Who is David Pearce? Hollywood producer sentenced to 146 years for drugging, killing two women
Hollywood producer David Pearce has been sentenced to 146 years to life in prison for drugging and killing model Christy Giles and her friend Hilda Cabrales-Arzola in Los Angeles.
A Hollywood producer, convicted of murdering two women after drugging them at a Los Angeles party, has been sentenced to 146 years to life in prison, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
David Brian Pearce, 42, was found guilty earlier this year on two counts of first-degree murder in the 2021 deaths of model Christy Giles, 24, and architect Hilda Cabrales-Arzola, 26. He was also convicted of rape and sexual assault involving seven other women between 2007 and 2021, prosecutors said.
Deputy District Attorney Seth Carmack described Pearce as “a rapist and now a murderer,” telling jurors that he had drugged women “to facilitate sexual assault,” according to KNX News.
Prosecutors said Pearce met Giles and Cabrales-Arzola at a warehouse party in East Los Angeles in the early hours of November 13, 2021, before taking them to his Beverly Hills apartment. There, he allegedly gave them a combination of GHB — commonly known as a “date-rape drug” — and fentanyl.
Within hours, both women were found unresponsive — Giles outside a Culver City hospital and Cabrales-Arzola outside Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center. Police said they were dropped off by Pearce and his roommate, actor Brandt Osborn, who has been charged with being an accessory to the crimes.
Giles was pronounced dead on arrival, with toxicology reports showing a lethal mix of cocaine, fentanyl, ketamine, and GHB. Cabrales-Arzola suffered multiple organ failure and died days later after being removed from life support.
Her mother, Leslie Giles, told CBS 48 Hours that she was devastated by the call informing her of her daughter’s death:
“I was told, ‘I’m very sorry to inform you, Ms. Giles… But she was dropped off at our hospital on the outside, kind of like a bag of garbage.’ And I just… fell apart.”
Pearce was charged in July 2022, months after an extensive LAPD investigation uncovered evidence of repeated sexual assaults spanning over a decade.
A judge declared a mistrial for Osborn earlier this year, according to ABC7, though prosecutors have indicated he may face a retrial.
Authorities said the case underscores the ongoing threat of fentanyl-related deaths in Los Angeles — a crisis that continues to claim hundreds of lives each year.