Alix Tichelman of Folsom, Calif., pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and administering illegal drugs in connection with the 2013 death of Google executive Forrest Hayes.
Prosecutors said Tichelman, 27, administered the drugs to Hayes on board his yacht in the Santa Cruz harbor but left after he passed out and did not call for help with the unconscious victim, who died.
Authorities eventually found the body of Hayes, a married father of five, but were unable to understand what had happened until they discovered a security camera system that included recordings of the encounter, according to the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper.
Camera footage showed Tichelman administering the drugs, stepping over the unconscious Hayes and finishing a glass of wine before closing the ship’s curtains and leaving the vessel without telling anyone, the newspaper said.
“This plea reflects what [the case] was,” Tichelman’s attorney, Larry Biggam, told the newspaper.
“It was an accidental overdose between two consenting adults, coupled with panic and failure to call 911,” Biggam said.
Biggam and Assistant District Attorney Rafael Vazquez had met Monday night to work out the plea bargain, the newspaper said.
Tichelman has already been held for nearly a year in Santa Cruz County jail.
Police found Tichelman using images from the camera and lured back to the Santa Cruz area by posing as a client and promising her $1,000, the newspaper said.
Authorities said Tichelman had met Hayes through a dating website offering “arrangements” between wealthy men and younger women.
Tichelman told police during the investigation that she had more than 200 “client relationships.”
Hayes, who was born in Dearborn, Mich., had a long career with technology companies including stints with Sun Microsystems and Apple before Google, the newspaper said.
