An alleged high-end call girl has appeared in court on charges of manslaughter, accused of leaving a Google executive to die on his yacht in California after injecting him with heroin in November 2013.
Santa Cruz police say that CCTV footage from the yacht shows Alix Tichelman, 26, calmly gather her drug paraphernalia and step over the body of 51-year-old Forrest Timothy Hayes to finish her glass of red wine before leaving the vessel.
Hayes’ body was discovered by the boat’s captain the next day, and a post-mortem examination showed that he died of complications from falling unconscious due to a heroine overdose.
Police are also investigating Tichelman in connection with a similar incident in another state, although they did not further elaborate on the details.
She found her clients through the website SeekingArrangement.com, which claims to connect wealthy executives with attractive companions for “mutually beneficial arrangements” and the “sugar lifestyle”.
After hearing plans that Tichelman was planning to head back to her native state of Georgia, police set up a sting operation where an officer posed as a potential client through the website.
Tichelman did not enter a plea and is being held on $1.5 million (£900,000) bail.
