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman walked over to comfort Martínez, telling her, “I really think this is stuff you don’t need to hear. I just think it’s too much.” Martínez then got up and walked out of the courtroom with Jesus Rivas, the teen’s father.
Text messages showed that Rivas repeatedly told Burke she feared she was pregnant. The earliest such message presented in court was from late November 2023, around the time prosecutors allege Burke began a sexual relationship with her.
“Currently [manifesting] my period bc I refuse to have kids,” Rivas wrote. Burke allegedly replied, “did you miss your date,” and urged her to begin tracking her menstrual cycle with an app. “I just need to make sure ur on top of ur shit,” he allegedly wrote.
According to Farrell’s testimony, Rivas got an abortion in early January 2024. In the days before the procedure, Rivas allegedly texted Burke, “Both of us aren’t able to take care of it.” Burke allegedly replied, “you’re sm [so much] stronger than me baby lmao” and “I love you.” Editor’s picks The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century
A few moments later, he allegedly wrote, “also my mother told me to ask this question… It is mine right?”
Rivas replied: “Of course it’s yours David.”
Burke’s messages with Rivas could be sexually explicit and controlling. Hers were at times affectionate, but often distressed. In one exchange on June 11, 2024, Burke allegedly wrote, “I can’t wait to move in together without the cops bitchin.” He promised to take Rivas out every day, and she replied that she missed him deeply. A few hours later, he said he wanted to gather her documents so they could “dip out the country n get married in Italy.”
Soon afterward, Rivas wrote that she feared she might be pregnant again. “I don’t like this,” she said, asking, “what if the first abortion didn’t work.”
Burke allegedly replied, “You would have a baby bump lmao you have hella periods since then, what you smoking.” He added, “nah first baby gone.”
Later tha…