Naman Shrestha
When two young women, Christy Giles and Hilda Cabrales-Arzola, were left outside different hospitals in the Los Angeles area in November 2021, the authorities launched an investigation to find out who dropped them and if they had any involvement in their deaths. The entire ordeal left the entire community shell-shocked. As the investigation progressed, the detectives were led to three possible suspects. All the intricate details of the case are explored in CBS’ ’48 Hours: Christy and Hilda’s Last Dance,’ which also features exclusive and insightful interviews with the deceased women’s family and friends, as well as officials who worked hard to solve the case.
Christy Giles Was an Up-and-Coming Model Based in Los Angeles
On November 4, 1997, in Birmingham, Alabama, Dusty Lee and Leslie Wayne Giles welcomed Christy Lee Giles Cilliers into the world as their little bundle of joy. Raised in a loving household in Mt. Olive, Alabama, alongside her elder sisters, Britnee and Misty Giles, Christy developed a passion for soccer as a child. During her early teenage years, she also played in competitions representing the All-State team. Apart from soccer, she also showcased her athleticism by running track for the All-County team for two consecutive years. The free-spirited Christy also began competing in pageants, winning the titles of First Runner Up at Miss Alabama Teen USA and Junior Miss Gardendale Magnolia Festival.
At 14, she attended her first model casting and had to decide whether to pursue a career in soccer or modeling — she chose the latter. Her modeling career took her all around the world in her late teenage years. Eventually, she settled down in Los Angeles, California. In 2019, she crossed paths with the love of her life, Jan Cilliers, through their friends at an art gallery. After dating for seven months, on August 28, 2019, they reportedly eloped at the Burning Man Arts Festival in the Black Rock Desert of northwestern Nevada. Later, they held a proper wedding ceremony in Alabama in front of their family and friends. Soon, Christy began studying interior design, and that’s when she met Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola.
Hilda Cabrales-Arzola’s Night Out With Christy Giles Turned Tragic
Born on November 29, 1994, to Hilda Marcela Arzola-Placencia and Luis Cabrales, Hilda moved from Mexico to Los Angeles to fulfill her dreams of becoming a successful architect and interior designer. She was raised in a supportive household alongside her sister, Fernanda Cabrales-Arzola. Hilda was also close to her dog, Tomas. Over a short period, Hilda and Christy had become close friends, unaware that their friendship would not last long. On the night of November 12, 2021, they went on a girls’ night out at Soho House in West Hollywood with a mutual friend, then moved on to a warehouse party after midnight.
The following day, while Christy was found outside the Southern California Hospital in Culver City, Hilda was found outside the Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Los Angeles. Both were admitted to the respective hospitals, where they were fighting for their lives. Ultimately, Christy tragically passed away from a drug overdose, as her autopsy showed that her system contained a mixture of cocaine, fentanyl, and GHB. Meanwhile, Hilda was in a coma and on life support from a drug overdose, too, as she had cocaine, MDMA, fentanyl, and ecstasy in her system. After two weeks, on November 28, 2021, just one day before her 27th birthday, her family made the tough decision to take her off life support. Thus, the detectives launched an investigation to get to the bottom of Christy and Hilda’s deaths.
Christy Giles and Hilda Cabrales-Arzola’s Perpetrators Drugged Them in Their Apartment
Right after the tragedy, Christy Giles’ husband, Jan Cilliers, decided to look into the matter himself and made a timeline of the night after which both Christy and Hilda went missing. The digital trail from Christy’s phone led Jan to the house at 8641 West Olympic Boulevard, where a man named David Pearce resided. As the authorities reviewed the surveillance footage near the warehouse where the two women went to party, they spotted them leaving the party with David, his roommate Brandt Osborn, and friend Michael Ansbach, between 4-5 am on November 13.
About a couple of hours later, they arrived at David’s Beverly Hills apartment, from where Christy and Hilda booked an Uber. However, when neither of them showed up, the Uber driver left the scene. According to investigative reports, David gave the women fentanyl and GHB, causing them to overdose. Nearly 11 hours later, David and Brandt were seen on security footage of the adjacent property, carrying Christy down the back stairs of the apartment and putting her inside the Prius before driving her to the hospital. They returned and carried Hilda’s body into the car and left her at a different hospital. As the detectives dug deeper into David’s history, they learned that he had been accused of carrying out several drug-facilitated sexual assaults against different women between 2005 and 2021.
Finally, three weeks after Hilda’s demise, the police arrested David, Brandt, and Michael in connection with Christy and Hilda’s deaths. While Brandt and Michael were released on bond, David was kept in custody because of four unrelated sexual assault charges. By May 2022, he was charged with three more counts of sexual assault. After investigating for seven months, the prosecution gathered enough evidence to officially indict David Pearce on two counts of murder and two counts of providing a controlled substance. Meanwhile, Brandt Osborn was charged as an accessory to murder after the fact. As for Michael, he decided to cooperate with the prosecutors and testify against David and Brandt.
The Perpetrators Were Ultimately Brought to Justice in 2025
Both David Pearce and Brandt Osborn pleaded not guilty to the charges against them. In early 2025, David’s murder trial commenced. During the trial, the seven survivors of David’s sexual assault and violence testified against him. Ultimately, on February 4, 2025, the jury found David guilty of all the charges against him, including two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Christy Giles and Hilda Cabrales-Arzola, three counts of forcible rape, two counts of sexual penetration by use of force, one count of sodomy by use of force, and one count of rape of an unconscious woman.
On the other hand, in February 2025, Brandt Osborn’s trial was declared a mistrial as the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict. Several months later, in October 2025, David was sentenced to 146 years to life in prison for his convictions. He was also registered as a lifetime sex offender. The following month, on November 24, Brandt pleaded no contest to two counts of accessory after the fact. He was immediately sentenced to two years of formal probation and 480 hours of community service.
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