Hollywood Producer Convicted in Model’s Fentanyl Overdose Death

LOS ANGELES (CNS) — A Hollywood producer was convicted Tuesday of two counts of first-degree murder in the drug overdose deaths of a 24-year-old model and her friend, along with multiple sexual assault charges involving seven other women. David Brian Pearce, 42, was found guilty after a jury deliberated for about 2 1/2 days in a case that has gripped Los Angeles since the deaths of Christy Giles and Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola in November 2021.

The victims were found outside two separate hospitals hours apart, with toxicology reports revealing a lethal mix of drugs, including fentanyl, cocaine, and GHB, in their systems. Pearce was also convicted of three counts of forcible rape, two counts of sexual penetration by use of force, and one count each of rape of an unconscious person and sodomy by use of force.

Deputy District Attorney Catherine Mariano argued that Pearce knowingly provided the drugs to facilitate sexual assault. “He knew the dangers of fentanyl,” Mariano said in her closing argument. “He gave them these drugs because he wanted to sexually assault them.”

Pearce’s attorney, Jeff Voll, countered that his client did not provide the drugs and suggested the substances were “accidentally ingested.” Voll also questioned the credibility of the sexual assault allegations, noting that many of the accusers did not report the incidents immediately.

The jury was unable to reach a verdict on charges against Pearce’s co-defendant, Brandt Walter Osborn, 45, who was accused of being an accessory after the fact. Osborn allegedly accompanied Pearce in a Toyota Prius with no license plates to drop the women off at hospitals. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Eleanor J. Hunter declared a mistrial on those charges after jurors deadlocked.

Giles, an aspiring actress, was already dead when she was taken to Southern California Hospital in Culver City. Cabrales-Arzola, an architect, was alive but in critical condition when left outside Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Hospital. She was later removed from life support, a day before her 27th birthday.

Pearce, who remains jailed, faces up to life in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for March 13. Osborn, who is free on bond, may face a retrial if prosecutors choose to pursue the case.

During the trial, key witness Michael Ansbach testified that Pearce told him, “Dead girls don’t talk.” Ansbach, who was arrested alongside Pearce and Osborn but never charged, also described how Pearce provided drugs to the victims and himself.

Pearce denied the allegations, claiming he did not see the women consume drugs and that he moved them to different rooms in his home after they appeared to pass out. He also denied sexually assaulting any of the women, including the seven who testified against him.

The case has drawn widespread attention, with Giles’ mother, Dusty, writing on Facebook that she hoped the coroner’s findings would lead to justice. “While we her family all along knew and felt strongly our baby was murdered, it is now officially listed as her cause of death!” she wrote.