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Crime Dec 16, 2021
Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola (left) and Christy Giles (right). | Courtesy photo
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Police Thursday confirmed that three men have been arrested in connection with the deaths of a model and her friend last month.
Christy Giles, a 24-year-old model and aspiring actress, and her friend Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola were last seen at an apartment in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood before their bodies were dumped outside a Southern California Hospital in Culver City and a Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Hospital.
Giles was already dead when she was found outside the hospital on Nov. 13. Cabrales-Arzola, an architect, was in critical condition and her family took her off life support a day before her 27th birthday on Nov. 27.
Thursday morning, the Los Angeles Police Department identified the men who were arrested as:
- David Pearce, 37, who was booked on suspicion of manslaughter, with bail set at $1 million;
- Michael Ansbach, 47, who was booked on suspicion of accessory to manslaughter, with bail set at $100,000; and
- Brandt Osborn, 42, booked on accessory to manslaughter, with bail set at $100,000.
“It is believed that both women were given drugs and overdosed at a residence in the 8600 block of Olympic Boulevard in the City of Los Angeles,” police said in a statement.
“West Bureau Homicide detectives responded and continue to investigate this case. Three suspects were identified and arrested with the assistance of the LAPD-FBI Fugitive Task Force and Metropolitan Division. Based on the investigation, the LAPD is concerned that there could be other victims in our community who could have been drugged by one or more of these men,” police said.
“This is an active and ongoing investigation,” police said. “The case against these three men will be presented to the Los Angeles District Attorney for filing consideration on Friday.”
Giles’ husband, Jan Cilliers, said earlier that police contacted him about the arrests on Wednesday.
“Even if they get charged to the fullest extent of the law, no amount of legal justice will bring back Christy and Hilda,” Cilliers told Fox 11.
Cilliers had been quoted in previous published reports as saying video exists of three masked men dressed in black who pulled up to the hospital and pushed the model’s body out of a Toyota Prius without license plates.
Giles and Cabrales-Arzola exchanged text messages hours before they were found, appearing to have called an Uber to leave the apartment.
The women’s family members have claimed they were possibly drugged against their will at some point before they were found.
According to a toxicology report, heroin was found in Cabrales-Arzola’ system, KABC 7 reported.
The toxicology report on Giles’ body has not been released and her cause of death has been deferred.
