In a key update to the murder case involving musician D4vd, prosecutors revealed that teenager Celeste Rivas Hernandez was not pregnant at the time of her death in April 2025.
Sources close to the Los Angeles County District Attorney on Wednesday told the Daily Mail that prosecutors ‘don’t believe she was pregnant at the time she was killed,’ adding that ‘her body’ had been in ‘a state of decomposition.’
The reveal came after an April 2026 addendum in the death certificate stated it had been ‘unknown’ whether Rivas had been expecting a child in the year before she was killed, People reported. The area of the death certificate had previously said ‘no’ prior to the adjustment.
D4vd, whose full name is David Anthony Burke, has entered pleas of not guilty to Rivas’ murder, and charges of child sex abuse and mutilation in connection with her death.
Prosecutors alleged in a news release Monday that the musical artist, 21, had murdered Rivas, 14, on April 23, 2025 ‘because he feared their illicit sexual relationship would ruin his aspiring career.’
The Daily Mail has reached out to legal representatives for D4vd for further comment on the story, but has yet to hear back.
In a key update to the murder case involving musician D4vd, prosecutors revealed that teenager Celeste Rivas Hernandez was not pregnant at the time of her death in April 2025
D4vd is accused of fatally stabbing Rivas, then using a chainsaw to dismember her remains in an inflatable pool he had in a garage of a home in the Hollywood Hills he had been living at, according to prosecutors.
The remains of Rivas had been found in a Tesla that had been registered to Burke on September 8, 2025, prosecutors said, adding that ‘small, blue plastic fragments’ from the inflatable pool had been found embedded in the victim’s remains.
The latest in the case comes after D4vd had been ordered to stand trial in Rivas’ murder following a preliminary hearing in which prosecutors presented text messages that alluded to Rivas being pregnant and getting an abortion a year prior to her killing.
LAPD Detective Corey Farell said that records from D4vd’s phone alluded to a 2023 pregnancy and January 2024 abortion, with Rivas telling him, ‘Of course it’s yours David.’
Farell told the court that D4vd subsequently inquired with Rivas about her medical appointment and commented that he felt as if he’d been ‘waiting for test results.’
The detective said that the phone also contained images of child sexual abuse material involving Rivas that prosecutors did not present in the hearing, due to their graphic nature.
Amid testimony from Farell, Rivas’ mother Mercedes Martinez wept as she walked out of the courtroom with the slain teen’s father Jesus Rivas.
Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman said, ‘This is too much, I know how hard this is.’
Prosecutors said in a news release Monday that the musical artist, 21, had murdered Rivas on April 23, 2025 ‘because he feared their illicit sexual relationship would ruin his aspiring career’
The musician pictured in Japan in May of 2025
Testimony presented from Farell in the preliminary hearing Monday indicated that Rivas’ parents had signed a form on September 23, 2024 granting consent for Rivas to go to London with D4vd from September 24 to October 5, 2024, People reported.
D4vd had bought plane tickets via United Airlines for a trip to London, followed by a trip to Texas, where members of his family reside, Farell said.
Farell said that Rivas’ family knew about her link to the musician, and that in 2024, they had traveled to Las Vegas as well as Houston.
Patrick Steinfeld, an attorney for Rivas Hernandez’s family said after the hearing that they were ‘horrified that the defense attorneys brought up evidence to put the blame on a 14-year-old girl,’ according to the AP.
Los Angeles Judge Charlaine Olmedo subsequently said that enough evidence had been presented to proceed to trial. The judge ordered that D4vd remain in custody with no bail, with an arraignment slated for August 31.
Prosecutors argued that the evidence to proceed to a trial was overwhelming.
‘Based on the mountains of evidence presented,’ Silverman said, ‘all of the allegations have been proved way beyond the standard required.’
Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman said outside court that prosecutors presented only a ‘small fraction’ of the evidence they have.
They are still weighing whether to seek the death penalty. D4vd is eligible for it after Judge Olmedo also found probable cause for lying in wait, killing for financial gain and killing a potential witness. These are special circumstances in a crime that would allow prosecutors to pursue the death sentence, if D4vd is found guilty.
