Prostitute Accused In Google Executive Heroin Death Linked To 2nd Death In Georgia
MILTON, Georgia (CBS SF) -- Police in an Atlanta suburb are reopening the investigation into the September drug-related death of a man who once dated an alleged prostitute now facing charges in the heroin overdose death of a Google executive.
51-year-old Dean Riopelle was dating 26-year-old Alix Tichelman just before his death of a heroin overdose on September 24, 2013, according to Facebook posts and published reports. Riopelle's death came two months before Google executive Forrest Hayes died of a heroin overdose after allegedly being injected by Tichelman aboard his yacht in Santa Cruz.
Riopelle was a nightclub owner and lead singer for a fetish-themed band known as the Impotent Sea Snakes.
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Capt. Shawn McCarthy of the Milton, Georgia police department told the Associated Press Tichelman called 911 to report Riopelle had overdosed on heroin. The Fulton County Medical Examiner's officer told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Riopelle died of "heroin, Oxycodone and ethanol toxicity."
Two months before Riopelle's death, Tichelman was arrested for biting Riopelle and charged with battery, according to WSB-TV Atlanta.
Tichelman faces manslaughter and drug charges in the death of Google executive Forrest Hayes, who was found dead about his yacht in Santa Cruz in November of an apparent heroin overdose. Surveillance video allegedly shows Tichelman injecting Hayes - and later stepping over his body to finish a glass of wine – before lowering the blinds and leaving him to die.
Santa Cruz Police said Tichelman had an ongoing prostitution relationship with the 51-year-old Hayes, who was married and had five children. Tichelman was arrested last week after police lured her back to Santa Cruz in a prostitution sting.
Tichelman allegedly worked as a high-priced prostitute and met her clients through a website called 'Seeking Arrangements."
During interviews, Tichelman boasted of over 200 clients, according to Santa Cruz Police.
She was being held on $1.5 million bond.