Prosecutors on Monday gave a detailed account of the last night of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, showing that after a series of text messages with singer D4vd, her phone went permanently silent when she arrived at his home in Los Angeles.
Text Messages Revealed in Court
The texts were shown in court on the fifth and likely final day of a Los Angeles hearing to determine whether D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, will go to trial in her killing. As she neared his Hollywood home shortly after 10 a.m. on April 23, 2025, in an Uber he had sent to pick her up, she sent her final text: “girly pop i’m almost there open ur door if ur home.”
Prosecutors allege D4vd stabbed her to death when she came through the door. The night before, the two argued via text about his relationship with a woman. She sent him an angry and profane text saying she will tell her dad so many lies about him and “i will end ur career and ur life.”
Investigation and Evidence
Detective Corey Farrell of the Los Angeles Police Department, under questioning from the prosecution, read the texts that were obtained from warrants on Burke’s iPhone and iCloud accounts. The hearing will end with a decision from Judge Charlaine Olmedo on whether to put the 21-year-old Burke on trial on charges of murder, sexual abuse of a child under 14, and mutilation of a body.
He has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers have said he didn’t cause her death. Defense attorneys established that no witnesses saw and no cameras captured Rivas Hernandez entering the house or Burke being at the house in the time frame prosecutors say she was killed.
The defense showed several other texts from Rivas Hernandez threatening him about their relationship, and saying she would go to Burke’s mother, talk to his friends, and “leak” information about them. Under questioning from defense attorney Blair Berk, Farrell said he saw no indication that she ever threatened to go to police or pursue any legal action against him.
Original reporting: WTVQ (Lexington) — read the source article.
