Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s dismembered remains were found in the front trunk of the singer’s impounded Tesla in September 2025
Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty; GoFundMe
NEED TO KNOW
- D4vd is accused of murdering 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez and dismembering her body in 2025
- Prosecutors allege the teenager threatened to expose their sexual relationship, which began when she was 13 and he was 18
- The singer is charged with multiple counts, including murder and unlawful mutilation of human remains, in connection with Rivas’ death
Text messages between D4vd and Celeste Rivas Hernandez shown in court discussed a pregnancy and abortion when she was 13.
“Both of us aren’t able to take care of it,” Rivas wrote in a Jan. 8, 2024, text to the singer, whose real name is David Anthony Burke.
“I know but still,” Burke responded.
The text messages between the two were shown in a Los Angeles Superior Court room on the fourth day of preliminary hearing testimony on Friday, July 24 for Burke, who is accused of killing the teen at his home in the Hollywood Hills on April 23, 2025.
Los Angeles Police Department robbery-homicide detective Corey Farell testified that Burke and Rivas exchanged multiple texts during their illegal sexual relationship about abortion, birth control, Plan B, the emergency contraceptive pill and breaking up.
More than 40 images of child sex abuse material involving Rivas were found on Burke’s iPhone as well as several photos of the two engaging in sexual activity, Farell testified.
During Farell’s testimony, Rivas’s mother, Mercedes Martinez, became visibly upset before she was encouraged by Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman to leave the courtroom.
“This is too much,” Silverman said. “I know how hard this is.”
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Prosecutors allege the two began communicating on August 8, 2022, when Rivas was 11 years old and began the sexual relationship in November 2023 when she was 13. Burke was 18 when they allegedly began their sexual relationship.
Prosecutors claim he killed Rivas on April 23, 2025, one day after the two got into an argument over his relationships with other women and just days before the release of his debut album.
On March 14, a month before her slaying, Rivas, 14, allegedly texted Burke that “we can be friends online and I don’t want to have anything to do with you in person anymore.”
“All we do is have sex and hang out man, I want more for myself, without a label too is insane,” she allegedly wrote.
“Yeah, boundry setting is terrible,” he allegedly responded.
“It’s not even that david. I want more than just that,” she replied.
Rivas’ remains were discovered in two bags in the front trunk of Burke’s Tesla, on Sept. 8, 2025, three days after his Tesla was impounded near his Hollywood Hills home.
Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times via Getty
Farell’s testimony came after Los Angeles County Deputy Medical Examiner Grant Ho testified that Rivas suffered two penetrating injuries — one to the right abdomen that injured her liver and the other to the left lower chest area of her body that damaged her ribs.
Ho said that due to the severe decomposition of her body it was impossible to tell what type of weapon was used in her death, which he ruled a homicide.
Ho, who performed the autopsy on the teen, said Rivas would have lived just minutes or potentially up to an hour after sustaining the injuries.
The teen’s left eye was missing and part of her head was skeletonized. He also said it was too difficult to tell when the girl died, though she had been dead for at least several weeks.
Prosecutors alleged that Burke dismembered and disposed of her body parts with items he bought online from Amazon and Home Depot including a shovel, three chainsaws, two “City Morgue” cadaver bags, two heavy-duty laundry bags and a “Tornado Spin” mop and bucket combo.
Burke has pleaded not guilty and is currently housed in a Los Angeles County jail.
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