Singer d4vd allegedly fathered child with 13-year-old Celeste Rivas before abortion, text messages presented at murder hearing

Text messages presented at a Los Angeles preliminary hearing allege that indie-pop singer d4vd fathered a child with 13-year-old Celeste Rivas months before prosecutors say he stabbed her to death to protect his music career.

Prosecutors in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom presented the messages Thursday as part of a growing body of evidence against David Anthony Burke, the 21-year-old musician known as d4vd, who faces charges of first-degree murder, child sexual abuse, and body mutilation in connection with Rivas' death. Burke has pleaded not guilty to all charges. His defense attorneys have maintained his innocence.

The messages, allegedly exchanged between Burke and Rivas on January 8 and 9, 2024, describe a pregnancy and its termination. Burke was 18 at the time. Rivas was 13. Prosecutors allege their sexual relationship began in November 2023 and that Burke first met Rivas when she was just 11 years old.

In one exchange from January 8, Burke allegedly wrote:

"I'm sorry again baby i didnt want to ever put you through this."

Rivas allegedly responded: "No its ok. Don't worry both of us are able to take care of it." She later added: "I love you more my love. Its ok though neither of us are capable of watching the baby."

Burke then allegedly asked when she would "get it done." Rivas answered: "Two days." Messages from the following day, January 9, were characterized by prosecutors as suggesting the abortion had been completed.

Burke's mother allegedly knew about the pregnancy

One of the most striking exchanges involved Burke's mother. Burke allegedly wrote to Rivas: "My mom said I have to ask this question, don't get offended, but is it mine?" Rivas replied: "Of course it is David."

The message raises an unavoidable question prosecutors have not yet publicly answered: what Burke's mother knew about her adult son's relationship with a 13-year-old girl, and when she knew it. The preliminary hearing, which began Tuesday and is expected to last between four and nine days, may shed more light on that question.

Prosecutors say the text messages were among the digital evidence recovered from Burke's iPhone 15. Investigators who testified at the hearing said the phone contained photos, videos, financial records, and communications involving Rivas. They also said the device held what they identified as child sexual abuse material involving an underage victim.

The case against Burke is part of a broader national pattern of violent crimes against children that has drawn increased law enforcement attention, including the DOJ's Operation Iron Pursuit, which arrested 350 child sex offenders and located over 200 victims in a single month earlier this year.

Prosecutors allege Burke killed Rivas to save his music career

Authorities allege Burke killed Rivas on April 23, 2025, after she threatened to expose their relationship. Prosecutors say he feared the scandal would destroy his music career and interfere with the release of his debut album, "Withered," which was set to drop two days later. Investigators allege Burke called an Uber to bring Rivas from Lake Elsinore, California, roughly 80 miles southeast of Los Angeles, to his Hollywood Hills home, where he stabbed her to death.

Rivas had been repeatedly reported missing as a runaway from Lake Elsinore during the period of the alleged relationship. She was 14 at the time of her death.

What prosecutors describe as a calculated cover-up followed the killing. They detailed alleged purchases made through Amazon under an alias: two chainsaws, heavy-duty body bags, a burn cage, and a blue inflatable pool. Authorities said blue plastic fragments later recovered from Rivas' remains were matched by experts to that inflatable pool.

Prosecutors further allege Burke removed Rivas' left ring finger and left pinky finger, fingers that were never recovered, in an effort to destroy a tattoo of his name on her hand. They say the tattoo matched one on Burke's own finger bearing the name "Celeste."

Cases involving the murder of children continue to draw national attention and public outrage. A Texas jury recently sentenced a former FedEx driver to death for killing seven-year-old Athena Strand, reflecting the gravity juries place on crimes against the most vulnerable victims.

Rivas' remains spent months in a Tesla before discovery

Burke's Tesla Model X sat abandoned on a Hollywood Hills street for more than a month while he was away on tour. The vehicle was eventually towed to a local yard, where workers and detectives discovered Rivas' remains on September 8, 2025, roughly four and a half months after the alleged killing. Her body was found inside the vehicle's front trunk, sealed in a cadaver bag. Decomposition was so severe that the medical examiner required dental records to confirm her identity.

An autopsy ruled Rivas' death a homicide caused by penetrating wounds to her upper body, including injuries to her liver and ribs. LA County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Odey C. Ukpo emphasized the findings, as Newsmax reported:

"It's so important for us to release the information that she did not die from something natural, she did not die from drugs, she was stabbed."

DNA evidence presented at the hearing further tied the crime to Burke's property. An LAPD criminalist, Samantha Tosch, testified that blood stains found on a rubber floor mat, a rowing machine, and a Tesla charger inside Burke's Hollywood garage matched Rivas. Tosch described the match as one septillion times more likely to have originated from Rivas than from anyone else in the population.

Burke's defense attorney, Blair Berk, challenged the DNA testimony. Under cross-examination, Tosch acknowledged: "I cannot with any certainty say that they came from blood." Defense attorneys also questioned why more extensive DNA testing was not performed on the chainsaws and the vehicle itself.

The broader question of how the justice system handles violent sexual offenders remains a live political issue. Some state officials have faced scrutiny for weakening protections, including an Iowa lawmaker who refused to explain her vote to weaken the state's sex offender registry.

A 13-year-old girl, an adult celebrity, and a system that missed every warning

Prosecutors have described their case as resting on "a mountain of forensic and digital evidence." But the text messages introduced Thursday add a dimension that goes beyond forensics. They paint a picture of a 13-year-old girl navigating a pregnancy with an adult man, telling him not to worry, reassuring him she loved him, and handling the aftermath largely on her own.

Burke was arrested in April 2026, nearly a year after Rivas was allegedly killed. He was charged with first-degree murder, child sexual abuse, and body mutilation. The preliminary hearing will determine whether a judge finds sufficient evidence to send the case to trial.

Rivas was reported missing as a runaway multiple times during the period of the alleged relationship. Each report was a signal. Each one went unanswered in time. The debate over how aggressively institutions should protect children from predators, including whether elected officials take those crimes seriously enough, is not abstract. Celeste Rivas' case is what the failure looks like up close.

An 11-year-old girl met a man who became famous. By 13, prosecutors say, she was pregnant by him. By 14, she was dead. Every system that existed to protect her arrived too late, or never arrived at all.