man dubbed the Hollywood Ripper has been found guilty of brutally killing Ashton Kutcher’s ex-girlfriend by stabbing her 47 times just hours before she was about to go on a date with the actor.
Evil Michael Gargiulo also murdered a mum-Of-four and tried to kill another woman in his cold-blooded spree which happened in the Los Angeles area between 2001 and 2008.
He “took pleasure in plunging a knife into his victims over and over again, leaving them to die and be found by their loved ones”, a court previously heard.
Gargiulo, described as a “serial, psychosexual, thrill killer”, was a neighbour of each of the women at the time of the attacks.
He gave no reaction when the verdicts were read on Thursday, and could now face the death penalty if he is found to have been sane at the time of his crimes.
During the murder trial – which lasted almost four months – sick details emerged about the 43-year-old, including how he had studied forensics, researched serial killers like Ted Bundy and read a book about how to kill people.
Gargiulo, an air conditioning repairman, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ashton’s ex girlfriend Ashley Ellerin, 22, and mother-of-four Maria Bruno, 32.
He also tried to kill Michelle Murphy, 26, but she managed to fight him off and survived.
Gargiulo is currently awaiting trial in Illinois for the 1993 killing of 18-year-old Tricia Pacaccio when he was 17.
A jury handed down the verdict after three days of deliberations on two charges of murder and one of attempted murder.
Prosecutors said he stabbed his victims quickly, powerfully and repeatedly with a knife ‘that he knew how to use and that he studied ways to cover his tracks.’
Ashley Ellerin had been stabbed 47 times, with wounds of up to six inches deep over her chest, stomach, neck and back in February 2001 at her Hollywood Hills home.
While Maria Bruno was stabbed to death at her home in the Los Angeles suburb of El Monte in 2005.
In 2008, Gargiulo also tried to murder Michelle Murphy, the only surviving victim who led to his arrest.
Ms. Murphy was attacked while she was lying in bed in her Santa Monica apartment but she miraculously managed to fight him off.
During the trial, prosecutor Dan Akemon said that all the women were young, good-looking and had a zest for life, and all lived near Gargiulo.
“He targeted them for murder and … attacked all of them with a knife,” Mr. Akemon said.
He added that Gargiulo “watched and waited” for “the perfect opportunity” to kill in “blitz-style knife attacks and then escape detection.”
Assistant District Attorney Garrett Dameron had also told the trial: “He [Gargiulo] took precautions not to leave evidence behind.
He never left behind any weapon of article of clothing and he disposed of that evidence.
“He researched other serial killers, like Bundy. He told people he knew how to leave no fingerprints.
Source: The Mirror
