A woman police describe as a high-end prostitute has been charged with manslaughter after allegedly injecting heroin into a tech executive on his yacht in Santa Cruz last November, then leaving him to die when he overdosed. Alix Tichelman, 26, of Folsom, also faces drug and prostitution charges. She is being held on $1.5 million bail.
The Santa Cruz Sentinel reported Tuesday that surveillance video from the boat shows 51-year-old Forrest Timothy Hayes losing consciousness.
Investigators say Tichelman made no effort to help him and instead gathered her belongings and even gulped a glass of wine before leaving. Hayes' body was discovered the next day.
Tichelman, originally from Georgia, was taken into custody last week after being lured back to Santa Cruz County in a prostitution sting.
According to The Daily Mail, Tichelman's Facebook profile shows she went to high school in the Atlanta area before majoring in journalism at Georgia State University and attending beauty school.
The Santa Cruz Sentinel reports that police convinced Tichelman that a client would pay her more than $1,000 for sex. She arranged to meet the fictitious wealthy man at a high-end hotel in Santa Cruz County on the Fourth of July and was arrested, police said.
She was initially booked into Santa Cruz County Jail for second-degree murder, destruction of evidence and transporting and providing narcotics.
Hayes' body was found on the boat in November of 2013, and detectives were called to the scene because his death appeared to be suspicious.
In the investigation Tichleman was identified as a suspect after they learned she had an ongoing prostitution relationship with the man. During interviews with authorities, Tichleman said she had more than 200 "client relationships," according to police.
Police say there is a similar case involving Tichleman in another state.