Kiss of Death and the Google Exec

0:00Spring always feels like a reset. The days get longer, routines shift, and life starts moving fast again. And when your schedule is packed, complicated wellness habits are usually the first thing to disappear. Gruen's makes that part simpler. Gruen's are a convenient, comprehensive formula packed into a snack pack of gummies a day. This isn't a multivitamin, a greens gummy, or a prebiotic. It's all those things and then some at a fraction of the price. Each serving includes more than 20 vitamins and minerals and 60 ingredients, which include nutrient-dense and whole foods. It also has 6 grams of prebiotic fiber.

0:39That is three times more dietary fiber than leading greens powders and more than two cups of broccoli. And because you can't fit this level of nutrition into just one gummy, Gruen's comes as a full daily pack, making it both functional and easy to work into your routine. With ingredients backed by over 35 ,000 research publications, Grooms is built to simplify wellness when life gets busy. Save up to 52 % off with code hours at grooms.co. That's code hours at G-R-U-N-S dot C-O. There's something about springtime that makes me want to redecorate every room in my home. A fresh start for the season's change.

1:19If you know what I'm talking about, you also know that redesigns can add up really fast. But with Bob's discount furniture, you can keep your home makeover up to date and under budget. From living room upgrades to bedroom essentials, Bob's focuses on stylish, functional pieces at everyday low prices. Their Play Day sectional has built-in bookshelves and a pop-up sleeper for overnight guests. Bob's best-selling Lush mattress comes with high-density Bob-O-Pedic memory foam and a cooling cover. It's priced at$999, and that includes a warranty that Bob says is 10 years longer than the competition.

1:59Then there's the modular Bob sectional featuring family-proof construction, and it comes in multiple colors. Plus, each piece is just$250. So when you're ready to get going on that long-awaited home makeover, Bob wants you to know that there's a better way to score wow-worthy pieces at everyday low prices. Stop into your local Bob's store or shop online and see for yourself.

2:34Santa Cruz is a small coastal town in California. It's at the northern end of Monterey Bay. It looks like paradise. Look at that beach. Look at these mountains. Breathe that air. It's a place where the blind could go sightseeing. And then in recent years, it's become a place that's become more and more favored by the people over the hill in Silicon Valley, that being the people with money. Forrest Hayes started life in the Midwest, in Dearborn, Michigan, and he went out to Silicon Valley where everything was happening. He was hired by Google. He had five kids. And then one day, a friend of his emailed him a picture of a boat that was for sale, and a couple days later he bought it.

3:26The two things he loved were his family and being on his boat. He called it escape. I think that some part of him really wanted to, like, taste that other side of life, that kind of darker side, wilder, more exotic side of life.

3:48On the night of November 22nd, 2013, Forrest Hayes was on his yacht, and he didn't come home that night. And his wife became concerned, and she called the captain they retained for this yacht. And he went and he got on the boat, and there's Forrest Hayes lying there dead. The detectives arrive and they start looking at the scene and it turned out he had in fact died of a heroin overdose. There was a visible injection mark in his arm but they don't see drugs. But you do see two wine glasses. Detective 101, someone else has been there. And the question is who? At that point, we realized that's our person.

4:37That's who we're going after. And 157, time is 808. What is the truth behind how Forrest Hayes died? How did he find himself in this situation, in this position that took his life? Who was on that boat? Then they're looking around and they see there's cameras. There was indeed somebody else there. A very beautiful, dark-haired woman. They note that she has these tattoos. And they also probably figure that Forrest didn't meet her, like, you know, at parent-teacher night. This is Alex Tickleman. Do you think Alex Tickleman knew that Forrest Hayes was dying right there in front of her? I don't see how she didn't know.

5:28The detectives then discovered that this was not the first time Alex Tickleman had been with somebody who died of a drug overdose. Is this woman a cold blooded killer? She certainly was cold.

6:08When he's not out looking for the big wave, there's a big story that has consumed Stephen Baxter, a reporter for the Santa Cruz Sentinel and a 48 Hours consultant. the mysterious death of Google executive Forrest Hayes at the city's sprawling marina. Forrest Hayes was 51 years old. He lived in a pretty upper crust neighborhood. He was a pretty high-powered guy and obviously had a lot of assets. I mean, he lived in a$3 million house in Santa Cruz. In 2013, one of the boats docked in Santa Cruz Harbor was this majestic 46-foot-long yacht called The Escape. It belonged to Google executive Forrest Hayes.

6:54Not surprisingly, the tech exec outfitted his boat with some of the most expensive tech gear out there, about$200 ,000 worth, including a sophisticated security system complete with high-def cameras. Inside, Hayes spared no expense on creature comforts, including a leather ceiling and an$8 ,000 captain's chair. I think he was practical and imaginative at the same time. The Google executive's death caught the attention of Michael Daly. He's an investigative reporter for the Daily Beast in New York and also a 48 Hours consultant. Forrest Hayes started in his native Michigan, working at the Ford Motor Company.

7:40He went to California for Sun Microsystems, and he went on to Apple, and then he went on to Google. For a high-paying job at their top-secret location, where impossible dreams are transformed into reality. He was hired to work in Google X, which they called their moonshot factory. You know, the most extreme, wildest, imaginative, farthest-reaching ideas they could have, you know, like Google glasses, self-driving cars. He was the guy who was actually going to make some of these things happen. A place so secretive that colleagues from Google X refused to divulge exactly what Hayes did there. To get away from the pressures of work, Boris Hayes would head to the marina and on to his prized possession.

8:30One of the larger boats in the harbor, I think that's fair to say. What police would eventually discover was Hayes, the married father of five, had a secret liaison. She was a young and exotic dark-haired woman covered with very distinctive tattoos. And she would be the last person to see Forrest Hayes alive. Hayes' body was found lying here in the main cabin. The captain immediately called 911, but surprisingly, it would take months before the Google executive's death made headlines. There was no really report of his death. Obviously, the police in this case were trying to keep that under wraps as they investigated.

9:18Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark. One, two, two. Clark has been on this case since day one. The media is going to want to know right off the bat, who is it, who's responsible, is this a homicide, is this a murder? We didn't have enough to really even put that out. We were busy building the case. Which wasn't easy, despite some initial crime scene clues. There were two wine glasses there, both which appeared to have been used. Investigators zeroed in on Hayes' cell phone, launching an exhaustive digital search. Then, a stunning discovery. Hayes had a profile page on a dating website called SeekingArrangement.com.

10:04It would be a critical clue in learning the identity of that mystery tattooed woman. It was just a few days before Thanksgiving 2013. What happened that night was recorded by the boat's video cameras. This camera in particular caught the very last moments of Hay's life in chilling detail. Initially we were told that the video wasn't available from that particular camera that actually showed the cabin of the boat. There was indeed video that was uploaded to a cloud server, and video from that camera was indeed available. That was one of those moments where you feel like, you know, it was fourth and one and you got a first down.

10:46Actually, it took three months and a court order for detectives to get their hands on that video. And when they did, it was explosive. That video was shocking to me. What do you see on this video? Well, the video is everything. The video is the case. Police have yet to release the video, but described in detail to 48 Hours exactly what they say happened that night between the couple. Essentially, it was a party for two, drugs included. They greet each other, a quick hug, just a quick embrace. You can see that they're engaged in conversation, but there's no audio. And then eventually she gets to the point where she starts to prepare drugs for injection.

11:35She brought all of the equipment with her. She brought the drugs with her. As police would learn, the drug of choice that night was heroin. We see her prepare the syringe. We see her, it looks like she's injecting herself, but her back's to the camera. He watches this happen, and then she eventually injects him.

12:00Do you feel like at any point when you're watching the video that this is a guy who is afraid and doesn't want to do this? I get the impression he's nervous, he's uncertain, but he's going along with it. And what happens then? Almost immediately he starts to go into distress. At some point she comes to him and 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. And you or I, if we found ourselves in that situation, would have been on the phone to 911 saying, oh my gosh, something terrible has happened, we need help.

12:43And she does none of that. Instead, Clark says the video shows the woman trying to remove any evidence that she was ever there, wiping fingerprints and cleaning up her drug paraphernalia. While he's slumped over on the floor? While he's on the floor. She's stepping over him? She is literally walking around the cabin of the boat, stepping over him, grabbing her glass of wine, carrying it around the boat cabin with her. Clark says that portion of the video, with Hayes on the floor of the cabin, goes on for seven minutes. And that's seven minutes that emergency medical personnel could have been there, could have done something, and could have reacted to the situation to save Mr.

13:29Haynes' life. But instead, she does nothing, nothing to call for help or to fix this. And that's the crux of the case. Armed with that video, police hit pay dirt. They were able to match the woman with those distinctive tattoos to a profile on the dating website Hayes had used. She was a 26-year-old aspiring model. Her name? Alex Tickleman.

14:06Springtime's the perfect time to turn the page and refresh your home style. The only problem? It can be expensive. Luckily, there's a better way to shop well-worthy pieces for less. At Bob's Discount Furniture, Bob's negotiates with manufacturers to get you the best everyday low prices, giving the shopping power back to you. The power to get more style, comfort, and quality for less on amazing pieces, like stylish mid-century dining sets made for hosting those big spring brunches, pop-up sleeper sectionals with all the bells and whistles so you can turn any room into a guest room, and next-level Bob-O-Pedic mattresses so you can get a great night's rest after you've finished redecorating every room.

14:43So, when you're ready to spring into new style, stop into your nearest store or shop online and see how you can get wow-worthy style for less with Bob's Discount Furniture. Thinking about GLP-1s to help with weight loss? Go micro with Noom! You start off with a small dose of medication, then gradually increase as your body reacts. The Noom GLP-1 microdose program starts at$79 and is delivered to your door in 7 days. Start your microdose GLP-1 journey today at Noom.com. That's N-O-O-M dot com. Noom. Microchanges. Big results. Initial three-week subscription and four weeks of medication from$79 plus tax and$179 per month plus tax for 12-week subscription thereafter.

15:19Final pricing depends on program selection.

15:30The wealthy Google executive found the exotic beauty in a somewhat secret world where real names are rarely used. Technically, Alex Tickleman and Forrest Hayes met here in Las Vegas, not at an upscale casino or a fancy hotel lobby bar, but rather through an online website, which is headquartered just a stone's throw from the Strip. And as 48 Hours discovered, it's not your typical dating website.

16:03What year did you start seeking arrangement? It was started in 2006 from a bedroom in San Francisco, actually. It may have the look and feel of a startup, but with nearly 4 million members worldwide, this is big business. What is Seeking Arrangement? SeekingArrangement.com is a sugar daddy dating website. So we match wealthy guys and girls looking to pimp and spoil. And of course younger men and women looking to meet those wealthy people. CEO Brandon Wade, a boyish 43-year-old, says he's become a multi-millionaire from all the arranging he's been doing. Is Seeking Arrangement about arranging sexual relationships for money?

16:47It is about finding romance and passion. I'm unapologetic about the fact that sex is involved in a romantic relationship and money is involved in a romantic relationship, but that doesn't make the romantic relationship prostitution. Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark, the point man in the Hayes death case, strongly disagrees. It doesn't take a Sherlock Holmes to take a look at that website and figure out exactly what was going on there. The titles of the individuals are sugar babies and sugar daddies. There's no innocent connotation there behind any of that. What is budget? That's what he's willing to spend?

17:24That's his sort of lifestyle. So it could be going out for dinners, paying for that, going on trips. Okay, so does a woman think you're going to spend$3 ,000 on me? A sugar baby thinks you're going to spend$3 ,000? Yeah, on the relationship. Okay. Wade is proud that his membership ranks include employees of leading Fortune 500 companies, including, he says, from Google. Was Forrest Hayes a typical client of yours? I would say he is an average client of ours. Married, tech executive, looking for some sort of arrangement. Yep, 40 % of the guys I marry. It's unknown if Hayes was fulfilling the, quote, expectations, unquote, of any sugar baby's lifestyle requests, which range from$1 ,000 to over$10 ,000 in monthly sugar daddy gifts.

18:14Can you tell us anything about Alex Tickleman's profile on Seeking Arrangement? Well, the only thing I can say is that it looked like any other normal profile, so it was approved, and there was no indication that she was soliciting money for sex, at least not with that profile. After Hayes' death, investigators began tracking Alex Tickleman on social media. Fearing she might leave town, they hatched a plan to catch her. using SeekingArrangement.com. Reporter Stephen Baxter. When she posted on Facebook something to the effect of, I plan to go back to Georgia, that's when they decided to really go in and pursue her on the same website just the way Forrest had and pose as a John and lure her back to Santa Cruz.

19:04We started seeing chatter from her that indicated she was either going to move out of the country or out of the state. Now there's a clock on this because she's about to head south. So they do kind of a classic sting. We sold out our detective and made him set up a profile under a different identity and made up a whole story about him. We then posted that out there and we reached out to Alex Tickleman through seeking arrangement. Codename Sebastian, that detective began emailing and texting with Tickleman, hoping for a rendezvous. Eventually, we convinced her to come down and meet with us for an agreed-upon arrangement for sex, for prostitution, and for a sum of money.

19:50Police deposited some money, several hundred dollars, into her bank account with a promise of at least$1 ,000 upon arrival and everything else. This did not appear to you that this was the first time she had negotiated such a situation? No, in fact, she kind of called us out, called us a cheapskate and told us that many of her clients pay twice that. Eight months after the death of Forrest Hayes, Alex Tickleman once again showed up in Santa Cruz County, this time at the secluded resort behind me. Once again, she came with heroin in her bag, expecting to hook up with the sugar daddy from seeking arrangement.

20:27And once again, it did not go as planned. When you said we're the cops and we're the ones you've been communicating with, what was her reaction? Oh, she cried, she panicked. That's when we saw panic. 26-year-old Alex Tickleman was stunned. Police arrested her for prostitution and charged her in the death of Forrest Hayes. This was a crime. This wasn't just some accident gone awry. Mr. Hayes is a victim of the murder committed by Alex Tickleman. Or was he? What happened that night, say Alex's defenders, is much more complicated.

21:31For me, I mean, she was somebody completely different. Perhaps no one was more surprised by the arrest of Alex Tickleman than struggling musician Chad Cornell. He was in love with her. When I first saw her, you know, I couldn't help but to say something. She has a very darker style. You know, I just thought she was really beautiful, almost like the, you know, Angelina Jolie kind of look. Chad had no idea how dark her life really was. Did you believe she was falling in love with you? I did. Chad thought his girlfriend was a model. There were countless images, a swimsuit commercial, and a makeup tutorial she did online.

22:18Just going to apply liberally. Pretty, pretty, pretty. Okay. And as far as Chad could tell, she was always answering modeling calls. She'd get all dolled up and go to a photo shoot. She'd usually make about$1 ,000 or so once you go out to these modeling shoots. So imagine how he felt to learn months later that his beloved girlfriend was now being accused of doing something altogether different for all that money. I got the text with the news link on it and kind of just fell over on the couch like in shock The woman he once thought he'd spend the rest of his life with was now not only charged with prostitution But also in the death of Google executive Forrest Hayes What are you thinking?

23:12This is a woman you were in love with Yeah, I mean obviously I was devastated, you know, I turned white As the news sank in to his complete amazement, Chad realized that just hours before Alex met up with Forrest on that fateful night, she was with him. We were hanging out that day, actually, and she told me that some of her longtime high school friends were in Santa Cruz and had a boat and she had planned to go hang out with them. And then later on that night, she actually woke me up out of bed with a phone call. She was really frantic on the phone. She sounded very upset. What was she talking about?

23:54She talked about how her friends had started doing heroin and a bunch of hardcore drugs on the boat and made her uncomfortable and that she had to leave. But you believed on that call that she sounded genuinely upset. Crying, sniffling, I mean, upset, upset. Because the truth he now knows was much worse. And it's left him wondering whether he ever really knew who Alex was. Who is Alex Tickleman, right? Who is she? Reporter Michael Daly did what police investigators did. And using the tools of Forrest's employer, he Googled her. This, the police discovered, was Alex Tickleman's Twitter account.

24:37Calling herself A.K. Kennedy XX. X. One X short of triple X. Baddest bitch, model, stylist, hustler, exotic dancer. Those are her words. These are the pictures to go with the words. This has the charming inscription, to death do us part. You might start believing less in coincidence on seeing that. But to Daly, Alex's postings looked more like someone trying to create an image, rather than someone obsessed with killing. That's because he came across this photo. My beautiful mother and I out to lunch, no makeup face. And this is a young woman who wants to be with mom. Alex posted it just months before her arrest for Forrest's death.

25:25It makes you think that there's a fuller story. So how did it come to this? Childhood pictures show a cute blonde tomboy who appeared to have all the advantages in life. Growing up with her sister Monica, who would become an investment counselor, her mother Leslie Ann, and her father Bart, a CEO for a technology company, and a pretty good poker player. And he, at one point, found himself playing with some of the best poker players in the world, and he won like$400 ,000. Alex spent her early teens in an Atlanta suburb where she played sports and won writing awards. Her friends say that she's very smart, very deep.

26:09But also very troubled. Her experiences with boys were not always happy ones. And she had eating disorders. She was taking drugs.

26:26Desperate, her parents went looking for help and located a school that they thought would give her special attention So they found this place called the Hyde School in Maine We are in Maine, en route to Hyde Megan was a student at the Hyde School where Alex spent a few months I can feel like pressure in my chest It's nerve-wracking. She asked us not to use her last name, but agreed to travel back to the Hyde School campus. I want people to see this very pivotal part of her life that I feel probably affected her at a very huge point in her development, why she is who she is. Do you remember when you first met Alex?

27:11Do you happen to remember the very first time you saw her? 100%. She was gorgeous, and she was very awkward. The cute blonde girl next door was long gone. She barely ate. She was very skinny. She was real thin. She was emotionally kind of closed off. I think the big question then is why? What had happened to her? I don't know the truth to that. She never really told me there was a specific catalyst. But Megan says Alex did hint at some traumatic events. We talked about the fact that we had issues trusting men. We had become numb to a lot of things. Alex had started cutting herself. This is a photo of Alex, her then bunkmate put in a scrapbook.