Powdered heroin is pictured in this undated handout photo courtesy of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration.
Powdered heroin is pictured in this undated handout photo courtesy of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration. U Reuters/US DEA/Handout via Reu

An escort charged for injecting a fatal dose of heroin to a Google executive pleaded guilty to multiple felonies on Tuesday. Her offences include manslaughter, prostitution and multiple drug charges and destroying evidence. The woman named Alix Tichelman was sentenced to six years in prison, but may be shortened due to good behaviour, her lawyers said. The guilty plea of Tichelman was also brought about by the move of the Santa Cruz prosecutors to change her crime for voluntary to involuntary, Jerry Christensen, Tichelman’s public defender said.

In November 2013, Tichelman, 27, administered heroin via injection to her client Forrest Hayes. Hayes was an engineer who worked for Apple, Google and Sun Microsystems. The incident happened in Hayes’ 50-foot yacht, with no witnesses; the body of Hayes was later discovered by the captain of the ship. Tichelman was identified after the investigators were able to review the security video in the yacht, leading to her delayed arrest last summer. According to the police, Tichelman and Hayes met on a website called SeekingArrangement.com, and has since continued on an “ongoing prostitution relationship.”

Initially, the Santa Cruz police described the Tichelman as apathetic when she injected the drug, cleaned up the place, stepped over Hayes’ body and finished a glass of wine before she went off. However, Christensen emphasised that Hayes used his own belt to tie his own arm in preparation for the dose injection. After the collapsed, Tichelman just simply panicked. “They were making her a black widow-type of human being,” he said. “That’s far from the truth and outrageous.” He added that the place was confined that no one could move without stepping over the body; she even left the two doors wide open.

This case prompted the police department of Georgia to review the case of Dean Riopelle’s death, who died when he was with Tichelman. According to reports, Riopelle, 53, died in 2013 due to accidental alcohol and heroin overdose, whilst Tichelman was in the shower.

Tichelman has been in jail for a year now, and should serve five more years in reference to her six-year sentence. However, her attorney said that this sentence may be cut down to half due to good behavior, possibly leaving her with only two more years of jail service.

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