Warning: This article contains information which some readers may find distressing.
Police say Celeste Rivas Hernandez became pregnant at 13 and underwent an abortion a year before she was killed.
D4vd is accused in connection with the teenager’s death and is alleged to have been involved in a sexually abusive relationship with her.
At a preliminary hearing in Los Angeles on Thursday (July 24), prosecutors laid out disturbing details tied to the case.
The hearing is one part of a weeklong legal process in which a judge is deciding whether there is enough evidence for D4vd, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke, to stand trial on charges including murder, sexual abuse of a child and mutilation of a body. He has pleaded not guilty and his attorneys have said he intends to fight the allegations.
According to the LA Times, evidence presented in court included dozens of text messages and photos recovered from the singer’s cellphone that investigators say indicate the 21-year-old got Celeste pregnant and persuaded her to terminate the pregnancy.
Prosecutors said this allegedly occurred about a year before Celeste’s dismembered body was discovered in the back of a Tesla registered to D4vd, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke.
Earlier testimony in the hearing also centered on forensic evidence prosecutors say links Celeste to Burke’s Hollywood Hills home and Tesla, including blood stains and other samples investigators described as matching her DNA.
Los Angeles Police Detective Corey Farell and Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman presented hundreds of photographs and messages exchanged between November 2023 and March 2025, which they said documented sexual contact between D4vd and Celeste as well as conversations about pregnancy concerns.
Investigators believe the abortion took place in January 2024.
One message shown in court reportedly had D4vd asking Celeste when she was going to get ‘it’ (her abortion) done. She replied saying ‘two days’.
D4vd then asked:
“also my mother always told me to ask this question if I was ever in this situation … it is mine right?”
Celeste responded that it was ‘of course’ his.
Police also told the court they found close to 50 images allegedly showing Celeste nude or depicting the pair involved in sexual acts.
Further evidence presented at the hearing included testimony that bloodstains found in the garage of D4vd’s Hollywood home strongly matched Celeste’s DNA.
Samples were collected from a rubber floor mat, a rowing machine and a Tesla charger in the garage, and LA police criminalist Samantha Tosch testified that they matched the 14-year-old.
The material was introduced during the third day of the preliminary hearing in Los Angeles, where a judge is deciding whether D4vd should face trial on allegations including murder, sexual abuse of a child and mutilation of a body.
He has pleaded not guilty, and his attorneys have said they intend to fight the charges.
Prosecutors have not yet said whether they will seek the death penalty, and the case remains in its early pretrial stage as witnesses continue to be examined.