A brave California police officer, who tragically lost her life while attempting to assist motorists on a highway, was also a victim of a notorious Hollywood producer.

Officer Lauren Craven of the La Mesa Police Department, aged 25, was among the seven women who accused David Pearce of rape. Pearce, a former producer, was apprehended in connection to the 2021 murders of model Christy Giles, 24, and her friend Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola, 26.

During Pearce’s trial, Craven was initially referred to as ‘Jane Doe No. 5.’ However, prosecutors revealed her identity after Pearce was sentenced earlier this week, according to a report by the New York Post.

Pearce, 42, was found guilty of sexually assaulting Craven while she was unconscious in 2020, resulting in a six-year prison sentence for the crime.

In addition to the charges related to Craven, Judge Eleanor Hunter sentenced Pearce to seven years for the other rapes and imposed a maximum sentence of 25 years to life for each of the murders.

‘You’re the worst kind of criminal, Mr Pearce,’ Hunter told Pearce, adding that he thought he was a hotshot who had ‘the whole LA vibe thing going on’ with his ‘duck lips’ and ‘slicked back hair.’ 

‘You’re charming, you’re smart, you’re a manipulator, and you’re extremely goal-driven. 

‘You fit the role … Not once have I seen a genuine issuance of some sort of remorse. No sense of compassion for Hilda and Christie or anyone else,’ Hunter added. 

La Mesa Police Officer Lauren Craven, 25, was one of seven women who came forward with claims that producer David Pearce raped them

Pearce was sentenced Wednesday to six years behind bars for the rape – as well as life sentences for the murders of model Christy Giles, 24, and her friend, Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola, 26

During Pearce’s trial, prosecutors laid out how Pearce piled Cabrales-Arzola and Giles with fatal cocktail drugs on November 13, 2021 at his Beverly Hills home after meeting at a warehouse party a few hours earlier.

The girls were then callously dumped and left for dead outside different hospitals in Los Angeles by two masked men. 

Cabrales-Arzola, a Mexican native who’s been remembered as a ‘big dreamer’, was revived by hospital staff but a lack of oxygen had left her brain dead. 

Her mother and sister rushed to her bedside from abroad where she remained in a coma for nearly two weeks. 

She died on November 24, just five days before her 27th birthday. Giles was already dead when she was dropped off at the hospital. 

At the trial, it was revealed that Pearce told a friend ‘dead girls can’t talk’ which prosecutors said indicated he wanted the girls to perish so they couldn’t report him to police.

He was ultimately found guilty in February for killing the two women as well as a series of brutal sex abuses and rapes on the seven Jane Does, whom prosecutors said he targeted between 2007 and 2021.

Prosecutors laid out how Pearce plied Cabrales-Arzola (right) and Giles (left) with fatal cocktail drugs on November 13, 2021 before dumping their bodies at separate hospitals

He allegedly recruited his actor friend Brandt Osborn, 42, to help him dispose of the bodies

Prosecutors said Pearce also recruited his actor friend Brandt Osborn, 42, to help him dispose of the bodies. 

The NCIS actor then failed to call 911 and waited hours to take the two women to the hospital, prosecutors said. 

But the jury failed to reach a verdict on whether Osborn, who pleaded not guilty, should be convicted on two counts of being an accessory after the fact.

The jury heard how the two men waited 11 hours before they dumped the women’s lifeless bodies outside two different hospitals and fled. 

As doctors tried in vain to resuscitate the women, the two men ate a meal at El Pollo Loco.

Cabrales-Arzola’s sister, Fernanda Cabrales-Arzola, 28, previously told the Daily Mail Pearce should have been behind bars ‘years ago.’ 

It was revealed at the trial that Pearce told a friend ‘dead girls can’t talk’ which prosecutors said indicated he wanted the girls to perish so they couldn’t report him to police

At the sentencing on Wednesday, Judge Eleanor Hunter called Pearce ‘the worst kind of criminal’

The Los Angeles Times reported that the LAPD presented rape allegations against Pearce at least three times between 2007 and 2020, each with twisted similarities to his murder case. 

‘The criminal justice system failed. First, the women who came forward, then those who followed, and ultimately, my sister and Christy,’ she told the Daily Mail. 

‘They paid the highest possible price for a failure that never should have happened. Had the system acted when it should have, he never would have crossed paths with them.’ 

She is, however, relieved that Pearce is finally behind bars for his role in her sister’s gruesome death.

‘We are relieved that it’s finally acknowledged what we’ve known for all these years that what happened was no accident,’ Fernanda said. 

‘They were murdered and that we’ve known from day one.

‘We’re finally happy that that came true and the jury saw that as well and now Pearce will be in jail forever.’

Craven was tragically killed while responding to a rollover crash on October 20

She was attempting to get a statement when another vehicle struck her and the overturned car, killing both her and the driver

But Craven never got to see justice served in her case, as she tragically died the night of October 20.

She had been returning from the San Diego Central Jail at around 10.20pm, when she came across a rollover crash involving two vehicles on Interstate 8.

Craven then got out of her patrol vehicle, radioed for help and began to aid those involved in the collision – which authorities said began when a driver in the eastbound lanes lost control of his vehicle and overturned, before being struck by another car.

While Craven was taking the report of the initial accident, she was struck by another oncoming vehicle that also hit the overturned car, killing both Craven and the driver inside, California Highway Patrol officers said.

They noted that officers on the scene performed lifesaving measures on Craven, but she was pronounced dead before she could be taken to a hospital. 

‘Officer Craven’s actions in her final moments exemplified her unwavering dedication to service and the safety of others – a reflection of how she lived every day,’ the La Mesa Police Department wrote on Instagram following her untimely death.

‘Officer Craven was known for her tenacity, courage and compassion – qualities that inspired her peers and strengthened her community.’

She had joined the force in the patrol unit in February 2024, and was apparently undeterred by her assault, as she went through the police academy twice to achieve her dream of becoming an officer.

‘It has always been my passion to serve others, and there has never been a doubt in my mind being a law enforcement officer is what I was meant to do,’ Craven wrote in a note as she was applying to join the La Mesa police force, Chief Ray Sweeney said. 

‘That’s who Lauren was and that’s how she served and how she will be remembered,’ he explained.