Hollywood Producer Charged with Killing Model and Her Friend
Hollywood producer David Brian Pearce and actor Brandt Walter Osborn were hit with charges related to the November deaths of a model and her friend.
Pearce was slapped with two counts of murder, and two counts of sale, transport and furnishing of a controlled substance, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said in a Tuesday news release.
Osborn faces two counts of accessory after the fact, the news release stated.
Pearce previously faced multiple counts of sexual assault that he allegedly carried out against seven victims over the course of 13 years, the district attorney’s office said.
The charges Gascón’s office announced Tuesday were related to the overdose deaths of 24-year-old model and aspiring actress Christy Giles and her architect friend 26-year-old Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola.
#BREAKING: Two men are being charged in connection with the murders of Christy Giles and Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola, close to eight months after they were dumped outside two Los Angeles-area hospitals. #ChristyGiles pic.twitter.com/d8UKKVsAqf
— Danielle Radin (@danielleradin) July 5, 2022
The district attorney’s office said that Pearce and Osborn’s arraignment is scheduled for Monday in Department 30 of the Foltz Criminal Justice Center.
Police arrested Pearce in December after Giles and Cabrales-Arzola were found dumped near hospitals after they had overdosed on drugs in Pearce’s townhouse. Pearce was initially apprehended for the sexual assault charges.
The two ladies were last seen at an East Los Angeles warehouse party, the outlet reported. Police believe they went to Pearce’s townhouse after the party, according to CBS News, where they were given drugs they overdosed on.
Giles had already lost her life when she was found near Southern California Hospital in Culver City. According to CBS News, Cabrales-Arzola was located near Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Hospital, where she remained unconscious for 11 days until her death.
“I recognize that these charges are a small consolation to the friends and family members of Ms. Arzola and Ms. Giles,” Gascón said in the Tuesday news release.
“I’m sure that they want to know what happened to their loved ones and why. Today we are one step closer in the search for that truth.”
“And although we know nothing can bring these daughters and friends back to us, I promise that my office will do everything in its power to hold those that harmed them accountable,” Gascón added.
Pearce’s defense attorney Jacob Glucksman told the New York Post that he believed his client was held with “weak evidence” against him.
“All the allegations, including the new charges, are based on extremely weak evidence,” Glucksman told the Post.
“The DA’s office is prosecuting under the premise of ‘Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.’ The problem is, they haven’t yet located any fire,” he added.
“There can never be true justice for the death of Christy and Marcela,” Jan Cilliers, Giles’ husband, told the Post. “Nothing will ever bring them back, and their deaths will affect the rest of our lives.
“The best we can hope for now is that the full truth comes out and that they are put away for the maximum amount of time so they can no longer hurt anyone else.”
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