The case against Alix Tichelman, accused of manslaughter in the death of Google Executive Forrest Hayes, was explored in a recent episode of 48 Hours, pushing the case back into the spotlight.

48 Hours Investigates Death Of Forrest Hayes

Hayes was found dead of a heroin overdose on his yacht Nov. 23, 2013. Tichelman, 26, was charged with manslaughter in July after video surveillance showed her walking off Hayes’ yacht on the night of his death. Tichelman maintains her innocence and has entered a plea of not guilty.

Hayes and Tichelman were reportedly engaged in a sexual relationship after meeting on a Sugar Daddy website ‘SeekingArrangement.com’ that involved mutual drug use. The history of their relationship, as well as Tichelman’s life before Hayes’ death, was explored in the episode of 48 Hours, titled “Kiss of Death and the Google Exec.”

Alix Tichelman Caught On Surveillance Video

Police maintain that surveillance video shows Tichelman administering heroin to Hayes and ignoring him when he overdoses, walking away instead of calling for help. Despite the video, authorities do not believe that Tichelman intended to kill Hayes by administering, and possibly providing, the heroin.

“We see her very clearly. She brought all of the equipment with her. She brought the drugs with her,” Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark told 48 Hours.

“We see her prepare the syringe. We see her – it looks like she’s injecting herself, but her back is to the camera. He watches this happen. And then she eventually injects him,” Clark continued.

Tichelman’s attorney, Lawrence Biggam, claimed that it was Hayes who initiated the drug use, not Tichelman. “[Tichelman and Biggam were engaged in] mutual consensual drug usage in the context of a sexual encounter initiated and encouraged by Forrest Hayes,” Biggam told reporters in July.

Clark, however, described Hayes as appearing hesitant to take drugs in the surveillance video, and goes on to criticize Tichelman for her lack of action after Hayes began to overdose. “Almost immediately, he starts to go into distress. At some point, she comes to him. It looks like she tries to revive him a bit…by patting him on the face and talking to him, holding his head as he slumped forward on the chair,” Clark described.

In his television interview, Clark claimed that seven minutes go by before Tichelman is seen leaving the scene. In those seven minutes, Tichelman reportedly sips her wine and moves about the cabin.

“And that’s seen minutes that emergency medical personnel could’ve been there, could have done something and could have reacted to this situation to save Mr. Hayes’ life. But instead, she does nothing, nothing to call for help or to fix this. You know, and that’s the crux of the case,” Clark concluded.

Did Alix Tichelman Kill Dean Riopelle?

As the 48 Hours report shows, police and media are attempting to link Tichelman’s involvement in Hayes’ death to the death of her former fiancé, Dean Riopelle, who also died with heroine in his system just two months before Hayes died. One difference in the case is that Tichelman did call 9-1-1 to report Riopelle’s overdose. She was never charged in the case, but local Atlanta, Ga., authorities are now taking another look at the case.

There are mixed accounts of Tichelman’s relationship with Riopelle, but a close friend of Tichelman, who identified himself as Todd, told reporters that Riopelle was a drinker, but he tried to get Tichelman into rehab. Todd claims that Riopelle went on a bender after discovering an ad Tichelman had posted online, essentially selling herself to men to support her heroin addiction.

“Once he discovered the ad things began to fall apart. Dean desperately loved her. Dean wanted to keep her. But he couldn’t figure out how to reconcile all of this,” Todd said.

Todd told reporters that he believes that Riopelle’s grief led him to experiment with new drugs. An autopsy confirmed Riopelle died of a drug overdose and had traces of heroin, pain killers and alcohol in his system when he died.

Tichelman has entered a plea of not guilty to manslaughter and not guilty to drug and prostitution charges. She is currently being held on a $1.5 million bail. Tichelman will appear in court on Feb. 23.