Who is Alix Tichelman?

Meet the tattooed beauty charged in death of Google executive Forrest Hayes.

It all started on this boat the night of Nov. 22, 2013, when Forrest Hayes, a 51-year-old Google executive, met Alix Tichelman, a then-26-year-old aspiring model and makeup artist, on his 46-foot- yacht, “Escape.”

Forrest Hayes

The next morning, Hayes was found dead from an apparent heroin overdose. Police noticed two used wine glasses in the cabin. Their conclusion? Someone else must have been there.

Alix Tichelman

After obtaining security footage from the yacht, police discover that indeed, Hayes had been with someone else that night. That woman was Alix Tichelman.

Young Alix

Tichelman spent the early years of her childhood in Canada. She is pictured in her soccer uniform.

Forrest Hayes’ H.S. photo

Hayes grew up in Dearborn, Michigan, right outside of Detroit. After graduating from the University of Michigan – Dearborn, he took a job working for Ford Motor Company.

Alix Tichelman at Hyde School

As a teenager, Tichelman spent some months at the Hyde School in Bath, Maine.

This scrapbook page was given to “48 Hours” by a roommate during her time at the school. The caption in the photo reads: “look at the cuts on her arm.”

Tichelman’s teen years

Friends say Alix Tichelman began using drugs as a teenager. She would eventually leave Hyde School and attend several other public and private schools. This is 14-year-old Alix in her passport photo.

The Tichelman family

Bart and Leslieann Tichelman, Alix’s parents, are pictured after Bart won a major 2008 poker event. Reports say he won more than $400,000.

In her early teens, the family moved from Canada to a suburb of Atlanta.

Hayes’ Santa Cruz home

Hayes moved to California to pursue a career in technology. He held high-level positions at Sun Microsystems, Apple and Google, where he worked at the company’s most secret division, Google X.

He lived in a $3 million mansion in Santa Cruz — an hour-long commute from his job at Google.

Alix Tichelman & Dean Riopelle

Before Alix Tichelman ever met Hayes, she dated night club owner and former rock singer Dean Riopelle.

Riopelle was a member of the band Impotent Sea Snakes and invited Tichelman to live in his home with him.

Dean Riopelle’s Pet Hobby

Riopelle lived on a ranch where he housed dozens of exotic monkeys. Alix Tichelman loved these monkeys and fondly referred to them as her “babies” on her Twitter page.

Dean Riopelle’s Death

In September 2013, Alix Tichelman called 911 to report Riopelle had overdosed. The autopsy report stated he had toxic levels of heroin, pain killers and alcohol in his system.

Chad Cornell and Alix Tichelman

After Dean Riopelle’s death, Alix Tichelman moved to California to live with her parents. There, she met Chad Cornell, a contractor and part-time musician. They started dating and, as Cornell says, fell in love. They would date for eight months, breaking up only a month before Tichelman’s arrest for the death of Forrest Hayes.

Tichelman’s Texts

Alix Tichelman was also meeting men through the sugar daddy website SeekingArrangement.com.

These are texts Tichelman’s friend, Todd, says she sent to him. In this text, Todd says Tichelman talks about meeting up with one of these “sugar daddies” just a few weeks before she met Hayes.

Todd thinks the man she’s referring to in this text is Forrest Hayes.

“48 Hours” onboard “Escape”

On Nov. 22, 2013,  Hayes and Alix Tichelman meet in this cabin of the “Escape.”

Santa Cruz police say footage from security cameras captured Tichelman injecting herself and then Hayes with heroin. Here, “48 Hours” correspondent Maureen Maher tours the crime scene.

Alix Tichelman’s arrest

Months after Hayes’ death, Alix Tichelman is unaware she’s a suspect, her friend Todd says. Todd also says Alix was ready to leave California and return to Atlanta. The problem is, she has no money to get home. She needs one last “arrangement,” Todd says, to make it back to Georgia.

Knowing she might leave the state, Santa Cruz, Calif., police launch a sting, posing as a “sugar daddy” and asking Tichelman to meet them at the Seascape Hotel in Northern California.

In this text, Todd says Alix reveals her excitement about having the money to go home. However, when Alix arrives at the resort for the date, she is arrested.

Alix Tichelman charged

On July 9, 2014, Alix Tichelman is charged with prostitution and manslaughter in the death of Forrest Hayes.

Alix Pleads Guilty

On May 19, 2015, Tichelman avoided going to trial by pleading guilty to prostitution, possession of drugs and involuntary manslaughter. She was sentenced to six years in jail.

New Developments

Tichelman, 30, completed her sentence and was released from jail on March 29, 2017. Santa Cruz sheriff’s officials turned her over to the custody of Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents the same morning.

On April 7, CBS affiliate KOIN reported Tichelman, who grew up in Georgia, was ordered deported from the U.S. to her native Canada.