A cinematographer who was arrested — however not but charged by prosecutors — within the deaths of mannequin Christy Giles and her buddy is nothing greater than a “witness,” his lawyer advised The Publish Wednesday.
Michael Ansbach, 47, was launched on $100,000 bond after being arrested Dec. 16 in reference to the deaths of Giles and her pal Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola, whose our bodies had been dumped at two separate hospitals on Nov. 13, 2021.
Two different males arrested together with Ansbach had been every charged Tuesday by Los Angeles County District Legal professional George Gascón. Producer David Pearce, 37, was hit with a homicide rap, and 42-year-old actor Brandt Osborn was charged with being an adjunct after the actual fact.
Ansbach’s lawyer Elliot Zarabi, nonetheless, mentioned Wednesday that Ansbach “is nothing greater than a cloth witness.”
Zarabi advised The Publish that Ansbach needs “to be an asset and a witness.”
Requested if his consumer has been cooperating with the prosecution, the lawyer declined to remark.
LAPD investigators mentioned the three males met Giles and Cabrales-Arzola at an after-hours warehouse get together in Los Angeles on Nov. 13 earlier than persevering with to Pearce’s residence on Olympic Boulevard.
The officers mentioned two masked males driving a Toyota Prius with out license plates dumped Giles’ lifeless physique at a Culver Metropolis hospital later that evening. Shortly thereafter, the boys dropped Cabrales-Arzola at Kaiser Permanente in West LA.
Cabrales-Arzola died on Nov. 24 — 5 days earlier than her twenty seventh birthday — after she was pronounced brain-dead, her household mentioned.
An image of Cabrales-Arzola sandwiched between Ansbach and Pearce that was taken on the warehouse get together additionally surfaced shortly after the boys had been arrested.
Ansbach’s lawyer mentioned that his consumer was on the bash on a job — having been employed by Pearce as a videographer for a documentary on digital dance music. He had been filming that evening in the course of the warehouse get together.
Zarabi declined to remark when requested if Ansbach left the get together with Pearce, Osborne and the ladies, however mentioned “Mr. Osborne was the one one who accompanied Mr. Pearce” to the hospital and “Mr. Ansbach was not within the Prius or any of the opposite automobiles” implicated by police within the murders.
Greg Risling, a spokesperson for the LA County DA’s Workplace, advised The Publish that, whereas Ansbach hasn’t been charged, his case “stays underneath evaluate.”
Further reporting by Marjorie Hernandez
