A woman who spent part of her childhood at a South Surrey private school has been charged in connection with the overdose death last fall of a high-ranking Google executive.
The now- 26-year-old’s name made international headlines Thursday morning, after she appeared in a California court July 9 accused of injecting Forrest Timothy Hayes with a lethal dose of heroin.
Court documents outline a multitude of charges against Alix Catherine Tichelman: manslaughter, administering/giving away a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, destroying/concealing evidence, transportation of a controlled substance and prostitution.
According to a Santa Cruz Police Department media release, Hayes, 51, was found dead on his yacht on Nov. 23, and Tichelman became a suspect after detectives “learned that she had an ongoing prostitution relationship with the victim.”
The statement describes Tichelman as “a high-priced outcall prostitute” who boasted of having more than 200 clients.
Police allege surveillance footage from Hayes’ yacht shows Tichelman gathering up drug paraphernalia and stepping over Hayes’ body several times, including to drink a glass of wine, before leaving.
They are also investigating a possible link between Tichelman and a similar death in another state.
Tichelman, who is originally from Georgia, was arrested in Santa Cruz on July 4.
A former classmate who attended South Surrey’s Southridge School with Tichelman in Grade 6 learned of the allegations early Thursday.
Now an Edmonton resident, the woman – who asked not to be publicly identified – told Peace Arch News that she and Tichelman were both new to the school that year and hit it off right away, or at least that’s what she believed at the time.
The friendship quickly deteriorated.
The Alberta woman described the young Tichelman as a girl who was “the kind of person who was desperate to have what she wanted when she wanted it.”
“To this day, I’ve never met anybody like her,” she said.
She described the latest news regarding Tichelman as unfortunate.
“The more I’ve mulled it over, I really felt sad about it,” she said.
