KTLA

Overdose deaths of model Christy Giles, friend classified as homicides

Two women who were drugged and left outside separate hospitals after a night out in Los Angeles last year were the victims of homicides, county coroner records indicate.

Christy Giles and Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola were apparently drugged during a night out together. At some point during their night out, the women became incapacitated and were left at separate hospitals more than 12 hours after anyone had heard from them.


Masked men in a black Toyota Prius with no plates dropped off Giles’ body outside a hospital in Culver City on Nov. 13.

Two hours later, Cabrales was left unconscious and in critical condition at a different hospital in West Los Angeles. She died later that month after being declared brain dead.

Giles, a model, died just one week after her 24th birthday. Her cause of death was listed as multiple drug intoxication. Cocaine, fentanyl, gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, or GHB — a sedative — and ketamine were found in her system, records show.

Cabrales-Arzola, a 26-year-old interior designer visiting from Mexico, died on Nov. 29, just days before her birthday. Her official cause of death was listed as organ failure, but a secondary cause was also multiple drug intoxication. Cocaine and MDMA were found in her system, records show.

LAPD said the women overdosed at a home in the 8600 block of Olympic Boulevard in West Los Angeles.

Three men were arrested in connection with the deaths in December: 37-year-old David Pearce, 47-year-old Michael Ansbach and 42-year-old Brandt Osborn.

Pearce previously faced a manslaughter charge and was being held on $1 million bail. The other two men were booked on suspicion of being an accessory to manslaughter and were each being held on $100,000 bail, according to LAPD.

At the time of the arrest, authorities believed more people may have been drugged by one or more of the suspects.