Man charged with murder for poisoning two women tells a friend, “dead girls don’t talk.” Brave survivors speak out on their behalf. Jonathan Vigliotti reports. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is the case about?
Powerful opening statements in the Hollywood overdose murder trial. David Pierce and Brandt Osborn on trial for the deaths of two women, model Christy Giles and her architect friend Hilda Cabrales.
This trial will not change what happened and will not bring my sister back or Christy.
Chapter 2: Who were the victims in this case?
Christy's plan for the evening was to go out with some friends and have a fun night. Aloha! My name is Jan Celia and Christy was my wife. Christy loved to spread joy and laughter wherever she went. Hilda Marcella just moved from Mexico. She seemed very lovely and they were becoming fast friends.
My sister did enjoy going out to parties. She liked dancing and the music. I remember seeing her Instagram. She was posting stories of that night.
She sent me a couple of text messages. Her last text message to me was around 1 or 2 a.m. And throughout the day, I was trying to text her, and there was no response.
You're tracking Christie's phone? Yeah. Is this an address that you recognize?
It's not an address I know. Around 5 p.m., I saw her location had suddenly moved to an emergency room hospital. My level of panic is growing and growing. I just knew that I had to try and get to the bottom of what happened.
You blast out this address, and very quickly you get responses. Yeah. What are those responses?
That there's somebody that lives at this location that is a very unsavory person. David Pierce. Yeah. He passed himself off as a big shot Hollywood producer, but he was a con man with an alleged history of sexual assault.
It wasn't clear what happened. We just knew she overdosed. And to me, my reaction was, who did this to her?
So when you heard overdose, you immediately thought drugged.
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Chapter 3: What were the circumstances leading to the deaths of Christy and Hilda?
This must be adding up to something that sounds very sketchy to you. Very sketchy, but then you still have to figure out if an actual crime occurred.
The woman was Christy Giles, and her mother, Dusty, will never forget the call that came from the hospital, telling her her 24-year-old daughter was dead from a drug overdose.
And I said, what do you mean she didn't make it? And then I hung up and I fell apart.
Two hours later, at a hospital just two miles away, a second woman was left at another emergency room by the same two men, also in a black Prius and wearing masks.
They never give their names, never leave their phone numbers, license plates, anything like that.
That was Hilda Marcela Cabrales. The 26-year-old architect was still alive in the ICU and fighting for her life. And in Durango, Mexico, her mother, Hilda Marcela Plascencia, was getting the news about her eldest daughter and namesake.
She was very bad. She was intubated.
You are a doctor. What was going on in your mind at the time?
What happened? What happened to her? Why is she that bad?
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Chapter 4: How did the investigation develop?
There was a light on in the upstairs where the two men live. So I just went up, knocked on the door. Immediately, the lights go out. You identify yourself? Yes, completely. LAPD, open the door, and then just complete silence.
After about 15 minutes, he says, Pierce and Osborne came out. Pierce denied owning a Prius.
So I immediately get a lie. Do you leave? No, I interview Mr. Osborne.
At first, he says, Osbourne denied seeing Christy and Hilda at all.
He changes his stories numerous times. At first, there's no girls had been at that location whatsoever. I tell him on the interview, I listen, I know you're lying. It's extremely obvious. You're very nervous.
Vander Lee says Osborn eventually admitted the women had been at their apartment, but said he'd been asleep and when he woke up, realized Christy and Hilda were in distress. He said he and Pierce chose to go to two separate hospitals because, quote, we didn't know how it would look. Pierce, police say, did later admit he owned the Prius, but lied again, saying his license plates had been stolen.
Vander Lee says he saw those plates on the ground by the vehicle. Then the men agreed to let detectives inside.
Two beds had been stripped. There was a washing machine that had been recently used. It was still wet. Is there anything else that stands out to you? There was a safe in his room with baggies, which was indicative of narcotics. He said they're for crafts, for arts and crafts.
By now, Vanderley says he knew Pierce and Osborne had dropped Hilda and Christy off and believed Pierce had drugged them, but he didn't have enough evidence to make an arrest. He thought he beat us that night for sure. He was happy. He smiled and said goodbye? Yeah.
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Chapter 5: What evidence did police gather about David Pierce?
The medical team was clapping to honor her, to say thank you for giving life to others.
Like Christy, Hilda had suffered a drug overdose. Toxicology reports would later reveal that she had cocaine, MDMA or ecstasy, and elevated levels of fentanyl in her system. Police would also learn that while the women were in that apartment, the downstairs neighbor heard someone in pain and moaning on and off for six hours. Police believe that was Hilda.
Neither Pierce nor Osborne nor Ansbach called for help.
It makes me get angry because she was suffering and nobody, nobody helped her.
How hard is it to prove this narrative when the victims can't even testify on their own behalf?
If we were just investing in Christy and Hilda's alone, very difficult.
But the district attorney at the time went public, asking other women who knew Pierce to call in so police could better understand what he did to Hilda and Christy.
If you feel comfortable moving forward so that we can evaluate your case and charge you, we're here for you.
We started getting a lot of calls.
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Chapter 6: How did the families of the victims respond?
But defense attorney Jeff Vahl says the fact that Christy and Hilda were using drugs before meeting Pierce that night means there is no case for murder.
These young ladies unfortunately ingested fentanyl and they died. It's a shame that Mr. Pierce didn't kill them.
Vall is sixth in a long line of lawyers who have represented David Pierce in this case. He knows his client is problematic.
He's very demanding. He's very sure of himself. What David Pierce wants, David Pierce gets.
He pushes her onto the bed.
Mariano has her own version of who David Pierce is, based on the accounts of the women who talked to investigators and chose to be anonymous.
Jay did a lot. Jane Doe number two. Jane Doe number three. Number four, five, or six. Number seven.
It was important for me to come forward and get any information I could regarding this vile man.
Jackie is Jane Doe number two. No cameras were allowed in the courtroom for any of the testimony, but she agreed to talk with us about her experience with Pierce in 2010 when she was a 24-year-old law student looking for a room to rent. She testified about her meeting with Pierce at his apartment on West Olympic Boulevard, where he gave her a tour and offered a drink.
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