THE family of a young interior designer, who was drugged and dumped outside a hospital along with her model friend, is relieved their “evil” killer has been found guilty of murder.
But Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola’s mother and sister say nothing will bring back the 26-year-old and pal Christy Giles, 24, and that the family‘s nightmare is far from over.
Jan CilliersChristy Giles and her friend Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola provided by Christy’s husband Jan Cilliers[/caption]
GettyProducer David Brian Pearce attends Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club Instagram party in 2018 in Las Vegas[/caption]
Supplied to the U.S. SunHilda Marcela-Cabrales had to be taken off life support after being dumped at the hospital[/caption]
Hollywood producer David Pearce was convicted by a jury on February 4 of two counts of first-degree murder in the fentanyl overdose deaths in November 2021.
Pearce was also convicted of rape and other sexual assaults against seven different women between 2007 and 2021.
The seven Jane Does took to the stand during Pearce’s joint trial to give heart-wrenching testimony of his sexual depravity and violent tendencies.
Hilda’s family says they will never be able to repay the women for their bravery, as Pearce is now facing 148 years to life in prison.
Speaking from her home in Germany, Hilda’s sister Fernanda said she was “really moved” hearing the women speak as she attended the majority of the trial before having to return home for university.
“They made it clear that they were coming forward to give also a voice to my sister and Christy,” she told The U.S. Sun. “That was really touching, and I can’t thank them enough.
“I think that was so hard, and they were really brave deciding to speak up.
“They set the precedent to see what type of person Pearce is. And I think that also really helped the case.
“I felt quite confident [he would be found guilty] but there’s always a little bit of doubt.
“I’m happy. The jurors were able to see him for what he is; a rapist and a murderer.
“I was able to see everything from the prosecution and all the witnesses,” Fernanda added.
“I just missed Pearce taking the stand for two days, saying nothing more than lies. So I’m happy. It would have been a waste of time hearing him.”
Hilda’s mother, speaking from her home in Mexico, said, “I’m very glad this can clean my daughter’s image. She’s not a drug addict.
“I was very relieved with that because people could see that they were drugged on purpose. They were murdered. That gave me a lot of peace.
“But the pain is still here, and it won’t go. Time can be passing, but the hole that she isn’t living will always be there.”
My sister still had a pulse, but they let her die.”
Hilda’s sister Fernanda
While prosecutors told jurors the friends died because of drugs Pearce gave them, his defense attorney, Jeff Voll, argued that the women were responsible for their own deaths.
This angered Hilda’s family, and her mom admits she found it hard to read comments online during the trial.
“I know I shouldn’t have [looked] but seeing the comments [online] they said, ‘Oh, they were a party. Why didn’t you expect things should go bad? And ‘they deserve it.’ That kind of thing.
“You don’t know them. You’re just judging. They both come from [good] families. They both have sisters, have brothers, have moms, have dads, have grandparents.
Supplied to the U.S. SunMurder victim Hilda at home with her beloved dog before her tragic death[/caption]
Supplied to the U.S. SunHilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola (right) with her younger sister Fernanda[/caption]
Supplied to the U.S. SunHilda (center) with her siblings and mom Hilda (far right) in a sweet family photo[/caption]
“My daughter Hilda, you know, she was celebrating that she was alive.
“They were girls that loved life, they were having a good time.
“Who would expect that that would happen to them?
“My daughter was very happy, she was achieving all her goals, and she was full of life.”
The family are disappointed Pearce’s former housemate and NCIS, Brandt Osborn, was not found guilty after being charged with two counts of being an accessory after the fact.
He was allegedly seen on surveillance footage helping Pearce take the unconscious women to two separate hospitals in Los Angeles after not calling 911 for help.
The jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on both counts and Osborn returns to court for a pretrial hearing on March 13.
Fernanda said, “We were disappointed that Osborn wasn’t found guilty. The nightmare still isn’t over.
“I’m not sure if there will be another trial but we’ll have to see.
“My sister still had a pulse, but they let her die. That’s why they waited two hours. They wanted her dead so she couldn’t speak.
“I think that only speaks about what kind of people they are. They are not good people. They are evil.”
She said it was hard to share a room with both Pearce and Osborn during the trial, and they avoided making eye contact with the victim’s families.
Giles and Cabrales-Arzol had been to a warehouse party in Los Angeles on November 12, 2021, according to Pearse’s indictment documents.
They were invited to an after-party but ended up being taken to Pearce and Osborn’s apartment to carry on the evening.
Texts shown during the trial show they began to feel uncomfortable and ordered an Uber as they attempted.
Although the cab arrived, they never got it in.
Giles was already dead when she was later found outside Southern California Hospital in Culver City, authorities said.
Cabrales-Arzol was in critical condition when she was discovered hours later outside Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Hospital.
Her heartbroken family were told she was brain dead after days of being in a coma, and she died a day before her 27th birthday.
Toxicology reports found multiple drugs present in both victims’ systems.
The US SunThe squalid apartment in Beverly Hills that was shared by Pearce and Osborn[/caption]
The U.S. SunNCIS actor Brandt Osborn is pictured during a break at the trial after previously posting bail[/caption]
Giles died of a mixture of cocaine, fentanyl, gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (date-rape drug GHB) and ketamine.
Meanwhile, Cabrales-Arzol’s death was a result of multiple organ failure, as well as drug intoxication.
She had cocaine, MDMA, and “probable other undetermined” drugs in her system, the medical examiner-coroner ruled.
Recalling the day she was told of her daughter falling ill, Hilda said, “I was already kind of sleeping. I heard the phone. I said, ‘Oh, my God, what’s going on? This is not good.’
“And then the fatal announcement came that she was so ill. She was very, very sick.
“At that moment my world was falling apart. I was crushed.
“I said, ‘What’s going on? This has got to be a nightmare. This is not real.’”
The family rushed to her bedside while she was in a coma, but doctors delivered the devastating news she was brain dead and would never recover.
Despite this, Hilda’s mom said they never wanted to turn off the life support machine.
She told The U.S. Sun, “It’s important that people we never, ever chose to disconnect her.
“We were even trying to bring her [to Mexico], if there was no more benefit of her being in the hospital, and she was to be with the diagnosis of a vegetative state.
“I was speaking here with the people here in Durango to say I wanted my child to be with me. It doesn’t matter how she is. She’s still there. She’s still alive.
“We spoke with everyone and the doctors, but they said it would be very difficult with even the minimum things that she would need.”
The family is also disappointed they chose to have her organs donated but were told in December this was not able to happen, with little clarification as to why.
Reflecting on the last time she spoke with her daughter before she was hospitalized, Hilda said. “It was like a normal day. How are you, mom? What are you going to do? That kind of stuff. Nothing special, because no one thinks something like this will ever happen.”
She said police had to fit together the puzzle pieces of what happened to the two women.
Hilda’s family was disgusted to later find out Pearce and his friends did not call for help as the women were blacked out, and struggling to breathe in the apartment.
Her mom said, “Those two hours that these guys spent doing nothing could have made a big difference between life and death, and they did nothing, and that’s something that we always will carry with us. God, it’s a life for Christ’s sake. It’s a life.”
Hilda said the women were young and trusted the wrong people while on a normal night out.
“They were charming [Pearce and Osborn]. They said, ‘Let’s go to continue the party. I can give you a ride’. That was a big mistake. They shouldn’t [have] ever, ever got into that car.
“We can’t go back in time. We can’t do anything about it. But what we really can do is to tell the other people, ‘Please take care.’
“Please let the other people, your group of friends, know where you are, who you are with.
“And listen to that inner voice that says, ‘This is not good.’
“They had it. They had it because Christy said, ‘Let’s call the Uber. This is going on a wrong way’.
“So that inner voice, that feeling, that 6th sense, you can call it whatever you want to, listen to it because it’s getting you aware of something that could happen to you.”
Supplied to the U.S. SunHilda Marcela-Cabrales in a family photograph on a birthday with her sister and father[/caption]
Pool VideoDavid Pearce is seen in court during the trial before he was found guilty of murder[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
