Model and Friend Dumped at L.A. Hospitals Died in ‘Homicides’ Linked to Fentanyl, Coroner Says

UPDATE (4/6/2022): Instagram model Christy Giles, 24, and her friend Hilda Marcela Cabrales Arzola both had fentanyl in their systems when their bodies were dumped at separate hospitals in Los Angeles amid suspected homicides last November, final autopsy reports obtained by Rolling Stone confirm.

Cabrales’ initial toxicology screening based on blood extracted at a hospital while she was fighting for her life on a ventilator hours after she was abandoned Nov. 13 returned a “presumptive positive for fentanyl” as well as cocaine and MDMA, the report released Wednesday by the Los Angeles County Coroner revealed. A follow-up test to confirm the level of fentanyl “couldn’t be performed due to insufficient specimen volume,” the report said. Cabrales was removed from life support and died Nov. 24.

Giles’ final autopsy report determined she died Nov. 13 from an overdose involving cocaine, fentanyl, ketamine and the so-called “date rape drug” gamma-hydroxybutyrate acid, also known as GHB.

Los Angeles Police Department detectives told a coroner investigator that a suspect “provided drugs” to Giles and Cabrales and failed to call 911 when the friends become unresponsive. Instead, the suspect “took his time to remove his license plate from his car” before he and another suspect drove them separately to the different hospitals and “dumped their bodies,” the reports said.

“One of the males told a security guard the two men observed (Giles) wandering around the neighborhood” and wanted to make sure she got help, the new reports reveal.

Three men were arrested in connection with the case in December. A spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office tells Rolling Stone that a charging decision in the case is pending “further investigation.”

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UPDATE 12/17/2021: One of the three men arrested in connection with the November 2021 deaths of Instagram model Christy Giles and her friend Hilda Cabrales Arzola was charged Friday with sexually assaulting four other women in alleged attacks dating as far back to 2010, the Los Angeles County District Attorney announced.

David Brian Pearce was charged with two counts of forcible rape, one count of rape of an unconscious person and one count of sexual penetration by a foreign object, prosecutors said.

He allegedly raped one of the victims in February 2019 and two other women in separate incidents last year. The earliest alleged sexual assault took place in August 2010, the DA’s office said.

Prosecutors did not comment Friday on the status of their charging decision related to claims by Los Angeles Police that Pearce was involved in the drugging and overdose deaths of Giles and Cabrales Arzola, two friends whose bodies were dumped outside Los Angeles hospitals by masked men.

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Originally published 12/16/2021

A wannabe actor from Staten Island is among three suspects arrested in connection with the deaths of two women whose unconscious bodies were callously ditched outside Los Angeles hospitals by masked assailants last month, Los Angeles Police said Thursday.

Investigators say Instagram model Christy Giles, 24, and her friend Hilda Marcela Cabrales Arzola, 26, “were given drugs and overdosed” at a residence in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood of Los Angeles on Nov. 13 before at least two of the suspects abandoned them outside hospitals two miles apart.

David Pearce, 37, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of manslaughter with his bail set at $1 million, police said. Michael Ansbach, 47, and D-list actor Brandt Osborn, 42, were booked on suspicion of being accessories to manslaughter, police said.

According to investigators, Giles was dumped outside Southern California Hospital in Culver City on Nov. 13 by men traveling in a Toyota Prius with no plates. A short time later, Cabrales Arzola was deserted at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles while she was “unconscious and in very critical condition,” police said.

Giles was declared dead at the hospital that day, while Cabrales Arzola clung to life until Nov. 24, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner.

Giles’ husband, Jan Cilliers, tells Rolling Stone he’s still waiting for more answers but feels “a little bit of a relief” over the arrests. “This is not a point where I can relax, but it’s a good start if the people who did this are off the street and not able to harm any other women,” he says. “Some people just don’t care about anybody else’s life or well-being. I can’t imagine these guys have much care for anyone besides themselves.”

Cilliers, 41, says his wife and Cabrales Arzola went out together the night of Nov. 12 and may have been lured back to Pearce’s residence under false pretenses: “They were just out at a dance party having a good time, and I guess these guys had been telling people at the event that they worked for [Australian EDM group] Rüfüs Du Sol. I don’t know for a fact how they convinced the girls to go with them, but maybe they were told they were going to Rüfüs Du Sol’s afterparty. The end result is that they ended up at these guys’ place.” (A rep for the group confirmed to Rolling Stone that none of the accused were affiliated with the band.)

Cilliers says his wife’s phone records show that shortly after she and Cabrales Arzola arrived at the residence on the 8600 block of Olympic Boulevard, his wife texted her friend saying she wanted to leave.

“Christy texted her, ‘Let’s go,’ with a wide-eyes emoji,” Cilliers tells Rolling Stone. “Hilda replied, ‘Yes, calling an Uber now.’ This was about 5:30 a.m. That was the last communication either of them sent.” He believes the women were somehow “stopped from leaving.”

“I’m not sure if they were drugged or restrained,” Cilliers says, “but the end result is they’re dead. They never made it out.”

The devastated husband says Giles’ “lifeless” body was left on a sidewalk outside the first hospital around 5 p.m. that day, nearly 12 hours after she sent her last text. He said Cabrales Arzola was dumped about two hours later around 7 p.m.

Cilliers calls his wife a beautiful spirit who was the “light in any room.”

“I know it’s cliché to say that, but she was very present and the biggest fighter for her friends,” he says. “She would never have left any of her friends behind. That’s why we feel she was there with these guys. She didn’t want to leave her friend alone. She was very loyal and very fun-loving. And unfortunately, she got taken advantage of.”

Police said on Thursday they’re “concerned that there could be other victims in our community who could have been drugged by one or more of these men.”

A GoFundMe set up by Cilliers is being used to cover the costs of a private investigator and private autopsies for the two women, he says. The formal causes of death for both women are pending toxicology testing and further investigation, officials said.

Osborn’s IMDb bio says he worked as an intern on The Howard Stern Show and had a bit part on Nurse Jackie in 2014. Also in 2014, he posted a photo on his Facebook account showing him with an arm flung around a seemingly uncomfortable and unsmiling Paris Hilton in what appears to be a public setting.

Cilliers says he was told that Osborn was arrested Wednesday on the set of a production where he was working. Cilliers couldn’t confirm the name of the show.