Installing thousands of dollars’ worth of security cameras on his cruiser might not have saved a 51-year-old Google executive’s life, but it has led to manslaughter charges for a high-end prostitute who allegedly injected him with heroin and left him to die.
The Santa Cruz police investigation into the death of Forrest Hayes, a Google executive who overdosed in November on heroin allegedly injected by 26-year-old Alix Tichelman, was delayed several weeks because the captain of the yacht where the encounter occurred lied about the existence of surveillance video, police officials told the San Francisco Gate Friday.
The video allegedly showed Tichelman, who police said had an ongoing “prostitution relationship” with Hayes, casually stepping over him shortly after he went unconscious, finishing a glass of wine and closing the blinds so the body wasn’t visible through the windows of theboat.
The Australian-built Alaska 46, Escape is now up for sale by Hayes’family, broker Richard Boland told the paper. The Google executive had five children and was married.
Boland says Haynes installed the cameras as part of a major electronic upgrade so he could watch the major remodel happen on his cellphone while traveling overseas, according to KRON Channel 4. Boland doesn’t think the yacht’s now notorious past will hurt his chances of selling it for the $345,000 that’s being asked.
“I don’t think it will make a lot of difference,”he told the paper. “The massive upgrade that Forrest made to the electronics on the boat is what people are really looking for.”
Among the amenities listed for the luxury cruiser, many of them upgrades that Hayes installed after he purchased it, are two Cummins twin diesel engines,Hunter Douglas Hi/Lo Pleaded Shades —which Tichelman allegedly closed to hide Hayes’body from passersby —and three thermal night vision cameras, which police say provided crucial evidence leading to Tichelman’s arrest.
Hayes took great pleasure in overhauling something he saw as a second home, Boland told the TV station.
Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark gave the Associated Press the following account from the video:Tichelman prepares the heroin to a liquid and injects it into Hayes’arm. Shortly after, Hayes clutches his chest, near his heart. Tichelman tries to prop him up, but he then loses consciousness.
Tichelman then starts picking up her belongings, including the needle, and cleans up a counter while stepping over Hayes several times. During that time Tichelman calmly drinks a glass of wine and surveys the scene.
Tichelman then goes outside the cabin of the boat on the dock, looks back inside, then pulls down a window blind, closes a door and leaves.
“Never does she call 911 or call out to others in nearby boats for help. She never tries to administer any aid to him,”Clark said. “She is more concerned about getting herself out and concealing evidence than helping Mr. Hayes.”
