A makeup artist, writer and model who loves monkeys and struggles with demons.
That’s how Alix Catherine Tichelman, 26, describes herself on various social media sites.
Alix Catherine Tichelman
A Facebook profile shows modeling shots of Tichelman in varying states of undress and examples of her poetry. It gives a glimpse into the life of the woman, an alleged prostitute who is accused in the death of a Google executive.
Tichelman appeared in court Wednesday in Santa Cruz, California, where she faces a series of charges in the death of Forrest Timothy Hayes, 51. The married father of five was found dead in November on his 50-foot yacht.
Authorities say Tichelman gave him an injection of heroin and then, as he began to die, she sipped her wine, gathered her belongings and walked away.
She has not entered a plea.
Not much is known about Tichelman, but her presence on social media offers some clues. For example, she went to high school in Duluth, just north of Atlanta, and studied journalism at Georgia State University.
Another one of her Facebook profiles says she worked at Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club and as an exotic dancer in San Francisco.
“life is great. i am seriously blessed as a motherf*****. a great boyfriend, nice house, monkeys, loving family…doesn’t get any better than this i don’t think,” Tichelman posted in January 2013.
On Friday July 4, 2014, detectives from the Santa Cruz Police Department arrested Alix Catherine Tichleman, 26, for the
murder of Forrest Timothy Hayes, 51, of Santa Cruz.
She strikes a more somber note in her poetry, which is posted to one of her Facebook profiles.
Tichelman talked about drugs in one piece, dated November 2012, entitled “heroin.” It reads:
“this private downward spiral-this suffocating blackhole
makes you feel so warm inside,
yet makes your heart so cold.
each day takes it’s toll,
your thoughts become emotionless,
your soul feels too old.
the demons whispers to me ever so lightly,
he never let’s go of his hold,
taking everything from me,
I’ll end up dying alone.”
‘My beloved Dean!’
On Facebook and Twitter, Tichelman posted photographs and messages about a former boyfriend, Dean Riopelle, a club owner in Atlanta.
Riopelle died at his home in Milton, Georgia, just two months before Hayes, the Google executive.
The medical examiner ruled Riopelle’s death an accidental overdose from heroin and alcohol. “At the time, we never thought anything different,” Capt. Shawn McCarty of Milton police told CNN on Thursday.
Now authorities are taking a new look at that death “to make sure there’s nothing (else) to it,” he said.
Tichelman also was arrested last year in Atlanta and charged with battery and false report of a crime. The details of that incident were unclear.
“I don’t have to forgive, but that doesn’t mean I can’t let it go. Knowing that my life is better than theirs, i have an amazing boyfriend who takes care of me, and a sound and clear conscience when I go to sleep at night. Priceless,” Tichelman wrote on Facebook in June 2012.
The same month, she posted a smiling photograph of her and Riopelle, as well as a photograph of a ring.
“thank you to my beloved Dean! ** black & white diamond promise ring ** always and forever,” she wrote in a post to accompany the image.
Monkeys and Marilyn Manson
Her boyfriend wasn’t the only thing Tichelman loved.
On Facebook and Twitter, she talked about her love for the TV show “Dexter,” her mom, Marilyn Manson and monkeys. Several photographs show her cuddling and playing with the tiny creatures.
“Dexter is so frealin’ (sic) good! Can’t believe I haven’t watched it earlier. #lovableserialkiller,” Tichelman tweeted in November 2012.
Many of her posts are fun and light-hearted. She wrote about working on a novel, modeling projects, setting up a makeup tutorial and her preference for steak and potatoes over turkey and stuffing for Thanksgiving.
In the tutorial, posted to YouTube, Tichelman stares straight at the camera as she applies eye makeup. She wears lingerie, which shows off tattoos across her chest and arms. Candles, flowers and stuffed animals can be seen in the background.
“I will be thin and pure like a glass cup. Empty. Pure as light. Music. I move my hands over my body – my shoulders, my collarbone, my rib cage, my hip bones like part of an animal skull, my small thighs. In the mirror my face is pale and my eyes look bruised.
“My hair is pale and thin and the light comes through. I could be a lot younger than twenty four. I could be a child still, untouched,” Tichelman wrote on Facebook in April 2012, quoting, with a slight tweak, “The Hanged Man,” a book by Francesca Lia Block.
In other posts, she sounds angry and unforgiving, as she does in this note, posted to Facebook in May 2012. It reads, in part:
“Sick of the lies and all the pain you have given me,
Wrapped up in a bow like I thought it was supposed to be
But now you’re laying in a box, waiting to suffocate,
Saving your last breath as you scratch at your coffin case.
I know I’m crazy, but vengeance is mine,
The dirt that pours in your mouth into your eyes,
Never thought I would see you so surprised
Cause im watching up above as you choke on the dirt
Bury the lies and the memories cause all you’ve done is hurt.”
