2nd Woman Dumped at LA Hospital Dies

Death of Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola, 26, follows that of her friend, Christy Giles-Cilliers
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 29, 2021 9:54 AM CST
Updated Dec 4, 2021 6:00 AM CST
A Model Died After an LA Party. Now Her Friend Is Brain-Dead
Stock photo.   (Pexels)

Update: A young architect declared brain-dead last month after being mysteriously dropped off at a Los Angeles hospital two weeks earlier has died, reports KTLA. Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola, 26, had been on life support. A spokesperson with the LA County coroner's office confirms the death to E! News, which notes that Cabrales-Arzola's official death date is listed as Nov. 24. The spokesperson adds that the cause and manner of her death is pending an investigation. Cabrales-Arzola's death follows that of friend Christy Giles-Cilliers, 24, who'd gone out partying with her on Nov. 12 and was subsequently dropped off at a different LA-area medical center the next night, allegedly by unidentified masked men. Giles-Cilliers was pronounced dead on Nov. 13. The LAPD has offered no recent updates on the case. Our original story from Nov. 29 follows:

Earlier this month, two young women who'd been out partying the night before were dumped at two separate Los Angeles hospitals. One, 24-year-old model Christy Giles-Cilliers, was pronounced dead on Nov. 13 at Culver City's Southern California Hospital, per FOX 11. The second woman, 26-year-old architect and designer Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola, who was left in critical condition at Kaiser Permanente in West Los Angeles two hours after her friend's mysterious drop-off, has now been declared brain-dead, family members tell KABC. Cabrales-Arzola's father confirmed his daughter's status, just days before her 27th birthday, to the Sun. "We were already expecting it to be bad news and we're trying to take it with a lot of strength," he says. Both women were allegedly dropped off at the two hospitals by unidentified men wearing bandannas over their faces, driving a Prius without license plates.

A GoFundMe set up for Cabrales-Arzola notes that the two-hour gap between when the friends were deposited at the different medical centers was "possibly to avoid suspicion." It's a mystery the LAPD is still investigating, though Giles-Cilliers' husband, Jan Cilliers, tells FOX he has started to piece together what happened to his wife and Cabrales-Arzola based on data he was able to pull off Giles-Cilliers' phone via the cloud. Cilliers, who notes he was in San Francisco visiting family the weekend his wife died, says Giles-Cilliers, Cabrales-Arzola, and a third, unidentified woman went to a party that Friday night, where they met three men. When it was close to sunrise, the group decided to head to another party in Hollywood Hills, though the third woman ended up heading home.

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That's when his wife and Cabrales-Arzola decided to hitch a ride with the three men, and when things get murky, Cilliers says. He notes that GPS shows the group ended up not in Hollywood Hills, but somewhere in West Hollywood. Based on "distressed" texts between the two women, including messages indicating they'd tried to call an Uber, Cilliers fears they were taken against their will, and possibly drugged. A toxicology report has shown Cabrales-Arzola had heroin in her system, per KABC. Cilliers says neither woman would have taken heroin of their own accord. As the investigation continues, family members say Cabrales-Arzola's organs will be donated to nine individuals. (More strange stuff stories.)

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