Hollywood producer accused of murdering model charged with sexual assault in separate incidents 

A Hollywood producer charged with murdering a model and her friend is also being charged with sexual assault for several other unrelated cases, LA County District Attorney George Gascon said. 

On Tuesday, David Pearce was formally charged with the deaths of model Christy Giles, 24, and Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola, 26. Pearce allegedly led the two women to their death by drug overdose and dumped their unconscious bodies at separate hospitals on November 13, 2021. 

The LA County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s office ruled the women’s deaths as homicide and determined that they died of “multiple drug intoxication.”

In December of last year, Pearce, 40, was arrested for allegedly raping and sexually assaulting four women in an unrelated case. Most of the victims claim they were unconscious or sleeping at the time of the assault, and some were penetrated with foreign objects. Additionally, Pearce threatened to hurt their families if they talked. 

During a press conference on Tuesday, Gascon said that new evidence allowed police to link Peace to the deaths of the two women and the sexual assault of three additional victims. 

“We knew that this was going to be a lengthy investigation, and we started with the charges we knew that we could prove,” Gascon said at the press conference. “Most had to do with the using and the administration of drugs.”

“The LAPD did a lot of work here as well as our prosecuting team because we knew that they were murders, and we wanted to prove that, and that is the reason why the outstanding charges have been confirmed,” said Gascon.

Pearce is currently facing two counts of murder and multiple felony counts for separate assault incidents that occurred from August 2010 to November 2021 involving seven women. Additionally, he faces two counts of selling/offering a controlled substance. 

Peace’s lawyer, however, told the New York Post that his client is being held on “inadequate information.”

“All the allegations, including the new charges, are based on extremely weak evidence,” Glucksman said. “The DA’s office is prosecuting under the premise of ‘Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.’ The problem is, they haven’t yet located any fire.”

The Hollywood producer could face if to 120 years in prison if convicted. His bail is set at $3.4 million. Pearce is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing on July 11.