google executive killed on yacht

'Call Girl Killer' Alix Tichelman Gets Six Years for Google Exec's Death

The California call girl accused of killing a Google executive on his yacht with a lethal dose of heroin was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison for his death.

Alix Tichelman, 27, struck a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty in Santa Cruz County court to two felony charges of involuntary manslaughter and administering drugs, reported NBC affiliate KSBW . Last year, she had pleaded not guilty in the drug-fueled tryst.

The murder of wealthy Google X exec Forrest Timothy Hayes — a father of five found dead on his yacht two years ago — grabbed national headlines because of Tichelman's connection. She was dubbed the "Harbor Hooker" and "Call Girl Killer."

RELATED: Read the Criminal Charges Against Alix Catherine Tichelman (PDF)

Police say Tichelman first met Hayes through a "sugar daddy" website and had an ongoing sexual relationship that included mutual drug use. Tichelman, a top-dollar escort who also worked as a fetish model, was on Hayes' yacht on the early morning of Nov. 23, 2013. Surveillance video from the boat showed Hayes, 53, kissing Tichelman right before she injected him with heroin, police said.

Hayes had overdosed from the drug, and Tichelman stepped over his body several times as he lay dying, including to finish a bottle of wine. She never called 911 for help.

After an investigation, Tichelman was arrested eight months later on July 4. "She was so callous," Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark later told NBC News.

Authorities in Tichelman's native Georgia are also reviewing the death of her ex-boyfriend , who died under similar circumstances in 2013.

• Alix Tichelman Case: Georgia, California Cops Team Up
• Poetry and Rehab: Friends Paint Picture of Hooker in Google Murder Case
• The Google Exec and the Model: Silicon Valley After Dark

Alex Tichelman pleads guilty to involuntary manslaughter and administering drugs. http://t.co/zcOZfZTjHN via @KSBW pic.twitter.com/y34VcE1s2n — NBC Bay Area (@nbcbayarea) May 19, 2015

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Alix tichelman reveals her story after google executive's death.

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Alix Tichelman, nicknamed by national media as the "Call Girl Killer" and "Harbor Hooker" of Santa Cruz, is finally telling her side of the story.

In a series of interviews with KSBW this week, Tichelman relived the day that she met a Google executive on his yacht in the Santa Cruz harbor, injected him with heroin, and panicked when he lost consciousness.

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-WATCH: Alix Tichelman 1-on-1 interview Part 1

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Tichelman's risque modeling photos, tattoos, and the events described by Santa Cruz police fed into a movie-like narrative of a femme fatale causing the 2013 death of a millionaire who sought thrills from high-end escorts.

When police questioned her, they told her that she was going to be charged with murder for the death of a 51-year-old Forrest Timothy Hayes. He was a married father of five at the time he was found dead from a heroin overdose on his yacht on Nov. 23, 2013.

His obituary vaguely stated that he "passed away unexpectedly." Police said Hayes was dying when Tichelman calmly sipped wine, gathered her purse, and left the yacht. A coroner determined that he died almost instantly, Tichelman said.

Tichelman had only met Hayes once before, when he paid her more than $3,000 to go to lunch. He told her his name was "Tim." For their second meeting, Tichelman said Hayes asked her to bring heroin so they could "party" on his boat, named the Escape.

"This was consensual. He hired me to be there. I was supposed to be there to do what he wanted me to do," Tichelman said.

Tichelman said she didn't know Hayes had taken Valium and drank alcohol earlier that day.

"He seemed perfectly sober to me. If I had known both of those pieces of information, I would have never let him take the drugs," she told KSBW.

"He was very adamant about doing the drugs. Despite what police say, we never had sex. He was more interested in partying," she said.

Hayes lost consciousness moments after she injected him with heroin.

Santa Cruz's then-deputy police chief told the media that the escort coldly sipped a glass of wine as she left without calling 911.

“I tried to revive him. I was very upset and crying trying to wake him up. The police said I ‘calmly and coldly’ walked around the boat, packed up my stuff, and left. I was in a complete panic. I knew he was a married man. I had injected myself first, I was not thinking correctly. I didn't know he was in immediate distress, it looked like he was still breathing and had just passed out," Tichelman said.

She said she didn't want Hayes to get in trouble with his wife, the police, or his workplace.

When Tichelman was driving home to Northern California, she stopped multiple times, "agonizing over calling 911," she said. "Ultimately I didn't, and that's something I regret every single day, that I didn't call for help."

The District Attorney's Office later agreed with Tichelman's account about what happened on the boat after Hayes overdosed, and disagreed with the police department's story.

Another unusual part of the investigation was when the boat captain found Hayes' body. He quickly cleaned up the crime scene and took away the boat's surveillance video, according to police. Police had to issue a subpoena to get the video back.

Eight months later, an undercover Santa Cruz police officer convinced Tichelman to drive from her home near Sacramento and meet him at the Seascape Beach Resort in Aptos by posing as an interested client on the sugar daddy website she used, SeekingArrangement.

"I had a bad feeling when I was driving. The officer was not acting like a normal person. He was checking in with me every hour. When I walked in, he was better looking than I thought he would be. I hugged him, and he didn't hug me back. When I felt his bulletproof vest, I knew I was going to jail," Tichelman said.

Tichelman said she was shocked when officers swarmed her. She wondered, why would so many officers be here to arrest a prostitute?

"I had drugs in my purse. I thought, 'OK I can deal with this. I will post bail," she said.

During initial questioning, Tichelman said police didn't tell her Hayes was dead.

"I didn't think he had passed away, but in the interrogation room, I realized there was something weird going on," Tichelman said.

Finally, police showed her the boat's surveillance video and told her Hayes had died.

"I will never forget that moment -- one of the most worst moments of my life," she said. "They were playing some sick messed-up game. Police had this hatred and anger toward me, though I'm not really to sure why."

The District Attorney's Office concluded that the case was not a homicide, and Tichelman pleaded guilty to far lesser charges: involuntary manslaughter, prostitution, possessing drugs, and destroying evidence.

She served three years in the Santa Cruz County Jail, where she finally became drug-free during her last few months as an inmate. Tichelman said drugs were flowing through the jail, but she finally found the will to stop using drugs.

Her family's emotional support helped her survive three years in jail.

"I was prepared to go to prison for 15 years. I have the ability to see the light at the end of the tunnel, that comes from my family," Tichelman said. "I had a feeling, that as long as I did the right thing and held on, that things would turn out OK."

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents deported Tichelman to Canada as soon as she was released from jail. But she said she feels safer there.

"I'm glad I got deported," she said. "Santa Cruz police hated me so much."

Tichelman describes her life today as a "complete 180."

She said she's living clean and sober in Canada, and thinks about Hayes every day.

"I am working in the hospitality industry. I'm so happy at I found a workplace where I feel accepted, knowing that I can be a normal taxpaying citizen, and get up and go to work. That feels good," Tichelman said.

She also volunteers for a nonprofit that helps homeless and incarcerated women reintegrate back into society. Tichelman is studying to become a social worker specializing in helping people who are struggling with homelessness, mental health, drug addictions, and transitioning from prison back into society.

Prostitute Injected Google Exec With Heroin, Left Him to Die on Yacht, Police Say

Video shows woman injecting him with heroin, police say.

— -- More than seven months after a Silicon Valley executive was found dead on his yacht of an apparent overdose, police said they have uncovered new video evidence that reveals he may have been murdered.

Alix Tichelman, 26, who police describe as a high-end call girl, is believed to be the woman in the video injecting Forrest Hayes, 51, with heroin during a date together last November, according to Santa Cruz police.

Posing as a potential client, police said they met up with Tichelman to a hotel on July 4 and arrested her.

She appeared in court today on manslaughter and drugs charges but did not enter a plea. Tichelman, who was appointed a public defender, is being held on $1.5 million bail.

It was initially thought that Hayes, who had worked at Apple and was employed by Google at the time of his death, died of an overdose on his yacht, "The Escape."

A Woman Found Out a Serial Killer Once Lived in Her Home From Watching TV

The newly uncovered surveillance video shows a woman, who Santa Cruz police say is Tichelman, administering the drugs and never trying to help Hayes or to call authorities when it was clear something had gone terribly wrong, Deputy Chief Steve Clark said.

"She was so callous that in gathering her things, she was literally stepping over the body and at one point stepped over the body to grab a glass of wine and finish the glass of wine," Clark told ABC's San Francisco owned station KGO-TV .

Police said the woman believed to be Tichelman even drew the blinds to the bedroom on the 50-foot yacht before leaving.

Investigators took Tichelman's fingerprints from the wine glass, according to KGO-TV. An obituary posted in the Santa Cruz Sentinel describes Hayes as a husband and father to five children.

"More than anything else he enjoyed spending time with his family at home and on his boat," the obituary said. "His brilliant mind, contagious smile, and warm embrace will be missed and cherished in memories by his friends and family."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Alix Tichelman, charged in death of Google's Forrest Hayes, linked to 2nd death

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Two months before police say a high-priced prostitute calmly left a Google executive dying from a heroin overdose on his yacht, the woman panicked on the phone with a 911 dispatcher as her boyfriend lay on the floor of their home in the throes of a fatal overdose.

Police said Thursday they are re-examining the death of Dean Riopelle, 53, the owner of a popular Atlanta music venue. Riopelle had been dating Alix Tichelman, 26, who is now charged with manslaughter in the November death of Google executive Forrest Hayes. She was never charged in Riopelle's death.

"Both subjects in these cases died of heroin overdoses so there's just several factors we want to look at to make sure that we didn't miss anything," Milton police Capt. Shawn McCarty said.

• Steve Jobs $198M yacht at centre of payment spat

It is not clear how long Tichelman may have been involved in prostitution, though police in California say she had many clients in the wealthy Silicon Valley. Police there also said that, after Hayes' death, she had done online searches for how to defend herself legally after administering a lethal dose of heroin.

Numerous social media postings, photos and other articles online suggest she was pursuing a career as a fetish model and a life with Riopelle — one photo posted on her Facebook page shows her displaying a diamond "promise ring" given to her by Riopelle.

• Boat captain's wife charged in fisherman's death

Riopelle and Tichelman had been dating for about two and a half years and lived together, said Riopelle's sister, Dee Riopelle.

Riopelle was the lead singer of a rock 'n' roll band called the Impotent Sea Snakes, known for its wild stage shows and sexually explicit lyrics. Riopelle, under the moniker "13," is wearing a long, pink wig, a leopard-print jacket, platform boots and tight pants.

• America's Cup yacht nosedived in accident that killed Olympic champ

Back in Georgia, Riopelle also was known for owning the Masquerade, a popular Atlanta music venue that is a popular destination for rock, punk and metal acts. Housed in a former mill, the venue is composed of three levels: "heaven" upstairs; "purgatory" on the main floor; and "hell" downstairs.

He was also known for his love of monkeys, as evidenced by his well-kept property in Milton. Just to the right of Riopelle's home stand large animal enclosures, which include a barrel strung up by rope and fencing extending to the top.

'Everything Dean touched turned to gold'

Riopelle went to the University of Florida and got a degree in construction engineering. But when he was told by a boss to cut his hair and wear a bigger tie, he decided engineering wasn't for him, his sister said. He opened his first bar, also called the Masquerade, in the historic Ybor City neighbourhood of Tampa, Florida, his sister said. About 25 years ago, he moved to Atlanta and opened the Masquerade there.

Over the years he also opened several sports bars and a fetish bar, his sister said.

"He was very, very wise when it came to business sense," Dee Riopelle said. "Everything Dean touched turned to gold."

In September, however, he and Tichelman's lives took a dark turn. On Sept. 6, a drunken Tichelman called police, saying Riopelle threw her to the ground, according to a police report. Riopelle told officers that she had taken pills and drank alcohol, and had been stage diving and exposing her breasts that night at the Masquerade. He said he took her home because he did not approve.

Riopelle also told officers that she bit him on the finger and threatened to hit herself and tell police Riopelle had beaten her. A neighbor confirmed hearing Tichelman say that. She was charged with battery and arrested; Riopelle was not.

Less than two weeks later, a panicked Tichelman called 911, saying her boyfriend had overdosed on something and wouldn't respond. She told a dispatcher that his eyes were open but that he was unconscious, describing his breathing as "on and off." In the 911 tapes released Thursday, she can be heard saying, "Hello, Dean? Dean, are you awake?"

Tichelman tried for five minutes to revive him before calling 911, according to a police report. She said she had been in the shower when she heard a crash and came out to find Riopelle unconscious. Tichelman said she did not know how much drugs Riopelle had taken, but that he had been on a "bender the last few days," according to the police report.

Riopelle died at a hospital a week later. An autopsy report listed his death as an accidental overdose of heroin, oxycodone and alcohol. Tichelman had told the dispatcher that he had been taking painkillers and drinking.

'Never does she call 911'

Police say surveillance video from the Google executive's yacht shows Tichelman's next deadly encounter with heroin in California, on Nov. 23.

Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark gives the following account from the video:

Tichelman prepares the heroin to a liquid and injects it into Hayes' arm. Shortly after, Hayes clutches his chest, near his heart. Tichelman tries to prop him up, but he then loses consciousness.

Tichelman then starts picking up her belongings, including the needle, and cleans up a counter while stepping over Hayes several times. During that time, Tichelman calmly drinks a glass of wine and surveys the scene.

Tichelman then goes outside the cabin of the boat on the dock, looks back inside, then pulls down a window blind, closes a door and leaves.

"Never does she call 911 or call out to others in nearby boats for help. She never tries to administer any aid to him," Clark said. "She is more concerned about getting herself out and concealing evidence than helping Mr. Hayes."

Clark said that investigators learned that Tichelman later did online searches "on how to defend herself after giving a lethal dose of heroin."

Investigators also learned that Tichelman planned to leave California late last month, possibly to Georgia and maybe even the country, Clark said.

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The "Call Girl Killer," Alix Tichelman, was found guilty in the heroin overdose killing of Google executive Forrest Hayes in 2013. He died in the Santa Cruz harbor while sailing his yacht , "The Escape."

"When he fell unconscious, I did try to revive him to no avail, and I was very upset," she said in an interview with CBS via Skype.

Tichelman has been released for a few years after entering a guilty plea to involuntary manslaughter and drug administration . She was deported from her home country of Canada after serving three years in prison, and she spoke with Monterey station KSBW via Skype.

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According to the police, Hayes, a married father of five, hired the escort for a night of drugs and sex through the website Seeking Arrangement. "He was very adamant about doing the drugs," said Tichelman. "Despite what police say, we never had sex, he wasn't interested in that. He was more interested in partying."

According to Tichelman, it was her second encounter with Hayes. "I also did not know that hours before I got there, he had been drinking and taking Valium, and though he seemed perfectly sober to me, both of those pieces of information that I know now, I would have never let him take the drugs."

According to the authorities, Tichelman shot him in the head, and security footage shows her walking away without dialing 911. She steps over his body nonchalantly, closes her wineglass, and pulls down the blind.

"That's not the case at all, I was in a complete panic," she insists. "I was inebriated, I was on Valium, I had injected myself first. It looked to me like he was still breathing and it looked like he had passed out, and I know that in the past I've done drugs, and not woken up until 24 hours later and so I figured it was something like that — which was wishful thinking."

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"I wish I could go back and change what happened but I can't and that's something that I have to live with and something that his family has to live with."

A Georgia district attorney said that Tichelman had been charged by a grand jury on murder charges for the heroin overdose death of her ex-boyfriend Dean Riopelle just a few days after this interview with KSBW. 2013 also saw his death.

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Google executive died on yacht after prostitute gave him fatal dose of heroin, say police

Alix tichelman has been charged with the manslaughter of forrest hayes aboard his 50-foot yacht, article bookmarked.

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A former Google executive is thought to have died after a high-class prostitute gave him a fatal dose of heroin during a liaison on board his 50-foot yacht.

Alix Tichelman, 26, was arrested by police in Santa Cruz, California on 4 July and later charged with the manslaughter of 51-year-old Forrest Hayes, a father of five who had worked as an engineer for several companies including Google, Apple and Sun Microsystems.

The incident took place in November 2013, when Mr Hayes and Ms Tichelman met at his yacht in a Santa Cruz harbour. Police say security footage from the yacht shows Ms Tichelman injecting Mr Hayes with a dose of heroin.

He appeared to suffer a bad reaction to the drug, and quickly became unconscious. According to a statement from Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark, Ms Tichelman could be seen casually collecting her possessions as Mr Hayes lay dying.

“The video shows the victim suffering medical complications and going unconscious,” Clark said. “Rather than provide first aid or call 911, Ms Tichelman proceeds to gather her belongings including the heroin and needles.

"The video also shows Ms Tichelman stepping over the victim’s body several times as she is gathering her belongings. At one point, she steps over the body to finish a glass of wine. Finally, she leaves the boat and reaches back in to lower the blind and conceal the victim’s body from outside view.”

Ms Tichelman grew up in Georgia and moved to California to work as a model and make-up artist, according to her Facebook page. She and Hayes allegedly met via the website Seeking Arrangements, which offers to introduce wealthy “sugar daddies” to younger, female “sugar babies”, who can expect to “indulge in shopping sprees, expensive dinners and exotic travels” paid for by their clients. The website claims to have at least 3 million members.

During interviews with police, Ms Tichelman boasted of having more than 200 clients, who often paid her $1,000 per rendezvous. On 30 June she wrote on Facebook that she intended to drive home to Georgia the following week. Police lured her back to Santa Cruz by posing online as a prospective client, and arrested her before she could leave California.

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Police: Alix Tichelman, Prostitute in Google Exec Heroin Overdose Case, Linked to 2nd Death in Georgia

By riya bhattacharjee and associated press • published july 10, 2014 • updated on july 16, 2014 at 7:02 am.

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Georgia authorities are re-examining the 2013 heroin death of an Atlanta club owner who apparently once dated Alix Tichelman, the woman charged with manslaughter in the overdose death of a Google executive on a yacht in California, police said Thursday.

Dean Riopelle, 53, died of a heroin overdose in September 2013 in Milton, Georgia, about two months before Google executive Forrest Hayes died of an overdose on his yacht in Santa Cruz Harbor.

Tichelman, 26, whom police in California describe as a high-end prostitute, is currently being held on $1.5 million bail after appearing in court Wednesday in red lipstick, black eyeliner and red jail scrubs.

GEORGIA CONNECTIONS

Tichelman called 911 on Sept. 17 last year to report that Riopelle, her boyfriend, had overdosed, Milton police Capt. Shawn McCarty said Thursday. She told investigators that he had been drinking and using heroin throughout the day, and that she found him on the ground after she got out of the shower, McCarty said.

Tichelman said she tried to revive Riopelle for about five minutes before she called 911, according to a police report. She told police that he had been having a rough time but did not believe he overdosed intentionally.

Riopelle died a week later.

• Prostitute Accused of Killing Silicon Valley Exec on Yacht in Santa Cruz Harbor: Police

"Both subjects in these cases died of heroin overdoses, so there's just several factors we want to look at to make sure that we didn't miss anything,'' McCarty said Thursday.

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Riopelle owned the Masquarade , a mid-sized Atlanta concert venue and nightclub known for hosting big-name concerts and a long-running goth/industrial dance night.

Atlanta music site clatl.com reported Riopelle died of an apparent heart attack. It describes him as "a controversial figure" in the local community, often called the "Monkey Man," because he raised monkeys and other non-native wild animals on his property, even getting a permit to turn it into a kind of zoo.

Tichelman's Twitter account has pictures of her "pet monkeys" from November 2012.

Just before Riopelle's death, on Sept. 6, Tichelman had been arrested on a battery charge after he told police that she bit his hand during an argument.

Riopelle had told police that Tichelman took pills before they went to a nightclub he owned in Atlanta, where he said she drank, dove off the stage and exposed her breasts. After they returned to his home, they fought. She scratched his face and threatened to hit herself in the face and tell police he had done it, Riopelle said at the time. In 2008, Tichelman attended Georgia State University for two semesters but never graduated.

SIMILAR SITUATION S Police in California have said that a surveillance camera captured the crime scene at the Santa Cruz Small Boat Harbor, including the “cold and callous” way they say Tichelman handled Hayes, stepping over his body to finish a glass of wine and leaving him alone to die on his 50-foot yacht "Escape." The captain of Hayes' yacht found him dead on the boat last November. Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Hayes, 51, had hired Tichelman before, and that their Nov. 23 encounter "was a mutually consensual encounter including the introduction of the heroin.'' Clark said it appears this might not have been the first time she left someone in trouble without calling 911 or trying to help. 

• Alix Tichelman, Alleged Prostitute Accused of Sipping Wine as Google Exec Lay Dying, Opened Her Heart on Facebook

"There's a pattern of behavior here where she doesn't seek help when someone is in trouble,'' he said.

Clark said Santa Cruz detectives will be collaborating with police in Milton, Georgia.

“The bottom line is we both want the same thing,” Clark said. “We both want to understand the truth of what happened. We want to protect the victims and we want to ensure that the suspect is accountable.” 

Clark said it's not clear if Hayes was a frequent drug user, and that in the video, it appears he needed Tichelman to help him shoot up. Clark described Tichelman as a high-end prostitute who charged $1,000 and lived three hours away in the Sacramento suburb of Folsom. He said she had other clients from Silicon Valley, home to about 50 billionaires and tens of thousands of millionaires. Tichelman was arrested on July 4 after police said a detective lured her back to the Santa Cruz area by posing as a potential client at an upscale resort.

Clark revealed, when Tichelman was arrested in the police sting, she had a fully loaded needle with heroin in it.

“It tells us she might have intended to do this again,” he said. “It tells us she might have thought this was going to occur in her date with our detective.” HIGH-TECH TIES

According to police, Tichelman boasted she had more than 200 clients and met them through the "sugar daddy" site SeekingArrangement.com , which purports to connect wealthy men and women with attractive companions. Her clients included other Silicon Valley executives, Clark said.

“We are shocked to learn of this tragedy and we would like to convey our deepest sympathies to Mr. Hayes’s family," SeekingArrangement.com said in a statement. "SeekingArrangement.com is a dating website. Our terms of use are clear: escorts and prostitutes are strictly prohibited. In this case, the suspect’s profile did not indicate that she was using the site inappropriately, or was a danger to any other member.” Tichelman's father, Bart Tichelman, also has ties to the tech industry. Folsom software firm SynapSense announced his hire as the firm's CEO in 2012. Neither the firm nor her father responded to immediate requests for comment, the Associated Press reported.

Bart Tichelman has more than 30 years of experience in the technology and cleantech inductries, most recently with an Atlanta solar power project developer, according to SynapSense's site.

• Electric Daisy Concertgoer OD'd on Ecstasy: Coroner

It appears Bart Tichelman is an avid poker player, according to his tweets and a poker blog, which reported that he won more than $400,000 in cash in the 2008 World Series of Poker Grand Tunica.

NBC Bay Area's Roberta Handa contributed to this report.

myBfandbabymonkeys<3 pic.twitter.com/PTlPvNYd — Alix Tichelman (@AKKennedyxx) October 10, 2012

Watch CBS News

Coroner ruled Google exec's death an accident, says public defender in case

By Doug Longhini, Greg Fisher

October 21, 2014 / 1:03 PM EDT / CBS News

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. - The Santa Cruz County Coroner has ruled the death of Google executive Forrest Hayes an accident, defense attorneys for Alix Tichelman, the heroin-addicted prostitute accused of manslaughter in the case , said Monday.

"At the end of the day there are no heroes here nor are there any demons. It's a sad case that has deeply affected two families but it was an accident," said Public Defender Larry Biggam.

In November of 2013, the 51-year-old Hayes died from a heroin overdose administered by Tichelman on Hayes' yacht in Santa Cruz Harbor. The incident was caught on the yacht's security videotaping system. The Santa Cruz Police Department (SCPD) has characterized Tichelman's behavior as cold and calculating, by disregarding Hayes' distress which led to his death.

After a hearing Monday, the defense challenged the SCPD interpretation of that videotape.

"The Santa Cruz County Coroner after conducting the autopsy and reviewing the boat video, concluded that the manner of death was an accident," revealed Biggam for the first time.

At the hearing, attorneys filed discovery motions seeking electronic records belonging to Hayes. Tichelman's attorneys said they would like to review more information from Hayes' total of eleven cell phones and computers. In addition, they told reporters they want the SCPD to release at least 48 hours of videotape from the yacht before Hayes' death was captured on tape.

Tichelman sat silently in the courtroom at times hiding her face behind her long reddish brown hair trying to avoid the television cameras and a newspaper photographer. Her parents were in the gallery.

Outside the courthouse, Biggam and co-counsel Gerry Christensen took turns criticizing the SCPD's characterization of Tichelman as a black widow killer, claiming they wanted to set the record straight about what happened on the yacht last November .

"This is an accident and panic, not in any way a malicious or intentional act and realistically the Santa Cruz Police Department (SCPD) knows that even though that's not what they are saying publicly," said attorney Christensen.

Deputy Chief Steve Clark scoffed at that portrayal. "When you have an accident, you call and get help. You don't clean up the crime scene and walk out letting a man die in front of you," he said.

The defense attorneys did concede that the videotape demonstrates Hayes is clearly in distress after his heroin overdose. Tichelman did not call 911. The lawyers said Tichelman was on heroin at the time and her "judgment was less than clear." And the lawyers pointed out, there always is a complicated relationship between a prostitute and client who seeks discretion.

"Alix Tickelman did nothing that Mr. Hayes did not want her to do. Two adults engaged in mutual and cooperative drug usage, and it went wrong, but it was an accident. All the police press conferences and media coverage cannot change the facts," said Biggam.

"We are confident in the facts of the case and that they will show Alix Tichelman is criminally responsible for the death of Forrest Hayes," Clark said. "Ms. Tichelman was the only one who could have called for help but instead decided to try and save her own self at the expense of Mr. Hayes' life.

The defense attorneys revealed that when Tichelman was arrested SCPD detectives interviewed her for a nine-hour stretch while she was handcuffed. Christensen claimed that an SCPD detective, when confronting Tichelman with the videotape evidence, seemed to concede she was panicking.

"[The detective] called it an 'oh s***' moment... Obviously the impression of the detective was that this was not cold, calculating and careful. This was something that was an accident and panic. That's the reference to the 'oh s***' moment," said Christensen.

Clark says this comment was taken out of context. "It was part of an interview tactic trying to get Ms. Tichelman to open up about the incident."

In addition, the defense attorneys criticized the volume of information the SCPD is releasing about Tichelman, compared with the victim, Hayes.

"Contrary to their treatment of Alix Tichelman in which we've heard virtually everything in regard to her habits, lifestyle, especially addictions, they've been exceptionally quiet about Mr. Hayes in regard to his lifestyle, habits, addictions, and especially in regard to Mr. Hayes' receptiveness and promotion of the use of drugs, a variety of drugs, along with sex."

Clark says he has heard similar arguments before. "One of the oldest defense tricks in the book is when you can't explain your client's actions, start blaming the victim. That is exactly what they are doing in trying to disparage Mr. Hayes."

Defense attorneys made reference to another videotape, which they said is in the possession of the SCPD, from Hayes' yacht in April of 2013, hinting that it might include another sex and drug interlude between Hayes and someone other than Tichelman.

The next hearing in the case will be December 5.

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‘48 Hours’ to air episode on Google exec’s death, call girl’s arrest

The death of a Google executive aboard his private yacht and the subsequent arrest of a high-end prostitute from metro Atlanta accused of giving him a fatal heroin injection will be featured on Saturday night’s episode of “48 Hours.”

Forest Hayes was a 51-year-old married father of five when he was found dead in November 2013 on his 46-foot yacht in the Santa Cruz, Calif., harbor. The yacht's surveillance cameras captured Hayes' last hours spent with Alix Tichelman , an aspiring model.

Hayes had met Tichelman through a dating service, according to police. The yacht's cameras were on as Tichelman injected Hayes, watched him fall unconscious, took a sip of wine and left without calling for police, investigators said. Tichelman was arrested by Santa Cruz police, and while being interviewed, she told detectives information about another heroin-overdose back in Georgia .

Two months before Hayes died aboard his yacht, Tichelman’s previous boyfriend died from an overdose.

Dean Riopelle , 53, was a divorced father of two, the owner of the Masquerade music club in Atlanta, and was known to some in the Milton area for his love of monkeys when he died Sept. 24. The Fulton County Medical Examiner's office said Riopelle's death was the result of "heroin, Oxycodone and ethanol toxicity.

Tichelman was in Riopelle’s Milton home and called 911 after finding him unresponsive, but never told police about the drugs, Milton police later said. She is now being investigated in connection to Riopelle’s death, but has not been charged, police said.

The episode, " Kiss of Death and the Google Exec ," will air at 10 p.m. Saturday on CBS.

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Alexis Stevens is a member of the Crime and Public Safety team.

Credit: AJC file

Credit: Miguel Martinez

Former Google exec killed by heroin overdose on yacht is memorialized

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A Santa Cruz man who was found dead on his yacht from a heroin overdose allegedly injected by a high-priced escort was a Silicon Valley tech executive with a wife, five children and a reputation as a dedicated family man.

Through messages posted on a memorial website that was taken down Wednesday morning, a profile of Forrest Timothy Hayes, 51, emerges of the onetime Google and Apple engineer as a problem-solving father who loved cars and his boat and frequently yearned to spend more time with his family.

On Friday, police arrested 26-year-old Alix Tichelman in connection with Hayes’ death. Police said she had an ongoing relationship with Hayes via the website Seekingarrangments.com, a website dedicated to connecting wealthy individuals who lavish gifts and money on young, attractive suitors in exchange for their company and sex.

Tichelman is accused of giving Hayes an overdose of heroin Nov. 23 and then coldly gathering up the drugs, finishing off a glass of wine and stepping over his body to leave as he lay dying -- a scene police say was captured by security cameras on the boat.

Police posed as a potential client offering her $1,000 and lured her to a Santa Cruz resort, where she was taken into custody Friday.

The circumstances surrounding Hayes’ death, however, stand in stark contrast to the man his co-workers admired and came to rely on for advice. In addition to Google, he worked at Sun Microsystems and Apple.

Hayes was confident in his opinions and evenhanded in his leadership, co-workers said.

“I believe you learn a great deal about a person when times are tough,” wrote former Apple co-worker Mark Turnlund on the blog dedicated to Hayes’ memory. “At times like these Forrest was at his best. He was a true leader, calmly addressing the situation, no matter how difficult. He always maintained a sense of humor, a sense of perspective.”

Another colleague, identified only as “Obi” on the site, said Hayes made a big impression in the short time they worked together.

“We talked about our families and what our kids were doing, how you were spending less time on a plane these days, you told me to get more help when things were stressful after my second child was born,” Obi wrote. “Small things, but real life. You cared so much about your family and those around you.”

Hayes loved driving his modified Porsche on Bay Area highways, but also owned a Chevy Volt -- a compromise to horsepower for the sake of driving in the carpool lane and shortening his commute to be with his family, another colleague said.

On Wednesday, Santa Cruz County prosecutors charged Tichelman with manslaughter, multiple drug-related felonies, and three misdemeanors of prostitution and destroying evidence.

She appeared in court wearing a red jail jumpsuit and mostly kept her eyes focused forward or on the ground. Several tattoos were visible on her forearms, along with dark fingernail polish on her hands.

Two women who answered the phones at numbers connected to Tichelman’s family said they had no comment.

Tichelman’s arraignment was continued until July 16.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Rafael Vazquez said after the court appearance Wednesday that though Tichelman was charged with manslaughter -- which can bring up to 11 years in prison -- things could change over the course of the investigation. Police had originally booked Tichelman on suspicion of murder.

“If they have evidence that demonstrate to us without a reasonable doubt that murder can be proven, then we’ll certainly evaluate that when that’s presented,” Vazquez said.

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Google executive was killed by prostitute who injected him with lethal dose of heroin and left him to die on his yacht

• Published : 12:18, 5 Apr 2017
• Updated : 16:19, 5 Apr 2017

A MILLIONAIRE Google executive died after a high-class prostitute injected him with a deadly dose of heroin – before stepping over his dying body to leave his yacht.

Call girl Alix Tichelman , 30, was sentenced to five years in jail after CCTV footage on the tragic father-of-five Forrest Timothy Hayes’s 50ft luxury boat proved she gave him the lethal dose of the drug in 2013.

Divorcee Hayes, 51, who had a top job with search giant Google, had met Tichelman several times for drug-fuelled sex sessions via escort website Seeking Arrangement.

In May 2015, Tichelman pleaded guilty to felony involuntary manslaughter and administering drugs and served nearly three years behind bars before being released because of good behaviour.

The troubled hooker, whose father is also a CEO of a large tech company in California, also lost her former boyfriend to a heroin overdose.

The man, a 53-year-old monkey trainer, allegedly died two months before Hayes although his death was ruled accidental.

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Cops arrested Tichelman  eight months after Hayes death .

CCTV footage gathered by police is said to have shown the then 26-year-old prostitute gather her belongings and step over the Silicon Valley exec’s unconscious body to finish her glass of wine.

She was then filmed lowering a blind before leaving the boat without calling 911.

Hayes body was discovered the following day on the yacht in Santa Cruz Small Craft Harbour, California.

But during the trial, defence attorney Larry Biggam pointed out that heroin addict Tichelman had injected herself before administering the lethal dose.

He argued that the powerful drugs had clouded her judgement and that there was no reason for the call girl to kill her most lucrative client, reports KSBW .

Canadian-born Tichelman was detained by immigration cops in California following her release from prison on March 29.

Despite bail documents incorrectly stating that the former prostitute had dual citizenship it has now been confirmed that she is not an American citizen and risks being deported, reports KSBW.

Speaking with the New York Post , ICE spokesman James Schwab confirmed the convict was being held by immigration officials.

He said: “Ms Tichelman was taken into custody by deportation officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) March 29.

“Department of Homeland Security databases indicate Ms. Tichelman has multiple prior criminal convictions, including convictions for involuntary manslaughter and a felony drug charge.

“She will remain in DHS/ICE custody pending removal proceedings.”

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