Serial Killer Michael Gargiulo aka The Hollywood Ripper (Crime Documentary)
- 6 years ago
Michael Thomas Gargiulo (born February 15, 1976) is an American alleged serial killer who may have killed as many as ten women.
Gargiulo is accused of brutally stabbing three women to death and attempting to murder a fourth.
He is a native of Glenview, Illinois, where he stabbed his neighbor, 18-year-old Tricia Pacaccio to death on her back doorstep. Her corpse was found by her father the morning after on August 14, 1993. She was stabbed 47 times. Gargiulo moved to Los Angeles in 1998, allegedly to escape scrutiny from police in Illinois. And, quite clearly, to continue repeating his interest in mutilating women.
Gargiulo is accused of three murders in Southern California between 2001 and 2008. On February 21, 2001, he allegedly stabbed Ashley Ellerin 47 times to death in her home in Hollywood. Ashley was left to die with ""a gaping wound to her neck, so deep that only her spinal cord kept her head from being severed. The rest of her body was covered with deep puncture wounds—to her chest, stomach, and back—some up to six inches deep. One of the blows “actually penetrated the skull and took out a chunk of skull like a puzzle piece,” Ellerin was dating Ashton Kutcher at the time and they had planned to go to a post-Grammy-Award party the night she was killed. He allegedly stabbed his neighbor, Maria Bruno, to death at her home in El Monte, California, on December 1, 2005. She was stabbed 17 times. He is charged with the attempted murder of his neighbor, Michelle Murphy, in her home in Santa Monica on April 28, 2008. She fought off the attack, and blood matching Gargiulo's DNA was found at the scene.
Gargiulo was arrested by the Santa Monica Police Department on June 6, 2008. On July 7, 2011, Gargiulo was charged with the first-degree murder of Tricia Pacaccio. Although Gargiulo is charged in the two California murders as well as the Pacaccio murder in Chicago, police have not linked him to any other murders. Gargiulo allegedly told authorities in the Los Angeles County Jail that just because 10 women were killed — and his DNA was present — doesn’t mean he murdered anyone, leading investigators to believe that there are more victims.
Media in Los Angeles dubbed Gargiulo the ""Hollywood Ripper"" as well as the ""Chiller Killer.""
Gargiulo is being held at Los Angeles County Jail awaiting a capital murder trial. A pre-trial hearing was held June 9, 2017, in Los Angeles Superior Court with his trial scheduled to begin in October 2017.
Gargiulo is accused of brutally stabbing three women to death and attempting to murder a fourth.
He is a native of Glenview, Illinois, where he stabbed his neighbor, 18-year-old Tricia Pacaccio to death on her back doorstep. Her corpse was found by her father the morning after on August 14, 1993. She was stabbed 47 times. Gargiulo moved to Los Angeles in 1998, allegedly to escape scrutiny from police in Illinois. And, quite clearly, to continue repeating his interest in mutilating women.
Gargiulo is accused of three murders in Southern California between 2001 and 2008. On February 21, 2001, he allegedly stabbed Ashley Ellerin 47 times to death in her home in Hollywood. Ashley was left to die with ""a gaping wound to her neck, so deep that only her spinal cord kept her head from being severed. The rest of her body was covered with deep puncture wounds—to her chest, stomach, and back—some up to six inches deep. One of the blows “actually penetrated the skull and took out a chunk of skull like a puzzle piece,” Ellerin was dating Ashton Kutcher at the time and they had planned to go to a post-Grammy-Award party the night she was killed. He allegedly stabbed his neighbor, Maria Bruno, to death at her home in El Monte, California, on December 1, 2005. She was stabbed 17 times. He is charged with the attempted murder of his neighbor, Michelle Murphy, in her home in Santa Monica on April 28, 2008. She fought off the attack, and blood matching Gargiulo's DNA was found at the scene.
Gargiulo was arrested by the Santa Monica Police Department on June 6, 2008. On July 7, 2011, Gargiulo was charged with the first-degree murder of Tricia Pacaccio. Although Gargiulo is charged in the two California murders as well as the Pacaccio murder in Chicago, police have not linked him to any other murders. Gargiulo allegedly told authorities in the Los Angeles County Jail that just because 10 women were killed — and his DNA was present — doesn’t mean he murdered anyone, leading investigators to believe that there are more victims.
Media in Los Angeles dubbed Gargiulo the ""Hollywood Ripper"" as well as the ""Chiller Killer.""
Gargiulo is being held at Los Angeles County Jail awaiting a capital murder trial. A pre-trial hearing was held June 9, 2017, in Los Angeles Superior Court with his trial scheduled to begin in October 2017.