S3: Girls Night Out EP 01 Christy and Hilda

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:16):
November thirteenth, twenty twenty one, Los Angeles, two women are
dropped off by masked men at separate hospitals. Twenty four
year old Christy Giles is dead on arrival. Twenty six
year old Helda Marcella Cabrales Arzola spends the next two

(00:37):
weeks in a coma and passes away one day before
her twenty seventh birthday. The women had gone out to
a warehouse party the night before. There they met a
man named David Pierce and some friends. The group ended
back at Pearce's apartment. Then something goes wrong. Text Hilda,

(01:01):
let's go with a wide eye emoji. Hilda replies, yes,
I'll call an uber ten minutes away. The uber arrives,
but they never get in. So what happened in David
Piers's apartment that night? How did these two women go
from partying in Los Angeles to being tossed out of

(01:22):
a car by mass men at separate hospitals miles away
from each other. On our next podcast series, we focus
on the deaths of Christy and Hilda. David Pierce has
been charged with murder. Will relive the tragic night that
took the lives of two beautiful women, hear from their

(01:44):
families about the impact it had on their lives, and
speak to renowned experts about the investigation into Peers and
his alleged history. We'll pull back the curtain on the
ugly side of Hollywood, far from the cameras paparazzi, explore
the themes of drug facilitated assaults and a predatory pattern

(02:07):
of behavior, and we'll review new details about the case
from Pierce's grand jury indictment. Plus, we'll look ahead to
Pierce's upcoming murder trial as Christie and Hilda's families and
loved ones seek justice. I'm Kelly Hymen, and this is
once upon a Crime in Hollywood Girls Night Out. When

(02:50):
you think of Hollywood, what comes to mind. The big
Hollywood sign is that the stars, the rich and the famous. Yes,
the glitz and the glamour, the oscars. Do you think
of blockbuster movies, red carpet premiers, and stars set at

(03:11):
after parties with the industry elites. The Hollywood social scene
is a world of its own. It's exclusive and difficult
to break into. For every movie premiere, award show gala,
there's just as many after parties VIP events and exclusive

(03:31):
functions featuring stars ranging from A List celebrities to Dalist celebrities,
to completely unknowns and everyone else in between. The Los
Angeles County spans over three thousand square miles and is
the home to nearly thirteen million people. Almost eighteen out
of every one thousand workers in Los Angeles are in

(03:53):
the entertainment jobs, including production directors, actors. The list goes on.
Is also the home to models, designers, photographers, and many more.
Christy Giles, a twenty four year old fashioned model from Birmingham, Alabama,
moved to LA shortly after her eighteenth birthday. Christy had

(04:16):
been modeling since she was fifteen. She grew up in Gardendale,
a Jefferson County suburb in Birmingham, but eventually moved to
Miami to focus on modeling. Let's bring in Dusty Giles,
Christie's mother, Dusty, can you tell us about what Christie
was like when she was growing up?

Speaker 2 (04:38):
Growing up, Christy was to slip people. She sat and
watched the America's Model with her sister, who's almost six
years older than her, and her friends and afterwards which
go get her pink little high hills and marched around
the house and say John, I look, Mom has done

(05:01):
I look feared and I'd laugh, I tell you, yes, yes, ma'am,
you dave. And she would go in there to her
daddy and she had a fashion walk for him and
asked him the same question but at the same time
have lots of energy.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
That energy would lead Christy to athletics running track in
eighth grade. She made All County that year. Then she
moved on to soccer.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
We put her in soccer. She loved it because his
never ending is like basketball, which she became a very
good player, I mean a sought after player. And she
would even play and so for an All boys team
when they needed because she would actually be the more

(05:49):
aggressive of all of them. And she played soccer until
her tenth great year.

Speaker 1 (05:56):
That year she entered her first pageant and stunned the
joy who thought she was much older.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
There was a small one for a festival and some
of her friends were doing it, so she wanted to
do it, not knowing that it was a feeder to
Miss Alabama teen USA, and Christie wanted so. She was
expected to represent North Serfferston County for Alabama teen USA,

(06:28):
and she was fourteen and she was runner up, and
not until they announced on stage that she would be
going into They were announcing how this one was going
to be a freshman at University of Alabama or this
one at UAB and Christy is going to be a

(06:51):
freshman at Gardendale High School come this fall, and the
crowd kind of sucked in their breast as they had
no idea that she was that young. Because of her
height and she had an older looked, you know, not

(07:13):
overdone makeup or anything like that, but they had no
idea she was that young.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
Two weeks later, she was walking in the gallery and
the mall in Birmingham, Alabama, when she was approached by
a modeling scout from Fox Models.

Speaker 2 (07:26):
And she's like, we would really really like to get
her down to one of our model showcases and this
one coming up in the Orlando So that's how. There
were thirteen modelings agencies fare that day and Christy got

(07:49):
called back by ten of them, and they were a
lot of the major ones, and once they found out
her age, they wanted her to be a little bit older,
but my Miami said she's got the look, and Christie
thought about it. They made an offer and she turned
fifteen shortly afterwards.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
As her modeling career continued to blossom, Christy moved to
la and bounced around different homes of friends, taking modeling
gigs in London, Peru, and Mexico before getting her own apartment.
In early twenty and nineteen, Christy met Jan Cilliers at
an art gallery. Just seven months later, the two eloped

(08:33):
at a burning Man in Nevada on August twenty eighth,
twenty nineteen. Let's bring in Yon now, Jan, can you
tell us about that first meeting and how your relationship
with Christy developed?

Speaker 3 (08:48):
So, Christy and I first met at an art gallery
in I was in Hollywood, West Hollywood. It was in
West Hollywood, and she was celebrating a friend's birthday party
and I was out with a mutual friend of her myself,

(09:08):
and we sort of connected that night, and you know,
had some like great conversation, and then over the next
couple of days and weeks, we kept running into each
other more and more. And then I asked her out
on a date and she couldn't make that date that

(09:29):
I suggested, and she suggested a future date, which I
guess she didn't realize at the time, but it happened
to be Valentine's Day, and so we ended up having
our first date on Valentine's Day in twenty nineteen, and
you know, it was sparks flew all night. It was

(09:52):
a really great date, and we kind of were attached
to the hip since then, and it was really it
was just a very easy, beautiful thing from the beginning,
and she was her energy was just very uplifting and
joyful and easy going, and she she had the best

(10:14):
sense of humor ever so and I think we were
both equally enamored with each other. So it worked out.
It worked out great, and then we traveled to a
few places after that. We went to in the following months.
We went to Morocco, Portugal, Costa Rica, and then we

(10:42):
went to Burning Man together, which you know, was a
very like I was. I was building a camp that
year at burning Man, which if you don't know, is
it's a lot of work. Everything that's at Burning Man
is kind of put on by the people attending, is
not really much infrastructure put up by the Burning Man

(11:02):
organization organization themselves. So she was all board and helping
put everything together, and she was great with logistics and
support and I was really my point person, and really
that sort of work ethic and you know, character of

(11:26):
being was very it was very attractive, and at the
burn we just decided to get married. It was a
very spontaneous thing, but we were both feeling it. And
then when we got back we got our marriage license
and her parents are very surprised. My parents are very surprised,
but everyone was very happy for us. And then it

(11:49):
was pretty much a fairy tale relationship for you know.
From that point onwards, the.

Speaker 1 (11:56):
Couple traveled the world together and eventually settled in to
an apartment on the beach in Marina del Rey, with
plans to move into the suburbs so they could have
a yard and children. In twenty twenty one, Christy met
Hilda Marcella Cabrales Arzola, a twenty six year old designer

(12:16):
and architect from Mexico who had recently moved to La
to start her dream job in interior design. Christy was
also studying interior design, and the two bonded over a
mutual interest. Let's bring in doctor Hilda Marcella Arzola Placentia,

(12:37):
Hilda's mom, who was also an emergency physician in Mexico
doctor tell us about Hilda growing up, how did she
find her way to la She was the.

Speaker 4 (12:49):
First granddaughter in both sides, sides of the family, so
you can imagine what meant that for all the family.
She wasn't like for all of us, and she still is.
She grew like a normal kid, playing, singing, dancing, having

(13:13):
fun with her friends. You know, she tried to bring
out the good side of the people who were around
her even when she was a kid. That's what I'm
trying to tell you, and to show that she was
such a beautiful person. What can I tell you. I'm

(13:35):
her mother and I'm proud and I'm always really proud
of her.

Speaker 1 (13:40):
Hilda went to college at the University of Monterey in Mexico,
aiming to become an international lawyer. She soon changed the
architecture and did some modeling.

Speaker 4 (13:51):
She told me, I'm going to architecture, and I said, yes,
I knew it. I knew it. I told you because
you always be like enjoying to be things fit with harmony,
the beauty, putting beauty outside. And you know that that
it's not only in the in the physical way, that's

(14:16):
also in deterior way in a spiritual way. She tried
to get the people the best of them. And I
saw it that with with her friends, and I told her,
you know, you're like a big light with your friends.
So that's kind of the way why she got in architecture.

(14:42):
I really thought she would be like a fashion designer,
and I said, if you want to go with that career,
I have no problem, but do it good, do it
in the right way.

Speaker 1 (14:55):
Hilda Marcella, called Marcella or Marcy by your friends, was
top of her class at the University Died de Monterie,
a prestigious school in Mexico. Let's also welcome in Fernande Cantasani,
one of Helda's closest friends, Fernanda, did you talk to
Hilda a lot once she moved to La.

Speaker 5 (15:19):
Yes, in fact, we were talking almost all day.

Speaker 4 (15:23):
All day we were.

Speaker 5 (15:24):
Talking because at that time her dog, Thomas, was with
me and my boyfriend of that time, we both were
friends with her, and we stayed with her dog until
she was, you know, finding a place to stay in
La and she was going to come back to pick

(15:45):
him up, and in the meantime we were taking care
of him. So and also she was she was leaving
with my ex boyfriend at that time.

Speaker 4 (15:58):
So you know, we had.

Speaker 5 (16:01):
Really a close relationship by the time she went to
La So I will say almost every day we were
talking on video call. She was always telling me what
she was going to do at the day, you know.
And and also this the last time I talked to

(16:22):
her was the time was the day she she went
to this party. I remember she was in her office.
We were talking and I was like, Oh, what you
were going to do today?

Speaker 4 (16:33):
And she was going.

Speaker 5 (16:35):
To a party, and you know, she was so excited.
I remember she was like, Yeah, I will call you
when I when I am getting dressed, so you can
tell me which which outfit to you know, to choose.
And it was really like like she was still in Monterey.
Our conversation was through the phone, but it was all

(16:57):
the same, like we were always looking to each other.

Speaker 1 (17:02):
On November twelfth, twenty twenty one, Christy's husband, Yan was
in San Francisco to visit his parents for the weekend.
He spoke with Christy that afternoon while she was taking
a walk on the beach with their cat Loki. She
even sent in photos and a video with the caption
me and the San Panther Forever, Christi Texion, I wish

(17:26):
you were here. That night, Christy, Hilda and another friend
had plans for a girls' night out, starting at Soho
House in West Hollywood before heading to a warehouse party
in East LA after midnight. Let's now bring in Danielle Rayden,
an LA based journalist for CBS Los Angeles. Danielle, what

(17:50):
can you tell us about the Hollywood scene and the
nature of these types of parties.

Speaker 6 (17:56):
Warehouse parties in Los Angeles are under the radar. A
lot of them are invite only. You have to know somebody,
and the appeal is that they stay open late after
the bar is closed down at two in the morning.
So many people want to keep the party going. They'll
try to get an invitation to these warehouse parties. They

(18:16):
can be a speakeasy type setup, like behind a vending
machine or something with a pass code. There's a lot
of dancing in these warehouse parties and a lot of drugs,
so you can easily get any drug imaginable at a
lot of these parties.

Speaker 1 (18:34):
So what happened with Christin and Hilda that night?

Speaker 6 (18:38):
Christy is planning a fun girls night out with her
friend Hilda. She's texting with Yon, telling him she's not
quite sure what the plan is yet, and then he
goes to sleep early. Christy and Hilda go out first
to Soho House in West Hollywood. It's a popular place
to be on a Friday night. Just after midnight. They

(18:58):
decide to see a DJ that they like at a
warehouse party in East la it's at this warehouse party
in the VIP section that photographs show Christy and Hilda
are with David Pierce around four fifty one in the morning.
Now we're into Saturday, November thirteenth. Surveillance video shows Christy

(19:19):
and Hilda leaving the party with Pierce and his friends.
They all get into a car. Around five thirty in
the morning. Is the last known text between Christy and Hilda.
We see Christy texting her saying let's go with a
wide eyed, blushing emoji. Hilda says yes, I'll call an

(19:40):
uber ten minutes away. It's clear they're probably in the
same room with the suspects and can't speak out loud
for some reason, so they have to text each other.
Something is happening to make them uncomfortable enough to feel
like they need to get out of there without alerting
the men to that. An uber does pull up, waits

(20:01):
five minutes, nobody gets in, and it drives away.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
Around one am, Christy had text Yan, but he had
already fallen asleep. He woke up the next morning around
seven am and texted her good morning. After a few hours,
Christy hadn't responded. Yan assumed she was sleeping in. Then
he noticed something strange. Christy and Jan shared their location

(20:27):
with each other through their phones, and Yon noticed Christie's
location was one he didn't recognize. Her phone pinged at
eighty six forty one West Olympic Boulevard. When Yon checked
back in a few hours, Christie's location had changed to
an address in Culver City, the Southern California Hospital. Yan

(20:48):
take us through what happened next.

Speaker 3 (20:51):
I was up visiting my dad in the Bay Area,
and she was going out with some friends and thought
her'd have fun tonight. And then, you know, my parents
are early risers. I think I went to sleep at

(21:12):
like nine or ten PM that night, and I woke
up at like six or seven, and she'd sent me
a couple of texts throughout the night when I was asleep,
and I responded in the morning, and she never told
me that she had gotten home. So I checked her
location and she was at that address on Olympic and

(21:34):
I was like, that's interesting. It's usually she'll go home,
you know, she doesn't really spend the night at other
people's places. So I was waiting to hear from her,
and at like two or three o'clock I reached out
and I was like, I told her I was worried
about her, that I hadn't heard from her, and pleased

(21:55):
to respond and still hadn't heard from her. And then
obviously my level of anxiety and why we are increasing constantly.
At this point, I went out for a hike with
my dad at about like three point thirty or four.
I got back from the hike into Sulfone Reception area

(22:19):
around like five pm, and then I saw that her
location had moved to the Culver City emergency Room, and
I was immediately on hyla. I called the emergency room
and asked them what the situation was and if she
was there and if they could give me any further information,

(22:43):
and they transferred me to one of the er nurses
and they verified my information about who I was and
told me that they're trying to resuscitate her, and obviously
that was highly worrying for me, disturbing about, you know,

(23:04):
what was going down and why she was needing to
be resuscitated. And they told me that they'd called me back.
Immediately after they hung up, I called her parents and
told them what the situation was. Her mom then called
the er, and the er told her mom that she

(23:25):
had passed away, and her mom called me back to
let me know the news. And I was already on
my way back to the airport in San Francisco for
my flight back, well for a flight back that I
just bought because I knew I needed to get back immediately.

Speaker 1 (23:40):
Dusty, what went through your mind when you received that
call from Yon about your daughter?

Speaker 2 (23:46):
When Yon saw and rechecked and saw that her location
had pained in it from where it had been for
ten to twelve hours two and it was he goes
at the address and everything in it was Culver City Hospital.
He called and they wouldn't have him anything. They wouldn't

(24:08):
confirm me. Says, why I know my wife's one numbers there,
and he said, she's sorry, sir, And so he hung up,
and then he called me, I'm a retired nurse and manager,
and I've worked all over the hospital for many years
in the medical field, and he thought that I would
have a better chance of getting information on distance than

(24:30):
because they weren't able to talk to him. So I
took the number and I immediately called.

Speaker 7 (24:37):
I just asked for they emerch to be.

Speaker 2 (24:40):
Switched to the emergency room, and the person that answered
the phone, I immediately said, my name is Jesse Giles.
I live in Alabama. We have been looking for my
daughter and her phone has kings and so we were
alerted that she was at your hospital. And he asked
me how as I learned, I said, because she shared

(25:02):
your location and her husband's already called and was told
that they could not talk to him. And he said
that's because of some issues. And I said, well, can
you please tell me? Do I need to get a
ticket get an airplane? Is this something serious? Can I
talk to Christy? Is there any way at all I

(25:23):
can talk to the doctor of the nurse that's taking
care of her and get a live update so that
I can and I will verify her husband's name and
here's address and a telephone number and everything so that
you can talk to him freely as well. And that's
when I was told that it, yes, Christy was in

(25:43):
the emergency room there at Cover City Hospital, but that
unfortunately she did not make it. I said, what do
you mean she didn't make it? I understand, I mean,
but by how?

Speaker 7 (25:57):
What means?

Speaker 2 (26:00):
Were talking an overdose, a car accident, a dabbing, a shooting,
or what I mean? Tell me what has happened to
my daughter? Again? I live in Alabama and need to
make sure you know is she still I just get
that you're telling me that she's no longer with us,
but I need more information. And at that time, the nurse,

(26:23):
who was a male, could only tell me that all
I can tell you now is that it is a
police matter. And then I immediately called jan back and
he was already at the airport in San Francisco on
the next available like to shoot back to LA and
I said, John, you need to sit down. He said, no,

(26:45):
I'm at the airport and I said, well that's good.
I did talk to the hospital and they were able
to speak to me, and it appears that two men
dunned her body and that's why they're not giving any information.
Take any men that call because it could be the

(27:06):
culprit and who dropped her off, checking to see if
she's alive or not or whatever. And I said, and
they would tell me is that she didn't make it,
and that it's the sleet matter, and that hu men
dropped her threw her out of their car on the

(27:27):
concrete and the bushes in front of close to the
hospital interest and that was all I was told, and
that there is somebody on premises that had been a
girlfriend that had been out with him. And he said,
I'm on the okay, they're boarding to fight now. And
when he got off the plane he went straight to

(27:48):
Colba City r where he met and that the detectives
and that and and from there information with Sheer scriudly
explained the police department and John and me and my husband.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
We have Christie's dad, Leslie Wayne Giles here as well.
How difficult was that for you to take in?

Speaker 7 (28:14):
Well, I heard that's the screaming and run back there
and after what the bat area said, Christie see and uh,
I don't know what I could say.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
You said, Oh no, not my Christian.

Speaker 7 (28:30):
I was really numb to it for I don't know
two three days where I didn't I didn't believe it.
I knew it's true, I just didn't accept it happened.
I didn't really show a lot of emotions.

Speaker 1 (28:45):
Christy was pronounced dead on arrival at Southern California Medical
Center in Culver City. When Yon arrived at the hospital,
the third friend who had accompanied Christy and Hilda to
the warehouse party was already there. She'd been trying to
reach Hilda. The friend finally got a call from a
different hospital, Kaiser West, Los Angeles, telling her Hilda was

(29:09):
dropped off by men wearing bandana mass with no license
plates on their vehicle. Doctors were able to revive Hilda's heart,
but her brain had already suffered severe trauma and she
was left unresponsive in a coma. Back to Hilda's mom,
how did you find out Hilda was in the hospital.

Speaker 4 (29:32):
I received a phone call from the wife of Phari's father,
Blis is the name, and she called me and told me,
you know, something happened with Marce They called us telling

(29:56):
that she was very ill in the hospital. She was
intubated because she had some kind of gastro intestinal disease,
and that's how I found that she was very ill.

(30:18):
So when we get the notice. At that time, I
didn't have my passport. It was expired, and you know,
it was the COVID time and it was very difficult
to have a point to get out.

Speaker 1 (30:34):
It took the help from Mexican and US authorities to
get Hilda's mother a passport. She arrived in Los Angeles
on Thursday of that week as a doctor. Other family
and friends wanted her there to help make difficult decisions.

Speaker 4 (30:50):
They are right first, and they told me, you know,
you have to be here because this is no good
and as you're a doctor, you know that kind of
things that I don't like to mix with with all this,
but it's a reality that I can't close my eyes

(31:13):
because it's true. He told me, I need you here
because you have to help me to take decisions, important
decisions with her.

Speaker 1 (31:22):
What were those first days like when your daughter was
in the hospital and what did the hospital staff tell you?

Speaker 4 (31:29):
Since we received the phone call, I reach out the hospital.
We called. I spoke with some kind of social worker
and she sent me the phone call with the doctor
who wasn't the ICU. It was a neurologist and he

(31:52):
told me things are not good. We don't know how
time she was wasn't breathing. We just received her in
total failure heart failure encurioc arrest. So we make the

(32:15):
CPR one and over and over and over time we
brought her back and things are not good. Her signs
vital signs are very low, and I know for sure

(32:35):
that that's not good. The doctor told me, we're trying
to stabilize her, and we're giving her, you know, all
the care we can to see if he if she
can respond. And when we finally arrived and we saw

(33:02):
her mind intubated, I never ever ever expect to see
her like that, and the doctors showed me her MRI
scan and what I saw, it's awful. You know. I

(33:28):
knew since they showed me that that things were need
a miracle in a few words, you know, because there
were very very very very low chances that she could
recover from that, and even that, we were all the

(33:53):
time as we could by her side, trying to give
her the strength to make the choose that she wants
if she wants to stay, will be here for her.
If you want to go, with all the pain it comets,

(34:18):
we support that.

Speaker 1 (34:21):
What did you think when the hospital staff told you
she was dropped off outside the hospital by mass men.

Speaker 4 (34:29):
There were a lot of versions that if some guys
left her outside the hospital and you know, in the
in the street, and then they say no, they brought
her into the emergency department, and then you know, a
lot of versions. But the doctor told me, we don't
know what happened. She just arrived unconscious. It seems like

(34:54):
they were two men wearing masks who left her in
the emergency department. They just leave or drop her there
and they disappeared. So at that time, as Fair already
told you, we were a lot of confused. There was

(35:16):
a lot of confusion, and my mind was centered in
what is going on with her? How is she? That's
all my question that was, you know, in my mind,
it was what how is she? Is she fine? Is
she breathing? Is she can she hear me? Can she not?

(35:39):
Can I speak with her? But at that time, you know,
the neurologies was very very clear with me, with us,
He told us, since the very first moment, she's very
very ill. It's just you know, we try to get

(36:01):
her out of that cardiac arrest. She responded, that's why
we are trying to give her another chance because she's young.
And that's what my mind was all the time, that
you know, you can fight, you can go on, Please
try to be well. But all the things that were

(36:25):
around that night, what happened? Who were those guys? There
were all speculations. We didn't know anything, just like she
were parting. And since she were in the hospital fighting
for her.

Speaker 1 (36:40):
Life, toxicology chest for helda came back containing trace amounts
of anthetamines and cocaine. Because Christy had already passed away
in autopsy, was needed to conduct a toxicology exam on her,
which would take longer for the results to come back.
Christie's body was eventually sent back to Alabama with her family.

(37:05):
She was cremated, with half her ashes going to yawn
to scatter in places they loved. Christie's mom placed the
rest of the ashes in an urn inside a butterfly box,
along with her wedding dress she didn't get the chance
to wear.

Speaker 8 (37:23):
There are some questions tonight about the death of a
young model.

Speaker 9 (37:26):
She went out for a night with friends, somehow it
ended with her body being left at a local hospital.

Speaker 6 (37:31):
Eyewitnessed news reporter Josh Haskell talked to her husband Josh's
Live in Culver.

Speaker 1 (37:35):
City with the story Josh.

Speaker 8 (37:39):
And Jovanna, a producer who worked with Giles, said that
many in young Hollywood or mourning this lost. The LPD
believes that it was a drug overdose that turned fatal,
but family and friends believe that it was foul play.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
Meanwhile, her husband and Dohie, the friend who was with
them that night, began to try and piece together what happened.
Let's bring in Trinka Perata, retired narcotics detective after twenty
five years with the Los Angeles Police Department. What goes
through your mind as an investigator with the initial facts

(38:13):
as following two women dropped off at separate hospitals by
mass men concealing their license plates, the two text messages
between the girls, and the results of the toxicology report.

Speaker 10 (38:26):
Well, obviously the early details were disturbing. If you find
somebody along the road or staggering down the street that
is clearly in medical need, you'd either call nine to
one one or you grab them and you go straight
to the hospital. You don't go home and put on
a mask and take off your license plates, and you

(38:47):
know it was even the most initial information was pretty
disturbing and pretty obvious that this was a serious case.
Dropping them off like that and you know, different places,
even though they were quickly connected, and it just obviously
isn't normal behavior.

Speaker 1 (39:09):
As Johann attempted to find answers, Hilda's family was still
at her side in the hospital. She was in a
coma for two weeks. We also have Fernanda cabras Arzola,
Hilda's younger sister, Fernande. You were also there with your
mother in the hospital. How difficult were those two weeks

(39:31):
for your family?

Speaker 9 (39:33):
It was, yeah, Like what can I say? It was
absolutely devastating. I think nothing can prepare you to see
someone you love fighting for your life. And for sure,
I think those weeks were the hardest of our lives.
I think it was mainly like we held onto the
hope that she would recover, that she would recall up

(39:55):
all true, Yeah, but I think each passing day was
filled uncertainty of course Spain and not knowing what will happen.
But at the same time we were grateful also, you know,
to her that we were finally be able to be
by her side. I have the feeling like.

Speaker 5 (40:14):
She was.

Speaker 11 (40:17):
Like she was fighting and she was waiting for us
to be with her and was grateful to be by
her side, holding her hand, telling her she wasn't alone.

Speaker 1 (40:31):
Back to fair, Kanastani held his friend. What was the
reaction from friends back home in Mexico?

Speaker 5 (40:39):
We were in Alan's apartment. He's my ex boyfriend, but
also he was really a good friend of Marcella. I
remember we were I was trying to call her all
day this day, I was trying to call her because,

(41:01):
since I told you before, we were always talking on
the phone, video call, We were always, always always talking
to each other, so it was strange for me that
she was not answering. The phone was ringing, but the
call was being denied. I remember this so much, and
I was like, Okay, it's strange. Maybe she's I don't know,

(41:22):
maybe she's somewhere I don't know, hanging with someone. So
I just stopped calling and after a few hours a
friend she text us like, hey, someone can give me
the number of a family member of Marcella. I need

(41:43):
a phone number. I was like, what what is happening?
Everyone was so confused. We were a bit stressed, but
we were also hoping everything was okay. So though he
called me and she she explained to me that first
she was trying to explain that her friend Chrissie was

(42:07):
found like in the emergency she was dropped death and
that they were not able to revive her, and that
she was in she was waiting in the hospital to
with Marsell. That marcell was like in a really bad condition,

(42:28):
but she was she was alive. She told me she
was alive, and she that she was waiting for the
doctor to give her information. Of course, that the fact
that Christie was dropped already dead was ringing like like

(42:48):
I know we were we were imagining the worst things,
of course, because you cannot I don't know these things
doesn't happen like this. You know, you're not alive at
some moment and another someone is drobbing you that is
in a random hospital, you know. So we were at

(43:09):
this moment. We called again the father of Marcella. We
told him what we knew, We told him where she
was in the hospital. We tried to give him all
the information we could we could find. And at this
time it was really hard conversation with him. I remember,

(43:33):
because when we were saying this, we were hearing like
I don't know he was crying all the time, the
father of Marcella, of course, so we were we were
It was so hard for us to to be the
ones who called, you know, and not being able to
provide like the real information because we were not there.

(43:55):
So we were trying and at the same time we
were trying to help. So I remember he asked us, like,
please help me and book me a flight to to
La as soon as possible. I cannot think, please help me.
So we booked this flight and the next thing I

(44:17):
knew he was already there. And yeah, I remember also
these moments, like the whole two weeks she was in
a hospital fighting for her life. We were also like
every day we were just waiting for any news, and

(44:39):
it was really hard hard two weeks it was I
guess it was the worst nightmare someone can can be in.
It was really hard for everyone, and also was really
hard to hear marcell LA's father say, like to to

(45:04):
keep keep us updated in here the words he was saying, like, no,
your friend is not going to be able to make it.
The doctors are saying she's really in a bad situation.
And I remember when he called us and and he
told us like they that him and and yes that

(45:31):
that family decided to disconnect Marcella. Remember when he said
this to us, I don't know. We were everyone, all
friends of Marcella were in the home of Alan and
we received this message of the father of marcell and

(45:54):
it was really hard to accept that she will be
gone in a few days. So for me, I speak
for myself, but for me, it was it really really
was like the montorrible thing in my life.

Speaker 1 (46:15):
On November twenty fourth, just one day before her twenty
seventh birthday, Hilda was pronounced dead. Helda's mom and Fernanda,
we're so sorry for your loss. Can you share with
us where she was later to rest.

Speaker 9 (46:33):
My sister is currently resting in Durango, which is our
hometown in Mexico. She's lay to rest alongside our grandfather
in a church, and we choose to remember her for
who she was in life, like joyful, loving person, enjoying life.

(46:54):
And I know many people focus on how she passed,
since that's the way you got know her, but you know,
her life was like so much more and it goes
beyond everything that happened that night. She was a sister
that I admired, a devoted daughter at the same time
a mother to her dog Thomas, a friend, a true friend.

(47:17):
And I think that's that's how that's how we choose
to remember her, and that's that's how we also try
to honor her memory like living as you would have
liked us to do.

Speaker 4 (47:33):
I can tell you that this is a life changing situation.
It will never ever be the same it was, and nothing,

(47:54):
nothing can fill the space that she left. But as
already felt told you, Fernanda told you, we preferred to
remember like a very loving person, like a pushing person.
You know, to try, you can do it, you can

(48:15):
do it.

Speaker 3 (48:16):
Come on.

Speaker 4 (48:18):
And the light of our lives. For me, as I
already told you at the beginning of this interview, I'm
proud of her and I'm always will be proud of
her always.

Speaker 1 (48:38):
As both families moren the loss of their daughters, sisters,
a wife, a best friend, the police investigation was starting
to heat up. In our next episode, we look deeper
into the investigation, what police found when they went to
the residence at eighty six forty one Olympic Boulevard, and

(49:01):
what we know about David Pierce. I'm Kelly Hyman, and
this is once upon a crime in Hollywood, girls night
out