Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
As Jan Cillier's Christy Giles' husband attempted to retrace Christie's
moves the night before she died of an overdose. He
was still troubled by the stop and an apartment located
in the Pico Robertson area on Olympic Boulevard. After posting
about the location on Instagram, Jan was alerted to some
(00:32):
rumors about a man who lived there, David Pierce, and
Yan had a horrible feeling that someone had done something
to the two women. Let's bring back Yan. What were
you able to find out in the first few hours
of tracking Christie's movements.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
As soon as I landed back in La some friends
picked me up from the airport and we went straight
to the Cola City emergency room.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Spoke to.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Some of the Culver City detectives, spoke to some of
the nurses, and really I was just trying.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
To figure out what was going on.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Why, you know, perfectly healthy, twenty four, twenty five year
old shouldn't be suddenly dying, so obviously something very wrong happened,
and I was determined to get to the bottom of that.
And on social media, I posted about the address that
(01:32):
she'd spent the night at and most of the morning
in the afternoon, and I asked, I reached out to
my network of people and asked if anybody knows anybody
that lives at the specific address, and very quickly a
lot of people replied that David Pierce lives there and
that he is a pretty unsavory person from all reports.
(01:57):
And I kind of passed this information onto the detectives,
and that night the detectives visited him.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Understanding and try to search his property, and at first
he told them no, and then.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Then he let them in. I guess, you know, he
My understanding of what the events that took place is
that he dropped off Christy first at the Culver City
emergency room, and then two hours later he dropped off
killed a different emergency room to try and avoid suspicion
(02:39):
that these two cases were in any way connected, and
very possibly, you know, cost killed her life to buy
waiting two hours to take her in when both girls
were struggling and not breathing. And so the detectives on
(02:59):
the case started investigating and seeing that a lot of
other people had been affected by this person and started
putting a case together.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
According to Dohee Kim, who was with Christine Hilda that
night at the warehouse party, Pierce provided the pair with
what looked to be cocaine and they consumed it. Other
tacks between Christy and Hilda showed they'd also used cocaine
earlier in the night at the art exhibit. But what
happened once they got back to Pierce's apartment. Let's bring
(03:34):
back Danielle Rayden, an LA based journalist for CBS Los Angeles. Danielle, First,
what else can you tell us about the location of
the apartment.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
Pico Robertson is an area in Los Angeles south of
West Hollywood and Beverly Hills. The apartment is on Olympic Boulevard.
It's a very busy street with a constant flow of traffic.
There are a lot lot of hospitals.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
In the area.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
A police Affidavid said that Pearce's apartment was three point
one miles away from Southern California Hospital where Christy was discovered.
The Kaiser Permanente Hospital where Hilda was discovered, is one
point seven miles from his apartment. The closest hospital to
that apartment is Cedar Sinai, which is one point two
(04:23):
miles away.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
On November fourteenth, twenty twenty one, Jonathan vander Lee, a
homicide detective with LAPD's Western Bureau, was assigned to investigate
Christie's death. Within hours of Christie's death, LAPD visited the
location from Christie's phone ping, and sure enough, they found
(04:45):
a black Preess parked in the back of the property
with license plates removed. Detectives believe it was the same
vehicle that dropped both women off at the hospital. Police
observed Brant Osborne inside the apartment and eventually spoke to
both Osborne and Pierce. According to the search affidavit obtained
(05:05):
by La Times, Osborne told police, I didn't give them anything, okay,
I don't live like that. He said. The women were
making noises, but he figured he would give them a
couple hours and they'd come out of it. But Osborne
said it seems like they were getting progressively worse, and
(05:25):
he panicked because he's never been in a situation like
this before. Osborne also told police he and Pierce didn't
know Christy and Hilda, admitting they didn't bring the women
to the same hospital because we didn't know how that
would look. Inside the house, the sheets had been stripped
from one of the bets. Police found two scales in
(05:48):
the bathroom as safe in Pierce's room with small ziploc baggies,
numerous pornographic trophies that say AVN Adult Video Movie Awards,
well is an action figure of Ron Jeremies and assigned
pornographic DVD of Ron Jeremis. According to police, the prius
(06:10):
in the back had no plates, black rims and match
the video of Culver City Hospital surveillance footage as well
as the photos the security guard took of the vehicle.
There was also an Arizona license plate near the car
and a box of money, which Pierce claims to be
twenty to thirty thousand dollars. Danielle, what did the police
(06:34):
find out from neighbors and other witnesses they spoke to?
Speaker 4 (06:38):
Before Yon even knows what happened to Christy exactly, He
posts her last known location from the find my iPhone
app on Instagram, pleading with people, does anybody know who
lives here on West Olympic Boulevard?
Speaker 3 (06:53):
He said.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
People start immediately messaging him saying the person who lives
there is suspicious. They say he is an unsavory character.
They say terrible things have been written about him online.
Witnesses at the warehouse parties say Pierce goes to the
party with possibly an ounce of cocaine to give out.
Around four twenty one in the morning, while they're still
(07:16):
at the party, Christy and Hilda are texting, do you
want coke?
Speaker 6 (07:20):
Let's do a line.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
According to a police affidavit, a witness observed peers provide
what looked like cocaine to the two women who consumed it.
Something happened to make Christian Hilda not get into that
uber that they called. A neighbor reported to police they
heard someone quote in pain and moaning on and off
(07:43):
during the hours of ten thirty in the morning Saturday
until four in the afternoon, so almost six hours. For
reasons not known, the neighbor did not call the police.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Let's bring back Tranka Perata, a retired narcotic detective with
the Los Angeles Police Department. Trinka, what stands out to
you as a detective when you hear that the neighbors
heard screaming between ten thirty am and four pm in
the middle of the day. Doesn't that send off alarm
(08:16):
bells for you?
Speaker 5 (08:18):
Well, hearing from the neighbors that there was moaning or
screaming in a disturbance throughout a daytime. I guess it
depends on what neighborhood you live in, but for the
normal person, that would be of some concern right there.
And it reminds me of the case in Florida where
it was a drug rape situation and they were being
(08:39):
held captive and tortured, and the neighborhoard screams during the
night and didn't tell anybody, who didn't even tell her husband,
who was a sound sleeper, and when the young man
turned up dead, she was like, oh my god, if
only I had called, they might be alive.
Speaker 6 (08:57):
So that is.
Speaker 5 (08:58):
Disturbing information and certainly goes to the indication of being
held either held captive against their will or at least
not in the condition to take care of themselves and
yet being held. So a common thing with drugging when
somebody overdoses, either voluntarily or in a situation like this,
(09:21):
there's a tendency to rather than take him to the hospital,
to try to let him sleep it off or at
least let it wear off, which would could result in
somebody making a lot of noise or trying to get out,
so that information also goes to an involuntary type of
condition and a great concern, great concern that neighbors are
(09:45):
afraid to call or you know, I shouldn't get involved,
or no one will believe me. That's pretty sad.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Jean continued his own investigation, keeping his Instagram followers updated
on his findings. Yeahan reached out to the owner of
the warehouse, who connected him to the photographer who was
working the warehouse party that night. The photographer provided photos
showing Christy and Hilda in the VIP section, as well
(10:12):
as photos showing Hilda with David Pierce. Jan was also
able to obtain surveillance footage from the warehouse which showed
Christy and Hilda leaving the warehouse with David Pierce and
two of his friends, Brant Osbourne and Michael Ansbach, then
getting inside a vehicle with them. Christy and Hilda were
(10:34):
wearing the same clothing they were dropped off at the
hospital in Hilda in her dress and boots and Christy
in a unique white pants and a red jacket. Police
also viewed the footage which showed Peerce arriving at the
main entrance at three ten am with Osbourne. Ann's Bach
(10:55):
and two other individuals. Hilda texts Christy at four or
twenty one am, asking do you want coke? Christy replied yes,
Where are you? Hilda replies where we came? Response by
Christy is I'll come to break room. Hilda replies where
(11:17):
we arrived. I'm in the kitchen. Let's do a line.
At four thirty five am, Pierce, Osborne and Ann's Bach
were seen in the VIP area in the back, with
Hilda wearing Pierce's jacket. At four forty six am, surveillance
video outside the warehouse shows the group exiting, with Christy
(11:40):
on the left, An's Boch in the middle, and Pierce
on the right leading Hilda behind him. Surveillance footage from
across the street of Pierce's apartment show the group arrived
around five eleven am in Brant Osborne's gray high end
day Lantra. People get out and walk towards eighty six
(12:02):
forty one West Olympic Boulevard. Nineteen minutes later, at five
thirty am, Christy texts Hilda with a wide ie emoju,
saying let's go. Hilda replies, I'll call an uber ten
minutes away. Thirteen minutes after that a car pulls up,
(12:23):
which police believe was an uber. After waiting five minutes,
it drives away without picking anyone up. At eleven seventeen
that morning, Brant Osborne gets into the Lantra and returns
at eleven forty four. At two eleven pm, surveillance footage
(12:43):
shows Pierce outside holding a dog looking around. At four nineteen,
Pierce and Osborne are shown caring Christy out the back door.
Pierce appears to be looking over his shoulder. They're unable
to carry her, so he goes back inside and closes
the door. Pierce re emerges with Christy over his shoulder
(13:06):
and is followed by Osborne down the stairs towards the prius.
In the video, Christy is limp and completely unresponsive. According
to Detective vander Lee. Pears is wearing glasses, a Calvin
Klein hat with a mask on, and an Archangel branded
T shirt. Osborne walks out with a black Brooklyn T
(13:29):
shirt and a pink purse, which is Christie's. At five
fifteen pm, Ann's Bach leaves a residence carrying bags of
unknown items. Fifteen minutes later, the prius is seen returning
to Pierce's apartment at five thirty. At six thirty seven pm,
(13:51):
an hour after Pierce and Osborne return, they exit the
residence again with Pierce carrying Hilda over his shoulder. Osbourne
is carrying Hilda's shoes, but instead of driving to the
same hospital, the men instead take off for Kaiser Permidente
Medical Center in West Los Angeles. At seven twenty four pm.
(14:14):
You can see Pierce near the laundry room in his apartment,
next to where the washers and dryers are manipulating what
appears to be linen and clothes. In the video of
Hilda being dropped off, Pierce changed his mask and his shorts,
Brant Osborne changed his jacket. There is a lot to
(14:39):
unpack there, the timing of the text messages between Christy
and Hilda at the party asking about doing a line,
and then just fifteen minutes later we see them leaving
the party with Pierce. We know Pierce gave them cocaine
according to their friend. Dohe the amount of time between
(15:01):
the uber leaving the house at five forty five am
and Christie not being dropped off the hospital until five pm,
nearly twelve hours, and we know from the surveillance footage
that both Osborne and Peerce were outside the house at
eleven am and two pm. What took them so long
(15:25):
to bring Christy to the hospital? And how about the
woman being thrown over their back, carried out to the
car and dropped off outside the hospital. The disregard for
these women's wellbeing an attempt to conceal their identity. No
(15:47):
woman deserves to be treated this way. No woman needs
to go through this horrific, in horrible and senseless death,
and no parent should have to grieve the loss of
(16:11):
their own child. Trinka, we don't know what happened in
that apartment, and we may never know, But what do
you make of the actions of Pearce and Osborne.
Speaker 5 (16:25):
We're clearly dropping them off separately and at two different times.
That's partly I would think to divert the case being
put together may trying to divert a connection, but also
that seems to indicate that the one may have been
in worse condition and they dropped her off first, thinking
oh again, there's this tendency to try to let them
(16:47):
sleep it off or or let the drug wear off
before letting them leave, and she obviously was in the
you know, a bad enough condition if they felt they
had to do something, they probably left the other one
behind rather than drop them off at the same time
or time span, thinking she might get through it better.
And then they get back and she's going getting into
(17:11):
worse condition as well, and therefore the time delay clearly
again more trying to cover their tracks than trying to
help somebody in obvious medical need at that point.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Just over a month later, on December fifteenth, twenty twenty one,
Los Angeles Police Department announced and arrest Police have arrested
three men in connection with the debts of a model
and her friend last month.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
Kay Comin's Jasmineville live in Olympic Boulevard in the People
Robertson neighborhood with details now, Jasmine.
Speaker 7 (17:44):
Well, Susie, this is the apartment right behind me there
on the second floor where those two women had those
fatal overdoses and as you said, their bodies later dumped
at two different hospitals, and tonight police are concerned there
could be even more women victims out there drugged by
these men.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
LAPD arrested David Pearce on suspicion of manslaughter, Michael Ansboch
and forty two year old Brant Osborne were both arrested
on suspicion of being an accessory to manslaughter. Ultimately, the
Los Angeles County District Attorney's office declined to charge the
men with crimes connected to the woman's death and sent
(18:22):
the case back to detectives for further investigation. Osborne and
Ansbach were released from custody, but Pierce was also charged
with four unrelated sexual assault charges dating back to twenty ten.
He allegedly lured four different Jane Does to his apartment
and gave three of them a special drink, causing them
(18:46):
to get dizzy or blackout. Let's welcome Josh Ritter. Josh
is a criminal defense attorney and former La County prosecutor
and the host of Courtroom Confidential on YouTube. Josh, you
have a connection to this case. How did you first
hear about it?
Speaker 8 (19:06):
I was having brunch with my nephew, who happens to
be in law enforcement, and many times when we get together,
you know, we'll trade stories about what he's been up
to in his line of work, and he happened to
tell me this tragic story about how he was called
out on an investigation of a case where a young
woman had been dropped off close to death, if not
(19:31):
dead already at a hospital. And then a few hours
later another woman had been dropped off at a different hospital,
and we were talking about just what a tragic story
that is. The story actually made the news later that evening,
and I received a phone call a few days later
from a man by the name of Jan Chilliers who
(19:54):
told me that, in fact, it was his wife that
was one of the women, Christy Giles, who had been
dropped off and was dead at one of these hospitals.
And that is how I originally became involved in this
whole case.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
The prosecutor sent the case back to the detectives. What
goes into this type of decision. Did they send the
case back to the detectives because the prosecutors didn't believe
that there was sufficient evidence in order to prove their case.
Were they not able to hold the suspect and custody
any longer based on the evidence they had.
Speaker 8 (20:31):
It's not uncommon for prosecutors to ask detectives to do
further follow up investigation on a case before they feel
comfortable filing it. Many times, prosecutors will get a case
and they'll either accept it for filing or they will
reject it for filing, feeling that it's either you know,
doesn't qualify as a crime, or you know, maybe they
(20:55):
feel like a different agency should handle it. But oftentimes
they will reject it for further investigation, meaning we're not
going to file it now. We need it to go
back to detectives, and we need them to have some
further work done. That could be lab testing, that could
be follow up interviews with other eyewitnesses, that could be
(21:18):
pulling other evidence, you know, asking them to you know,
investigate whether or not any surveillance video exists, you know,
perhaps pulling phone records, banking records, all sorts of things
that a DA might feel like they need before they
can file a case. And the reason behind that is
(21:40):
they they kind of know that they have one shot
at this. They want to know that once they have
filed on someone, the clock begins to tick and the
defendant then kind of controls the clock, as it were,
and if they really push the prosecutors, the keutters need
(22:01):
to hurry up and get to a preliminary hearing within
ten days and perhaps even a trial within sixty days,
so they have to have all their ducks in a row.
Before they even make the decision to file. Now, most
times that doesn't happen. Trials drag on continuances are given,
but prosecutors always kind of operate with the idea that
(22:21):
at the time of filing, you should have all the
evidence that you feel you need if pushed to prove
this case beyond a reasonable doubt, and if you don't,
you send it back to detectives to do further investigation.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
A week later, a judge ordered Piers to remain in
jail in lieu of his three point four million dollar bail.
At the hearing, Deputy District Attorney Catherine Mariano said investigators
found thirty thousand dollars and a passport in Pierce's car
when he was arrested. Mariano told the judge Pierce frequently
(22:54):
drugged women and sexually abuse them, pose a threat to
the public, and is a flight risk. The prosecutors added
that upon his arrest, Pierce tried to flee and ran
out the back door. Investigators also found evidence that Pierce
was searching about living in foreign countries that do not
(23:16):
extradite Americans. Pierce's defense team claimed he works as a
freelance entertainment event planner and lives paycheck to paycheck, so
we would not be able to afford the minimum to
pay the three point four million bail related to the
rape charges. His attorney at the time, Jacob Gluxman, also
(23:38):
said keeping Pierce in jail during the COVID search is
dangerous because Peerce suffers from pre existing health conditions and
that Pierce has not been vaccinated against COVID. Gluxman asked
the judge to consider lowering Pierce's bail to one hundred
thousand dollars if he agreed to wear a GPS tracking device,
(24:00):
noting Pierce did not have a criminal record. The defense
attorney also explained the thirty thousand found in Pierce's car
was from winnings from a recent Vegas trip, and that
pierce vehicle did not have a license plate because he
was involved in a car accident a few weeks before
his arrest. Outside the courtroom, Deputy District Attorney Catherine Mariano
(24:24):
told reporters the investigation into Christy and Hilda's murder was ongoing.
Let's bring back Trinka, Parata Trinka. How does Pierce's alleged
history come into play? While the investigation into the murders
continues well.
Speaker 5 (24:43):
Drug facilitated sexual assault suspects tend to be a cereal rapist.
They try this, it works, it works really well, and
the victim can't testify. I can't say no I said no.
I would have surely said no, but I don't remember
saying no. I meant to say. You know, you hear
(25:03):
all these things, and and it works. So they're not prosecuted.
So guess what, they do it again and again, and
they It's not uncommon when you're talking about these these
types of cases, the weird activities with foreign objects, bottles
and things like that, because it works so well to
(25:28):
use the drugs and take advantage of somebody that's been
that's under the influence of drugs. So you really get
the picture of the typical sexual predator aided by drugging,
who gets kinkier and kink here over time. The issue
of the special drinks, that's very common too. That's we've
(25:51):
had people convinced to try a dietary supplement. This is
a this is an energy tonic, this is great stuff,
and it's really or whatever concoction. Because if I'm drinking wine,
if I'm say I'm sitting in a bar drinking rose
wine and a guy wants to hit on me in
this way. He's not going to just slip GHB in
(26:15):
my rose wine, because I'll probably notice that GHB is
not tasteless. It has a nasty taste by itself. So
he's going to have to get me to try something else.
Maybe Saint Patrick's Day, and they're passing around those little
green shots that are a concoction of very strong concoction,
(26:36):
and if I've never had one of whatever that is,
I'm not going to notice whether the taste is what
it should be or not. So a lot of times
that special drink is to get you to drink something
that they can hide whatever they're doing in or maybe
(26:57):
they're preferred concoction. Some people want you to conscious. Having
sex with a dead near dead body is apparently a
thrill like the ender Luster case, or maybe it's because
he wants a very precise control of what he does
to you. They may want you not unconscious, but memory loss.
(27:19):
So we had a case where the magic drink was
one of those three layered different color liqueurs, very sweet,
very unusual, very pretty to look at, very different. But
he threw in a piece of candy, and he told
them be sure you eat the candy at the bottom. Well,
(27:39):
the candy was an ecstasy pill, because being a stimulant
and a sexual stimulate sexually stimulating eccessy can also be
a sexual assault drug. But it's not a downer, it's
an upper. So you're maybe a little less likely to
pass out. Maybe you're going to be more sexually involved here,
(28:00):
to be participating in the videos that they often make,
but you're still going to have the memory loss from
the alcohol and the GHV. So these special drinks are
definitely special. They're calculated. There have a very intense purpose,
and it may be anything from just knocking you out
(28:22):
to fine tuning the effects that they give you.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Later that month, detectives got a warrant to search dozens
of phones, tablets, laptops, SD cards, cameras, flash drives, VHS tapes,
and voice recorders sees from the three men in the search,
Warren Affitt, David lapd. Detective Jonathan vander Lee wrote he
(28:48):
believed the devices may show what happened that night inside
Pierce and Osborne's apartment. In April twenty twenty two, the
Los Angeles County Medical Examiners Owner's office confirmed the cause
of death of both Christie and Hilda.
Speaker 7 (29:04):
The deaths of two women drugged and dumped at separate
hospitals last November have been ruled homicides, the.
Speaker 9 (29:10):
Corner, making public for the first time all of the
illegal drugs found in their systems.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Christy died due to multiple drug intoxication and Hilda from
multiple organ failures and multiple drug intoxication. Christy had a
fatal mix of cocaine, fetanyl ketamine, and GHB inner system,
commonly referred to as the date rape drug. Back to
(29:37):
Dusty Giles, Christie's mother, Dusty, how do you react to
those findings? Do you think Christy would have ever knowingly
taken some of those drugs?
Speaker 9 (29:47):
No, back to help me. Everything down there is almost
placed with pantanol. And you don't. You just don't unless
you've been with let's that somebody you know or whatever.
She was honest with us. The only way to keep
an open line of communication with your child who lived
(30:12):
a distance away, even though she's going against everything that
her mom and dad raised her and warned her and
told her not to lose hers. Don't forget your roots.
And she told me that they are lacing it with everything.
(30:33):
You've got to even be careful with if you buy
not from a distillery, if you buy marijuana from somebody
on the street. And she said so no, ma'am. You know,
because I asked her straight out, But she said that
she had at times taken what she caught party drugs
(30:58):
at some of the rags that they would go to.
So was I surprise. I was surprised that some of
the stuff in there. Yet definitely because she didn't do hair,
you know, heroin, she was open and honest with what
she had tried before.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Hilda's autopsy also shows traces of cocaine MDMA or ecstasy
and elevated levels of FETONYL in her system. Both women
enjoyed having a good time, but Christie's family insists she
wasn't some flighty twenty year old party girl. John, how
would you describe Christie's nightlife?
Speaker 3 (31:38):
So, yeah, I'm a member of a sort.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Of it's like a I don't know if it's like
a nightlife club. It's like more of a members club,
very similar to what so her house is. And I've been,
you know, we generally spend a couple of weekends there
out of the month because all our friends are there,
(32:05):
and it was it was a sort of an easy hang.
You just show up and all your friends just happened
to be there, so it was it was a.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Great place to catch up with everyone.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
And but as far as like bigger parties and bigger
nightlife things, I wouldn't say we went out all the time,
but we definitely had an active social life, and you know,
we enjoyed a good boogie. So most of the time
(32:35):
we went out together. But if I was busy, she
would go out with friends, and if she was busy,
I'd go out with friends.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
So it worked out great.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Let's bring in Fernanda Countasani, Hilda's close friend. How would
you describe Hilda? Was she a party girl type?
Speaker 10 (32:55):
I mean, she of course loved to party like everybody.
I guess she loved to be with her friends and
to be you know, near some good times in her home.
But to be honest, the times we were always together
here in Monterey, she was the one who was going
(33:19):
earlier to sleep, like she was at ten. She was
always like, oh no, I'm going to sleep now, so
she went. We were always at her home, so she
was like yeah, you stay here and I go to sleep.
And it was so funny because everyone was like, no,
don't go to sleep. We were always like telling her
to stay more. We were begging her to stay more,
(33:41):
to stay awake. But of course when she went to LA,
I mean we were we went to party of course
here in Mexico, in Monterey, but I don't know, she
had really specific how I say, like habits, and she
had a routine where she wake up really early, like
(34:03):
at six am. She walked Tomas like for one hour,
then she started to work and then she went to
the gym, So she had really like her routine was
really I don't know, like squared routine. She always did,
like at the same hours every day, like walk the
dog in the morning, then go to work, then go
(34:25):
to the gym, then eat and sleep. That was like
her routine. But of course there were times we were
going to party and she loved the party like everyone.
But when she moved to LA, like every other person,
I guess she was partying too, and she was also
(34:46):
like she was new to the town, so of course
she wanted to meet new people, meet new friends. So
I mean I would not say she was like always partying,
but like everybody, we love to party, we like to
be with friends. So I guess in La she was
just trying to get to know people and try to
(35:10):
make her own friendsier goal like she did have here
in Monterey. I guess she was trying to do this.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Let's bring back held his sister, Fernanda. Did you notice
she was partying more when she moved to La.
Speaker 11 (35:27):
Yeah, I think it was just like a maybe at
the beginning she was a bit more since you know,
all of the excitement new things. Of course La everything
is like yeah, I don't know, like fancy, and it's
very different.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
But that was it.
Speaker 11 (35:45):
I mean, she was really really focused at work. I
sometimes stuck with her and she was like, sorry, I'm
I'm at work, like I will call you later or
I will send message later. I think she wasn't partying
more than usually all saying like, not more than any
other young person would. I think for me, it's just
(36:05):
we already established that she wasn't a party girl type.
But like these type of questions in general and also
seeing in the media kind of you know, make me
mad because then I think, like, even if they were,
what would that why would that make a difference. It
was a live both lives and also besides the fact
(36:28):
of the drugs, which yeah, we know they were just
like so many other overwhelming facts that happened that night,
if they would have taken them to the hospital sooner
col nine went one do something to help, things might
have turned like way out differently. So I think like
for us, there's absolutely no doubt or this, the fact
(36:50):
that they were drugs involved change nothing, yeah for us,
And I think in general, like to the whole case,
right and.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Now to Hilda's mother, doctor Arzola Placentia, what did you
think when you heard about her toxicology results.
Speaker 6 (37:09):
I was shocked because I never ever expected to hear that,
And the night that everything came up, I spoke with
the neurologist at the ICU unit and he told me,
we don't know what happened. We think that she has
(37:30):
been drugged. There were some versions about the official version
and about the hospital version, and they were they didn't match,
and that gave us more you know, questions about what
happened that night were what happened? What did really happen
(37:51):
that night? And when the one of the doctors, doctor cass,
I do remember that because it's very hard. And the
doctor told us you can save him, Doctor cass he
told he showed me the MRI and he explained me,
you know this, but just find things in the MRI.
(38:15):
They are not consistent with the drugs. They're consistent with
the when a lack of breeding with a pocksha. So
there were a lot of things that we have to manage.
And there were you know, like a puzzle, there were
(38:38):
missing pieces. But it was really shocking, was surprising. I
didn't even know that that kind of drugs they could
be able to be drink or to take it via
you know, oral villa, and so I was very surprised.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
Let's dive deep into those results and bring in doctor J. Vargas,
expert in toxicology and pharmacology, Associate professor at California State
University School of Criminal Justice and Criminalistics in Los Angeles.
Doctor Vargus, can you first explain the process of a
(39:18):
toxicology test?
Speaker 12 (39:20):
Sure, So there's multiple testing modalities in a toxicology laboratory.
First thing that you'll do is a screening test. These
tests are can be sensitive and can clue you into
types of drugs that may be present in the biological
(39:41):
sample and those are primarily well predominantly immuno assays, and
so looking at the toxicology reports here in this case
that you know, we see there's presumptive positive results for
multiple drugs, and then at that point what the toxicology
lab does is, uh so those types of tests are
(40:04):
qualitative initially, so it tells you that the drugs probably there,
but they're not uh confirmatory or quantitative at that point.
So then with if there's you know, still suitable amount
of sample, the lab will sort of decide on what
(40:27):
what which drugs are a priority to analyze further, and
then those will go into typically mass spectrometry techniques so
g cms, l cms. These are these are instruments in
the lab that can confirm that that drug is present,
and then additional testings will quantitate or find out how
(40:51):
much of that drug is in the system. And so
those tests can take you know, several days to maybe weeks.
It just depends on the backlog or you know, other
things happening in the laboratory at the time.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
How would the cause of death be determined based on
those findings.
Speaker 12 (41:09):
The way these types of cases work is basically the the.
Speaker 6 (41:16):
If if if.
Speaker 12 (41:17):
A body comes in to medical examiners, there's going to
be some type of autopsy, some type of examination of
the body.
Speaker 6 (41:24):
Uh.
Speaker 12 (41:24):
The samples will be collected at that point and and
will be sent to toxicology laboratory. Uh and and basically
the whole purpose of the medical examiner's office is for
that for that doctor, that medical examiner to determine the
cause and manner of death, right and and they'll go
(41:44):
through he or she will go through that autopsy, that
that examination of the body and look for anything that
they can determine based on the anatomy, based on their
examination of what of what has happened to that person
and uh, why that person is is now dead? Uh
(42:04):
and what often happens is and my uh, my sort
of reading of the autopsy reports in this case is
that the autopsy reports were pretty unremarkable. And when that happens,
and meaning that there's not a lot of clues there
of why that person has deceased, well, then it's then
(42:26):
it's up to the sort of toxicology department to uh
see if there's anything there. And uh, in this case, right,
we do have positive toxicology results multiple drugs on board
uh in both in both decendents and and that information
then will go back of course to the medical examiner,
and then the medical examiner will review that uh and
(42:49):
then maybe consult with the chief toxicologists of the LAP
and then you know they'll write that into you know,
the cause and manner of death.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
Can you explain the dangers of people taking these drugs
unknowingly and some of the dangers of drugs pose.
Speaker 12 (43:07):
Yeah, So looking at the toxicology results for both individuals,
you know, we do have more information, uh for for
Guiles report, and in that report, you know, when we
go through it, you can see that you know, we're
are our screening tests here. We know we have you know,
(43:30):
cocaine and cocaine metabolites, fentanyl also positive for marijuana marijuana metabolites,
and ketamine was also identified in the system as well.
So yeah, those those those drugs and drug levels are
you know, what the medical examiner and the toxicologists will
(43:51):
be looking at. And my sort of lay of the
land for this case is certainly the fentanyls. That is
the big driver here. You know, it's it's the it's
the it's the concentration of fencanyl in this person's system
that very likely contributed to the main cause of death.
(44:11):
The other drugs here, again are in lower levels. Certainly,
when you start to combine various drugs together you can
have issues, certainly, but the sort of low levels of cocaine,
cocaine metabolite, low levels of marijuana, and the ketaminal that
(44:34):
was found also lower levels as well in this case.
So it does look like there was maybe multiple times
in that period of the evening where where the ingestion
of drugs was was possible. And the insidious thing about
(44:55):
fencanyl in particular is that it does seem to be
mixed into all sorts of drugs these days, any really
anything you can think of. It's it's unfortunately being sort
of mixed in with all the recreational drugs of abuse
and certainly can find its way into other other drugs
as well, And so that's the that's the big problem here,
(45:17):
I think is is sort of unknowingly yeah ingesting.
Speaker 1 (45:24):
Ventsanyl based on what was found in Christie's and Hilda's
toxicology report, how easy would it be for a woman
in her mid twenties to overdose on that type of
mix of drugs it doesn't.
Speaker 12 (45:39):
I mean, anyone with these levels would to come I
would imagine it's it's these levels of fensanyl in the
Guiles report at least are are like are toxic and
and fatal. I mean, if you look at the literature
the you know, the already starting it anywhere from like
(46:02):
you know, five or six nanograms up to thirty nanograms,
you would expect toxic levels and you know, in this
case we have much greater than that. So yeah, it's
it's it's it's a lot of fensanyl. And I think
that you know, it doesn't matter if it could have
(46:26):
been a large man, you know, it could be anyone
with that amount I think of fensanyl in their system
would would we have a lot of trouble.
Speaker 1 (46:34):
Is it possible to determine when specific drugs were taken?
Speaker 12 (46:38):
So that's actually a really common question certainly, you know,
defense attorneys, prosecutors want want that that question answered. Unfortunately, Uh,
it's it's not. It's not really possible to do that.
You would have to know something about exactly how much
of the dose was given, and and the the sort
(47:05):
of trying to do sort of like a back calculation,
you know, to some point of time previous based on
a drug concentration like that. It's just something that's not
really possible to do. There's only one drug that is
that we're you know, we're allowed to do that in
the law, and that's actually alcohol. So alcohol and living persons.
(47:29):
There is some there is some wiggle room there and
allowances for sort of back calculations to sort of determine
what the concentration was, and then when knowing that, you
can get more of like a timeline when the drug
was there. Now that's not to say there's not literature
on you know, dosing paradigms of but those are the
(47:51):
literature that would you know, maybe try to help you
with that would be you know, under controlled environments and
knowing exactly how much drug was administered, etc. So in
cases like this, it's really not you're really not able
to put a big timeline on that.
Speaker 1 (48:11):
The investigation carried on, and five months later, in July
of twenty twenty two, prosecutors filed new charges charging Peers
with the murder of Christy and Hilda. Here's La County
District Attorney George Gascone.
Speaker 13 (48:29):
Because we knew that, you know, there were murders and
we wanted to be able to prove those and that
is the reason why we're now extending the charges to
include murder. We also reach out to the community because
we felt that there would be other victims, and we
now have seven additional victims.
Speaker 1 (48:46):
Peers was also charged with seven counts of drugging and
sexually assaulting forcibly raping and or sodomizing several women, and
two counts of providing a controlled sub since Fetanahl. If convicted,
he could face up to one hundred and twenty eight
(49:07):
years to life in prison. Let's bring back Christy's mom, Dusty, Dusty,
what was it like for you when you found out
that the district attorney initially declined to charge the three men?
Speaker 9 (49:23):
You know, the seven living victims. Two had already came
forward two separate times under two separate different das of Californias,
and both of them the DA, the police investigated, arrested
them and the DA office you think there was anbelievable
information and failed to charge him either time. I can
(49:48):
get the first time, but the second time you've got
him now two different women accusing him of the same
mo My daughter old did not have to die. There
was no purpose. They could have roasted him before he
re rased five more women and then did what they
(50:13):
did with our daughter's bodies for ten hours, twelve hours.
They did not have to die. He should have already
been in prisoned for two counts of murder, you know,
race and druggies. But the California justice system, you know,
I guess, like I said, it was under choose separate
(50:34):
das that made a decision, and I know in Christie
and Hilda's case and the women of the seven living victints,
they had to take it up the detective in charge
and the assistant DA assigns it was under sex crimes
and they had to take it up every ring of
(50:57):
the latter before they could press charge. And that took
a year of meeting with the next step, the next step,
the next step, until it finally was a meeting which
gassed on himself before the DA's office approved them pressing
(51:22):
the charges on the seven living and Christian and Hilda's
murder and the dragging with ample. You know, even after
the corner finished his examination and came out and said
(51:43):
they were murdered, that was murdered. Even after that happened.
That didn't start the whittle of justice going out further up.
The ring is a once it gets in the justice department.
The only person that has any rights is the defendant,
(52:05):
is the criminal, it's the suspectee, the victims, the victim's
family is we have no say our rights. I'm not
thought of at all. I mean, David Pierce has hired
and fired so many different lawyers and waited for the
(52:28):
day of the crowd to do it after we raised
money and so two shirts, stickers and trying to ford
to be there every time to represent our daughters. So
he knows that she was somebody. She wasn't nobody. She
was just some druggy walk in the streets of la
(52:52):
that didn't have a family. Everybody has a family first
of all. But I mean that she was a a
real life person with a husband and a family, and
you know.
Speaker 4 (53:04):
That had.
Speaker 9 (53:07):
People looking for already. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (53:14):
Bran Osborne is still charged only as an accessory to murder.
After the fact. He is pleaded not guilty and is
out on bail. Michael Ansbach is not charged in this case.
It's important to remember in a court of law that
you are innocent until proven guilty. In our next episode,
(53:38):
we'll dive into the past of David Pierce and details
from other victims who have come forward. How La County
prosecutors may have had the chance to lock Pierce up
before the tragic deaths of Christy and Hilda, Plus what
we know about the other two people involved in this,
(53:59):
brand Osbourne and Michael Ansbach. I'm Kelly Hyman and this
is once upon a crime in Hollywood Girls night Out
As Jan Cillier's Christy Giles' husband attempted to retrace Christie's
moves the night before she died of an overdose. He
was still troubled by the stop and an apartment located
in the Pico Robertson area on Olympic Boulevard. After posting
about the location on Instagram, Jan was alerted to some
(00:32):
rumors about a man who lived there, David Pierce, and
Yan had a horrible feeling that someone had done something
to the two women. Let's bring back Yan. What were
you able to find out in the first few hours
of tracking Christie's movements.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
As soon as I landed back in La some friends
picked me up from the airport and we went straight
to the Cola City emergency room.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Spoke to.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Some of the Culver City detectives, spoke to some of
the nurses, and really I was just trying.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
To figure out what was going on.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Why, you know, perfectly healthy, twenty four, twenty five year
old shouldn't be suddenly dying, so obviously something very wrong happened,
and I was determined to get to the bottom of that.
And on social media, I posted about the address that
(01:32):
she'd spent the night at and most of the morning
in the afternoon, and I asked, I reached out to
my network of people and asked if anybody knows anybody
that lives at the specific address, and very quickly a
lot of people replied that David Pierce lives there and
that he is a pretty unsavory person from all reports.
(01:57):
And I kind of passed this information onto the detectives,
and that night the detectives visited him.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Understanding and try to search his property, and at first
he told them no, and then.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Then he let them in. I guess, you know, he
My understanding of what the events that took place is
that he dropped off Christy first at the Culver City
emergency room, and then two hours later he dropped off
killed a different emergency room to try and avoid suspicion
(02:39):
that these two cases were in any way connected, and
very possibly, you know, cost killed her life to buy
waiting two hours to take her in when both girls
were struggling and not breathing. And so the detectives on
(02:59):
the case started investigating and seeing that a lot of
other people had been affected by this person and started
putting a case together.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
According to Dohee Kim, who was with Christine Hilda that
night at the warehouse party, Pierce provided the pair with
what looked to be cocaine and they consumed it. Other
tacks between Christy and Hilda showed they'd also used cocaine
earlier in the night at the art exhibit. But what
happened once they got back to Pierce's apartment. Let's bring
(03:34):
back Danielle Rayden, an LA based journalist for CBS Los Angeles. Danielle, First,
what else can you tell us about the location of
the apartment.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
Pico Robertson is an area in Los Angeles south of
West Hollywood and Beverly Hills. The apartment is on Olympic Boulevard.
It's a very busy street with a constant flow of traffic.
There are a lot lot of hospitals.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
In the area.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
A police Affidavid said that Pearce's apartment was three point
one miles away from Southern California Hospital where Christy was discovered.
The Kaiser Permanente Hospital where Hilda was discovered, is one
point seven miles from his apartment. The closest hospital to
that apartment is Cedar Sinai, which is one point two
(04:23):
miles away.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
On November fourteenth, twenty twenty one, Jonathan vander Lee, a
homicide detective with LAPD's Western Bureau, was assigned to investigate
Christie's death. Within hours of Christie's death, LAPD visited the
location from Christie's phone ping, and sure enough, they found
(04:45):
a black Preess parked in the back of the property
with license plates removed. Detectives believe it was the same
vehicle that dropped both women off at the hospital. Police
observed Brant Osborne inside the apartment and eventually spoke to
both Osborne and Pierce. According to the search affidavit obtained
(05:05):
by La Times, Osborne told police, I didn't give them anything, okay,
I don't live like that. He said. The women were
making noises, but he figured he would give them a
couple hours and they'd come out of it. But Osborne
said it seems like they were getting progressively worse, and
(05:25):
he panicked because he's never been in a situation like
this before. Osborne also told police he and Pierce didn't
know Christy and Hilda, admitting they didn't bring the women
to the same hospital because we didn't know how that
would look. Inside the house, the sheets had been stripped
from one of the bets. Police found two scales in
(05:48):
the bathroom as safe in Pierce's room with small ziploc baggies,
numerous pornographic trophies that say AVN Adult Video Movie Awards,
well is an action figure of Ron Jeremies and assigned
pornographic DVD of Ron Jeremis. According to police, the prius
(06:10):
in the back had no plates, black rims and match
the video of Culver City Hospital surveillance footage as well
as the photos the security guard took of the vehicle.
There was also an Arizona license plate near the car
and a box of money, which Pierce claims to be
twenty to thirty thousand dollars. Danielle, what did the police
(06:34):
find out from neighbors and other witnesses they spoke to?
Speaker 4 (06:38):
Before Yon even knows what happened to Christy exactly, He
posts her last known location from the find my iPhone
app on Instagram, pleading with people, does anybody know who
lives here on West Olympic Boulevard?
Speaker 3 (06:53):
He said.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
People start immediately messaging him saying the person who lives
there is suspicious. They say he is an unsavory character.
They say terrible things have been written about him online.
Witnesses at the warehouse parties say Pierce goes to the
party with possibly an ounce of cocaine to give out.
Around four twenty one in the morning, while they're still
(07:16):
at the party, Christy and Hilda are texting, do you
want coke?
Speaker 6 (07:20):
Let's do a line.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
According to a police affidavit, a witness observed peers provide
what looked like cocaine to the two women who consumed it.
Something happened to make Christian Hilda not get into that
uber that they called. A neighbor reported to police they
heard someone quote in pain and moaning on and off
(07:43):
during the hours of ten thirty in the morning Saturday
until four in the afternoon, so almost six hours. For
reasons not known, the neighbor did not call the police.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Let's bring back Tranka Perata, a retired narcotic detective with
the Los Angeles Police Department. Trinka, what stands out to
you as a detective when you hear that the neighbors
heard screaming between ten thirty am and four pm in
the middle of the day. Doesn't that send off alarm
(08:16):
bells for you?
Speaker 5 (08:18):
Well, hearing from the neighbors that there was moaning or
screaming in a disturbance throughout a daytime. I guess it
depends on what neighborhood you live in, but for the
normal person, that would be of some concern right there.
And it reminds me of the case in Florida where
it was a drug rape situation and they were being
(08:39):
held captive and tortured, and the neighborhoard screams during the
night and didn't tell anybody, who didn't even tell her husband,
who was a sound sleeper, and when the young man
turned up dead, she was like, oh my god, if
only I had called, they might be alive.
Speaker 6 (08:57):
So that is.
Speaker 5 (08:58):
Disturbing information and certainly goes to the indication of being
held either held captive against their will or at least
not in the condition to take care of themselves and
yet being held. So a common thing with drugging when
somebody overdoses, either voluntarily or in a situation like this,
(09:21):
there's a tendency to rather than take him to the hospital,
to try to let him sleep it off or at
least let it wear off, which would could result in
somebody making a lot of noise or trying to get out,
so that information also goes to an involuntary type of
condition and a great concern, great concern that neighbors are
(09:45):
afraid to call or you know, I shouldn't get involved,
or no one will believe me. That's pretty sad.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Jean continued his own investigation, keeping his Instagram followers updated
on his findings. Yeahan reached out to the owner of
the warehouse, who connected him to the photographer who was
working the warehouse party that night. The photographer provided photos
showing Christy and Hilda in the VIP section, as well
(10:12):
as photos showing Hilda with David Pierce. Jan was also
able to obtain surveillance footage from the warehouse which showed
Christy and Hilda leaving the warehouse with David Pierce and
two of his friends, Brant Osbourne and Michael Ansbach, then
getting inside a vehicle with them. Christy and Hilda were
(10:34):
wearing the same clothing they were dropped off at the
hospital in Hilda in her dress and boots and Christy
in a unique white pants and a red jacket. Police
also viewed the footage which showed Peerce arriving at the
main entrance at three ten am with Osbourne. Ann's Bach
(10:55):
and two other individuals. Hilda texts Christy at four or
twenty one am, asking do you want coke? Christy replied yes,
Where are you? Hilda replies where we came? Response by
Christy is I'll come to break room. Hilda replies where
(11:17):
we arrived. I'm in the kitchen. Let's do a line.
At four thirty five am, Pierce, Osborne and Ann's Bach
were seen in the VIP area in the back, with
Hilda wearing Pierce's jacket. At four forty six am, surveillance
video outside the warehouse shows the group exiting, with Christy
(11:40):
on the left, An's Boch in the middle, and Pierce
on the right leading Hilda behind him. Surveillance footage from
across the street of Pierce's apartment show the group arrived
around five eleven am in Brant Osborne's gray high end
day Lantra. People get out and walk towards eighty six
(12:02):
forty one West Olympic Boulevard. Nineteen minutes later, at five
thirty am, Christy texts Hilda with a wide ie emoju,
saying let's go. Hilda replies, I'll call an uber ten
minutes away. Thirteen minutes after that a car pulls up,
(12:23):
which police believe was an uber. After waiting five minutes,
it drives away without picking anyone up. At eleven seventeen
that morning, Brant Osborne gets into the Lantra and returns
at eleven forty four. At two eleven pm, surveillance footage
(12:43):
shows Pierce outside holding a dog looking around. At four nineteen,
Pierce and Osborne are shown caring Christy out the back door.
Pierce appears to be looking over his shoulder. They're unable
to carry her, so he goes back inside and closes
the door. Pierce re emerges with Christy over his shoulder
(13:06):
and is followed by Osborne down the stairs towards the prius.
In the video, Christy is limp and completely unresponsive. According
to Detective vander Lee. Pears is wearing glasses, a Calvin
Klein hat with a mask on, and an Archangel branded
T shirt. Osborne walks out with a black Brooklyn T
(13:29):
shirt and a pink purse, which is Christie's. At five
fifteen pm, Ann's Bach leaves a residence carrying bags of
unknown items. Fifteen minutes later, the prius is seen returning
to Pierce's apartment at five thirty. At six thirty seven pm,
(13:51):
an hour after Pierce and Osborne return, they exit the
residence again with Pierce carrying Hilda over his shoulder. Osbourne
is carrying Hilda's shoes, but instead of driving to the
same hospital, the men instead take off for Kaiser Permidente
Medical Center in West Los Angeles. At seven twenty four pm.
(14:14):
You can see Pierce near the laundry room in his apartment,
next to where the washers and dryers are manipulating what
appears to be linen and clothes. In the video of
Hilda being dropped off, Pierce changed his mask and his shorts,
Brant Osborne changed his jacket. There is a lot to
(14:39):
unpack there, the timing of the text messages between Christy
and Hilda at the party asking about doing a line,
and then just fifteen minutes later we see them leaving
the party with Pierce. We know Pierce gave them cocaine
according to their friend. Dohe the amount of time between
(15:01):
the uber leaving the house at five forty five am
and Christie not being dropped off the hospital until five pm,
nearly twelve hours, and we know from the surveillance footage
that both Osborne and Peerce were outside the house at
eleven am and two pm. What took them so long
(15:25):
to bring Christy to the hospital? And how about the
woman being thrown over their back, carried out to the
car and dropped off outside the hospital. The disregard for
these women's wellbeing an attempt to conceal their identity. No
(15:47):
woman deserves to be treated this way. No woman needs
to go through this horrific, in horrible and senseless death,
and no parent should have to grieve the loss of
(16:11):
their own child. Trinka, we don't know what happened in
that apartment, and we may never know, But what do
you make of the actions of Pearce and Osborne.
Speaker 5 (16:25):
We're clearly dropping them off separately and at two different times.
That's partly I would think to divert the case being
put together may trying to divert a connection, but also
that seems to indicate that the one may have been
in worse condition and they dropped her off first, thinking
oh again, there's this tendency to try to let them
(16:47):
sleep it off or or let the drug wear off
before letting them leave, and she obviously was in the
you know, a bad enough condition if they felt they
had to do something, they probably left the other one
behind rather than drop them off at the same time
or time span, thinking she might get through it better.
And then they get back and she's going getting into
(17:11):
worse condition as well, and therefore the time delay clearly
again more trying to cover their tracks than trying to
help somebody in obvious medical need at that point.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Just over a month later, on December fifteenth, twenty twenty one,
Los Angeles Police Department announced and arrest Police have arrested
three men in connection with the debts of a model
and her friend last month.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
Kay Comin's Jasmineville live in Olympic Boulevard in the People
Robertson neighborhood with details now, Jasmine.
Speaker 7 (17:44):
Well, Susie, this is the apartment right behind me there
on the second floor where those two women had those
fatal overdoses and as you said, their bodies later dumped
at two different hospitals, and tonight police are concerned there
could be even more women victims out there drugged by
these men.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
LAPD arrested David Pearce on suspicion of manslaughter, Michael Ansboch
and forty two year old Brant Osborne were both arrested
on suspicion of being an accessory to manslaughter. Ultimately, the
Los Angeles County District Attorney's office declined to charge the
men with crimes connected to the woman's death and sent
(18:22):
the case back to detectives for further investigation. Osborne and
Ansbach were released from custody, but Pierce was also charged
with four unrelated sexual assault charges dating back to twenty ten.
He allegedly lured four different Jane Does to his apartment
and gave three of them a special drink, causing them
(18:46):
to get dizzy or blackout. Let's welcome Josh Ritter. Josh
is a criminal defense attorney and former La County prosecutor
and the host of Courtroom Confidential on YouTube. Josh, you
have a connection to this case. How did you first
hear about it?
Speaker 8 (19:06):
I was having brunch with my nephew, who happens to
be in law enforcement, and many times when we get together,
you know, we'll trade stories about what he's been up
to in his line of work, and he happened to
tell me this tragic story about how he was called
out on an investigation of a case where a young
woman had been dropped off close to death, if not
(19:31):
dead already at a hospital. And then a few hours
later another woman had been dropped off at a different hospital,
and we were talking about just what a tragic story
that is. The story actually made the news later that evening,
and I received a phone call a few days later
from a man by the name of Jan Chilliers who
(19:54):
told me that, in fact, it was his wife that
was one of the women, Christy Giles, who had been
dropped off and was dead at one of these hospitals.
And that is how I originally became involved in this
whole case.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
The prosecutor sent the case back to the detectives. What
goes into this type of decision. Did they send the
case back to the detectives because the prosecutors didn't believe
that there was sufficient evidence in order to prove their case.
Were they not able to hold the suspect and custody
any longer based on the evidence they had.
Speaker 8 (20:31):
It's not uncommon for prosecutors to ask detectives to do
further follow up investigation on a case before they feel
comfortable filing it. Many times, prosecutors will get a case
and they'll either accept it for filing or they will
reject it for filing, feeling that it's either you know,
doesn't qualify as a crime, or you know, maybe they
(20:55):
feel like a different agency should handle it. But oftentimes
they will reject it for further investigation, meaning we're not
going to file it now. We need it to go
back to detectives, and we need them to have some
further work done. That could be lab testing, that could
be follow up interviews with other eyewitnesses, that could be
(21:18):
pulling other evidence, you know, asking them to you know,
investigate whether or not any surveillance video exists, you know,
perhaps pulling phone records, banking records, all sorts of things
that a DA might feel like they need before they
can file a case. And the reason behind that is
(21:40):
they they kind of know that they have one shot
at this. They want to know that once they have
filed on someone, the clock begins to tick and the
defendant then kind of controls the clock, as it were,
and if they really push the prosecutors, the keutters need
(22:01):
to hurry up and get to a preliminary hearing within
ten days and perhaps even a trial within sixty days,
so they have to have all their ducks in a row.
Before they even make the decision to file. Now, most
times that doesn't happen. Trials drag on continuances are given,
but prosecutors always kind of operate with the idea that
(22:21):
at the time of filing, you should have all the
evidence that you feel you need if pushed to prove
this case beyond a reasonable doubt, and if you don't,
you send it back to detectives to do further investigation.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
A week later, a judge ordered Piers to remain in
jail in lieu of his three point four million dollar bail.
At the hearing, Deputy District Attorney Catherine Mariano said investigators
found thirty thousand dollars and a passport in Pierce's car
when he was arrested. Mariano told the judge Pierce frequently
(22:54):
drugged women and sexually abuse them, pose a threat to
the public, and is a flight risk. The prosecutors added
that upon his arrest, Pierce tried to flee and ran
out the back door. Investigators also found evidence that Pierce
was searching about living in foreign countries that do not
(23:16):
extradite Americans. Pierce's defense team claimed he works as a
freelance entertainment event planner and lives paycheck to paycheck, so
we would not be able to afford the minimum to
pay the three point four million bail related to the
rape charges. His attorney at the time, Jacob Gluxman, also
(23:38):
said keeping Pierce in jail during the COVID search is
dangerous because Peerce suffers from pre existing health conditions and
that Pierce has not been vaccinated against COVID. Gluxman asked
the judge to consider lowering Pierce's bail to one hundred
thousand dollars if he agreed to wear a GPS tracking device,
(24:00):
noting Pierce did not have a criminal record. The defense
attorney also explained the thirty thousand found in Pierce's car
was from winnings from a recent Vegas trip, and that
pierce vehicle did not have a license plate because he
was involved in a car accident a few weeks before
his arrest. Outside the courtroom, Deputy District Attorney Catherine Mariano
(24:24):
told reporters the investigation into Christy and Hilda's murder was ongoing.
Let's bring back Trinka, Parata Trinka. How does Pierce's alleged
history come into play? While the investigation into the murders
continues well.
Speaker 5 (24:43):
Drug facilitated sexual assault suspects tend to be a cereal rapist.
They try this, it works, it works really well, and
the victim can't testify. I can't say no I said no.
I would have surely said no, but I don't remember
saying no. I meant to say. You know, you hear
(25:03):
all these things, and and it works. So they're not prosecuted.
So guess what, they do it again and again, and
they It's not uncommon when you're talking about these these
types of cases, the weird activities with foreign objects, bottles
and things like that, because it works so well to
(25:28):
use the drugs and take advantage of somebody that's been
that's under the influence of drugs. So you really get
the picture of the typical sexual predator aided by drugging,
who gets kinkier and kink here over time. The issue
of the special drinks, that's very common too. That's we've
(25:51):
had people convinced to try a dietary supplement. This is
a this is an energy tonic, this is great stuff,
and it's really or whatever concoction. Because if I'm drinking wine,
if I'm say I'm sitting in a bar drinking rose
wine and a guy wants to hit on me in
this way. He's not going to just slip GHB in
(26:15):
my rose wine, because I'll probably notice that GHB is
not tasteless. It has a nasty taste by itself. So
he's going to have to get me to try something else.
Maybe Saint Patrick's Day, and they're passing around those little
green shots that are a concoction of very strong concoction,
(26:36):
and if I've never had one of whatever that is,
I'm not going to notice whether the taste is what
it should be or not. So a lot of times
that special drink is to get you to drink something
that they can hide whatever they're doing in or maybe
(26:57):
they're preferred concoction. Some people want you to conscious. Having
sex with a dead near dead body is apparently a
thrill like the ender Luster case, or maybe it's because
he wants a very precise control of what he does
to you. They may want you not unconscious, but memory loss.
(27:19):
So we had a case where the magic drink was
one of those three layered different color liqueurs, very sweet,
very unusual, very pretty to look at, very different. But
he threw in a piece of candy, and he told
them be sure you eat the candy at the bottom. Well,
(27:39):
the candy was an ecstasy pill, because being a stimulant
and a sexual stimulate sexually stimulating eccessy can also be
a sexual assault drug. But it's not a downer, it's
an upper. So you're maybe a little less likely to
pass out. Maybe you're going to be more sexually involved here,
(28:00):
to be participating in the videos that they often make,
but you're still going to have the memory loss from
the alcohol and the GHV. So these special drinks are
definitely special. They're calculated. There have a very intense purpose,
and it may be anything from just knocking you out
(28:22):
to fine tuning the effects that they give you.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Later that month, detectives got a warrant to search dozens
of phones, tablets, laptops, SD cards, cameras, flash drives, VHS tapes,
and voice recorders sees from the three men in the search,
Warren Affitt, David lapd. Detective Jonathan vander Lee wrote he
(28:48):
believed the devices may show what happened that night inside
Pierce and Osborne's apartment. In April twenty twenty two, the
Los Angeles County Medical Examiners Owner's office confirmed the cause
of death of both Christie and Hilda.
Speaker 7 (29:04):
The deaths of two women drugged and dumped at separate
hospitals last November have been ruled homicides, the.
Speaker 9 (29:10):
Corner, making public for the first time all of the
illegal drugs found in their systems.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Christy died due to multiple drug intoxication and Hilda from
multiple organ failures and multiple drug intoxication. Christy had a
fatal mix of cocaine, fetanyl ketamine, and GHB inner system,
commonly referred to as the date rape drug. Back to
(29:37):
Dusty Giles, Christie's mother, Dusty, how do you react to
those findings? Do you think Christy would have ever knowingly
taken some of those drugs?
Speaker 9 (29:47):
No, back to help me. Everything down there is almost
placed with pantanol. And you don't. You just don't unless
you've been with let's that somebody you know or whatever.
She was honest with us. The only way to keep
an open line of communication with your child who lived
(30:12):
a distance away, even though she's going against everything that
her mom and dad raised her and warned her and
told her not to lose hers. Don't forget your roots.
And she told me that they are lacing it with everything.
(30:33):
You've got to even be careful with if you buy
not from a distillery, if you buy marijuana from somebody
on the street. And she said so no, ma'am. You know,
because I asked her straight out, But she said that
she had at times taken what she caught party drugs
(30:58):
at some of the rags that they would go to.
So was I surprise. I was surprised that some of
the stuff in there. Yet definitely because she didn't do hair,
you know, heroin, she was open and honest with what
she had tried before.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Hilda's autopsy also shows traces of cocaine MDMA or ecstasy
and elevated levels of FETONYL in her system. Both women
enjoyed having a good time, but Christie's family insists she
wasn't some flighty twenty year old party girl. John, how
would you describe Christie's nightlife?
Speaker 3 (31:38):
So, yeah, I'm a member of a sort.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Of it's like a I don't know if it's like
a nightlife club. It's like more of a members club,
very similar to what so her house is. And I've been,
you know, we generally spend a couple of weekends there
out of the month because all our friends are there,
(32:05):
and it was it was a sort of an easy hang.
You just show up and all your friends just happened
to be there, so it was it was a.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Great place to catch up with everyone.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
And but as far as like bigger parties and bigger
nightlife things, I wouldn't say we went out all the time,
but we definitely had an active social life, and you know,
we enjoyed a good boogie. So most of the time
(32:35):
we went out together. But if I was busy, she
would go out with friends, and if she was busy,
I'd go out with friends.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
So it worked out great.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Let's bring in Fernanda Countasani, Hilda's close friend. How would
you describe Hilda? Was she a party girl type?
Speaker 10 (32:55):
I mean, she of course loved to party like everybody.
I guess she loved to be with her friends and
to be you know, near some good times in her home.
But to be honest, the times we were always together
here in Monterey, she was the one who was going
(33:19):
earlier to sleep, like she was at ten. She was
always like, oh no, I'm going to sleep now, so
she went. We were always at her home, so she
was like yeah, you stay here and I go to sleep.
And it was so funny because everyone was like, no,
don't go to sleep. We were always like telling her
to stay more. We were begging her to stay more,
(33:41):
to stay awake. But of course when she went to LA,
I mean we were we went to party of course
here in Mexico, in Monterey, but I don't know, she
had really specific how I say, like habits, and she
had a routine where she wake up really early, like
(34:03):
at six am. She walked Tomas like for one hour,
then she started to work and then she went to
the gym, So she had really like her routine was
really I don't know, like squared routine. She always did,
like at the same hours every day, like walk the
dog in the morning, then go to work, then go
(34:25):
to the gym, then eat and sleep. That was like
her routine. But of course there were times we were
going to party and she loved the party like everyone.
But when she moved to LA, like every other person,
I guess she was partying too, and she was also
(34:46):
like she was new to the town, so of course
she wanted to meet new people, meet new friends. So
I mean I would not say she was like always partying,
but like everybody, we love to party, we like to
be with friends. So I guess in La she was
just trying to get to know people and try to
(35:10):
make her own friendsier goal like she did have here
in Monterey. I guess she was trying to do this.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Let's bring back held his sister, Fernanda. Did you notice
she was partying more when she moved to La.
Speaker 11 (35:27):
Yeah, I think it was just like a maybe at
the beginning she was a bit more since you know,
all of the excitement new things. Of course La everything
is like yeah, I don't know, like fancy, and it's
very different.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
But that was it.
Speaker 11 (35:45):
I mean, she was really really focused at work. I
sometimes stuck with her and she was like, sorry, I'm
I'm at work, like I will call you later or
I will send message later. I think she wasn't partying
more than usually all saying like, not more than any
other young person would. I think for me, it's just
(36:05):
we already established that she wasn't a party girl type.
But like these type of questions in general and also
seeing in the media kind of you know, make me
mad because then I think, like, even if they were,
what would that why would that make a difference. It
was a live both lives and also besides the fact
(36:28):
of the drugs, which yeah, we know they were just
like so many other overwhelming facts that happened that night,
if they would have taken them to the hospital sooner
col nine went one do something to help, things might
have turned like way out differently. So I think like
for us, there's absolutely no doubt or this, the fact
(36:50):
that they were drugs involved change nothing, yeah for us,
And I think in general, like to the whole case,
right and.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Now to Hilda's mother, doctor Arzola Placentia, what did you
think when you heard about her toxicology results.
Speaker 6 (37:09):
I was shocked because I never ever expected to hear that,
And the night that everything came up, I spoke with
the neurologist at the ICU unit and he told me,
we don't know what happened. We think that she has
(37:30):
been drugged. There were some versions about the official version
and about the hospital version, and they were they didn't match,
and that gave us more you know, questions about what
happened that night were what happened? What did really happen
(37:51):
that night? And when the one of the doctors, doctor cass,
I do remember that because it's very hard. And the
doctor told us you can save him, Doctor cass he
told he showed me the MRI and he explained me,
you know this, but just find things in the MRI.
(38:15):
They are not consistent with the drugs. They're consistent with
the when a lack of breeding with a pocksha. So
there were a lot of things that we have to manage.
And there were you know, like a puzzle, there were
(38:38):
missing pieces. But it was really shocking, was surprising. I
didn't even know that that kind of drugs they could
be able to be drink or to take it via
you know, oral villa, and so I was very surprised.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
Let's dive deep into those results and bring in doctor J. Vargas,
expert in toxicology and pharmacology, Associate professor at California State
University School of Criminal Justice and Criminalistics in Los Angeles.
Doctor Vargus, can you first explain the process of a
(39:18):
toxicology test?
Speaker 12 (39:20):
Sure, So there's multiple testing modalities in a toxicology laboratory.
First thing that you'll do is a screening test. These
tests are can be sensitive and can clue you into
types of drugs that may be present in the biological
(39:41):
sample and those are primarily well predominantly immuno assays, and
so looking at the toxicology reports here in this case
that you know, we see there's presumptive positive results for
multiple drugs, and then at that point what the toxicology
lab does is, uh so those types of tests are
(40:04):
qualitative initially, so it tells you that the drugs probably there,
but they're not uh confirmatory or quantitative at that point.
So then with if there's you know, still suitable amount
of sample, the lab will sort of decide on what
(40:27):
what which drugs are a priority to analyze further, and
then those will go into typically mass spectrometry techniques so
g cms, l cms. These are these are instruments in
the lab that can confirm that that drug is present,
and then additional testings will quantitate or find out how
(40:51):
much of that drug is in the system. And so
those tests can take you know, several days to maybe weeks.
It just depends on the backlog or you know, other
things happening in the laboratory at the time.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
How would the cause of death be determined based on
those findings.
Speaker 12 (41:09):
The way these types of cases work is basically the the.
Speaker 6 (41:16):
If if if.
Speaker 12 (41:17):
A body comes in to medical examiners, there's going to
be some type of autopsy, some type of examination of
the body.
Speaker 6 (41:24):
Uh.
Speaker 12 (41:24):
The samples will be collected at that point and and
will be sent to toxicology laboratory. Uh and and basically
the whole purpose of the medical examiner's office is for
that for that doctor, that medical examiner to determine the
cause and manner of death, right and and they'll go
(41:44):
through he or she will go through that autopsy, that
that examination of the body and look for anything that
they can determine based on the anatomy, based on their
examination of what of what has happened to that person
and uh, why that person is is now dead? Uh
(42:04):
and what often happens is and my uh, my sort
of reading of the autopsy reports in this case is
that the autopsy reports were pretty unremarkable. And when that happens,
and meaning that there's not a lot of clues there
of why that person has deceased, well, then it's then
(42:26):
it's up to the sort of toxicology department to uh
see if there's anything there. And uh, in this case, right,
we do have positive toxicology results multiple drugs on board
uh in both in both decendents and and that information
then will go back of course to the medical examiner,
and then the medical examiner will review that uh and
(42:49):
then maybe consult with the chief toxicologists of the LAP
and then you know they'll write that into you know,
the cause and manner of death.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
Can you explain the dangers of people taking these drugs
unknowingly and some of the dangers of drugs pose.
Speaker 12 (43:07):
Yeah, So looking at the toxicology results for both individuals,
you know, we do have more information, uh for for
Guiles report, and in that report, you know, when we
go through it, you can see that you know, we're
are our screening tests here. We know we have you know,
(43:30):
cocaine and cocaine metabolites, fentanyl also positive for marijuana marijuana metabolites,
and ketamine was also identified in the system as well.
So yeah, those those those drugs and drug levels are
you know, what the medical examiner and the toxicologists will
(43:51):
be looking at. And my sort of lay of the
land for this case is certainly the fentanyls. That is
the big driver here. You know, it's it's the it's
the it's the concentration of fencanyl in this person's system
that very likely contributed to the main cause of death.
(44:11):
The other drugs here, again are in lower levels. Certainly,
when you start to combine various drugs together you can
have issues, certainly, but the sort of low levels of cocaine,
cocaine metabolite, low levels of marijuana, and the ketaminal that
(44:34):
was found also lower levels as well in this case.
So it does look like there was maybe multiple times
in that period of the evening where where the ingestion
of drugs was was possible. And the insidious thing about
(44:55):
fencanyl in particular is that it does seem to be
mixed into all sorts of drugs these days, any really
anything you can think of. It's it's unfortunately being sort
of mixed in with all the recreational drugs of abuse
and certainly can find its way into other other drugs
as well, And so that's the that's the big problem here,
(45:17):
I think is is sort of unknowingly yeah ingesting.
Speaker 1 (45:24):
Ventsanyl based on what was found in Christie's and Hilda's
toxicology report, how easy would it be for a woman
in her mid twenties to overdose on that type of
mix of drugs it doesn't.
Speaker 12 (45:39):
I mean, anyone with these levels would to come I
would imagine it's it's these levels of fensanyl in the
Guiles report at least are are like are toxic and
and fatal. I mean, if you look at the literature
the you know, the already starting it anywhere from like
(46:02):
you know, five or six nanograms up to thirty nanograms,
you would expect toxic levels and you know, in this
case we have much greater than that. So yeah, it's
it's it's it's a lot of fensanyl. And I think
that you know, it doesn't matter if it could have
(46:26):
been a large man, you know, it could be anyone
with that amount I think of fensanyl in their system
would would we have a lot of trouble.
Speaker 1 (46:34):
Is it possible to determine when specific drugs were taken?
Speaker 12 (46:38):
So that's actually a really common question certainly, you know,
defense attorneys, prosecutors want want that that question answered. Unfortunately, Uh,
it's it's not. It's not really possible to do that.
You would have to know something about exactly how much
of the dose was given, and and the the sort
(47:05):
of trying to do sort of like a back calculation,
you know, to some point of time previous based on
a drug concentration like that. It's just something that's not
really possible to do. There's only one drug that is
that we're you know, we're allowed to do that in
the law, and that's actually alcohol. So alcohol and living persons.
(47:29):
There is some there is some wiggle room there and
allowances for sort of back calculations to sort of determine
what the concentration was, and then when knowing that, you
can get more of like a timeline when the drug
was there. Now that's not to say there's not literature
on you know, dosing paradigms of but those are the
(47:51):
literature that would you know, maybe try to help you
with that would be you know, under controlled environments and
knowing exactly how much drug was administered, etc. So in
cases like this, it's really not you're really not able
to put a big timeline on that.
Speaker 1 (48:11):
The investigation carried on, and five months later, in July
of twenty twenty two, prosecutors filed new charges charging Peers
with the murder of Christy and Hilda. Here's La County
District Attorney George Gascone.
Speaker 13 (48:29):
Because we knew that, you know, there were murders and
we wanted to be able to prove those and that
is the reason why we're now extending the charges to
include murder. We also reach out to the community because
we felt that there would be other victims, and we
now have seven additional victims.
Speaker 1 (48:46):
Peers was also charged with seven counts of drugging and
sexually assaulting forcibly raping and or sodomizing several women, and
two counts of providing a controlled sub since Fetanahl. If convicted,
he could face up to one hundred and twenty eight
(49:07):
years to life in prison. Let's bring back Christy's mom, Dusty, Dusty,
what was it like for you when you found out
that the district attorney initially declined to charge the three men?
Speaker 9 (49:23):
You know, the seven living victims. Two had already came
forward two separate times under two separate different das of Californias,
and both of them the DA, the police investigated, arrested
them and the DA office you think there was anbelievable
information and failed to charge him either time. I can
(49:48):
get the first time, but the second time you've got
him now two different women accusing him of the same
mo My daughter old did not have to die. There
was no purpose. They could have roasted him before he
re rased five more women and then did what they
(50:13):
did with our daughter's bodies for ten hours, twelve hours.
They did not have to die. He should have already
been in prisoned for two counts of murder, you know,
race and druggies. But the California justice system, you know,
I guess, like I said, it was under choose separate
(50:34):
das that made a decision, and I know in Christie
and Hilda's case and the women of the seven living victints,
they had to take it up the detective in charge
and the assistant DA assigns it was under sex crimes
and they had to take it up every ring of
(50:57):
the latter before they could press charge. And that took
a year of meeting with the next step, the next step,
the next step, until it finally was a meeting which
gassed on himself before the DA's office approved them pressing
(51:22):
the charges on the seven living and Christian and Hilda's
murder and the dragging with ample. You know, even after
the corner finished his examination and came out and said
(51:43):
they were murdered, that was murdered. Even after that happened.
That didn't start the whittle of justice going out further up.
The ring is a once it gets in the justice department.
The only person that has any rights is the defendant,
(52:05):
is the criminal, it's the suspectee, the victims, the victim's
family is we have no say our rights. I'm not
thought of at all. I mean, David Pierce has hired
and fired so many different lawyers and waited for the
(52:28):
day of the crowd to do it after we raised
money and so two shirts, stickers and trying to ford
to be there every time to represent our daughters. So
he knows that she was somebody. She wasn't nobody. She
was just some druggy walk in the streets of la
(52:52):
that didn't have a family. Everybody has a family first
of all. But I mean that she was a a
real life person with a husband and a family, and
you know.
Speaker 4 (53:04):
That had.
Speaker 9 (53:07):
People looking for already. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (53:14):
Bran Osborne is still charged only as an accessory to murder.
After the fact. He is pleaded not guilty and is
out on bail. Michael Ansbach is not charged in this case.
It's important to remember in a court of law that
you are innocent until proven guilty. In our next episode,
(53:38):
we'll dive into the past of David Pierce and details
from other victims who have come forward. How La County
prosecutors may have had the chance to lock Pierce up
before the tragic deaths of Christy and Hilda, Plus what
we know about the other two people involved in this,
(53:59):
brand Osbourne and Michael Ansbach. I'm Kelly Hyman and this
is once upon a crime in Hollywood Girls night Out
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