David Brian Pearce, a Los Angeles resident who falsely presented himself as a Hollywood producer, has been sentenced to 146 years to life in prison for his involvement in the fatal overdoses of a model and her friend, as well as the sexual assaults of several women spanning a period of 16 years.
The 43-year-old was convicted in February of two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of 24-year-old model Christy Giles and 26-year-old Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola.
According to prosecutors, the tragic incident occurred in November 2021 after the two women met Pearce at a warehouse party in East Los Angeles. They later accompanied him to his Beverly Hills residence, where they were allegedly given a lethal mix of fentanyl, cocaine, and other substances.
Despite Cabrales-Arzola’s attempt to call a rideshare service to leave the apartment about 35 minutes later, neither she nor Giles entered the vehicle.
Approximately 12 hours later, after enduring sexual assault, the two women were found abandoned outside separate hospitals two miles apart.
By the time Giles was dropped off, she had already passed away. Cabrales-Arzola was discovered unresponsive, placed on life support, but ultimately succumbed to her condition 11 days later, just one day before her 27th birthday.
The coroner later ruled the deaths a homicide, with both women having died from “multiple drug intoxication” and Cabrales-Arzola also dying from multiple organ failure.
In addition to the murders, prosecutors said Pearce also committed “numerous drug-facilitated sexual assaults against multiple women” between 2005 and 2021. He was found guilty on three counts of forcible rape, two counts of penetration by use of force, and one count each of sodomy by use of force and the rape of an unconscious woman.
Seven of those victims testified at trial, where many said that Pearce lured them to his apartment by pretending be a well-connected Hollywood insider, despite having no real credits to his name.
Pearce’s co-defendant in the case, actor Brandt Walter Osborn, is currently awaiting retrial after a previous jury couldn’t reach a verdict on two counts of being an accessory to murder after the fact.
Osborn is accused of helping Pearce drop the women off at the hospitals after they overdosed at the apartment the men shared.
A new trial for Osborn is expected to begin with a pretrial hearing on Nov. 18.
