Yacht killing: Escort to be arraigned in Google exec’s heroin death
The woman accused of being a prostitute who administered a lethal dose of heroin to a Google executive on his yacht in Santa Cruz is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday on manslaughter and other drug-related charges.
Alix Catherine Tichelman, 26, of Folsom was charged with eight counts -- including manslaughter, prostitution, destroying evidence and several related to administering and possessing heroin -- in the overdose death of 51-year-old Forrest Hayes, who worked for Google, Sun Microsystems and Apple.
She has remained in custody in lieu of $1.5 million bail.
Police allege Hayes was a client of Tichelman, who met him one night in November on his yacht in a local harbor. Security video from the yacht purportedly shows Tichelman preparing a dose of heroin and injecting Hayes with it. He is then seen having an adverse reaction to the dose, collapsing and becoming unconscious.
Rather than trying to help or calling 911, police say, Tichelman packed up the drugs and needles and at one point stepped over the body to finish a glass of wine before leaving.
Police say she tried to wipe her prints off the glass and closed the yacht blinds so no one could see inside.
Hayes’ body was found the next morning by the ship’s captain.
“She’s cold. Ice cold,” said Santa Cruz police Deputy Chief Steve Clark. “The only person Alix Tichelman cares about is Alix Tichelman.”
During interviews with police detectives, Tichelman boasted of having a clientele of more than 200 “wealthy and influential individuals,” Clark said.
The circumstances of Hayes’ death have prompted police in Georgia to reexamine the case of 53-year-old Dean Riopelle, who died in the presence of Tichelman in Atlanta in 2013.
Riopelle, president of the Masquerade club, died of an accidental heroin and alcohol overdose while Tichelman, whom he was dating, was in the shower, police in Milton, Ga., said. She told authorities she heard a “loud crash” and stepped out and found Riopelle unconscious.
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