Court Hears Texts Between d4vd and Celeste Rivas Hernandez on Abortion, Coercion

Text messages read aloud in a Los Angeles courtroom Friday detailed conversations between singer d4vd and Celeste Rivas Hernandez about an abortion she obtained in January 2024, when she was 13. The testimony came during a hearing that will determine whether the murder case against the artist, born David Anthony Burke, moves forward.

LAPD Detective Corey Farrell, the final witness, extracted the exchanges from a phone recovered at Burke’s home along with what prosecutors allege is child sex abuse material. The messages show Rivas repeatedly telling Burke she feared she was pregnant. In late November 2023, around the time prosecutors say the sexual relationship began, she wrote: “Currently [manifesting] my period bc I refuse to have kids.” Burke urged her to track her cycle with an app, adding, “I just need to make sure ur on top of ur shit.”

Days before the abortion, Rivas texted, “Both of us aren’t able to take care of it.” Burke replied, “you’re sm stronger than me baby lmao” and “I love you.” Moments later, he asked, “also my mother told me to ask this question… It is mine right?” Rivas responded, “Of course it’s yours David.”

The communications also included discussions of marriage and leaving the country. In June 2024, Burke wrote about gathering her documents to “dip out the country n get married in Italy.” Later exchanges show Rivas worried she might be pregnant again, to which Burke allegedly responded, “nah first baby gone.”

Prosecutors displayed dozens of images depicting alleged abuse but did not show them in open court due to their sensitivity. Rivas’s mother left the courtroom in tears after a description of one image. Burke has denied the allegations. He is accused of murdering Rivas on April 23, 2025, after she allegedly threatened to go public with the abuse. The judge will rule on whether the case proceeds to trial.