The killer of Christy Giles and Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola has been brought to justice.
More than three years after the women were left unresponsive at separate Los Angeles hospitals and were later pronounced dead due to drug overdoses, David Brian Pearce has been convicted of their murders Feb. 4, per NBC 4 Los Angeles.
Pearce—who had pleaded not guilty—was found guilty of first-degree murder after over seven hours of jury deliberations, which began Jan. 31, the outlet confirmed.
The jury also found him guilty of seven counts of sexual assault for unrelated, prior charges—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—that took place between 2007 and 2020, per CBS News Los Angeles.
During final statements at the trial Jan. 30, Deputy District Attorney Catherine Mariano argued, per NBC 4, that the 42-year-old had given Giles, 24, and Cabrales-Arzola, 26—who were close friends and met Pearce at a warehouse party—fentanyl and the sedative GHB (known as a date rape drug) because he wanted to sexually assault them.
According to prior medical online records viewed by E! News, Giles died Nov. 13, 2021 with a cocktail of cocaine, fentanyl, ketamine and GHB in the model’s system. Cabrales-Arzola died over a week later on Nov. 24, but tested positive for cocaine, MDMA, and other undetermined drugs when she was found outside a hospital Nov. 13. Both of their deaths were promptly ruled homicides by authorities.
Giles’ mother Dusty Giles also shared her own statement in court.
“The actual man who killed my daughter, I hope he’s going away forever,” she told the jury, per NBC 4. “Life without the chance of parole. That he has to live out every day knowing it was my… daughter.”
Pearce’s sentencing will take place March 13.
Pearce was charged in July 2022 for the murders of Giles and Cabrales-Arzola. Brandt Osborn, 42, was also charged as an accessory to the young women’s deaths at the time, but the jury was unable to reach a verdict on his charges, and the judge declared a mistrial. Osborn—who pleaded not guilty—is currently out on bond and will face a retrial hearing on March 13.
Giles’ husband Jan Cilliers previously told E! News he had received several texts from his wife the night of her death, and didn’t recognize her location until she turned up at the Culver City hospital. Cilliers described his late wife as a “beautiful soul.”
“Everyone misses her a lot,” he told E! in 2022. “She was a blessing to be around and our life has definitely been changed without her.”
