This story beforehand aired July 30, 2016. It was up to date on Aug. 30, 2025.
When he’s not out searching for the large wave, there’s a giant story that has consumed Stephen Baxter, a reporter for the Santa Cruz Sentinel and a “48 Hours” marketing consultant: the mysterious demise of Google govt Forrest Hayes on the metropolis’s sprawling marina.
Forrest Hayes
Forrest Hayes Memorial Website
“Forrest Hayes was … 51 years old. He lived in a pretty upper crust neighborhood,” Baxter advised “48 Hours.” “He was a pretty high-powered guy and … obviously had a lot of assets; he lives in a $3 million house in Santa Cruz.”
In 2013, one of many boats docked in Santa Cruz Harbor was the majestic 46-foot-long yacht referred to as “Escape.” It belonged to Hayes. Not surprisingly, the tech exec outfitted his boat with a number of the most costly tech gear on the market — about $200,000 price, together with a complicated safety system full with high-def cameras.
Inside, Hayes spared no expense on creature comforts, together with a leather-based ceiling and a $8,000 captain’s chair.
A glance inside Forrest Hayes’ “Escape”
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The Google govt’s demise caught the eye of Michael Daly, an investigative reporter for The Each day Beast, in New York, and in addition a “48 Hours” marketing consultant.
“I think … he was practical and imaginative at the same time,” Daly stated. “Forrest Hayes started in his native Michigan … at the Ford Motor Company as a manager, he went to California for Sun Microsystems and he went on to Apple …”
Hayes then went on to Google for a high-paying job at their top-secret location, the place inconceivable desires are remodeled into actuality.
“He was hired … to work in Google X, which they call their ‘moonshot factory.’ As in, you know, the most extreme, wildest, imaginative, farthest reaching ideas they could have. You know, like Google glasses, self-driving cars,” Daly defined. “He was the guy who was actually gonna make some of these things happen.”
It’s a spot so secretive, colleagues from Google X refused to reveal precisely what Hayes did there. To get away from the pressures at work, Forrest Hayes would head to the marina, and onto his prized possession.
“One of the larger boats in the harbor, I think that’s fair to say,” stated Baxter.
What police would finally uncover was that the married father of 5 had a secret liaison. She was a younger and unique darkish haired girl lined with very distinctive tattoos. And she or he can be the final particular person to see Forrest Hayes alive.
“On the night of November 22, 2013 … Forrest Hayes was on his yacht … and he didn’t come home that night. And his wife became concerned. She called the captain they retained for this yacht and he went and he got on the boat,” stated Daly.
Hayes’ physique was discovered mendacity in the primary cabin. The captain instantly referred to as 911, however surprisingly, it might take months earlier than the Google govt’s demise made headlines.
“There was — really no report of his death,” Baxter stated. “Obviously, the police in this case were trying to keep that under wraps as they investigated.”
Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark has been on this case since day one.
“The media’s gonna want to know right off the bat. ‘Who is it?’ ‘Who’s responsible?’ ‘Is this a homicide?’ ‘Is this a murder?’ We didn’t have enough to really even put that out. We were busy building the case,” Clark advised “48 Hours” correspondent Maureen Maher.
Constructing the case wasn’t straightforward regardless of some preliminary crime scene clues.
“There were two wine glasses there, both which appeared to have been used,” stated Clark
Investigators zeroed in on Hayes’ cellphone, launching an exhaustive digital search. They made a shocking discovery. Hayes had a profile web page on a courting web site, referred to as SeekingArrangement.com. It will be a crucial clue in studying the id of that thriller tattooed girl.
It was just some days earlier than Thanksgiving 2013. What occurred that night time was recorded by the boat’s video cameras. One digital camera particularly caught the final moments of Hayes’ life in chilling element.
“Initially, we were told that the video wasn’t available from that particular camera that actually showed the cabin of the boat. … there was indeed video that was uploaded to a cloud server. And the video from that camera was indeed available,” Clark defined. “That was a type of moments the place you’re feeling like, , it was 4th and 1. And you bought a primary down.
Really, it took three months and a court docket order for detectives to get their palms on that video. After they did, it was explosive.
“That video was shocking to me,” stated Clark.
“What do you see on this video?” Maher requested.
“Well, the video’s everything. The video is the case,” Clark replied.
Police have but to launch the video, however described intimately to “48 Hours” precisely what they are saying occurred that night time between the couple: primarily, it was a celebration for 2 — medicine included.
“They greet each other — a quick hug — just a quick embrace. You can see that they’re engaged in conversation. But there’s no audio,” Clark stated. “… then, eventually, she — gets to the point where she starts to prepare drugs … for injection. We see her very clearly. She brought all of the equipment with her. She brought the drugs with her.”
As police would study, the drug of alternative that night time was heroin.
“We see her prepare the syringe. We see her it looks like she’s injecting herself, but her back’s to the camera,” Clark defined. “He watches this happen. And then she eventually injects him.”
“Do you feel like, at any point when you’re watching the video, that this is a guy who is afraid and doesn’t want to do this?” Maher requested.
“I get the impression … he’s nervous. He’s uncertain. But he’s going along with it,” stated Clark.
“And what happens then?” Maher requested.
“Almost immediately, he starts to go into distress,” Clark defined. “Sooner or later, she involves him. It appears like she tries to revive him a bit … by patting him on the face and speaking to him, holding his head as he slumped ahead on the chair.
“And you or I, if we found ourselves in that situation, would’ve been on the phone to 911, sayin’, ‘Oh, my gosh. Something terrible’s happened. We need help.’ And she does none of that,” Clark continued.
As a substitute, Clark says the video reveals the girl attempting to take away any proof that she was ever there — wiping fingerprints and cleansing up her drug paraphernalia.
“While he’s slumped over on the floor?” Maker requested.
“While he’s on the floor,” Clark replied.
“She’s stepping over him?” Maher requested.
“She is literally walking around the cabin of the boat … stepping over him, grabbing her glass of wine, carrying it around the boat cabin with her,” stated Clark.
Clark says that portion of the video with Hayes on the ground of the cabin goes on for seven minutes.
“And that’s seven minutes that emergency medical personnel could’ve been there could have done something and could have reacted to this situation to save Mr. Hayes’ life. But instead, she does nothing, nothing to call for help or to fix this. You know, and that’s the crux of the case,” Clark advised Maher.
Alix Tichelman
diaz digital media
Armed with that video, police hit pay dust. They have been capable of match the girl with these distinctive tattoos to a profile on the courting web site Hayes had used. She was a 26-year-old aspiring mannequin. Her title? Alix Tichelman.
WEB OF SECRETS
The rich Google govt discovered the unique mannequin in a considerably secret world, the place actual names are hardly ever used.
Technically, Alix Tichelman and Forrest Hayes met in Las Vegas — not at an upscale on line casino or one of many fancy resort foyer bars — however by way of a web based web site which is headquartered only a stone’s throw from the strip. However as “48 Hours” found, it’s not your typical courting web site.
“What year did you start SeekingArrangement?” Maher requested the location’s CEO Brandon Wade.
“It was started in 2006 from a bedroom in San Francisco, actually,” he replied.
It might have the appear and feel of a start-up, however with practically 4 million members worldwide, that is massive enterprise.
“SeekingArrangement.com is — a sugar daddy dating website, so we match wealthy guys and girls looking to pamper and spoil. And, of course, younger men and women looking to meet those wealthy people,” Wade defined.
Wade, a boyish 43-year outdated, says he’s grow to be a multi-millionaire from all of the “arranging” he’s been doing.
“Is SeekingArrangement about arranging sexual relationships for money?” Maher requested.
“It is about finding romance and passion,” Wade replied. “I’m unapologetic about the fact that sex is involved in a romantic relationship. And money is involved in a romantic relationship. But that doesn’t make the romantic relationship prostitution.”
Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark, the purpose man within the Hayes demise case, strongly disagrees.
“It doesn’t take a Sherlock Holmes to take a look at that website and figure out exactly what was going on there,” he advised Maher. “The titles of the individuals are Sugar Babies and Sugar Daddies. You know, that’s — there’s no innocent connotation there behind any of that.”
“What is ‘Budget’? That’s what he’s willing to spend?” Maher requested Wade as they seemed on the web site.
“That’s his sort of lifestyle. So it could be going out for dinners, paying for that. Going on trips,” he defined.
“OK. So does a woman think you’re gonna spend $3,000 on me? A Sugar Baby thinks, ‘You’re gonna spend — $3,000 on me,’” Maher requested.
“Yeah, on the relationship,” Wade replied.
Wade is proud that his membership ranks embrace workers of main Fortune 500 corporations, together with, he says, from Google.
“Is Forrest Hayes a typical client?” Maher requested Wade.
“I would say he is — an average client of ours,” he replied.
“Married tech executive looking for some sort of arrangement,” Maher commented.
“Yep. Forty percent of the guys are married,” stated Wade.
It’s unknown if Hayes was fulfilling the “expectations” of any Sugar Infants’ life-style requests, which vary from a $1,000 to over $10,000 in month-to-month Sugar Daddy “gifts.”
“Can you tell us anything about Alix Tichelman’s profile on SeekingArrangement?” Maher requested Wade.
“Well, the only thing I can say is that it looked like any other normal profile, so it was approved. And — there was no indication that she was soliciting money for sex. At least not with that profile,” he replied.
After Hayes’demise, investigators started monitoring Alix Tichelman on social media. Fearing she would possibly depart city, they hatched a plan to catch her utilizing SeekingArrangement.com.
“When she posted on Facebook something to the effect of — I plan to go back to Georgia — that’s when they decided to really go in and pursue her on the same website, just the way Forrest had, and pose as a john and lure her back to Santa Cruz,” reporter Stephen Baxter defined.
“We started seeing chatter from her that indicated she was either gonna move out of the country or out of the state,” stated Clark.
“There’s now a clock on this ’cause she’s about to head South,” reporter Michael Daly defined. “So, they do kind of a classic sting.”
“We sold out our detective and made him set up a profile — under a different identity and made up a whole story about him. We then posted that out there and we reached out to Alix Tichelman through SeekingArrangements,” stated Clark.
“Eventually, we convinced her to come down and meet with us for an agreed-upon … arrangement for sex, for prostitution, and for a sum of money,” stated Clark.
“Police said … they deposited some money — several hundred dollars into her bank account with a promise of … at least $1,000 upon arrival and everything else,” Baxter defined.
“This did not appear to you that this was the first time she had negotiated such a situation?” Maher requested Clark.
“No. In fact … she kinda called us out, called us a cheapskate. Told us that, you know, many of her clients pay twice that,” he replied.
Eight months after the demise of Forrest Hayes, Alix Tichelman as soon as once more confirmed up in Santa Cruz County, this time at a secluded resort. As soon as once more, she got here with heroin in her bag anticipating to hook up with the Sugar Daddy from SeekingArrangement. And as soon as once more, it didn’t go as deliberate.
“When you said, ‘We’re the cops. And we’re the ones you’ve been communicating with,’ what was her reaction?” Maher requested Clark.
“Oh, she — she cried,” he replied. “… that’s when we saw panic.”
Alix Tichelman reserving picture
Santa Cruz Police Dept.
Alix Tichelman, 26, was surprised. Police arrested her for prostitution and charged her within the demise of Forrest Hayes.
“…this was a crime. This wasn’t just some accident gone awry,” Clark stated.
Or was it? What occurred that night time, says Tichelman’s defenders, is much more sophisticated.
WHO IS ALIX TICHELMAN?
Maybe nobody was extra shocked by the arrest of AlixTichelman than Chad Cornell. The development employee with a ardour for writing and taking part in music was in love along with her.
“For me, I mean, she was somebody completely different,” Cornell advised Maureen Maher. “When I first saw her, I couldn’t help but to say something … She has a very darker style. And I always thought she was really beautiful. And almost like, you know, the Angelina Jolie kinda look.”
Alix Tichelman and Chad Cornell
Cornell had no concept how darkish her life actually was.
“Did you believe she was falling in love with you?” Maher requested Cornell.
“I did,” he replied.
Cornell thought his girlfriend was a mannequin — there have been numerous photos, a swimsuit industrial, and a make-up tutorial she did on-line.
And so far as he might inform, she was all the time answering modeling calls.
“She’d get all dolled up and go to a photo shoot,” Cornell stated. “…she’d usually make about $1,000 or so when she’d go out to these modeling shoots.”
So think about how he felt to study months later that his beloved girlfriend was now being accused of doing one thing altogether totally different for all that cash.
The lady he as soon as thought he’d spend the remainder of his life with was not solely charged with prostitution — but additionally within the demise of Google govt Forrest Hayes.
“What are you thinking? This is a woman you were in love with,” Maher commented.
“Yeah, I mean obviously, I was devastated you know. I turned white,” stated Cornell.
“We were hanging out that day actually. She told me that some of her long-time high school friends were in Santa Cruz, and had a boat and she had planned to go hang out with them,” he defined. “Later that night, she actually woke me outta bed with a phone call. She’s you know really frantic on the phone. She sounded very upset.”
“What was she talking about?” Maher requested.
“She talked about how her friends had started doing heroin and a bunch of hardcore drugs on the boat and made her uncomfortable. And that she had to leave,” Cornell replied.
“But you believed on that call that she sounded genuinely upset?” Maher requested.
“Crying, sniffling. I mean upset upset,” stated Cornell.
Who’s Alix Tichelman?
19 images
As a result of the reality, he now is aware of, was a lot worse. And it’s left him questioning whether or not he ever actually knew who Alix was.
“Who is Alix Tichelman, right? Who is she?” stated reporter Michael Daly.
Daly did what police investigators did, and utilizing the instruments of Hayes’ employer, he ‘Googled’ her.
“This, the police discovered, was Alix Tichelman’s Twitter account,” he defined, navigating by way of the profile AKKennedyxx.
“One x short of triple x,” Daly stated of her Twitter deal with. ‘Baddest bitch, model, stylist, hustler, exotic dancer.’ These are her phrases. These are the photographs to go together with the phrases.”
“This has the charming inscription, ‘To death do us part,” Daly stated of a photograph Tichelman displaying off a tattoo on her arm that was posted to the account. “You might start believing less in coincidence on seeing that.”
However to Daly, Tichelman’s postings seemed extra like somebody attempting to create a picture moderately than somebody obsessive about killing. That’s as a result of he got here throughout this submit:
“My beautiful mother and I out for lunch. *no makeup face*”
“I mean this is a young woman who wants to be with mom,” Daly commented of the tweet, which included a photograph of Tichelman and her mom smiling.
Tichelman posted it simply months earlier than her arrest for Forrest’s demise
“It makes you think there’s a fuller story,” stated Daly.
So how did it come to this? Childhood footage present a cute blonde tomboy who appeared to have all the benefits in life rising up along with her sister, Monica, who would grow to be an funding counselor, her mom, Leslie Ann, and her father, Bart, a CEO for a expertise firm and a fairly good poker participant.
“And he at one point found himself playing with some of the best poker players in the world and he won like $400,000,” stated Daly.
Alix Tichelman spent her early teenagers in an Atlanta suburb the place she performed sports activities and received writing awards.
“Her friends say that she’s very smart, very deep,” stated Daly.
But in addition very troubled.
“Her experiences with boys were not always happy ones,” Daly defined. “She had eating disorders … she was taking drugs.”
Determined, her mother and father went searching for assist and situated a college that they thought would give her particular consideration.
“So they found this place called the Hyde School in Maine,” Daly continued.
Megan was additionally a pupil on the Hyde College, the place Tichelman spent just a few months.
“I can feel, like, pressure in my chest. It’s nerve-wracking,” she stated driving to the college.
Megan requested “48 Hours” to not use her final title, however agreed to journey again to the Hyde College campus.
“I want people to see this very pivotal part of her life, that I feel, probably affected her at a very … huge point in her development … and why she is who she is,” she stated.
“Do you remember when you first met Alix, do you happen to remember the very first time you saw her?” Maher requested.
“One-hundred percent,” Megan stated. “She was gorgeous and she was very awkward.”
The lovable blonde woman subsequent door was lengthy gone.
“She barely ate. She was very skinny. She was rail-thin,” Megan stated. “She was emotionally kind of closed off.”
“I think the big question then is why? What had happened to her?” Maher requested.
“I don’t know the truth to that. She never told me there was a specific catalyst,” Megan replied.
However Megan says Alix Tichelman did trace at some traumatic occasions.
“We talked about … the fact that we had issues trusting men,” she stated. “We had become numb to a lot of things.”
Tichelman had began chopping herself. A photograph of Alix in her then-bunkmate’s scrapbook reads “psycho roomie” and “look at the cuts on her arm.”
“Alix Tichelman was actually the first person that I met who did that,” stated Ashley Kent, who lived in Tichelman’s dorm. “She came to the school with the scars. She had already etched things into her arm, and she had already made this … image of herself as this like devil person … that’s how she dressed, kind of like a devil worshipper.”
However was that actually who Alix was?
“She was actually a really nice girl. It was very much like a front that she putting on, an image,” stated Kent.
Megan observed it, too.
“Once you bypass those walls, she was just a normal girl who was scared,” she famous.
“And what was she scared of?” Maher requested.
“I feel herself, truthfully. I imply we didn’t know who we have been. We had resorted to issues that not each particular person chooses. We had been in bother.
And at Hyde, it appeared like Tichelman was all the time in bother. Megan says they punished her.
“You’re forced to do manual labor, physical labor. They basically tell you what you can and can’t do,” Megan defined.
Megan says she and Alix have been compelled to construct a highway.
“We hoed it, each person, and we weeded it. And then they made us cart like wheelbarrows — like huge wheelbarrows full of rocks up and spread ’em, so we basically built a dirt road on campus,” she stated.
Ashley Kent remembers one night time waking as much as Alix screaming. What occurred appears like a scene out of a Stephen King film.
“She like kinda walked down the halls and like was cutting herself really late at night,” she stated.
“She began just to hurt herself because she felt that’s what she deserved,” stated Megan.
When it didn’t work out at Hyde, Tichelman’s mother and father tried different faculties. However the worse was nonetheless to come back.
“Well, she talked about taking heroin when she was in her teens,” stated Daly.
And by her early 20s, Tichelman was residing in San Francisco, working strip golf equipment like Larry Flint’s Hustler, after which a spot referred to as the Condor. Ultimately, she discovered her method again dwelling to Atlanta, the place her life would take a dramatic flip.
“This kinda great thing happens. She meets a guy named Dean,” stated Daly.
Alix Tichelman and Dean Riopelle
Dean Riopelle was a lot older however so in love with Alix Tichelman he needed to marry her.
“So maybe there’s gonna be a happy ending anyway,” Daly commented.
Then, in September of 2013, two months earlier than Forrest Hayes died, Tichelman’s fiancé, Dean Riopelle, died with heroin in his system:
911 CALL: Um, I don’t know I feel my boyfriend overdosed or one thing like he … he received’t reply, and he’s simply laying on the bottom. Oh no.
Was it an unlucky coincidence? Or one thing extra sinister?
ANOTHER HEROIN DEATH
The Masquerade — it’s one of many hottest live performance venues in Atlanta, Georgia, and all of it belonged to 53-year-old Dean Riopelle, a former cross dressing singer for the rock band the “Impotent Sea Snakes.”
In September of 2013, Riopelle died of a heroin overdose. His girlfriend on the time: Alix Tichelman.
Tichelman referred to as 911 after she says she found Riopelle unconscious in his North Atlanta dwelling. That was simply two months earlier than she was with Google exec Forrest Hayes when he died.
“We were surprised the similarities in their case to our case,” stated Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark.
Primarily based on Tichelman’s arrest in Santa Cruz for the demise of Forrest Hayes, police in Milton, Georgia, at the moment are taking a second take a look at Riopelle’s demise. What was first dominated an unintentional overdose would possibly very nicely grow to be a prison matter.
One one that believes Tichelman needs to be held answerable for Riopelle’s demise is his former worker, Khristina Brucker.
“I think she had something to do with his death, I really do,” stated Brucker.
For just a few months in 2012, Brucker, an aspiring mannequin, lived in Riopelle’s home, caring for his youngsters from his earlier marriage and his pet interest: elevating dozens of monkeys.
“He said he had a dream about monkeys one day and he just started collecting them. He had the money. So why not?” Brucker advised Maureen Maher.
Riopelle advised an Atlanta TV station he had hopes of turning his property right into a zoo.
“Anybody would spend 20 minutes or an hour with one would see they have a little bit more personality than most other animals,” he stated.
“Oh, he loved her. He absolutely loved her. He wanted to marry her and she wanted to marry him, too,” stated Brucker.
Dean Riopelle cherished all the things about Alix Tichelman — besides the medicine. By the point Tichelman attached with Riopelle, she was a full blown heroin addict. Brucker says Riopelle didn’t share Tichelman’s unhealthy habits.
“Did you ever see him drink?” Maher requested.
“Never,” Brucker replied.
“Smoke?”
“Never.”
“Do drugs?” Maher pressed.
“Not once,” stated Brucker.
Brucker stopped working for Riopelle nearly a yr earlier than he died. Nonetheless, she’s positive he would by no means inject himself with heroin. However she wonders if Alix Tichelman might need.
“Do you think that’s what happened?” Maher requested Brucker.
“I think it’s possible, especially with the case in Santa Cruz where she actually did that,” she replied.
“The idea that she’s going around randomly sticking people with heroin needles is preposterous. These are grown men. They know exactly what they’re doing,” stated Todd, an Atlanta businessman.
Todd requested “48 Hours” to not use his final title, however says, as a detailed buddy of Alix Tichelman, he might not maintain quiet about what he is aware of in regards to the couple.
“She was devastated after Dean passed away,” he stated.
Todd says, not solely did Riopelle drink — he drank rather a lot.
“But she loved him and he loved her. If he were alive today, he would be the first one to bail her out of jail,” he stated. “And he would be absolutely mortified at how the people around him … have treated her.”
And Todd says Riopelle was decided to get Tichelman off heroin. He despatched her to rehab and even purchased her an engagement ring. He texted Todd.
“This is August 30th of 2013 … he was getting Alix a wedding ring. They were going to get married,” Todd stated of the textual content.
That’s simply three weeks earlier than Dean Riopelle would overdose.
“She gets her ring, she picked it out today. We drug test every week. If she can stay clean for 14 months we will get married Halloween night 2014…” Todd stated, studying aloud one of many textual content messages which have by no means been made public. He confirmed them solely to “48 Hours.”
“Alix says this is the first time in 10 years she has gotten out of detox or rehab and lasted a whole week before shooting up again,” Todd stated, studying one other textual content.
However Tichelman didn’t keep clear for lengthy. On Sept. 7, 2013, simply 10 days earlier than his deadly overdose, Dean Riopelle made a stunning discovery: Alix was on-line, promoting herself to males.
“She hated that she was compelled to do it because she had this addiction,” Todd stated. “There were guys who wanted to rent her penthouse apartments … men with a lot of power and a lot of status. …But she wasn’t interested in anything except getting the money to support her habit. She loved Dean, she wanted to be with Dean, but she had this deep dark secret.”
And, Todd says, when Riopelle came upon, he flipped out.
“He said, ‘Can I move all of the prostitute’s s— into your place tomorrow … She is better over there and I would like to bring her stuff to you today so I don’t have to see the whore again,’” Todd stated, studying Riopelle’s textual content.
However Riopelle didn’t kick Tichelman out. As a substitute, Todd says, he hit the bottle — onerous.
“Once he discovered the ad things began to fall apart. Dean desperately loved her. Dean wanted to keep her. But he couldn’t figure out how to reconcile all of this,” stated Todd.
So, Todd believes, Riopelle tried one thing new.
Tichelman would later inform police she was within the lavatory when she heard what seemed like a crash. She went to the bed room and located Riopelle on the ground.
An post-mortem would present he had a deadly mixture of heroin, ache killers and alcohol in his system.
“I’m convinced that what happened was Dean was trying to reach a connection with Alix on a deeper level. And he thought that if they could share this thing, this thing she was so attached to, that she couldn’t let go of no matter what, that they could actually be together. And that’s what he wanted more than anything in life,” stated Todd.
Within the texts she writes that her mom is coming and can transfer her to California to the household’s new dwelling two hours outdoors San Francisco. However Tichelman is attempting to detox and tells Todd she is frightened:
“I know that city well, like the Tenderloin where I used to live is the third biggest open drug market in the U.S. It takes two minutes to score and you don’t have to know anyone. You can see why I’m worried,” Todd stated, studying the textual content aloud.
Texts present Alix Tichelman was attempting to “get her act together”
00:37
Round Oct. 30, 2013, Alix Tichelman arrived in California. She instantly went again on-line and began promoting herself. Texting Todd: “Guys out here got mad money.”
And inside days she had a prospect. She was about to come back into severe money.
“This is on the second of November and she says an ‘amazing guy’ found her…’He is the real deal.’ Tomorrow she’s going on his boat and for a few hours he’s giving her $400 to $500 cash. Then a check for $2,000,” Todd stated of one other textual content. “Now, I’m relatively certain that the guy on the boat she’s referring to was Forrest.”
Three weeks later, on Nov. 22, Alix Tichelman was positively with Forrest Hayes on his boat, the place Todd believes she was merely creating wealth to feed her habit.
“Tell me one thing that happened on that yacht that was not absolutely consensual between two adults,” Todd stated. “Nothing.”
STUNNING DEVELOPMENTS
On Could 19, 2015, Alix Tichelman is again in court docket to have a date set for her trial.
She’s been in jail for nearly a yr — her previous modeling life a distant reminiscence. Tichelman faces nearly 20 years behind bars, charged within the killing of Forrest Hayes, together with drug possession and prostitution.
Her public defenders, Jerry Christensen and Larry Biggam, have insisted she just isn’t a cold-blooded killer.
“Alix Tichelman did nothing that Mr. Hayes didn’t want her to do. Two adults engaged in mutual and cooperative drug usage. And it went wrong. But it was an accident,” Biggam advised reporters.
Protection legal professionals say Hayes was an keen participant that night time, even utilizing his personal cellular phone gentle to point out Tichelman the place to inject him. And they’re adamant she then merely panicked.
“This video will show that it’s an accident. Everything about this video indicates accident and panic, everything about it,” Christensen advised reporters.
For months they’ve investigated Forrest Hayes’ previous, asking prosecutors handy over video from the “Escape’s” cameras way back to six months earlier than he died.
“We have some indications from other material that there may have been previous encounters on the boat. It would be highly relevant in regard to whether or not there is — drug usage along with sex,” Christensen advised reporters.
However on the listening to comes a bombshell. Together with her mother and father watching, Alix Tichelman pleads responsible to involuntary manslaughter.
Choose: Do you perceive that while you plead no contest or responsible you’re getting two felonies and 5 misdemeanors?
Alix Tichelman: Sure
Alix Tichelman in court docket on Could 19, 2015.
“48 Hours”
And thru her lawyer, she apologizes to the Hayes household: “It was accident and panic and she’s so, so sorry for it.”
Tichelman was sentenced to 6 years in a neighborhood jail, however with credit score for her time served and a discount by the choose, she’ll probably serve just a bit over two years.
After the listening to, there was one other beautiful growth. Prosecutor Rafael Vasquez says the household of Forrest Hayes advised him they by no means needed Alix Tichelman charged.
“The family did not want this case to be filed, they would have been very happy if this case had been dismissed,” Vasquez defined. “They were terrified about the prospect of this case going to trial.”
The household, he stated, didn’t need that video from Hayes’ boat to ever be made public.
“I can only imagine what further pain, what further humiliation they would endure if that video was released out into the public,” stated Vasquez.
What’s extra, he says Alix was by no means a cold-blooded killer, as described by regulation enforcement.
“That was never depicted in that surveillance video,” stated Vasquez.
The truth is, the prosecutor agrees with the protection attorneys that Alix was something however callous when Forrest collapsed.
“And the fact that she made some effort to wake him up, hit him in the chest, smack him in the face, holding him up trying to lift him up, then holding him, hugging him at one point, and then you can see her crying in one instance, and then yelling for him to wake up in one instance — that clearly showed somebody who appeared concerned at that time. And that is certainly inconsistent with somebody who acted with an obvious intent to kill,” he defined.
However, the prosecutor says, what she is responsible of just isn’t doing sufficient.
“She was the only one who could have rendered help and she neglected to do so, she failed to do so and instead took liberties to destroy evidence and to make her getaway while leaving the man there to die,” stated Vasquez.
Ultimately, certainly one of Tichelman’s attorneys, Athena Reis, says her time in jail has been serving to flip Alix’s life round.
“You know, she’s clean and sober. She’s closer with her family than ever, and I think she’s really used this time to reflect,” stated Reis.
However for Forrest Hayes’ household , there isn’t a turning round. They usually’ll attempt to put the scars of his actions behind them.
“From this point on, the family no longer has to worry about the concern associated with all the scrutiny, all the ridicule and all the scorn generated by all the media attention in this case,” Vasquez stated. “This family has been through a lot.”
Alix Tichelman was launched from jail in 2017 and deported to Canada.
Extra from CBS Information
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