News Releases

David Pearce faces 148 years to life in state prison for the murders of Christy Giles and Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola in November 2021

LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman today announced that David Pearce was convicted by a jury on February 4 of two counts of first-degree murderin the fentanyl overdose deaths of Christy Giles and Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola in Beverly Hills in November 2021. Pearce was also convicted of rape and other sexual assaults against seven different women between 2007 and 2021.

"Today, a serial rapist was held accountable for the deaths of Christy Giles and Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola, both of whom tragically died as a result of fentanyl poisoning, and the victimization of seven other women across Los Angeles,” said District Attorney Hochman. “I thank the trial team, Deputy District Attorneys Catherine Mariano and Seth Carmack, for their tireless pursuit of justice and determination to give a voice to the women who bravely came forward to report the crimes committed against them. The office will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law those who illegally supply fentanyl and destroy lives, especially those who commit sexual assaults.”

The jury found David Brian Pearce (DOB 2/17/82) guilty in case BA498423 of all charges and allegations: two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Christy Giles and Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola; three counts of forcible rape; one count of sexual penetration by use of force; one count of sodomy by use of force; one count of rape of an unconscious woman; and one count of sexual penetration by foreign object in the sexual assaults of seven different victims.

Pearce is scheduled to be sentenced March 13 in Dept. 109 of the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center. Pearce faces 148 years to life in state prison. He will be required to register as a sex offender for life.

The jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on both counts of accessory after the fact in the charges against Brandt Walter Osborn (DOB 9/12/79).

Osborn returns to court for a pretrial hearing on March 13 in Dept. 109 of the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center.

On November 13, 2021, at approximately 3 a.m., Pearce, Osborn, and Michael Ansbach, an acquaintance, met victims Giles and Cabrales-Arzola at a warehouse party in East Los Angeles. About two hours later, Giles and Cabrales-Arzola accompanied Pearce, Osborn, and Ansbach back to Pearce’s Beverly Hills apartment. While at the apartment, Pearce provided Giles, Cabrales-Arzola, and Ansbach gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and fentanyl, causing Giles and Cabrales-Arzola to fatally overdose.

Within about thirty-five minutes of arriving at the apartment, Cabrales-Arzola called a rideshare service to leave the location, but neither Cabrales-Arzola nor Giles left the residence until Pearce carried Giles out of the apartment about eleven hours later and carried Cabrales-Arzola out about an hour and a half afterwards. Pearce dropped the victims off at two different local hospitals. Giles was deceased when she was dropped off at the hospital. Cabrales-Arzola was resuscitated and died eleven days later, one day short of her 27th birthday.

Upon further investigation, it was discovered that Pearce committed numerous drug-facilitated sexual assaults against multiple women. Seven victims testified at trial to Pearce’s sexual depravity and violent tendencies. 

The case was prosecuted by the office’s Sex Crimes Division and investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department.

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