Alix Tichelman, left, 26, of Folsom, Calif., confers with public defender Diane August, right, during her arraignment in Santa Cruz Superior Court on Wednesday, July 9, 2014, in Santa Cruz, Calif.SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – A Silicon Valley success story turned sordid this week with the arrest of an upscale prostitute who allegedly left a Google executive dying on his yacht after shooting him up with a deadly hit of heroin.
Forrest Hayes, 51, was found dead by the captain of his 50-foot yacht Escape last November. At the time, a simple obituary described him as a beloved husband and father of five who enjoyed spending time with his family and on his boat.
On Wednesday, that got a lot more complicated as Alix Tichelman, 26, of Folsom, stood handcuffed and mumbling in red jail scrubs facing manslaughter charges for her role in Hayes’ death, as well as drug and prostitution charges. She is being held on $1.5 million bail.
Surveillance footage from the yacht shows everything, police said, from when she came aboard until after Hayes collapsed. That’s when Tichelman picked up her clothes, the heroin and needles, casually stepping over Hayes as he lay dying. She swallowed the last of a glass of wine, lowered a blind and walked back on the dock to shore, police said.
Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark told the Associated Press on Wednesday that Hayes had hired Tichelman before, and that their Nov. 23 encounter “was a mutually consensual encounter including the introduction of the heroin.”