A Hollywood producer set to stand trial for the murder of a model and her architect boyfriend “deserves to pay” for the damage he caused, his grieving interior designer father told The US Sun.
Mexican-born Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola, 26, and her friend Christy Giles, 24, were left dead by two masked men who dumped their bodies outside two hospitals in Los Angeles on the evening of November 13, 2021.
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Surveillance footage showed the suspects jumping out of a Toyota Prius and leaving Giles unconscious outside Southern California Hospital in Culver City.
About an hour later, video showed the men leaving Cabrales-Arzola on the sidewalk near Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Hospital.
Giles was pronounced dead when medical staff found her outside the hospital.
While Cabrales-Arzola was declared brain dead before she was taken off life support two weeks later – one day before her 27th birthday.
Read more in the American newspaper The Sun
Both women were drugged and had traces of cocaine, fentanyl, ketamine and other drugs in their systems.
David Pierce, the only man accused of killing Giles and Cabrales-Arzola, went on trial Thursday, more than three years after his arrest in December 2021. He has pleaded not guilty.
It's a different kind of pain to lose a child, especially in this way, it's so tragic. She was my baby.
Luis Cabrales Rivera, father of Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola
Luis Cabrales Rivera, Cabrales Arzola's father, spoke exclusively to The US Sun from his home in Mexico about his long-awaited day of justice for his daughter.
“It's very hard for me to try to remember that to this day,” Rivera told the US Sun in Spanish.
“I know this week is the start of the trial, and the only thing I can tell you is that I hope justice will be served and this motherfucker will pay for what he did.
“Like every parent who loses a child, we are never prepared to lose a child.
“Most of us are prepared to lose a sibling, a grandparent, a parent, but never a child.
“It's a different pain to lose a child, especially in such a tragic way. She was my child.”
The devastated father rushed to Los Angeles from Monterrey, Mexico, the capital of the northeastern Mexican border state of Nuevo Leon, after learning that his 26-year-old daughter was in a medically induced coma.
Cabrales-Arzola and Giles were enjoying a night out at a warehouse in East Los Angeles in the early hours of November 13, 2021.
At some point during the ceremony, the couple broke up, and Cabrales-Arzola eventually met Bars.
A photographer at the party snapped a photo of Cabrales-Arzola and Pierce together posing for a photo.
Left to die
Surveillance footage from the warehouse showed the women leaving the party with three men, identified as Pierce, his roommate Brandt Osborne, and his friend Michael Ansbach.
The group continued the party at Pierce and Osborne's second-floor apartment, arriving at their home at 5:11 a.m., according to court documents.
Twenty minutes later, Giles texted her friend, “Let's go,” adding a wide-eyed emoji, to which Cabrales-Arzola replied: “Yes. I'll call an Uber. 10 minutes away.”
However, security video from the apartment complex showed an Uber taxi arriving at the building at 5:45 a.m. and leaving five minutes later without the women.
That afternoon, video footage showed Pierce carrying Giles downstairs and placing her in a Toyota Prius, the arrest affidavit states.
Pierce and Osborne drove to Southern California Hospital in Culver City, where they left Giles' body, claiming to hospital staff that they were “good Samaritans” who had found her “passed out on the sidewalk,” according to court documents.
To be honest, it's very difficult to relive all of that. If I did that, if I thought about it, I would fall back into depression, be without rest, and reopen the wounds.
Luis Cabrales Rivera
About an hour later, the men returned to the apartment, where surveillance footage showed Pierce carrying a “partially clothed” Cabrales-Arzola up the stairs.
Roommates dumped Cabrales-Arzola's body at Kaiser Hospital shortly after 7 p.m.
Giles died of a drug overdose, while Cabrales Arzola died of multiple organ failure and drug poisoning.
Los Angeles investigators visited Pierce and Osborne's apartment hours after the women had been discharged from area hospitals.
However, Pierce, Osborne and Ansbach were not arrested until three weeks after Cabrales-Arzola's death.
In July 2022, Pierce was charged with two counts of murder and additional controlled substance charges.
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Unbearable pain
In the years following his daughter's murder, Cabrales Arzola's father tried to remain steadfast and allow her to rest in peace.
“Really, we're trying to rebuild our lives and be strong,” Rivera told the US Sun.
“I promised myself I would stay strong for her, whether my daughter Hildy was here or not.
“I try not to worry her too much by continuing to mourn her and be sad all the time because if I keep doing that, I might not let her rest in peace.”
Rivera said he could not muster the strength to be present during the trial and chose to remain in Mexico to protect his mental health.
“I voluntarily decided to avoid the pain, to avoid reliving the moment and letting it affect my health, I decided not to go,” the grieving father said.
“I'll be aware of what's going on [at the trial]But I won't be there physically.
“To be honest, it's very difficult to relive all of that.
“If I did that, if I thought about it, I would go back into depression, feel uncomfortable, reopen the wounds.
“The pain of losing a child never fully heals, but now I will leave justice to the court and pray that the full force of the law falls on this person, and I hope he never gets out of prison for everything he did to my daughter and her friend.”
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Pierce, who is being held on $3.4 million bail, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder.
His roommate, Osbourne, a former NCIS actor who was arrested while on the set of the show in 2021, has been charged with two counts of accessory after the fact.
Osbourne was released on bail after posting $40,000 bail and is being tried alongside Pierce.
During jury selection at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, Judge Eleanor Hunter explained to potential jurors that prosecutors would provide gruesome details about the women's deaths.
“I'm sure this is not the way you wanted New York to start,” Hunter told a group of potential jurors, stressing how important the case was after the deaths of Giles and Cabrales-Arzola.
The US Sun captured exclusive photos of a carefree-looking Osbourne grabbing a snack after court on Monday.
Giles' widower, Jan Sellers, admitted to The US Sun that he will never get over the loss of his wife.
“I don't think that's something you'll ever get over after losing someone close to them, especially in such a terrible way,” Sellers said.
“Three years is a long time to be in limbo. I'm glad the trial has started now.”
Cinematographer Michael Ansbach, who was initially arrested along with the two other suspects, was not charged in the case.
Ansbach has cooperated with investigators and will likely testify against Osborne and Pierce, according to CBS News.
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