SoCal cop was among Hollywood producer’s rape victims. She died days before his sentencing
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- Hollywood producer David Pearce was sentenced to 146 years in prison for murdering two women and sexually assaulting seven others between 2007 and 2021.
- La Mesa Police Officer Lauren Craven was among Pearce’s sexual assault victims. She was attacked in 2020 while she was a Loyola Marymount student.
- Craven, who became an officer with the La Mesa Police Department in February 2024, was fatally struck by a vehicle in October.
It’s unknown whether self-proclaimed “entertainment professional” David Pearce knew the fate of the women he was prosecuted for drugging and raping over a 14-year period.
What is certain, however, is that one of those women — who transformed her sexual assault trauma into a service career — wasn’t there to witness his sentencing.
Pearce was handed a 146-year prison sentence Wednesday afternoon in Los Angeles County Superior Court after being convicted of first-degree murder for the overdose deaths of model Christy Giles and architect Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola, as well as the rapes of seven other women from 2007 to 2021.
Among Pearce’s victims was La Mesa Police Officer Lauren Craven, according to the L.A. County district attorney’s office. The 25-year-old officer was struck and killed by a vehicle on the 8 Freeway near San Diego on Oct. 20.
The New York Post first reported her connection to the case.
Hollywood producer David Brian Pearce was sentenced to 146 years for multiple rapes and the 2021 deaths of a model and her architect friend.
Craven was helping motorists involved in a traffic collision when she was fatally struck. One of those individuals also was killed by the same driver. A suspect has been arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.
Craven was honored with a funeral procession from San Diego’s Snapdragon Stadium to Skyline Church in Rancho San Diego on Tuesday.
The L.A. County district attorney’s office did not confirm any details other than that Pearce was accused of sexually assaulting Craven in February 2020.
“Somebody dropped something in her drink, and then when she was unconscious, applied IV drugs and kept her for a day and a half,” her father, David Craven, told NBC 7 San Diego.
David Pearce, who allegedly dumped two women at L.A. hospitals after they overdosed in his apartment in 2021, was convicted of two counts of murder and seven counts of sexual assault involving claims from women that dated back nearly two decades.
Afterward, “she decided right then and there, ‘I’m going to become a police officer,’” he told the outlet.
At the time, Craven was a student at Loyola Marymount University. She graduated in 2023, entered the police academy and joined the La Mesa Police Department in February 2024.
Her father said his 115-pound daughter took close to a year off to build her strength for the rigors of training.
“It was her dream,” her father said of her graduation from the police academy.
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