Christy Giles, 24, left, and Hilda Marcela Cabrales, 26, were two friends living in Los Angeles, California. Christy, a fashion model from Alabama who had studied interior design, met Hilda in 2021. Hilda was an architect and interior designer who just moved to Los Angeles from Mexico.
Christy’s’ “first love” was soccer “where she got to use her untamed aggression and insane ability to run for hours without stopping,” the obituary said. As a teenager, she was on an All-State team and ran track as well. Encouraged by her great-grandmother, who would often go shopping with Giles for fancy dress-up gowns, she also competed in local beauty pageants and won titles of Junior Miss and Miss Gardendale Magnolia Festival, and was a first-runner-up at Miss Alabama Teen USA.
When Giles was 14, she attended her first modeling casting and received callbacks from 11 of the 13 modeling agencies that participated in the search. Two years later, she left school and began to travel the world as a model for the Wilhelmina agency, which has represented such famous names as Anjelica Huston, Beverly Johnson and Patti Hansen.
“She loved modeling, but also loved meeting new people and experiencing different cultures,” the obituary said of Giles, who eventually moved to Los Angeles.
In 2019, when she was 21 years old, she met Cilliers, who works as a visual effects supervisor in Hollywood. After “a whirlwind romance,” the couple eloped at the Burning Man festival in Nevada in August of that year.
“Christy experienced love that was deep, vulnerable, and inspirational,” said the obituary. “Christy and Jan spent their days together traveling the world, cooking dinners in their kitchen and snuggling with their cats.”
The family told Eyewitness News the girls were dropped off outside of separate hospitals early Saturday, almost 12 hours after the text message exchange.
No messages were sent or checked after that, according to what Cilliers has found via iCloud.
They claim there’s video of a car without a license plate and men concealing their identities placing Giles at Southern California Hospital and Cabrales-Arzola at Kaiser Permanente hospital in West L.A.
“These men did something to subdue and keep my daughter in their apartment for 10 to 12 hours,” said the model’s mom.
Doctors told the family Giles was dead when she arrived.
Meanwhile, Cabrales-Arzola remains on life support.
“I feel devastated. I cry every day,” said Cabrales-Arzola’s father Luis Crabrales, who flew in from Mexico Sunday and has been by his daughter’s side ever since.
“Marcela’s toxicology report came back, and I guess they found heroin in her system, which is nothing that either of those girls would ever do, not voluntarily,” Cilliers said.
Cilliers and Giles shared their locations with each other for safety via their cellphones.
According to the friend who went home early, the two women met some men while at a party in downtown L.A. and ended up at a West L.A. apartment building.
The LAPD tells Eyewitness News the preliminary investigation reveals a possible overdose which turned fatal.
However, Cilliers and Giles’ mother suspect there was foul play and wants whoever the women met that night to be held accountable.
The LAPD West Bureau says its investigation is ongoing.
Officials concluded Giles’ autopsy, but the cause of death was deferred to a toxicology report, which could take weeks to be released.
Giles’ mom said she plans to fly to Los Angeles Saturday to attend a memorial for her daughter and said she’s determined to get answers.
“It means a lot to us that our daughter touched so many in her short but yet wonderful, extraordinary life,” she said.
Christy and Hilda went out together for a girls’ night on Nov. 12, 2021. It would be the last time their loved ones ever heard from them. Christy’s husband, Jan Cilliers, didn’t wait to look for clues to find his wife and her friend.
The two friends started their night at an art exhibit at the Soho House in West Hollywood, and later went to see one of their favorite DJs at a warehouse party in East Los Angeles.
The night they were killed
Christy had a typical Friday afternoon on the beach with her cat, Loki, said Jan Cilliers. She told Cilliers about her plans to go out with friends later that night. Christy also sent Cilliers videos and photos of her and their cat, as they watched the sunset. She texted Cilliers, “I wish you were here.” Cilliers told “48 Hours,” “I will forever wish that I was there, too.”
The rave
A video posted to social media showed Christy, pictured, and Hilda dancing in the VIP section at the warehouse party. They were accompanied by a third friend who left that party early.
A friend of the women told police that she saw Pearce give both Cabrales-Arzola and Giles what looked like cocaine. Footage from security cameras shows them leaving the rave with Pearce and two other men: actor Brandt Osborn and video producer Michael Ansbach. They drove to Pearce and Osborn’s apartment on Olympic Blvd in Osborn’s Hyundai, arriving at 5:11 a.m.
But just 20 minutes later, something wasn’t right. Giles wanted to leave, and texted Cabrales-Arzola, “Let’s go,” adding a wide-eyed emoji.
Christy Giles’ husband, Jan Cilliers, was in San Francisco for the weekend to visit his father. He said he received a text message from Christy around 1 or 2 a.m. on Nov. 13, 2021. He was already asleep when that message was sent.
When Jan Cilliers woke up, he texted Christy “Good morning”. He received no response. Cilliers assumed Christy was sleeping in after being out the night before. As hours passed and Cilliers still hadn’t heard from his wife, he checked her location and saw she was at an unusual address in West Los Angeles. The couple willingly shared their locations on their iPhones as a safety feature.
Jan Cilliers noticed that Christy’s location later changed to Southern California Hospital at Culver City. Cilliers called Christy’s parents who live in Alabama to let them know he hadn’t heard from her and was worried something bad happened. He also called the third friend who was out with Christy and Hilda that night — she hadn’t heard from Hilda either. Cilliers immediately left San Francisco to get back to Los Angeles.
Hospital staff called Christy’s parents, Leslie and Dusty Giles, and said, “… she didn’t make it.”
Christy was dead when she arrived at the hospital. Police later told Christy’s family that she had been dropped off at the hospital by two men wearing a hat, mask and hoodie. They were driving a car with no license plates. They were also driving in a Black Prius without license plates.
Surveillance footage reportedly showed that on Nov. 13 the suspects wore masks and drove the women to separate hospitals in a black Toyota Prius and “dumped their bodies.”
Once at the medical facilities, “one of the males told a security guard the two men observed her wandering around a neighborhood and thought they would do the right thing by bringing her to the hospital,” the coroner noted.
They knew where Christy was, but where was Hilda?
The friend who was out with the women the night before shared phone locations with Hilda. She and Cilliers compared notes. Hilda was at the same unknown address in West Los Angeles that Christy’s phone pinged at earlier that day. The address was the apartment of a man named David Pearce — a self-proclaimed “Hollywood producer.”
Dr. Hilda Marcela Arzola-Plascencia wondered what happened to her daughter. “I received the phone call in the middle of the night saying that she was so ill, she was very bad, she was intubated,” she told “48 Hours,” Hilda’s family rushed to Los Angeles to be by her side.
Jan Cilliers was able to see Christy and Hilda’s text messages by logging into Christy’s laptop. Cilliers noticed the last text messages between Hilda and Christy were at 5:30 a.m. on Nov. 13, 2021. Christy texted Hilda, “Let’s go” and Hilda texted “I’ll call an Uber, 10 min away”.
Cilliers realized something happened to the women at that mysterious West Los Angeles address. “The Uber waited outside and left shortly … after they didn’t show up,” said Cilliers. “… That was the last text message Christy ever sent.”
Murder charges have been filed in the overdose deaths of a Los Angeles model and an architect whose bodies were dumped outside separate hospitals last year.
Model Christy Giles, 24, and architect Hilda Marcela Cabrales Arzola, 26, were out partying Nov. 12 when the evening took a deadly turn and ended with masked men leaving them at hospitals the following morning.
Giles died the same day she was dropped at the hospital of multiple drug intoxication, the Los Angeles County medical examiner-coroner ruled. Arzola died Nov. 24 of multiple organ failure and multiple drug intoxication. Both deaths were ruled homicides, according to the medical examiner-coroner.
On Tuesday, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced charges against two men who were arrested in December in connection with the case.
24-year-old LA model found dead and aspiring aspiring actress who was found dead in Culver City believes there’s more to be uncovered than what police are reporting.
Christy Giles, 24, went out partying with two friends in West Hollywood Friday night and ended up at a nearby apartment.
The Investigation
According to her husband, Jan Cilliers, his wife sent a text message to Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday saying, “Let’s go” with a shocked face emoji. Cilliers reached out to the owner of the warehouse and was connected to the event photographer from the night Christy and Hilda went out. The photographer provided the photos to Cilliers to help him get more information. The photos show Christy and Hilda in the VIP section. The photographer also sent Cilliers photos of Hilda with David Pearce. Cilliers’ investigation continued. He also obtained surveillance footage from the warehouse where the party the women attended was hosted. The surveillance images showed Christy and Hilda leaving the warehouse with David Pearce and two of his friends. They all got inside a vehicle. Hilda was still in the hospital with her family by her side. “My heart broke in [a] thousand pieces,” said Hilda’s father, Luis Cabrales. “Because I saw … my baby, unconscious, and fighting for her life.” Still hopeful she would wake up, the toxicology report showed Hilda overdosed. She had cocaine, fentanyl, and ecstasy in her system.
Cabrales-Arzola, who was reportedly the only friend with Giles at the time, replied saying, “Yes. I’ll call an Uber. 10 min away.”
The text message exchange is alarming for Giles’ mother, Dusty Giles, who feels like her daughter may have been held against her will.
“The Uber waited additionally five more minutes,” said the mother from her home in Alabama during a Zoom interview with ABC7 on Thursday. “The girls nor any of the boys in the apartment ever came out to wave off the Uber, to address it, to ask him to wait. Nothing.”
When detectives showed up at the hospital in Culver City, Cilliers gave them all the information he had. The next day, Cilliers continued to look for clues to get to the bottom of what happened to Christy and Hilda. He turned to social media for answers.
“I just really wanted to get to the bottom of what happened,” he told “48 Hours.” “I was completely in the dark about everything. … And I guess the story went far and wide. A lot of people shared it.” On Nov. 14, 2021, a homicide detective was assigned to investigate Christy’s death. Her husband Jan Cilliers continued to update his Instagram followers on the case. Christy’s autopsy report showed she had cocaine, fentanyl, and GHB, known as the date rape drug, in her system.
After two weeks, Hilda Marcela Cabrales died in the hospital just one day before her 27th birthday.
One month after the women were dropped off at the hospital, the LAPD-FBI Fugitive Task Force and Metropolitan Division arrested three men in connection to the deaths of Christy Giles and Hilda Marcela Cabrales.
NBC News has reached out to an attorney for Pearce for comment. Records show Pearce has remained in jail since his December arrest. Bail is set at $3.4 million.
His attorney, Jacob Glucksman, told the Los Angeles Times he intends to plead not guilty at his arraignment. Glucksman also told the Los Angeles Times that his client “adamantly and strongly denies any connection to these women’s unfortunate deaths.”
Brandt Walter Osborn, 42, was charged with two counts of accessory after the fact in connection with Giles’ and Arzola’s deaths. It’s not clear if he is in custody yet, and lawyer information for him was not immediately available.
Osborn is an actor who appeared in several low-budget productions, the Los Angeles Times reported.
A third man, Michael Ansbach, was arrested in December. The release does not mention him.
It’s not clear what led to the charges, which came nearly eight months after the women’s deaths.
Asked why Ansbach was not charged in the case, a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office said, “The matter remains under review regarding Mr. Ansbach.”
Pearce’s and Osborn’s arraignments are scheduled for July 11.
“I recognize that these charges are a small consolation to the friends and family members of Ms. Arzola and Ms. Giles,” Gascón said.
“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,” he continued. “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.”
The Los Angeles Police Department previously said the women “were given drugs and overdosed” at a home on Olympic Boulevard. Later, three masked men dropped the women off at the hospitals in a black Toyota Prius without license plates. Authorities later identified those men as Pearce, Ansbach and Osborn.
Following their arrests, the district attorney’s office sent the case back to detectives for further investigation. Osborn and Ansbach were released, but Pearce remained jailed on the sexual assault charges.
David Pearce has been charged with two counts of murder, two counts of providing a controlled substance [fentanyl], and seven sexual assault charges from seven other victims, unrelated to Christy and Hilda’s case. The seven other charges date back as far as 2010. Pearce remains in custody at an LA County Jail. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Brandt Osborn has been charged with two counts of accessory to murder after the fact. “I have no comment, I’m innocent,” he told “48 Hours.
Christy’s parents, pictured with their daughters above, had a memorial service in her hometown in Alabama. Half of her ashes were given to Jan Cilliers, who has spread them around their favorite places. Christy leaves behind a loving husband, her parents, her older sister Misty and her nana, Sandy Leslie.
Hilda’s family donated her organs. Back in Mexico, friends honored her by celebrating her life at her favorite park. They lit candles and floating lanterns as they wore white, listened to her favorite music, and ate her favorite cake. Hilda leaves behind her parents, stepparents, and three siblings. Her dog Tomas is now taken care of by one of her best friends.
A GoFundMe page has been setup for the 24-year-old.
https://abc7.com/christy-giles-los-angeles-model-mother-dusty-culver-city-death/11251774
https://www.oxygen.com/crime-news/david-pearce-indicted-for-death-of-model-christy-giles
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