CBS’s 48 Hours to Feature Convicted Promoter’s Role in Fatal Drug Case

Los Angeles, California – The chilling murder case of an Alabama model and her friend will be the focus of CBS’s “48 Hours” this weekend. The episode, titled “Dead Girls Don’t Talk,” airs Saturday, March 29, at 9 p.m. CST. It coincides with the February conviction of nightclub promoter Elijah Pearce, who was found guilty in connection with the 2021 drug-related deaths of Christy Cilliers and her friend Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola.

Cilliers and Cabrales-Arzola were drugged and abandoned at separate hospitals in Los Angeles after a night out in November 2021. Pearce was convicted on multiple charges, including seven counts of sexual assault involving different women across a span of years. While he is set to be sentenced soon, Pearce’s new attorneys have filed for a retrial.

The upcoming episode will feature interviews with Los Angeles Police Department Det. Jonathan Vander Lee, Lt. Calvin You, and a woman who claims she survived an attack by Pearce. “I wouldn’t say survivor. I’m a fighter,” the woman told the show, emphasizing her resilience.

Born and raised in Gardendale, Alabama, Cilliers was the youngest of three sisters. She demonstrated athletic prowess in soccer, eventually earning a modeling contract with Wilhelmina Models in Miami shortly before her 15th birthday. After moving to Los Angeles, Cilliers eloped with Jan Cilliers in 2019, and they settled in Marina del Rey.

On the weekend of November 12, 2021, while her husband was in San Francisco, Cilliers opted for a girls’ night out with Cabrales-Arzola and two other friends. They visited Soho House in West Hollywood for an art exhibition, later moving to an after-party where they met Pearce, along with his associates Michael Ansbach and Brandt Osborn.

According to Dusty Giles, Cilliers’s mother, “They posed like they were event staff,” which raised suspicions about their true intentions. Pearce and his accomplices drove the women to his apartment. Shortly thereafter, Cilliers texted Cabrales-Arzola: “Let’s get out of here,” but received no further replies. Neither woman was heard from again after that night.

The following day, Cilliers’s husband became concerned when she didn’t respond to his texts. Law enforcement later confirmed that both women were dropped off at hospitals where they were pronounced dead. Cilliers was found unresponsive at a Culver City hospital, while Cabrales-Arzola was taken to Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles, where she died on November 24.

Investigators classified their deaths as homicides, with toxicology reports revealing high levels of GHB and fentanyl in their systems. Giles claims there is video evidence showing Pearce and his associates disposing of Cilliers’s body.

Following the investigation, Pearce was arrested in December 2021 after multiple women came forward, alleging he had assaulted them. The jury could not reach a verdict against Osborn, and Ansbach provided key testimony for the prosecution, recounting how Pearce served a dangerous batch of cocaine during the night of the incident.

“When I pleaded for someone to take Cilliers and Cabrales-Arzola, both unconscious, to the hospital, Pearce told me, ‘Dead girls don’t talk,’” Ansbach testified. This phrase has now become a haunting reminder of the tragic events surrounding the case.