Dead Girls Don't Talk

>> How are full opening statements in the Hollywood overdose murder trial?

“David Pierce and Brand Osborne on trial for the deaths of two women,”

model Christy Giles and her architect, friend Hilda Cabralis. >> These trial will not change what happened and will not bring my sister back or Christy. >> Christy's plan for the evening was to go out with some friends and have a fun night. >> Hello, hi. >> My name is Janselia and Christy was my wife.

[MUSIC] >> Christy loved to spread joy in laughter wherever she went. [MUSIC] Hilda Masala just moved from Mexico.

She seemed very lovely and they were becoming fast friends.

>> My sister did enjoy going out to Paris. She liked dancing and the music. I remember seeing her Instagram. She was posting stories of that night.

“>> She sent me a couple of text messages.”

Her last text message to me was around one or two a.m. And throughout the day I was trying to text her and there was no response. >> You're tracking Christy's file. >> Yeah, this is an address that you recognize. It's none of the dress I know.

Around 5 p.m., I saw her location had suddenly moved to an emergency room hospital.

My level of panic is growing and growing. It just knew that I had to try and get to the bottom of what happened. >> You've blasted out this address. And very quickly you get responses. >> Yeah, what are those responses?

>> That there's somebody that lives at this location that is a very unsavory person. >> David Pierce. >> Yeah. >> He passed himself off as a big shot, Hollywood producer. But he was a con man with a alleged history of sexual assault.

[MUSIC] >> It wasn't clear what happened. We just knew she overdosed and to me my reaction was who did this to her. >> So when you heard overdose, you immediately thought, drugged. >> Yeah, drugged.

>> Yeah. >> Definitely not something that she would have done to herself, ever. >> It's just not her. >> We've got to call out home, a parent overdose. Christy she was deceased, Hilde was still on life support at that time.

>> It gives as much information as I can to the detectives. >> Yann had put the number of things out in social media and it spread like wildfire. People recognize this guy right away and they were urged to call us. Authorities say seven more women have come forward claiming Pierce sexually assaulted them as well. >> Jail number one, Jail number two, Jail number two, Jail number four, number four, number five, number six, being a Jane Doe.

We are the voice of both Christy and Hilde because they can't talk. >> Defendant Pierce wanted him to die. >> He wanted them to die and kiss dead, girl, joined the talk. [ Music ] >> For a fresh case, it's all on you.

There's no one else is going to solve this thing for you. It's you and your partner, that's it. >> Number 2021, Detective Jonathan Vanderley and Detective Calvin U had to figure out why a lifeless woman was left at this emergency room. >> This video from Southern California Hospital shows staff pulling a woman out of a black Prius and helping her onto his stretcher while two men look on. When the stretcher moves into the ER, it becomes clear the car has no license plates.

Detective Vanderley would later learn that the two men told the staff, they found the woman quote passed out on the curb somewhere nearby. And they were trying to be good Samaritans. They left without giving their names or phone numbers. >> They were masked disguise, this must be adding up to something that sounds very sketchy to you. >> Very sketchy, but then you still have to figure out if it actually crime occurred.

“>> The woman was Christy Giles and her mother Dusty will never forget the call that came from the hospital.”

Telling her her 24-year-old daughter was dead from a drug overdose. >> And I said, what do you mean she didn't make it in an eye on you and I fell apart?

>> They never give their names, never leave their phone numbers, license plates anything like that.

>> That weighs Hilda Marcella Cabralis, the 26-year-old architect was still alive in the ICU and fighting for her life. >> And into Rangle Mexico, her mother Hilda Marcella Placencia was getting the news about her eldest daughter and namesake. >> She was very bad, she was intubated.

“>> You are a doctor, what was going on in your mind at the time?”

>> What happened, what happened to her? Why is she dead bad? >> And in the earliest hours of the investigation, there were only questions. How could this happen to Christy? It was in unimaginable ending to a life bursting with exuberance. >> Let's do some down now. >> Christy weighs an adventurer, traveling the world as a high-fashion model for Wilamina.

She ultimately made LA her home.

>> Christy Giles, a living in Venice, California, and I am an artist. >> At 21, her life took a dramatic turn. She met Jan Silier, a South African-born artist, photographer,

“and special effects editor, 17 years her senior. They've been together seven months when the couple”

went to Burning Man, an art festival in the Nevada desert, where, impulsively, they took a big leap. We just decided to look, we just got married right there. We said to each other that, you know, life's very short, so we kind of really just proposed to each other, and the next day we got married. >> After they got married, Christy started studying interior design in Los Angeles, which led to a new friendship with Hildamarsela. Hilda had just moved there to start her dream job,

recalls her father Luis. I feel very happy for her, but very sad for me, because we are very close. >> No one was surprised that the Kulate graduate of the prestigious university in Monterey, Mexico was thriving in LA, especially her sister, Fernanda.

>> She was always making a lot of friends, thought that if outgoing, just having a good time,

and meeting people that they also liked the music that they are also enjoying, launching. >> Dancing, as this video shows, is what the two friends were doing that night. Christy's husband, John, was out of town visiting his father. He knew she and Hilda had planned a girl's night out, starting at Soho House, and then on to a warehouse party after midnight to see a favorite DJ, a friend who was with them said they did ketamine, a popular club drug.

But by the next day, John was on his way home, knowing Christy was gone. >> Unless then 24 hours, your world was turned upside down. >> Shattered. >> Hilda's father and mother rushed to be by her side when they arrived, they found their daughter on life support. >> My heart broke in thousands of pieces. Because I saw my baby and conscience, I'm fighting for her life.

>> I said, is this real? Am I dreaming? >> I took her hand and I said, mom's care with you. You're not alone. >> Christy's autopsy revealed that in addition to ketamine, she had cocaine, fentanyl, and GHB known as the date rape drug in her system.

“>> Are these drugs that Christy would take willingly?”

>> I mean, that combination of drugs sounds deadly to me. So, like, nut. >> John needed answers. So, he began to build a timeline based on the digital trail, Christy left behind. Information gathered from her messages and phone, which he was able to track. >> I wanted to get to the bottom of exactly what happened that night. >> He already knew what she'd been doing before she went out for the evening.

>> She was enjoying a lovely sunset. She took our cat for a walk on the beach. [MUSIC] >> Those were the last pictures she sent me of herself.

[MUSIC]

“>> John was able to track Christy's phone to a residence located at 8641 West Olympic Boulevard.”

At 5.30 a.m. Christy sent Hilda a wide-eye emoji and says, let's go. Hold every place. I'll call Nubar, 10 minutes away. >> The fact that they're both in the same house, text messaging and each other, they need to leave is very worrying. [MUSIC] >> That was the last text message that Christy or Hilda ever sent.

That Uber arrived, waited five minutes, and drove away, empty. >> How did you process that? >> I mean, it's just confirming my worst fears again, that they were there at that place against they will. [MUSIC]

[MUSIC] >> It's going on in your mind, from that detective standpoint, when you're about to arrive at a scene. You don't want to form an opinion prior to getting there, but you are kind of mulling over the evidence. You're thinking about it, you're thinking about what questions you want to ask.

[MUSIC]

“>> Acting on information supplied by John, L.A. P.D. detective Jonathan Vanderley and his partner”

headed here to 8641 West Olympic Boulevard, a little after midnight on November 14th,

only a few hours after getting that call from the second hospital.

>> And this is where the Uber, the Christian, Hilda called that night, would have waited right off from him. 10 minutes between life and death. [MUSIC] >> It was the home of 39-year-old David Pierce, police would learn Christy and Hilda had met him for the first time at that warehouse party.

Police also discovered Pierce had a registration for a black Prius and found it parked behind the building. It matched the car scene at both hospitals down to the black ramps. Pierce lived on the second floor with a roommate, Brandt Osborn, 42.

>> There was a light on and the upstairs where the two men live. So I just went up knocked on the door immediately and the lights go out. You identify yourself. >> Yes, completely, LAKPD opened the door and then just complete silence. >> After about 15 minutes, he says Pierce and Osborn came out.

Pierce denied owning a Prius. >> So I immediately get a lie. Do you leave? >> No, I interviewed Mr. Osborn. [MUSIC]

>> At first, he says Osborn denied seeing Christy and Hilda at all.

He could change his story numerous times. At first, there's no girls had been at that location whatsoever. I tell him on the interview. I listen, I know you're lying, it's extremely obvious, you're very nervous. [MUSIC]

>> Vanderly says Osborn eventually admitted the women had been at their apartment. But said he'd been asleep and when he woke up, realized Christy and Hilda were in distress. He said he and Pierce chose to go to two separate hospitals

because, quote, "We didn't know how it would look." Pierce, police say, did later admit he owned the Prius. But lie again, saying his license plates had been stolen. Vanderly says he saw those plates on the ground by the vehicle. [MUSIC]

Then the man agreed to let detectives inside. >> Two beds have been stripped. There was a washing machine that had been recently used. I was still wet. >> It's anything else that stands out to you. There was a safe in his room with baggies, which is indicative of narcotics.

He said they're for crafts, for arts and crafts. [MUSIC] >> By now, Vanderly says he knew Pierce and Osborn had dropped Hilda in Christy off and believed Pierce had drugged them. But he didn't have enough evidence to make an arrest.

>> He thought he'd be at a satin night for sure, he was happy.

>> He smiled in second-by.

>> Yeah. Thanks detectives. >> Yep. >> But that wasn't where it ended for you. >> No, not by long shot. [MUSIC]

>> Vanderly knew he needed more evidence and turned to his colleague detective Calvin U. You hear the name David Pierce. What goes on in your mind?

“>> Well, the first thing is who did he sexually assault this time?”

[MUSIC] >> Detective U had investigated Pierce in 2020 for sexually assaulting a 19-year-old.

>> The victim said Pierce had given her drugs to knock her out during a date,

“but the investigation had stalled and wasn't prosecuted at the time.”

Detective U knew Pierce had other prior charges, including another rape charge from 2014 that was also not prosecuted. [MUSIC]

>> He has a pattern, his first step is trying to find his victim.

So that could be through a dating app, through online listings, or meeting them at bars or events. When he picks his victim, he goes to step two, which is bragging about himself. >> Pierce relies on lies detective, say, to set his trap. >> And he had to introduce himself as a producer,

doctor, all these different things. He's none of these things. He might have been an intern at the time or something at a production company and intern. >> Yeah. >> [MUSIC] >> They say his next step is to drug his victims and incapacitate them,

often with a drink. After they take the drink, he goes to step four, which is the sexual assault. >> Police would learn both Christy and Hilda showed signs of sexual assault, but they feared they would face challenges, making the case.

How difficult is it to prove a crime took place when the victims were recreationally using drugs? >> It makes the case extremely hard. I told you, on early on, that this was going to be an ear impossible, that the case to prove. [MUSIC]

>> Yeah, first it's who done it.

It just became what actually happened.

“And that's what difficulty with this case.”

[MUSIC] >> Detective Jonathan Vanderley says the pressure was on to locate any evidence of what happened after Christy and Hilda met David Pierce that night. [MUSIC] >> Video starts expiring.

These DVRs, it's a constant. You got to get this evidence before it disappears. [MUSIC] >> Police did have some luck starting with this footage from outside that warehouse party. [MUSIC]

Which they say shows the women leaving with Pierce, Osborne, and a friend of theirs. 47-year-old Michael Hansbach on their way to Pierce's apartment. [MUSIC] Police also uncovered this Texas change from moment earlier when the women were still inside that party. Do you want Coke, asks Hilda?

Yes, replies Christy. Hilda texted back, "I'm in the kitchen, let's do a line." Witnesses say Pierce supplied that cocaine, which John says was not a common choice for Christy. >> Maybe it was late at night and she wanted to get less tired.

It's not something she would do regularly. [MUSIC] >> Police determined the group arrived at Pierce's apartment a little after five AM. The women aren't seen again until 11 hours later when at 430 in the afternoon, a security camera recorded this grainy image showing Pierce with Christy over his shoulder

at the top of the stairs. Police say Osborne is carrying her bag. 35 minutes later at the hospital, Pierce, wearing a black sweatshirt, helps take Christy's body out of the car. [MUSIC]

Osborne looks on. [MUSIC] A full hour and a half later, this dark image shows the men leaving the apartment again with Hilda. Police say Pierce is carrying her and Osborne has her boots and coat.

Half an hour later, the Prius arrives at that second hospital where the men take

Hilda out of the car together. It had been more than 13 hours since Christy texted Hilda, let's go. [MUSIC] For two weeks, Hilda was on life support, with no hope of regaining consciousness, her family gathered to say their goodbyes.

“Although what were your final moments with your daughter?”

Oh, they were so hard, you know. And I just was asking God to not look her suffer more. I remember telling her that you can leave. [MUSIC]

I thought her maybe when I fell away, I would see you again.

And I gave you a big call at keys. [MUSIC]

“The family decided to donate Hilda's organs.”

Mom remembers the medical staff lining the halls as the family accompanied Hilda to the OR. The medical team was clapping, torn her to say thank you for giving life to others. [MUSIC] Like Christy, Hilda had suffered a drug overdose. Toxicology reports would later reveal that she had cocaine, MDMA or ecstasy,

and elevated levels of fentanyl in her system. [MUSIC]

Police would also learn that while the women were in that apartment,

the downstairs neighbor heard someone in pain and moaning on and off for six hours. Police believe that was Hilda. Neither appears nor Osborne nor Anzbach called for help. [MUSIC] It makes me get angry because she was suffering.

And nobody, nobody helped her. [MUSIC]

“How hard is it to prove this narrative when the victims can't even testify on their own behalf?”

If we were just investing in Christy and Hilda's alone, very difficult.

But the district attorney at the time went public, asking other women who new peers to call in.

So police could better understand what he did to Hilda and Christy. If you feel comfortable moving forward so that we can evaluate your case in charge of, we're here for you. We started getting a lot of calls. [MUSIC] As police continued building their case, Yann received a call that Pearson Osborne were on the move.

He recorded this video of the men loading up a moving van the day after Hilda died. [MUSIC] Police say Pierce had also changed his phone number and it took them a week to locate him again. So the pressure is on, you got to get this guy.

“I got to come up with something quick, yes.”

[MUSIC] Police have arrested three men in connection with the deaths of a model and her friend last month. [MUSIC] Once the men were in custody, police conducted interviews with them. One by one.

Kind of played with the rotation and it worked out seemingly well. They secretly recorded Pierce and Osborne while Onsbach was talking to police. Pierce says I hope Onsbach's not up there telling him I gave them drugs and wine. [MUSIC] When it was his turn, Pierce denied giving the women drugs.

[MUSIC] This was suspicious because information that the women had likely died from fentanyl had not been released. [MUSIC] Two months after his arrest Onsbach reached out to police with details of what he says he witnessed that night. He says Pierce had offered the women a ride to an after party.

And then said he needed to make a quick stop at his house. Onsbach says Pierce was very insistent they stay and have a drink. And after the women talked about leaving, Pierce gave all three of them so-called special cocaine. Onsbach says he, Christie and Hilda got sick immediately. And when he woke up hours later, he saw Christie without any signs of life.

Onsbach says he told Pierce to take Christie and hilda to the hospital and says Pierce then said repeatedly quote, "Dead girls don't talk." [MUSIC] I wouldn't say survivor. I'm a fighter that's what I am.

[MUSIC] But police had at least one woman who could talk about David Pierce at his upcoming trial. He asked me if I wanted a drink, but it tasted really funny. And then I don't remember the next several hours after that.

[MUSIC] [MUSIC]

“But what shouldn't suck is learning about history.”

I do that through storytelling.

History that doesn't suck is a chart-topping history telling podcast, chronicling the epic story of America decade by decade from the 18th century to the 20th. Original music and immersive sound design accompanied us on our storytelling journey. Listen to and follow history that doesn't suck an Odyssey podcast available now on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

[MUSIC] January 9th, 2025, opening arguments began in the trial of David Pierce charged with felony murder and Brana's born charged with accessory after the fact. [MUSIC]

“Paul had increasing JDC and Fennel, knowing that it was dangerous to their lives, knowing that it could kill them, but he just didn't care.”

Defendant Osborne helped him get rid of any evidence to implicate defendant Pierce in the deaths of

Chrissy and Hilda. Prosecutor Catherine Mariano has marshaled the forensic evidence to make her case. The toxicology results that found Fennel in both women and the date rape drug GHB in Christy. Also Pierce's DNA discovered on Christy's body and under Hilda's fingernails. This is no accident.

This is no mistake. But in order to prove felony murder, she must show that Pierce incapacitated Christy and Hilda to rape them. Without their testimony, she needs to establish he had a history of doing this to other women, putting drugs in their drinks, and then sexually assaulting them. He didn't care what the name names for time.

Only care about taking advantage of that. Here's where this is called. But Defendant Tony Jeffall says the fact that Christy and Hilda were using drugs before meeting Pierce that night means there is no case for murder. These, your ladies, unfortunately, and just at that time, ended up dying.

Physician. Paul is sixth in a long line of lawyers who have represented David Pierce in this case. He knows his client is problematic. He's very demanding. He's very sure of himself. What David Pierce wants, David Pierce gets.

Maryano has her own version of who David Pierce is, based on the accounts of the women who talk to investigators and chose to be anonymous. Jane, their law. Jane, your number two. Jane, your number three, number four, five, six, seven.

“It was important for me to come forward and get any information I could regarding this file, man.”

Jackie is Jane, no number two. No cameras were allowed in the courtroom for any of the testimony. But she agreed to talk with us about her experience with Pierce in 2010. When she was a 24-year-old law student looking for a room to rent. She testified about her meeting with Pierce at his apartment on West Olympic Boulevard,

where he gave her a tour and offered a drink. I started to spin and, you know, I just became like disoriented. You drink this drink. You start to feel dizzy. I'm sure confused. What happens next?

So the next thing I know, he was, you know, basically trying.

I would say trying to rape me, so I started fighting hand back. According to Jackie, he continued to assault her. He threw me onto the floor. He punched me in the face. When she tried to take her phone out, he grabbed her arms so hard. The phone flew and smashed into the wall.

Unsteady on her feet and unable to cover help. She did everything she could to escape. I had to crawl down the stairs. I was so disoriented.

Screaming for help. Though seriously injured and traumatized, she did not report it. There's a huge stigma that surrounds women that come forward with sexual assault. But when she heard about Christy and Hilda, she decided to act. In all, twenty women came forward. Pierce was charged with seven sexual assaults.

Detective Calvinew thinks that's just a fraction of those who suffered at the hands of David Pierce. Are there more Jane Does out there? Yes. I would definitely say so. How many do you believe I say 100?

100. That's incredible. That's just based on the people that you have spoken with directly.

Yes. I'm just so grateful that they came forward.

“I can't even imagine how the level of bravery that you have to have in order to testify to a room of strangers”

that you are so intimately violated. And as the women testified one by one, defense attorney vault could see what was happening. The prosecution strategy was working. The victims come into court testifying some who broke down in tears.

I'll give the same testimony and I am watching the jury. They're looking at him and the expression on the jurors faces are like, "How could you? How could you do this?" After the Jane Does testified, the prosecution called Pierce's friend Michael Andesbach,

who was in the apartment that night and later arrested along with Pierce and Osborne. Andesbach took this video of Christie and Hilda minutes after Pierce gave them wine and cocaine at the apartment.

“Christie's lying on the couch. It looks like she's on her way to becoming unconscious.”

In his testimony, Onesbach again said he also used the same cocaine. Got violently ill and then passed out. When he woke up, he said Pierce asked him to check on Christie and when he did Onesbach said, "It looks like she was not breathing." Hilda, he said, was in Pierce's bedroom.

According to Onesbach, this is when Pierce told him, "Dead girls don't talk."

Like Pierce and Osborne, Onesbach never called for help.

His charges were later dropped. On day 11, and against the advice of his attorney, David Pierce, who pleaded not guilty, was sworn in and testified. So he got on a stand and he did his best to try to say everybody was wrong and he was right. He was apparently the only one telling the truth at the entire trial.

On the 12th day, Pierce's roommate, Brand Osborne, who also pleaded not guilty, takes the stand. So Osborne's role was to help get rid of the bodies first and foremost. He helped carry the girls at first. He helped formulate the plan in terms of what they're going to tell the security guards. Osborne testified he was dumbfounded by Pierce's behavior and was emotional, crying more than once on the stand, saying he played no part in a cover-up

because he didn't have a complete picture of what was really going on. Yon for one was not buying it.

He's basically claiming to be an innocent bystander in the situation

and that he's also a victim in the situation. But there are facts that prove that he helped David Pierce cover-up. The question is whether the jury will believe either man. After three weeks, the trial took a toll on Christie's family. We set and had a hold our mouth closed.

Well, they battered, and I feel like they'd destroyed my daughter's reputation. It was definitely difficult being in the same room as them.

“Did I have an overwhelming urge to throw something really hot at their heads, yeah?”

In closing, prosecutor Mariano hits back at the defense, just because Christie and Hilda did drugs on their own that night doesn't make them responsible for their own death. David Pierce took care of that Mariano argued. He didn't cheer about by reading them in the most awful way.

He didn't cheer up by drawing Christie and Hilda, the David top. And she repeats the words of Onesbach attributed to David Pierce, the words that ring in the ears of everyone who loved Christie and Hilda.

"You need good afternoon, everybody."

“Attorneys for Osborne and Pierce told jurors”

there simply was not enough direct evidence linking them to the crime and that there's a strong case for reasonable doubt. Now, it's up to the jury to draw its own conclusion about Brant Osborne and David Pierce. Justin Giles made her decision a long time ago.

Pierce is a sick, slimy lizard. That's it, and praise and sneaks in his fight is deadly. [Music] As we're sitting here waiting on the body for the case, I just went out.

Let me have for a touch on the end. For Christie's family, it's been a long and wrenching road. For you, what does justice for Christie look like? I mean, there's no justice for Christie. There's only preventing him from doing it again.

“I think that's the only justice we can get up.”

And for Hilda's mother who could not travel to be in court, the last three years without her daughter have been its own trial. Nothing can bring her back again, but the whole she lives in our lives will be always there. February 4th, 2025 after two days of deliberations, the jury is back.

Matter of the people of the state of California versus David Bryan Pierce, We the jury in the Bob and Tudod action find the defendant, David Bryan Pierce,

guilty of the crime of first degree murder upon Christie Giles.

David Pierce, guilty. We get that guilty on the first one, and sigh of relief. guilty of the crime of first degree murder upon Hilda, Marcella, Cabreras, Marsola.

“Hilda Comta, guilty again, another sigh of relief.”

And then guilty of all the sexual assaults of seven Jane Does. I don't think I'd be that all until I heard a guilty on every single one. A lot of relief, not just for my sake, but definitely for all of the victims. Jane Does finally had their day in court and were bullied. I felt this huge, weight, release, off me.

It was almost like a euphoric feeling. We showed the jury, what kind of man this is. But the jury is deadlocked when it comes to Brandt Osborne. A mistrial is declared. I was surprised, definitely disappointed at the hungry.

I thought the trial made clear that he had a definitely a hand in their desk. What is there to question? He was aware of Christie's and Hilda's condition. He's a grown man that stands on his own two feet. He withheld medical help from Hilda and Christie until they were dead.

I'm not happy. They perfectly could save her life. And they could not do it. For me, that's not just at least in that part. I'm here standing for me and Hilda's mom Marcel.

Now, there's an unbreakable bond between the mothers who must live without their daughters. Our daughters individually, our life's all sisters, both of them must their souls. At the end of the same man, the same way, and that will be forever in twine. And before she leaves the courthouse, there is a final plea from Dusty. As a measure in hers, to lose my baby girl, her body was able to tell the story.

And her sharing her location, technology, she told us where she was, how long she was.

So please, within your own families, share locations you never know when you're going to not be able to get in touch with somebody.

When you look at photos of Christie and Hilda, what do you see?

I will remember them as beautiful souls, free spirits, women that were coming to LA to pursue their dreams.

Two young women who loved their families, their animals and their lives.

“I would remember her as the bright beautiful soul that she was.”

For Nanda, how do you hope your big sister is remembered?