An OnlyFans creator in San Diego County is facing a murder charge after a client died during a paid fetish session, a case that turns on the line between consent and criminal responsibility in a setting that’s rarely in open court.
Police say they arrived at a home in Escondido in April 2023 to find Michaela Rylaarsdam performing CPR on a 56-year-old man later identified as Michael Dale. Dale was rushed to a hospital and declared brain-dead; he was removed from life support a few days later. Nearly two years passed before detectives arrested Rylaarsdam earlier this year. She is being held without bail and is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 27.
According to a sworn affidavit summarized in court, Dale had paid $11,000 for what the documents describe as a prearranged fetish session. Text messages recovered from Rylaarsdam’s phone show Dale asking her to “wrap him up in saran wrap like a mummy,” glue women’s boots to his feet and pour adhesive on his eyelids, investigators testified. What unfolded, prosecutors say, went far beyond those requests. The affidavit alleges Dale was found with duct tape over his mouth, a plastic bag over his head, additional layers of plastic wrap and tape secured tightly around his face, and wrapping pulled snug around his neck.
The county medical examiner ruled Dale’s death a homicide caused by asphyxiation, concluding the bag had been sealed around his head for at least eight minutes. Detectives also said a video on Rylaarsdam’s phone showed her filming content for her subscription page while Dale lay motionless with the bag, wrap and tape in place. Investigators said they found “no evidence” in the phone data that Dale had asked for a bag to be placed over his head and secured in a way that would prevent breathing.
In testimony at a recent hearing, Detective Chris Zack of the Escondido Police Department walked through the messages and payments he said tied the encounter to the April 2023 date. Andrew Smith, Dale’s roommate, told the court he heard Dale plead, “Can we stop? I’ll pay you more money to stop,” before calling 911. Officer Daniel Edwards, the first to arrive, said he found Dale on his back with his arms bound above his head, tape around his wrists, his legs wrapped and black boots affixed to his feet.
Defense attorneys emphasized that Rylaarsdam did not flee, performed CPR and cooperated with police that night and during a follow-up interview. During cross-examination prosecutors pointed to toxicology results that indicated a high blood alcohol level and medical conditions that could have arguably led to the asphyxiation. Rylaarsdam has denied placing a bag over Dale’s head. Her lawyer has not responded to requests for comment.
A judge denied bond and declined to specify a degree of murder at this stage, saying a jury will decide whether the evidence supports implied malice — the legal theory that someone can be guilty of murder by engaging in conduct so dangerous that death is a foreseeable outcome. The charge underscores a hard reality in the law: consent to risky behavior does not necessarily insulate anyone from criminal liability when death results.
For now, the case moves toward trial with Rylaarsdam in custody and the core dispute intact — what exactly was agreed to, who controlled the scene, and at what point a consensual scenario became a fatal one.
