Survivors speak up for victims to help convict Los Angeles man of murder, sexual assault

In November 2021, Detectives Jonathan Vander Lee and Calvin You had to figure out why a lifeless woman was left at a Los Angeles emergency room. 

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: For a fresh case … it’s all on you. No one else is gonna solve this thing for you. It’s you and your partner, that’s it.

Video from Southern California Hospital shows staff pulling a woman out of a black Prius and helping her onto a stretcher while two men look on. When the stretcher moves into the ER, it becomes clear, the car has no license plates.

Vander Lee would later learn that the two men told the staff they found the woman “passed out on the curb somewhere nearby … ” and they were trying to be “good Samaritans.” They left without giving their names or phone numbers.

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: They were masked, disguised.

Jonathan Vigliotti: This must be adding up to something that sounds very sketchy to you. 

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: Very sketchy … But then you still have to figure out if an actual crime occurred.

The woman was Christy Giles, and her mother Dusty Giles will never forget the call that came from the hospital, telling her that her 24-year-old daughter was dead from a drug overdose.

Dusty Giles: And I said, “what do you mean she didn’t make it?” … and then I hung up and I fell apart.

Two hours later, at a hospital just two miles away, a second woman was left at another emergency room by the same two men also in a black Prius and wearing masks.

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: They never give their names, never leave their phone numbers, license plates, anything like that.

That was Hilda Marcela Cabrales. The 26-year-old architect was still alive in the ICU and fighting for her life. And in Durango, Mexico, her mother Hilda Marcela Plascencia was getting the news about her eldest daughter and namesake.

Dr. Hilda Marcela Arzola-Placencia: She was very bad, she was intubated. 

Jonathan Vigliotti: You are a doctor, what was going on in your mind at the time? 

Dr. Hilda Marcela Arzola-Placencia: What happened? What happened to her? Why is she that bad?

CHRISTY GILES AND HILDA MARCELA CABRALES  

And in the earliest hours of the investigation, there were only questions. How could this happen to Christy? It was an unimaginable ending to a life bursting with exuberance.

Christy was an adventurer, traveling the world as a high fashion model for Wilhelmina. She ultimately made L.A. her home.

At 21, her life took a dramatic turn. Christy met Jan Cillers, a South African-born artist, photographer, and special effects editor 17 years her senior. They’d been together seven months when the couple went to Burning Man — an arts festival in the Nevada desert — where, impulsively, they took a big leap. 

Jan Cilliers: We just decided to elope. 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 Hilda Marcela. Hilda had just moved there to start her dream job, recalls her father. 

Luis Cabrales: I feel very happy for her, but very sad for me, because we are — we are very close. 

No one was surprised that the cum laude graduate of the prestigious university in Monterrey Mexico was thriving in LA,  especially her sister, Fernanda.

Fernanda Cabrales-Arzola: She was always making a lot of friends. Talkative, outgoing. … just having a good time and meeting people that they also like the music, that they are also enjoying dancing. 

Dancing is what the two friends were doing that night.

Christy’s husband Jan Cilliers 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, Cilliers was on his way home knowing Christy was gone.

Jonathan Vigliotti: In less than 24 hours, your world was turned upside down.

Jan Cilliers: Shattered, yeah.

Hilda’s father and mother rushed to be by her side; when they arrived, they found their daughter on life support.

Luis Cabrales: My heart broke in thousand pieces. Because I saw my — my baby, unconscious, and … fighting for her life.

Dr. Hilda Marcela Arzola-Placencia: I said, is this real? Am I dreaming? … I took her hand and I said … “Mom’s here 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.

Jonathan Vigliotti: Are these drugs that Christy would take willingly?

Jan Cilliers: I mean that combination of drugs sounds deadly to me. So, like, no.

Cilliers 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.

Jan Cilliers: I wanted to get to the bottom of … exactly what happened that night

He already knew what she had been doing before she went out for the evening. 

Jan Cilliers: She was enjoying a lovely sunset. She took our cat for a walk on the beach

Jan Cilliers: Those were the last pictures she sent me of this herself. And she said, “I wish you were here,” and I will forever wish that I was there, too.

Cilliers was able to track Christy’s phone to a residence located at 8641 West Olympic Boulevard.

At 5:30 a.m., Christy sends Hilda a wide-eyed emoji and says, “let’s go.” Hilda replies: “I’ll call an Uber” “10 min away.”

Jan Cilliers: The fact that they’re both in the same house text messaging each other … they need to leave is very worrying. 

That was the last text message that Christy or Hilda ever sent. That Uber arrived, waited five minutes, and drove away empty.

Jonathan Vigliotti: How did you process that?

Jan Cilliers: I mean it’s just confirming my worst fears again … that they were there at that place against their will. 

DIGITAL EVIDENCE LEADS TO DAVID PEARCE

Jonathan Vigliotti: What’s going on in your mind from that detective standpoint when you’re about to arrive at a scene?

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: 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.

Acting on information supplied by Cilliers, Vander Lee and his partner headed to 8641 West Olympic Boulevard a little after midnight on Nov. 14 — only a few hours after getting that call from the second hospital.

Jonathan Vigliotti: And this is where the Uber that Christy and Hilda called that night would have waited?

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: Right out front, yep. 

Jonathan Vigliotti: Ten minutes between life and death.

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: That’s all it takes.

It was the home of 39-year-old David Pearce. Police would learn Christy and Hilda had met him for the first time at that warehouse party. Police also discovered Pearce had a registration for a black Prius and found it parked behind the building. It matched the car seen at both hospitals —down to the black rims. Pearce lived on the second floor with a roommate — Brandt Osborn, 42.

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: There was a light on in the upstairs where the two men live. … so I just went up, knocked on the door. Immediately, the lights go out.

Jonathan Vigliotti: You identified yourself?

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: Yes, completely—LAPD, open the door. And then it’s just complete silence.

After about 15 minutes, he says, Pearce and Osborn came out. Pearce denied owning a Prius.

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: So I immediately get a lie.

Jonathan Vigliotti: Do you leave?

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: No. I interviewed Mr. Osborn.

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

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: He changes his stories numerous times. At first, there’s no girls had been on that location whatsoever.

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: I … tell him on the interview, listen, I know you’re lying. It’s extremely obvious. You’re very nervous.

Vander Lee 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 Pearce chose to go to two separate hospitals because quote “we didn’t know how it would look.”

Pearce, police say, did later admit he owned the Prius, but lied again, saying his license plates had been stolen. Vander Lee says he saw those plates on the ground by the vehicle.

Then, the men agreed to let detectives inside.

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: Two beds had been stripped. … There was a washing machine that had been recently used. It was still wet. 

Jonathan Vigliotti: … Anything else that stands out to you?

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: There was a safe in his room with, uh, baggies, which was indicative of narcotics … he … said they’re for crafts — for arts and crafts.

By now, Vander Lee says he knew Pearce and Osborn had dropped Hilda and Christy off, and believed Pearce had drugged them, but he didn’t have enough evidence to make an arrest.

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: He thought he’d beat us that night, for sure. And he was happy.

Jonathan Vigliotti: He smiled and said goodbye?

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: Yeah.

Jonathan Vigliotti: “Thanks, detectives”?

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: Yep.

Jonathan Vigliotti: But that wasn’t where it ended for you?

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: No, not by a long shot.

Vander Lee knew he needed more evidence and turned to his colleague, Detective Calvin You.

Jonathan Vigliotti: You hear the name, David Pearce. What goes on in your mind?

Lt. Calvin You: Well, the first thing is … Who did he sexually assault this time?

Detective You had investigated Pearce in 2020 for sexually assaulting a 19-year-old.

Lt. Calvin You: She was raped while she was unconscious.

The victim said Pearce had given her drugs to knock her out during a date. But the investigation had stalled and wasn’t prosecuted at the time. Detective You knew Pearce had other prior charges, including another rape charge from 2014 that was also not prosecuted.

Lt. Calvin You: 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.

Pearce relies on lies, detectives say, to set his trap.

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: He’d introduce himself as a producer, as 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.

Jonathan Vigliotti: An intern?

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: Yeah.

They say his next step is to drug his victims and incapacitate them, often with a drink.

Lt. Calvin You: After they take this 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.

Jonathan Vigliotti: How difficult is it to prove a crime took place when the victims were recreationally using drugs?

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: … it makes … the case extremely hard. … I had told Jan early on that this was gonna be a near impossible case to prove.

FATAL ENCOUNTER

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: At first, it’s a whodunit. But … it just became what actually happened … and that’s what was difficult in this case.

Detective Vander Lee says the pressure was on to locate any evidence of what happened after Christy and Hilda met David Pearce that night.

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee:  Video starts expiring. … these DVRs, it’s a constant … you gotta get this evidence before it disappears.

Police did have some luck, starting with footage from outside that warehouse party. They say it shows the women leaving with Pearce, Osborn, and a friend of theirs — 47-year-old Michael Ansbach — on their way to Pearce’s apartment.

Police also uncovered this text exchange from moments 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 Pearce supplied that cocaine, which Cilliers says was not a common choice for Christy.

Jan Cilliers: Maybe it was late at night and she wanted to get less tired … it’s not something that she would do regularly.

Police determined the group arrived at Pearce’s apartment a little after 5 a.m. The women aren’t seen again until 11 hours later, when, at 4:30 p.m. a security camera recorded the grainy image showing Pearce with Christy over his shoulder at the top of the stairs. Police say Osborn is carrying her bag. 35 minutes later, at the hospital, Pearce, wearing a black sweatshirt, helps take Christy’s body out of the car. Osborn looks on.

A full hour-and-a-half later, a dark image shows the men leaving the apartment again, with Hilda. Police say Pearce is carrying her and Osborn 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.”

For two weeks Hilda was on life support. With no hope of regaining consciousness, her family gathered to say their goodbyes.

Jonathan Vigliotti: Hilda, what were your final moments with your daughter?

Dr. Hilda Marcela Arzola-Plascencia: Oh, they were so hard you know … and I just was asking God to not let her suffer more. 

Fernanda Cabrales-Arzola: I remember telling her that you can leave … and just thanking her for being my sister. 

Luis Cabrales: I told her … baby when I pass away I will see you again. …and I give you a big hug, a kiss. 

The family decided to donate Hilda’s organs. Her mom remembers the medical staff lining the halls as the family accompanied Hilda to the OR.

Dr. Hilda Marcela Arzola-Plascencia: The medical team was clapping … to honor her, to say thank you for giving life to others. 

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. 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 Pearce, nor Osborn, nor Ansbach called for help.

Dr. Hilda Marcela Arzola-Plascencia: It makes me get angry … because she was suffering and nobody, nobody helped her.

Jonathan Vigliotti: How hard is it to prove this narrative when the victims … can’t even testify on their own behalf?

Lt. Calvin You: If we were just investigating Christy and Hilda’s alone, very difficult. 

But the district attorney at the time went public asking other women who knew Pearce to call in, so police could better understand what he did to Hilda and Christy.

D.A. GEORGE GASCON (to reporters):  If you feel comfortable moving forward so that we can evaluate your case and charge it  we’re here for you.

Lt. Calvin You: We started getting a lot of calls.

As police continued building their case, Cilliers received a call that Pearce and Osborn were on the move. He recorded video of the men loading up a moving van the day after Hilda died. Police say Pearce had also changed his phone number, and it took them a week to locate him again.

Jonathan Vigliotti: So the pressure is on. You gotta get this guy.

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: I gotta come up with something quick, yes.

On Dec. 15, 2021, David Pearce, Brandt Osborn, and Michael Ansbach were arrested in connection with Hilda and Christy’s deaths. The detectives still knew next to nothing about what had happened inside that apartment. Vander Lee says they decided to take a gamble and bring the men in.

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: This is the only way we’re going to get the info we need.

Once the men were in custody, police conducted interviews with them one by one.

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: We kind of played with a rotation and it worked out exceedingly well.

They secretly recorded Pearce and Osborn while Ansbach was talking to police.

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: Pearce … says, “I hope Ansbach is not up there telling him … I gave them drugs and wine.”

When it was his turn, Pearce denied giving the women drugs.

DAVID PEARCE (police interview): I was told … there was like a very bad batch of fentanyl that was going around.

This was suspicious because information that the women had likely died from fentanyl had not been released.

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: I knew … these girls died from fentanyl but nobody else knew.

Two months after his arrest, Ansbach reached out to police with details of what he says he witnessed that night. He says Pearce had offered the women a ride to an after party, and then said he needed to make a quick stop at his house. Ansbach says Pearce was “very insistent they stay and have a drink,” and, after the women talked about leaving, Pearce gave all three of them so-called “special cocaine.”

Ansbach says he, Christy and Hilda got sick immediately, and… when he woke up hours later, he saw Christy without any signs of life. Ansbach says he told Pearce to take Christy and Hilda to the hospital and says Pearce then said repeatedly, “dead girls don’t talk.” 

Jackie | Jane Doe No. 2: I wouldn’t say survivor. I’m a fighter. That’s what I am.

But police had at least one woman who could talk about David Pearce at his upcoming trial.

Jackie: 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.

SURVIVORS SPEAK OUT AT TRIAL

On Jan. 9 2025, opening arguments begin in the trial of David Pearce, charged with felony murder, and Brandt Osborn, charged with accessory after the fact.

CATHERINE MARIANO (in court): The evidence will show that the defendant knowingly gave Hilda and Christy GHB and fentanyl, knowing that it was dangerous to their lives, knowing that it could kill them, but he just didn’t care. … Defendant Osborn helped him get rid of any evidence to implicate defendant Pearce in the deaths of Christy and Hilda.

Prosecutor Catherine Mariano has marshalled the forensic evidence to make her case: the toxicology results that found fentanyl in both women and the date rape drug GHB in Christy. Also, Pearce’s DNA discovered on Christy’s body and under Hilda’s fingernails.

CATHERINE MARIANO (in court): This is no accident. This is no mistake.

But in order to prove felony murder, she must show that Pearce 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.

CATHERINE MARIANO (in court): He didn’t care whether they lived or died, all he cared about taking advantage of them. 

JEFF VOLL (in court): Here’s where there’s a problem …

But defense attorney Jeff Voll says the fact that Christy and Hilda were using drugs before meeting Pearce that night means there is no case for murder.

JEFF VOLL (in court): … these young ladies unfortunately ingested fentanyl and they died … it’s a shame but Mr. Pearce didn’t kill them.

Voll is sixth in a long line of lawyers who have represented Pearce in this case. He knows his client is problematic.

Jeff Voll: … he’s very demanding … he’s very sure of himself. … what David Pearce wants David Pearce gets.

Mariano has her own version of who David Pearce is based on the accounts of the women who talked to investigators and chose to be anonymous. 

Jackie is Jane Doe No. 2.

Jackie: It was important for me to come forward … and, you know, get any information I could regarding this vile man. 

No cameras were allowed in the courtroom for any of the testimony, but Jackie agreed to talk with “48 Hours” about her experience with Pearce in 2010 when she was a 24-year-old law student looking for a room to rent. She testified about her meeting with Pearce at his apartment on West Olympic Boulevard, where he gave her a tour and offered a drink.

Jackie: I started to spin and, you know, I — I just became, like, disoriented.

Jonathan Vigliotti: You drink this drink, you start to feel dizzy, I’m sure confused. What happens next?

Jackie: So the next thing I know, um, he was, you know, basically trying, I would say, trying to rape me … So I started fighting him back.

According to Jackie he continued to assault her.

Jackie: He threw me onto the floor. … he punched me in the face.

When she tried to take her phone out, he grabbed her arm so hard the phone flew and smashed into the wall. Unsteady on her feet and unable to call for help, she did everything she could to escape.

Jackie: I had to crawl down the stairs I was so disoriented and crawled down West Olympic Boulevard to my car … screaming for help.

Though seriously injured and traumatized, she did not report it.

Jackie: 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, 20 women came forward. Pearce was charged with seven sexual assaults. Detective Calvin You thinks that’s just a fraction of those who suffered at the hands of David Pearce.

Jonathan Vigliotti: Are there more Jane Does out there? 

Lt. Calvin You: Yes. I would definitely say so.

Jonathan Vigliotti: How many do you believe?

Lt. Calvin You: I’d say a hundred.

Jonathan Vigliotti: A hundred. That’s incredible. And that’s just based on the people that you have spoken with directly?

Lt. Calvin You: Yes.

Jan Cilliers: 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 were so intimately violated.

And as the women testified one by one, defense attorney Voll could see what was happening; the prosecution strategy was working.

Jeff Voll: The victims coming to court testifying, some who broke down in tears, all gave the same testimony … and I am watching the jury. 

Jeff Voll: They’re looking at him and the expression on the juror’s faces are like, how could you? How could you do this? 

After the Jane Does testified, the prosecution called Pearce’s friend Michael Ansbach, who was in the apartment that night and later arrested along with Pearce and Osborn. 

Ansbach took video of Christy and Hilda minutes after Pearce gave them wine and cocaine at the apartment.

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: Christy’s lying on the couch. It looks like she’s on her way to becoming unconscious.

In his testimony, Ansbach again said he also used the same cocaine, got violently ill and then passed out. When he woke up, he said, Pearce asked him to check on Christy and when he did, Ansbach said, it looked like she was not breathing. Hilda, he said, was in Pearce’s bedroom. According to Ansbach, this is when Pearce told him “dead girls don’t talk.”

Like Pearce and Osborn, Ansbach never called for help. His charges were later dropped.

On day 11 — and against the advice of his attorney — David Pearce, who pleaded not guilty, was sworn in and testified.

Lt. Calvin You: So he got on the stand and he did his best to try to say everybody was wrong and he was right.

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: He was apparently the only one telling the truth at the entire trial.

On the 12th day, Pearce’s roommate Brandt Osborn, who also pleaded not guilty, takes the stand.

Det. Jonathan Vander Lee: So, Osborn’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 gonna tell the security guards. 

Osborn testified he was “dumbfounded” by Pearce’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.

Cilliers, for one, was not buying it.

Jan Cilliers: 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 Pearce cover it up.

The question is whether the jury will believe either man. After three weeks, the trial took a toll on Christy’s family.

Dusty Giles: We sat and had to hold our mouth closed while they battered, and I feel like they destroyed my daughter’s reputation.

Jan Cilliers: It was definitely difficult being in the same room as them. … did I have an overwhelming urge to throw something really hard at their heads? Yeah.

In closing, Prosecutor Mariano hits back at the defense – just because Christy and Hilda did drugs on their own that night doesn’t make them responsible for their own deaths. David Pearce took care of that, Mariano argued.

CATHERINE MARIANO (in court): He didn’t care about violating them in the most awful way. He didn’t care that by drugging Christy and Hilda, that they could die.

And she repeats the words of Ansbach attributed to David Pearce — the words that rang in the ears of everyone who loved Christy and Hilda.

CATHERINE MARIANO (in court): He wanted them to die because “dead girls don’t talk.”

Attorneys for Osborn and Pearce 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 Brandt Osborn and David Pearce.

Dusty Giles made her decision about that a long time ago.

Dusty Giles: Pearce is a sick, slimy … lizard that sits and preys and sneaks … and his bite is deadly.

THE VERDICT AND A MOTHER’S PLEA

Jan Cilliers: As we’re sitting here waiting on — the verdict for the case, I just want to … I’m here for her until the end.

For Christy’s family, it’s been a long and wrenching road to get here.

Jonathan Vigliotti: For you, what does justice for Christy look like?

Jan Cilliers: I mean (sigh) there’s no justice for Christy … There is only preventing him from doing it again, I think. … That’s the only justice we can get.

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.

Dr. Hilda Marcela Arzola-Plascencia: Nothing can bring her back again. … But the hole she leaves in our lives will be always there. 

On Feb. 4, 2025, after two days of deliberations, the jury is back.

JURY FOREMAN: We the jury … find the defendant, David Brian Pearce, guilty … of the crime of first-degree murder upon Christy Giles.

David Pearce is found guilty.

Lt. Calvin You: We get that guilty on the first one and a sigh of relief.

JURY FOREMAN: … guilty of the crime of first-degree murder upon Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola. 

Lt. Calvin You: Hilda comes up, guilty again, another sigh of relief.

And then guilty of all the sexual assaults of seven Jane Does. 

Lt. Calvin You: I don’t think I breathed at all until I heard a guilty on every single one.

CATHERINE MARIANO (to reporters following verdict): A lot of relief, not just for my sake … but definitely for all of the victims.

DUSTY GILES (to reporters following verdict): Jane Does finally had their day in court and were believed.

Jackie: I felt this huge weight released 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 Osborn and a mistrial is declared.

PROSECUTOR MARIANO (to reporters following verdict): I was surprised, definitely disappointed at — at the hung jury. I thought the trial made clear that he had definitely a hand in their deaths.

DUSTY GILES (to reporters following verdict):  What is there to question? … he was aware of Christy’s and Hilda’s condition. He’s a grown man that stands on his own his two feet … he withheld medical help from Hilda and Christy until they were dead.

Dr. Hilda Marcela Arzola-Plascencia: I’m not happy … They perfectly could save her life and they chose to not do it … For me, that’s not justice, at least in that part.

DUSTY GILES (to reporters following verdict): I am here standing for me and Hilda’s mom, Marcela.

Now there’s an unbreakable bond between the mothers who must live without their daughters.

DUSTY GILES (to reporters following verdict): Our daughters, individually, were like soul sisters both of them lost their souls … at the hands of the same man, same way and that it would be forever intwined.

And before she leaves the courthouse, there is a final plea from Dusty Giles.

DUSTY GILES (to reporters following verdict): As much as it hurts to lose my baby girl … her body was able to tell the story and her sharing her location technology told us where she was, how long she was … so please, within your own families … share locations … you never know when you’re gonna not be able to can’t get in touch with somebody.

Jonathan Vigliotti: When you look at photos of Christy and Hilda, what do you see?

Jackie: I see beauty. … I see myself when I was 24 … I will remember them as strong, independent women. … I’ll 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.

Jan Cilliers: I want to remember her as … the bright beautiful soul that she was.

Jonathan Vigliotti: Fernanda, how do you hope your big sister is remembered?

Fernanda Cabrales-Arzola: As someone who had a lot of dreams, ambitions, very intelligent, funny … She was happy to be alive.

David Pearce is awaiting sentencing.

He faces a minimum of 148 years in prison.

The District Attorney has not announced if Brandt Osborn will be retried.

If you or someone you know is a victim of sexual assault help is available. Call 800-656-4673 or visit RAINN.org.

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Produced by Mary Murphy, Sarah Prior and Liza Finley. Alicia Tejada is the coordinating producer. Michelle Fanucci and Greg Fisher are the development producers. Doreen Schechter, Gregory Kaplan, Phil Tangel, George Baluzy and Marlon Disla  are the editors. Lauren Turner Dunn is the associate producer. Danielle Austen is the associate development producer. Anthony Batson is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.