A preliminary hearing Friday exposed mounting friction between singer D4vd and 14-year-old Celeste Rivas during the final weeks before her death last April, with prosecutors presenting text message exchanges that showed the teenager attempting to sever their in-person relationship.
Prosecutors displayed text messages spanning from August 2022 through March 2025, approximately one month before Rivas was killed and dismembered. The messages revealed a relationship marked by increasing conflict and the victim's efforts to establish distance from the defendant.
In the March 2025 exchange, Rivas informed D4vd that she wished to limit any future contact to online communication only. "I don't want anything to do w u in person anymore," the teenager wrote, according to TMZ.com. The singer responded by criticizing her attempt to set boundaries, stating, "Yeah the boundary setting is terrible," TMZ.com reported.
Rivas replied, "It's not even that, D, a lot more than just that," TMZ.com reported.
Beyond the text messages, prosecutors presented numerous photographs depicting Rivas engaged in sexual acts with the defendant. The graphic nature of the images prompted court officials to suggest that Rivas's parents leave the courtroom, which they did shortly thereafter.
Prosecutors also disclosed that during the alleged illegal sexual relationship, the young teenager became pregnant and subsequently had an abortion.
D4vd faces murder charges in connection with Rivas's death. Prosecutors allege the singer killed her because she threatened to expose their illegal sexual relationship. The defendant has entered a plea of not guilty to the charges.