Verdict and the Path to Justice

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Welcome back to Postmortem. I'm CBS News correspondent Jonathan Vigiati filling in today for Anne Mie Green. And joining me is forty eight Hours producer, Michelle Fanucci, to discuss our latest report On the murders of Christy Giles and Hilda Cabralz, two friends who went home with David Pierce after a night out in Los Angeles in twenty twenty one Pierce and his roommate, Breant Osborne took the women two separate hospitals the following evening, bothoth women had elevated levels of fentanyoll in their systems and tragically They both ultimately died of drug overdoses. Both Pece and Osborne denied involvement in their deaths. At trial, Pierce was also charged with rape for seven Jane Doe'es, 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 forty eight Hours episode yet, you can find the full audio just below this episode and 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. ourur first forty eight 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, what has it from your perspective been like to watch this case develop over the years This is a case that started just as 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. aboutout six days into this I met with Yon Sillier, who is Chrie'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 what was he like? What state of mind was he in He was in absolute shock. I will never forget it. I mean he was in that Arenaline of trying to figure this out. I remember when we sat on his couch, he had a group of friends, you know, 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 was it's it's the worst of the worst and u 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 friendriends. 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 Monre Mexico and dated Hilda for several years. They broke up there. They both moved separately at different times to LA and reconnected as friends. And I first learned about this case In twenty twenty one, 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 Tilda was taken off of life support. I asked if they were comfortable with me bringing this story to forty eight hours, not so that I could report it, but just so that the story could get out there. And Judy Tiggart, the executive producer, the amazing executive producer of forty eight Let me know it was already. on their radar. And I can't tell you the relief brought to the family members of Hilda and Christie knowing that there was this media attention being focused on trying to figure out what went wrong And to that point, Christ 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 Christie I was personally really touched And, um, 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 When Jon was trying to get in touch with Christy, he was out of town. He couldn't get any responses. He wasn't getting responses through checks. So he went and checked his 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 Pearce. That location for Christy then changed hours later to an emergency room So Jan delivered all of that information to investigators. I was speaking with Detective Jonathan Vander Lley who tell 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, o, it looks like they were partying, they were doing drugs. veryery 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 and he had encouraged them to go forward to police in the hour we talk about pololice learned that while Christie and Hilde were in the apartment Here's his downstairs neighbor heard someone moaning in pain on and off. for six hours. Now neither Pice Osborne nor their friend Michael Onsbach, who was also in the apartment at the time, called for help. Osbach, we needed 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 During our reporting, we found out that there was more to this story. Can you explain? The woman who lived there about to call nine hundred eleven and her husband said, No, no, you don't want to mess with David Piers. Just let it go And u 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 You know, David Pierce was maintaining very early on and really throughout that he was just trying to help Christie 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, those aren't the actions of someone that's trying to help them. And there's another layer to this because we weren't able to get to all of this in the show The the men first attempted to drop Christie off. Remember Christy 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 Piers, according to Osborne's testimony didn't want to do that. So instead, they drove to a completely different hospital, Southern California hospital, twenty minutes south of their home Does that sound like the behavior of people that are trying to provide swift help No. I meanone of 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 The detective told me and we always knew this that it would be a tough case to prosecute because there was evidence that Chris Anhilda voluntarily took recreational drugs that night And ultimately that's why the DA asked other women to come forward to share their experiences with Pce Michelle you attended the trial, you heard several of those Jane Doees 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 twelve women in total, seven Jane Doees who had allegations of rape by Mr. Pierce And the other the oers sexual assault experiences They stacked those women up. One by one, by one, by one, all twelve 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 Hilde's story. It was a really powerful way to prove Um This man's pattern Um, and how he prays off of power and control. They really created And I'm a way of consistent behavior, this pattern that ultimately led to the deaths of Christian 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 Pearce ever seeing the light a day. You know, if there was a mistrial or something like that. She, you know, described 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 she was she was too scared to do the interview, which I totally respected. Jackie is a real inspiration herself. She came to LA to go to law school and she was looking for a an apartment U and that's how she came across David Pif through a Craigslist ad And he had her come to the apartment, offered her a drink. She takes the drink and then she's blocked 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 so her up She truly fought for her life. This forever changed her life. forever haunted her. She did a lot of work and therapy and she is in a remarkable a woman who's become an attorney who wants to help other victims and She is you, you know, you will see her on the episode She stares right at the camera and she's brave and speaks for Christie. She speaks for Hilda. She speaks for herself And she speaks for all the women who've been silenced by Mr. Peerce and who've been harmed by Mr. Peice. I think about the power dynamic. His apartment, David Pierce's apartment, was the place where he was in power. But then during the trial, that power shifts. You have the Jane Doe'es, people like Jackie Jane Doe number two now in power And what struck me was the image that emerged of David Pearce, at least him now after being in jail for several months or years how much he changed, very much not the producer he pretended to be, this younger looking guy with his dark hair. What we saw was a man with gray hair wearing glasses who looked A times defeated. Yeah, the women who testified sometimes had a hard time pointing him out. becausecause they couldn't recognize him. Yeah, I could understand and so different than what the prosecutor pointed out in his photos That quote unquote Zoollander face, that duck face that he put on in his photos. He just was stripped down. The real David Pierce was sitting there in court. in the middle of the night alone in your apartment And that feeling starts to set in that something is wrong. Realizing your home is no longer safe, you plan on your escape But he has other plans Details are the kind that stay with you. water running in an empty apartment. A walk door that shouldn't be locked That uneasy feeling of being watched That's the setup for unhinged. The new immersive game experience on Netflix Your phone becomes your controller, flashlight, and lifeline to your best friend. as the attacker in your building closes in phone in your hand will ring. Qestion is Will you answer Play now, only on Netflix Let's be honest, traditional banks have a habit of hitting you with overdraft and monthly fees, and those costs can really add up when you're just trying to manage your own money. But Chime is changing the way people bank. They offer the most rewarding fee free banking built for you, not the one percent. Chime has thousands of fee free ATMs because you shouldn't pay to access your own money. And Chime members can benefit from up to one thousand one hundred fifty dollars in Annual rewards completely fee free. You'll get five percent cash back on your time card in a category of choice like gas or groceries, and savings that grow faster than a three point seven five APY. My younger self could have seriously benefited from all that. Plus timee is rated five stars by USA todayay for customer service. I'm talking real humans, twenty four seven Chime is not just smarter banking, it is the most rewarding way to bank. Join the millions who are already banking, be free today. Head to timeime dot com slash forty eight hours. That is timeime dot com slash forty eight hours. It only takes a few minutes to sign up Welcome back. So Michelle, another key moment at trial was when Pierce took the stand himself and now this was against the advice of his defense attorney. I'm wondering what insight you had into that decision and also for you, what it was like to see him testify, to see him take the stand. I mean, I only wish cameras were in the courtroom Um, because that that was a show in itself. And originally he asked the judge to give a narrative, testify through a narrative Meaning, you know, he wanted to control What he was putting out there. He didn't want to be cross examined like everybody else has to be. So he was trying to control he wanted to come out with his own monologue to set everything up That seems highly unusual Everything about this man is unusual. And the judge said, No, this isn't the David Pierce show. So Then he said, Well, then I'm not going to testify then And then he changed his mind at the last minute and he's up there and u My God, it was something I've never seen before basasically He he said that all the women They all wanted him. Everything was consensual. And and even one Jane Doe, the Jane Doe that we interviewed, he says I've never even met that woman in my life ust straight out lying. Straight out lied about the night they came home to his home. I didn't give them drugs. I didn't give I was walking my puppy. while they were in my house. I mean, it was all wild. And there was no remorse. there was no sense of like I'm so sorry. Nothing. Yeah, this grand image in his head of what transpired. The prosecution and the cops say that all the evidence the state provided contradicts his story. Yeah This didn't make it into the show, but it was something when I heard I struggled to understand initially because detective Jonathan Vander Lid told me that before the arrest, as they were still trying to get enough evidence to bring Pice in He was already taking steps It appeared to flee. It was talking to women in Ukraine on dating apps. A trial, the prosecution was able to show Some pretty damning Google searches, Michelle, can you take me through this PD detective sent me over the Google searches. So I have them right here. We have international money transfers, best places in the world to disappear Best places to meet girls in Kieiv Ukraine strip clubs, exotic massages and sets in Kyiv. brothels in Kieiv, nightlife in Kieiv, one way flights, apartments in Kiev How can you track someone by their passport number And um Lastly, Penis enlargement Okay, let me stop you there. Everything else you have described up until that point describes a man looking to flee and still with a one track mind. He is wanted in connection with the murders of two women and alleged sexual assault He is looking for sex in another country and ways of fleeing and out witting Authority Yeah, I know I just I can't stop even thinking about it. When you went up on stand and explained Why were you looking for apartments? you could't What what wass his answer to this? He said he was going to make a documentary on the Ukraine war like Sean Penn did So this plays into his whole, I'm a movie producer thing. What's wrong with this explanation Well, the Ukraine war had not started at the time of those Google searches. So that's what I'm saying. That's why when you went on stand, it was just like everything got debunked You know, something else that didn't make it into this hour, but I think helps shed some light on Pierce's character is that when police first searched his home, they found and this is their description to us. A shrine to run Jeremy. for those who don't know Ron Jeremy, he's a former porn actor who was indicted in over thirty counts of sexual assault Michelle, you were able to learn more about who Pierce was by talking to his family. What did they say Yeah That was a sad conversation. You know, I spoke with his sister Alison Pierce, who has nothing to do with the family now and blames, you know David Pierce for destroying the fabric of her family. She says that Ron Jeremy was like worsihiped in their household. so why idolized Ron Jeremy. Allison of course, didn't like any of that. and she plans to give an impact statement. She wants everyone to know that he is in a sense a villain and she feels terrible for What happened to Christie and Hilda and what he's done to so many people. The fallout from this tragedy far and wide impacting so many people Pierce's defense attorney Jeff, he argued that because Christian and Hilda were using drugs before meeting Pierce that night, there was no case for murder But we interviewed him and during our interview, I pressed him on his true feelings on Pierce. I want to play a clip that didn't make it into the show because I think It highlights ' always really thinking Separate yourself from the defense attorney You're a father Put yourself in that setting as you are Would you be saying the same thing right now Taking the role of attorney Autom if I'm the average Pers looking at this case, looking at forty eight hours, looking at some articles in the paper 're probably going think that it's about time they got this guy That would be the part of me that's not the lawyer That says a lot. I was really surprised he said that to you. It was sort of a humanizing moment for a defense attorney I agree. I was surprised too