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NBC News
15-04-2025
- Entertainment
- NBC News
Nick Carter shares how he found out Aaron had died: 'I haven't had a chance to grieve'
Nick Carter is opening up about the death of younger brother Aaron Carter and sharing why he still hasn't 'had a chance to grieve.' After years of struggling with addiction and living life in the public eye, Aaron Carter, a former teen pop idol, was found dead in his bathtub in November 2022 at the age of 34, a source close to the family confirmed to NBC News at the time. Months later, NBC News obtained records from the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner in April 2023 that confirmed Aaron Carter's cause of death was accidental drowning after inhaling difluoroethane and taking alprazolam, the generic form of Xanax. Following his death, Nick Carter paid tribute to his youngest sibling on Instagram, writing that his heart was 'broken.' In the new Paramount+ documentary ' The Carters: Hurts To Love You,' out April 15, the Backstreet Boys member and his only remaining sibling, Angel Carter Conrad — Aaron Carter's twin — reflect on the singer's tragic death. The two-part documentary, which unpacks the trauma the Carter siblings endured since childhood, includes a scene of Nick Carter explaining how he learned that Aaron Carter had died. 'I'll never forget, you know, being in London at the time when it happened and getting the text message,' he recalled as he began to sob. 'It's still unbelievable to this day.' He added, 'I haven't even had a chance to grieve.' The documentary also addresses the death of Leslie Carter, who died in 2012 at the age of 25, and the death of Bobbie Jean 'B.J.' Carter, who died about a year after Aaron Carter in December 2023 at 41. There is an emotional moment where Nick Carter and Carter Conrad walk along a beach and discuss breaking the 'generational cycle' that their three siblings could not escape. 'I'm so thankful I have you, because there's only one person who understands what we went through,' Carter Conrad tells her older brother. He replies, 'We're the only ones left.' The two then sit down together and Nick Carter says, 'The generational cycle, I want it to stop. I want to break it so badly and I don't want it to affect my children. I don't want it to affect your children.' He continues, 'Our parents (Robert 'Bob' Carter and Jane Elizabeth Carter) don't define us. I know that. You know that. Unfortunately, B.J., Aaron and Leslie, they did not know that. They had no idea that they could get out. They didn't deserve it.' Nick Carter stresses that his three deceased siblings did not deserve to live devastating lives and suffer until they died. 'Sometimes I feel guilty about that. Sometimes I feel like it was my fault, you know, because I started it all,' he reveals, noting that his success with the Backstreet Boys took him away from the family. He mentions that Aaron Carter then became the center of the family and Carter Conrad was 'abandoned.' Nick Carter remembers seeing his siblings struggle while he was away with the band and unable to help. 'You guys weren't even 18 years old. You couldn't escape. You couldn't get out of there,' he tells Carter Conrad. 'There was so many times I tried to intervene. There was a lot of times.' Now when he looks at family photos, he says, he sees all the members who are no longer living, including dad Bob Carter, who died in May 2017. 'The oldest and the littlest, we're all that's left. I'm proud of you and I'm proud to be your brother. I am proud of my baby sister,' Nick Carter adds. Carter Conrad responds, 'I'm proud of you,' before the two express their love for each other and embrace. 'The Carters' director and executive producer Soleil Moon Frye spoke to about filming the heart-to-heart conversation between the siblings. 'Nick had never shared the process of losing his brother, and it was very clear to me in that moment that he was sharing with his sister, that that was really the first time that he was sharing about the loss of his brother,' Frye said. 'To see those walls break down and the emotions... I had been living in the archival where I had seen so much love between these brothers, and then to just watch those walls breaking down, it was devastating to witness.' The documentary ends with Nick Carter on stage dedicating a song to his family called 'Hurts to Love You' as Carter Conrad looks on from the crowd.
The Independent
05-02-2025
- The Independent
A Hollywood producer murdered a model and her friend with a cocktail of drugs. His sister has a message for their families
For more than three years, the families of two young women who died after being given a fatal cocktail of drugs, their bodies dumped outside Los Angeles-area hospitals by masked men, have been living a nightmare as they waited for justice. That day finally came this week when a jury convicted David Pearce, 42, on two counts of murder in the overdose deaths of 24-year-old model Christy Giles and her 26-year-old architect friend Hilda Cabrales-Arzola. Pearce and his actor pal Brandt Osborne partied with the women at a warehouse rave in Los Angeles on November 12, 2021, and then lured them back to Pearce's apartment where they provided the drugs that prosecutors say 'ultimately killed them.' The jury's decision on Tuesday not only brings some closure for the families of the victims but also for Allison Pearce, the accused killer's own sister, who tells The Independent that 'karma finally caught up to him.' Since first hearing about her brother's involvement with the deaths three years ago, Allison has weighed whether she should speak out. 'I think I was a little shocked at first, but the more I thought about it, it didn't really surprise me,' she told The Independent. 'I never thought to myself, 'oh my brother would have never done this,' because well, yeah maybe. Would he take it THIS far? I don't know. I guess it's not so much further from where I saw him as a human being.' Her relationship with Pearce, a self-described 'entertainment professional' who was trying to make his way in Hollywood as a producer, had always been a tumultuous one. She recalled turning points over the years that pushed them further apart, leading to their eventual estrangement. One incident involved an argument between Pearce and his sister, who was visiting him in LA, that culminated with him driving away and leaving her stranded, she said. After Pearce was arrested in December 2021 and later charged with murder in the deaths of the two women, Allison had no desire to see him at all. At Pearce's murder trial, prosecutors say the men gave Giles and Cabrales-Arzola a fatal cocktail of drugs – which included cocaine, fentanyl, ketamine, heroin, MDMA, and the date rape drug GBH – before dumping their bodies outside two separate Los Angles hospitals 12 hours later. Giles was already dead when she was left at the hospital and Cabrales-Arzola was in critical condition. She was taken off life support later that month, a day before her 27th birthday. The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner determined their deaths to be drug-induced homicides. While in custody, Pearce was also charged with three counts of forcible rape, two counts of sexual penetration by use of force and one count each of rape of an unconscious person and sodomy by use of force, after seven women came forward in unrelated cases. A jury found him guilty of those charges. Allison has struggled to come to terms with her brother's actions, a gnawing pain that's prompted her to speak out for the first time – and apologize to the victims' families. 'This is really hard for me – not only as his sister, but as a woman,' she said. 'I just can't even believe that he would do something like this, that he would take it that far and that he would hurt and take advantage of these women.' 'I'm sorry for my brother's actions' Allison said she knows that nothing can bring back Giles and Cabrales-Arzola, but she still wants to apologize. 'I want to tell them how sorry I am for my brother's actions, for how many lives were uprooted and will be forever changed because of what he did. Just know that I want justice.' In the months and years since Pearce's arrest in 2021, more information has come to light about his sordid past. While in custody, he was hit with seven rape charges for sexual assaults in unrelated cases that allegedly happened between 2007 and 2021. Prosecutors alleged that Pearce was well-connected in certain circles of Hollywood and the late night LA club scene, which placed him in the perfect position to approach women, pose as someone who could help with their acting or modeling careers. But it was a ruse, his sister said. 'That's what he does – he's a liar, he lies about everything, about who he is, and what he does,' his sister said. 'He's a con artist who manipulates people into getting what he wants.' Many of the women who came forward had a similar story about being lured to Pearce's apartment and becoming sick or paralyzed after he served them a drink, according to prosecutors. At the trial, Deputy District Attorney Catherine Mariano told jurors that in Giles's and Cabrales-Arzola's case, Pearce 'knew the dangers of fentanyl,' but said he still gave the women the cocktail of drugs 'because he wanted to sexually assault them.' While Pearce's 78-year-old mother has been in the courtroom to support him, his sister Allison has kept her distance. She said she believes that he deserves to spend the rest of his life behind bars. 'He needs to pay for what he did,' she said. 'For the pain he inflicted on these women, their poor families … and us.' She hopes his pattern of always getting 'away with everything' has finally been broken. 'He was always scheming,' she said. 'Always trying to get to the next place, to get out of something. I hope it ends now.' Not only has the ordeal created a rift in their family, but it has also hit close to home for Allison as a single woman. 'I'm a single person, I'm on dating apps and out meeting people,' she said 'I feel like I could've been one of my brother's victims. This could have been anyone.' A night of partying take a tragic turn The tragic saga began on the night of November 12, 2021. Giles and Cabrales-Arzola started their night with an art show at the Soho House in West Hollywood before making their way to see a DJ they liked play at a warehouse rave in East Los Angeles where they met Pearce and his friends. The party continued at Pearce's apartment but around 5:30 a.m. on November 13, Giles reportedly messaged Cabrales-Arzola to say: 'Let's get out of here,' with a wide-eyed emoji. She replied: 'Yes. I'll call an Uber. 10 min away.' The Uber arrived at Pearce's address but left five minutes later without the women. About 12 hours later, Pearce was seen on video footage shown in court carrying Giles's body to a Prius. He dumped her body first at Southern California Hospital in Culver City and when he returned to his apartment, he saw that Cabrales-Arzola was 'progressively getting worse' but that 'she was breathing and making noise,' he told authorities in a recorded interview that was played in court. He then drove Cabrales-Arzola's limp body to Kaiser Permanente hospital in West LA, and later told detectives that she was still alive. Pearce continued to deny the charges against him and — ignoring his attorney's advice — took the stand in his own defense last week. He told the court that he met the two women in a 'drug room' at the rave and when they passed out at his apartment, he didn't think anything about it, the Los Angeles Times reported. 'The lifestyle that I was living at the time was not very conducive to regular behavior, if that makes sense,' Pearce said on the stand. 'It was not uncommon for people to use my house as a crash pad, a party house. I know it's horrible, but at least on a weekly basis friends were passing out at my house.' He claimed that he tried to help the women by putting them in his bed and rolling them on their sides in case they needed to vomit. When the women were still unconscious hours later, Pearce said that's when he took Giles to the hospital. When he returned the other woman was still unconscious so began CPR but never called 911. 'She was responding to the chest compressions. She was responding to the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation in a positive way,' he said. 'I didn't know what to think. I didn't know how much drugs they did.' The women had consumed alcohol and drugs at the party, prosecutors said, but alleged that the drugs Pearce gave them at his apartment are what 'ultimately killed them.' Pearce's friend, Brandt Osborn, 45, was also arrested and charged with being an accessory after the fact. His case was also heard this month, but the jury was unable to reach a decision and Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Eleanor J. Hunter declared a mistrial on those charges. A third man, Michael Ansbach was initially arrested but has since become a key witness for the prosecution. Ansbach had told the court that during the process of transporting the women, Pearce had said: 'Dead girls don't talk.' Pearce denied saying this. In closing arguments, the prosecutor said there was no reason for Pearce's DNA to be found under Cabrales-Arzola's fingernails, if the women weren't drugged and then sexually assaulted. 'This is no accident, no mistake,' she said, calling the incident an attempt by Pearce to 'get away' with what he had done for years. Sentencing for Pearce, who has been in custody since his arrest, is scheduled for March 13.
The Independent
04-02-2025
- The Independent
Hollywood producer found guilty of murdering model and architect with legal drug cocktail
A Hollywood producer has been found guilty of murder in the overdose deaths of two women who were given a fatal cocktail of drugs and left to die outside Los Angeles -area hospitals in 2021. The jury deliberated for about two and a half days before delivering the verdict on Tuesday afternoon, convicting 42-year-old David Pearce on two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of model Christy Giles, 24, and her architect friend Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola, 26, ABC7 reported from the LA courtroom. He was also convicted of three counts of forcible rape, two counts of sexual penetration by use of force and one count each of rape of an unconscious person and sodomy by use of force, in connection to unrelated cases involving seven women between 2007 and 2020. Pearce, a self-described 'entertainment professional' testified at his trial last week that Giles and Cabrales-Arzola were 'still breathing' when he left their limp bodies at area hospitals about two hours apart on November 13, 2021 after meeting them in a 'drug room' at a rave the night before. Giles was already dead when she was left at the hospital and Hilda was in critical condition. She was taken off life support later that month, a day before her 27th birthday. The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner determined their deaths to be drug-induced homicides. Pearce was arrested in December 2021 on suspicion of manslaughter and then charged in 2022 with two counts of murder and two counts in the sale, transport and furnishing of a controlled substance. While in custody, he was also charged with three counts of forcible rape, two counts of sexual penetration by use of force and one count each of rape of an unconscious person and sodomy by use of force. Pearce has denied sexually assaulting either of the women and also denied sexually assaulting the five other women who also testified against him. He has remained jailed on no bond since his arrest. More than three years after the deaths of the two women, Pearce went on trial where he faced life in prison if convicted. Prosecutors painted a picture of two women enjoying a night out – first at the Soho House in West Hollywood before going to a rave at a warehouse in East Los Angeles where they met Pearce and his actor friend Brandt Osborn. They partied together before being lured back to Pearce's Beverly Hills apartment where prosecutors claim he gave them a fatal cocktail of drugs – which included cocaine, fentanyl, ketamine, heroin, MDMA, and the date rape drug GBH. Pearce testified that the women passed out at his apartment and when they were still unconscious 12 hours later, he took them to separate hospitals, telling the court he believed he was doing the right thing. Even though the women had consumed alcohol and drugs at the party, prosecutors alleged that the drugs Pearce gave them at his apartment are what 'ultimately killed them.' He claimed he had not provided them with drugs and was not responsible for their deaths. Sentencing for Pearce has been scheduled for March 13. The jury was unable to reach a decision on the charges against Pearce's co-defendant, Brandt Osborn, 45, who was accused of being an accessory after the fact. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Eleanor J. Hunter declared a mistrial on those charges after jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked. She scheduled a hearing to discuss whether prosecutors intend to seek a re-trial against Osborn.
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Yahoo
LA producer accused of killing model and architect says he's not a ‘monster' as court hears disturbing evidence
A Hollywood producer accused in the 2021 overdose deaths of a model and an architect claimed the women were 'still breathing' when he dropped their bodies off at area hospitals, and insisted he is not a 'f**king monster' as disturbing evidence continues to play out in court. Pearce, 43, who has pleaded not guilty to killing Christy Giles, 24, and her friend Hilda Cabrales-Arzola, 26, two women he partied with on November 13, 2021, appeared in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom on Friday for day 13 of his double murder trial. A jury heard a recording of a police interview in which Pearce told detectives at the time that he was only trying to help. 'I didn't think they were dead,' Pearce told the LAPD detective. 'I thought they were breathing, that's why I brought them to the hospital. I'm not some f**king monster.' Prosecutors say Pearce and his actor friend Brandt Osborn, partied with the women and gave them a fatal cocktail of drugs – which included cocaine, fentanyl, ketamine, heroin, MDMA, and the date rape drug GBH – before dumping their bodies outside two separate LA hospitals. Giles was pronounced dead at the scene. Cabrales-Arzola was put on life support and suffered from multiple organ failure. She was taken off life support the day before her 27th birthday. The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner determined their deaths to be drug-induced homicides. In the police interview played for the court, Pearce denied giving drugs to the two women he had met hours earlier at a party before bringing them back to his apartment. The two women had visited an art exhibit at Soho House in West Hollywood before going to a warehouse party in East Los Angeles where they met Pearce and his friends. Pearce claimed that he didn't even have any drugs at his apartment and that he wasn't into 'buying drugs and doing drugs,' adding 'I come from a good family. My parents raised me well.' 'I feel horrible that two girls died,' he went on to say in the interview. 'They were active drug users and I didn't give them any drugs. I knew they were at a rave. I was told that there was a very bad batch of fentanyl going around in the USC area. I don't do that stuff. It's scary. It's f**king scary.' Detective Jonathan Vander Lee told the court on Friday that at the time of the recorded interview, it had not been disclosed that fentanyl was a factor in the women's deaths. He added that police were not even aware that fentanyl was a factor in their deaths until the following April. Lee testified that when Pearce's Prius was searched, detectives found his passport and a bag with $30,250 in cash. He said they also found 'trophies' belonging to Pearce from 'Granite Cock Films,' a porn company, and a face mask similar to one prosecutors say was worn by Pearce when he dumped the bodies, Daily Mail reported. The detective's testimony comes after the court saw security camera footage of Pearce carrying the women's bodies out of his apartment on the night of November 14, 2021. Pearce first dumped Giles at Southern California Hospital in Culver City and when he returned to his apartment, he saw that Cabrales-Arzola was 'progressively getting worse' but that 'she was breathing and making noise so she wasn't dead.' He then drove her limp body to Kaiser Permanente hospital in West LA and told the detective, 'Hilda was alive at the hospital.' The detective informed him she was in fact dead, but that doctors revived her and she remained in ICU until she died weeks later. Pearce was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and then charged in July 2022 with two counts of murder and two counts in the sale, transport and furnishing of a controlled substance. Brandt Osborn, who was also captured on surveillance camera footage leaving the warehouse rave with both women, was also arrested in the case. He was charged with two counts of accessory after the fact. Another friend, Michael Ansbach, 50, alleges Pearce gave him and the two women alcoholic drinks and cocaine laced with fentanyl, according to prosecutors. He was initially accused of being an accessory to manslaughter but was not charged in the case. Prosecutor Catherine Ann Mariano said that while the women had consumed alcohol and drugs before going to Pearce's apartment, she alleged that the drugs Pearce gave them were what 'ultimately killed them.' Pearce, who continues to claim he is innocent of any wrongdoing, is also facing seven rape charges for sexual assaults in unrelated cases that allegedly happened between 2005 and 2021. He is accused of two counts of forcible rape and one count each of rape of an unconscious or asleep person and sexual penetration by a foreign object, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.
The Independent
27-01-2025
- The Independent
LA producer accused of killing model and architect says he's not a ‘monster' as court hears disturbing evidence
A Hollywood producer accused in the 2021 overdose deaths of a model and an architect claimed the women were 'still breathing' when he dropped their bodies off at area hospitals, and insisted he is not a 'f**king monster' as disturbing evidence continues to play out in court. Pearce, 43, who has pleaded not guilty to killing Christy Giles, 24, and her friend Hilda Cabrales-Arzola, 26, two women he partied with on November 13, 2021, appeared in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom on Friday for day 13 of his double murder trial. A jury heard a recording of a police interview in which Pearce told detectives at the time that he was only trying to help. 'I didn't think they were dead,' Pearce told the LAPD detective. 'I thought they were breathing, that's why I brought them to the hospital. I'm not some f**king monster.' Prosecutors say Pearce and his actor friend Brandt Osborn, partied with the women and gave them a fatal cocktail of drugs – which included cocaine, fentanyl, ketamine, heroin, MDMA, and the date rape drug GBH – before dumping their bodies outside two separate LA hospitals. Giles was pronounced dead at the scene. Cabrales-Arzola was put on life support and suffered from multiple organ failure. She was taken off life support the day before her 27th birthday. The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner determined their deaths to be drug-induced homicides. In the police interview played for the court, Pearce denied giving drugs to the two women he had met hours earlier at a party before bringing them back to his apartment. The two women had visited an art exhibit at Soho House in West Hollywood before going to a warehouse party in East Los Angeles where they met Pearce and his friends. Pearce claimed that he didn't even have any drugs at his apartment and that he wasn't into 'buying drugs and doing drugs,' adding 'I come from a good family. My parents raised me well.' 'I feel horrible that two girls died,' he went on to say in the interview. 'They were active drug users and I didn't give them any drugs. I knew they were at a rave. I was told that there was a very bad batch of fentanyl going around in the USC area. I don't do that stuff. It's scary. It's f**king scary.' Detective Jonathan Vander Lee told the court on Friday that at the time of the recorded interview, it had not been disclosed that fentanyl was a factor in the women's deaths. He added that police were not even aware that fentanyl was a factor in their deaths until the following April. Lee testified that when Pearce's Prius was searched, detectives found his passport and a bag with $30,250 in cash. He said they also found 'trophies' belonging to Pearce from 'Granite Cock Films,' a porn company, and a face mask similar to one prosecutors say was worn by Pearce when he dumped the bodies, Daily Mail reported. The detective's testimony comes after the court saw security camera footage of Pearce carrying the women's bodies out of his apartment on the night of November 14, 2021. Pearce first dumped Giles at Southern California Hospital in Culver City and when he returned to his apartment, he saw that Cabrales-Arzola was 'progressively getting worse' but that 'she was breathing and making noise so she wasn't dead.' He then drove her limp body to Kaiser Permanente hospital in West LA and told the detective, 'Hilda was alive at the hospital.' The detective informed him she was in fact dead, but that doctors revived her and she remained in ICU until she died weeks later. Pearce was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and then charged in July 2022 with two counts of murder and two counts in the sale, transport and furnishing of a controlled substance. Brandt Osborn, who was also captured on surveillance camera footage leaving the warehouse rave with both women, was also arrested in the case. He was charged with two counts of accessory after the fact. Another friend, Michael Ansbach, 50, alleges Pearce gave him and the two women alcoholic drinks and cocaine laced with fentanyl, according to prosecutors. He was initially accused of being an accessory to manslaughter but was not charged in the case. Prosecutor Catherine Ann Mariano said that while the women had consumed alcohol and drugs before going to Pearce's apartment, she alleged that the drugs Pearce gave them were what 'ultimately killed them.' Pearce, who continues to claim he is innocent of any wrongdoing, is also facing seven rape charges for sexual assaults in unrelated cases that allegedly happened between 2005 and 2021. He is accused of two counts of forcible rape and one count each of rape of an unconscious or asleep person and sexual penetration by a foreign object, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.
