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Chapter 1: What happened to Christy Giles and Hilda Cabrales?
Welcome back to Postmortem. I'm CBS News correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti filling in today for Anne-Marie Greene. And joining me is 48 Hours producer Michelle Finucci to discuss our latest report on the murders of Christy Giles and Hilda Cabrales, two friends who went home with David Pierce after a night out in Los Angeles in 2021.
Pierce and his roommate, Brant Osborne, took the women to two separate hospitals the following evening. Both women had elevated levels of fentanyl in their systems, and tragically, they both ultimately died of drug overdoses. Both Pierce and Osborne denied involvement in their deaths.
At trial, Pierce was also charged with rape for seven Jane Does, and they testified about Pierce's pattern of violent sexual assault. Michelle, thank you for joining us.
Thank you for having me.
Before we get started, a reminder, if you haven't listened to the 48 Hours episode yet, you can find the full audio just below this episode in your podcast feed. So go take a listen, then come back here for our conversation. Michelle, you have been covering this case from the very beginning. Our first 48 Hours episode, I believe, aired nearly two years ago.
This was before Pearson Osborne's trial. And I wonder and I imagine a lot of listeners and viewers want to know the same.
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Chapter 2: How did David Pearce's actions lead to the trial?
What has it, from your perspective, been like? to watch this case develop over the years.
This is a case that started just as a, you know, a headline of two women dropped at separate hospitals. We really didn't know if it was just a drug overdose case, a tragic drug overdose. But about six days into this, I met with Jan Sillier, who is Christy's husband. He looked at me in the eyes and he said, trust me, this is foul play. You know, I know my wife. I know something happened.
He said, I know they were held against their will in that apartment. And he was right.
What was he like? What state of mind was he in?
He was in absolute shock. I will never forget it.
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Chapter 3: What role did Jan Sillier play in uncovering the truth?
I mean, he was in that adrenaline of trying to figure this out. I remember when we sat on his couch, he had a group of friends in the back kitchen. And he said, I have to have them stay with me at all times. I'm scared what I'll do with myself if they leave. And so it's the worst of the worst. And... Your heart breaks so much, especially when you spend so much time with these families.
You know, I know, Michelle, you and I have talked about this and I've been reflecting on the ripple effect a tragedy like this can have with friends, family and an entire community. And to that point, I have a connection to this case in a very loose way. My husband briefly met Hilda at an event through mutual friends.
In the neighborhood I live in, two neighbors that I could see outside my front door both knew these women. One was close friends with Jan Sillier and through that friendship knew Christy. The other neighbor used to live in Monterrey, Mexico and dated Hilda for several years. They broke up there. They both moved separately at different times to LA and reconnected as friends.
Chapter 4: What evidence was presented during the trial?
And I first learned about this case In 2021, Thanksgiving, I had that neighbor over for Thanksgiving. He came here, distraught at times, couldn't even get words out, and told me about what happened, how just the day before Hilda was taken off of life support.
I asked if they were comfortable with me bringing this story to 48 Hours, not so that I could report it, but just so that the story could get out there. And Judy Tigard, the executive producer, the amazing executive producer of 48, let me know it was already on their radar.
And I can't tell you the relief that it brought to the family members of Hilda and Christy, knowing that there was this media attention being focused on trying to figure out what went wrong. And to that point, Christy and Hilda, they clearly had a lot of friends and family who didn't just care about them, but really advocated for them.
And I've been thinking about Jan Sillier and the incredible detective work that he did. Were you impressed? Were you surprised by Jan's determination to find Christy?
I was personally really touched. And I was also very impressed. He said I would go to the ends of the earth for my wife. And that is what he did.
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Chapter 5: How did the victims' families respond to the media coverage?
When Jan was trying to get in touch with Christie, he was out of town. He couldn't get any responses. He wasn't getting responses through text. So he went and checked the location on his cell phone and saw that Christie was at an unfamiliar address. And this was very early in the morning. And of course, we learned that address was later the apartment of David Pierce.
That location for Christie then changed hours later. to an emergency room. So Jan delivered all of that information to investigators. I was speaking with Detective Jonathan Vander Lee, who told me without that information, connecting the dots would have been so much harder, could have taken days, if not longer, to pinpoint what exactly had happened.
Absolutely. And this was a case where, oh, looks like they were partying, they were doing drugs. Very easy to write this case off. So early on, Jan posted on social media about the case, looking for information. And he received messages from women who had bad experiences with Mr. Pierce, who were sexual assault victims themselves.
Chapter 6: What were the testimonies of the Jane Does like in court?
And he had encouraged them to go forward to police.
In the hour we talk about how police learned that while Chrissy and Hilda were in the apartment, Pierce's downstairs neighbor heard someone moaning in pain on and off for six hours. Now, neither Pierce Osborne nor their friend Michael Ansbach, who was also in the apartment at the time, called for help. Ansbach, we need to point out, he was charged.
Those charges were eventually dropped due to insufficient evidence. That downstairs neighbor, though, also didn't call for help. which initially I had the question, why? But during our reporting, we found out that there was more to this story. Can you explain?
The woman who lived there was about to call the 911 and her husband said, no, no, you don't want to mess with David Pierce. Just let it go. And she ended up not calling, unfortunately. And that just shows how this man sort of instills a sense of fear that, you know, people do not want to mess with him.
David Pierce was maintaining very early on and really throughout that he was just trying to help Christy and Hilda. But I think about those six hours, and I know it's so difficult to think about where you had, and I think we later learned it was believed to be Hilda that was moaning in pain for so long.
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Chapter 7: What were the key moments during David Pearce's testimony?
Those aren't the actions of someone that's trying to help them. There's another layer to this, because we weren't able to get to all of this in the show, but the men first attempted to drop Christie off. Remember, Christie was the first person that was taken to a hospital. They went to one that was closest to their home, to Cedars, which is about an eight-minute drive.
They went to the back entrance of the hospital. They were told that they needed to go to the front entrance, but David Pierce, according to Osborne's testimony, Didn't want to do that. So instead, they drove to a completely different hospital, Southern California Hospital, 20 minutes south of their home. Does that sound like the behavior of people that are trying to provide swift help?
No, no. I mean, none of his actions add up. They didn't leave their names at the hospitals. They were disguised, you know, no license plates on the cars, all of that.
I want to shift gears and dig into really the main update in this hour, which is the trial. Detectives told me, and we always knew this, that it would be a tough case to prosecute because there was evidence that Chris Ann Hilda voluntarily took recreational drugs that night.
Chapter 8: What was the outcome of the trial and its implications?
And ultimately, that's why the DA asked other women to come forward to share their experiences with Pierce. Michelle, you attended the trial. You heard several of those Jane Does testify. What was that like for you?
First of all, it was one of the most fascinating trials I have ever sat in. There were 12 women in total, seven Jane Does who had allegations of rape by Mr. Pierce and the others' sexual assault experiences. They stacked those women up one by one by one by one, all 12 of them with the same similar eerie stories. I met this man. He promised me a career. He was a Hollywood producer.
He gives me a drink. It tastes a little salty. All of a sudden, I can't remember anything. And the next memory, I wake up and there's someone on top of me. You know, it's story after story after story. And then the prosecution brings in Christian Hilda's story. It was a really powerful way to prove... this man's pattern and how he preys off of power and control.
They really created an MO, a way of consistent behavior, this pattern that ultimately led to the deaths of Christiane Hilda.
Absolutely.
I have kind of a two-part question for you because we spoke with Jackie to the jury. She was known as Jane Doe number two. She was brave enough to share her story with us as well. But our interview with her was postponed a few times because there was still that fear. You were in communication with Jackie during this process. What was that fear?
she was scared of David Pierce ever seeing the light of day. You know, if there was a mistrial or something like that, she, you know, described him to me as a very dangerous person. And that's what he does. He intimidates people. He scares them so that they are silent. She told me once I hear that guilty, we will talk.
But until then I, she was, she was too scared to do the interview, which I totally respected. And, um, Jackie is a real inspiration herself. She came to LA to go to law school and she was looking for a an apartment, and that's how she came across David Pierce, through a Craigslist ad. And he had her come to the apartment, offered her a drink. She takes the drink, and then she's blacked out.
And her next memory, she wakes up and she fights this man off of her. This is how bad she was drugged, was that she couldn't even feel her legs, so she's crawling down his apartment stairs, screaming. And runs to her car and stays in her car long enough to sober up. She truly fought for her life. This forever changed her life, forever haunted her.
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