Image source, AFP via Getty ImagesTexts between singer D4vd and Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the 14-year-old he is accused of murdering, reveal she had been pregnant and had had an abortion before her death.
The messages were shown during a hearing for a judge to determine if the singer, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke, should go on trial for the teen’s death last year.
“What [if] the first abortion didn’t work?” Celeste texted Burke in June 2024, according to prosecutors. She was 13 years old at the time and he was 19.
Prosecutors say Burke killed her after she threatened to reveal he had been abusing a minor and destroy his career. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering and sexually abusing the girl.
In an exchange from January 2024, Burke apologised to the teen for “putting her through this”, according to messages shown in the Los Angeles court on Friday.
She responded, “neither of us are capable of watching and taking care of the baby. it’s for the best no?”
Burke asked, “also my mother always told me to ask this question if I was ever in this situation … it is mine right?”
Celeste replied “of course its yours David”, according to testimony from a detective.
The court heard that in another text to Celeste, sent in June 2024, Burke wrote: “Let’s let this abortion be the last one til we have the real one…”
Prosecutors presented iCloud data recovered from the defendant’s iPhone, showing texts between him and Celeste dating back to 8 August 2022, when she was 11 years old and Burke was 17.
D4vd, who rose to fame on TikTok with the viral hits Romantic Homicide and Here With Me, was on tour when police found Celeste’s body in the front truck of his Tesla in September 2025 – the day after she would have turned 15.
His worldwide tour was cancelled and he largely retreated from public life and social media.
Police announced his arrest in April this year.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman filed seven criminal charges against him, including murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child and the mutilation of remains.
They said the teen was reported missing by her family and was last seen at Burke’s Hollywood Hills home on 3 April 2025 – five months before her remains were discovered in the Tesla.
Prosecutors have said he met Celeste online when she was 11, and allege he started sexually abusing her when she was 13 and he was 18.
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