The Hollywood Ripper 

Hollywood… a city full of dreamers all aspiring to become the next big thing. Singers, models, directors, actors and in this case, murderers. Our episode this week features wanna be actor turned serial killer, Michael Gargiulo, otherwise known as the “Hollywood Ripper”, “The Boy Next Door Killer” and my personal favourite, “The Chiller Killer.”

So, grab a cup of your favorite poison and get comfy, this one is a goodie! But be warned as this story is not for the faint-hearted.

It was the night of February 21, 2001. The LA air was still hot in the early evening. 21-year-old Fashion student Ashley Ellerin, sat in front of a large mirror in her hollywood bungalow applying her eyeliner with steady confidence. Her hair was still wet across her back, she could feel the water dripping down her spine. Reminding her that she needed to hurry up and get ready. She needed to curl her hair. He would be here soon.

Her designer dress all zipped up and her pair of heels sat waiting at the bedroom door. The energy in the room was exhilarating, she was pumped for that evening - she had a hot date with a hot Hollywood hunk, Ashton Kutcher. She still couldn’t believe that she was dating the handsome actor from “That 70’s Show”. They had arranged to go to an afterparty for the Grammy Awards and she couldn’t wait to hobnob with the elite, just think of all the connections to the fashion world she could make. 

With one last flick of the wrist and a squirt of perfume, she reached for her curling iron but stopped when she heard a noise… it was quiet. Probably nothing, she shrugged to herself.

She glanced at her watch, he was late, he should be here by now.  

But where was Ashton? 

Again, she heard a noise downstairs, thinking it might have been Ashton she called out. “I’m up here, won’t be much longer!”

She heard the front door open and close. Footsteps thudded softly against the carpet, then went silent. He must have sat down in the living room. She turned back to the mirror and gasped at the figure standing silently behind her.

“Michael? What are you doing here?”

But before she could realize what was happening, he had shoved her backward and slammed the door closed behind him. Her date night had turned into a nightmare, one that she would not awaken from. 

Kutcher raced the winding the streets in his sports car to Ashley’s house, preparing himself for the trouble that awaited him, she was going to be pissed for sure. When he pulled up the house, he glanced at his watch and grimaced:  11 pm. He was in big trouble all right. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door and waited. No answer. He knocked again, louder this time. No answer. He peered through the closest windows and didn’t see her; he did however see red wine stains on the floor. She was most likely mad at him, had a glass of wine and went to bed. Sighing in resignation, he turned around and left the house. He would call her in the morning. Spoiler alert, he didn’t! Well he did but she didn’t answer.. I wonder why?

That morning, one of Ashley’s roommates, Jennfier Disisto, had returned home, tired from a late night out. As she entered the house the hairs on her neck stood up, she couldn’t explain it, but something felt wrong. The red stains on the floor caught her attention, someone must have spilt red wine… what else could it be? 

Her question was answered rather horrifically when she walked up the staircase. Lying on the landing outside her bedroom door was Ashley. The floor around her was soaked in a pool of dark red blood.  The nightmare carried on in the bathroom, the walls and floor were covered in blood splatter, like someone had dipped their paintbrush into a bucket of red paint and flicked it around the room. The roommate barely noticed that the hairdryer still sat on the counter, or that the bathtub was still damp…the killer had just left. She called the police. 

The call came through to the LAPD at around 9:15am that morning, and detective Tom Small had answered the call. Upon arriving at the scene, the police were shocked at the gruesome sight before them. It was a bloodbath. 

Small, who had been on the force for many years, described it as one of the most gruesome crime scenes he has ever encountered. According to police she was stabbed in her front, back, neck and the back of her head.  The wounds and scratches on her hands and arms suggested that they were defense wounds, she fought desperately against her attacker. The coroner stated that she had been stabbed 47 times, some at least 6 inches deep, and the cut on her neck was so deep that her head was nearly decapitated. There was just blood everywhere. Detectives soon realised that her body had been moved and posed on the carpet.  After speaking to Ashley’s loved ones, detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department began looking for a man whom her friends referred to as “Mike the furnace man,” they eventually found his full name and a driving license ID photo.

When the news of this brutal crime came out, the world was shocked. How could somebody do this? 

Let’s rewind a little to 14 August 1993, Glenview Illinois. 18-year-old Tricia Pacaccio had been found dead on the backstep of her apartment. Her father had found her body, she had succumbed to her stab wounds. Police confirmed that she had a broken arm and was stabbed 12 times. The evening before Tricia had met up with some friends for dinner and a scavenger hunt, as a celebration for graduating high school and one last get-together before everyone headed off for college. After dropping off her friends, she arrived home at 1 am. 

Police were unable to find her killer or a motive. The case went cold.

With the development in technology and DNA analysis Cook County Sheriffs had begun to re-examine evidence from the case and had the DNA found at the scene retested. They were able to find a match from the samples they had collected from each person who had been in contact with Tricia before her murder. That match was Michael Gargiulo. Around the corner from Gargiulo’s boyhood home lived the Pacaccio family. Doug Pacaccio was a friend of Gargiulo’s, and they both attended Glenbrook South High School with Doug’s older sister, Tricia. This homicide would later earn Gargiulo the sick nickname, “The Boy Next Door Killer.”

Gargiulo had driven Tricia to a friend’s house in his car two days before her murder and was questioned by authorities. No charges were ever filed against him, and the case was handed over to the cold case squad. But with their new evidence they weren’t going to give up, they suspected it was him. 

But there was a slight hitch in their investigation as Michael Gargiulo had left the state and moved to California to avoid the cops and see about starting his acting career. 

It was 2002, and a couple of the cops from Cook County flew out to California to ask the LAPD for assistance in finding Gargiulo. When they arrived at the station they were in for a very pleasant surprise. 

Tom Small recalls the Cook County cops asking if they had seen Gargiulo, to which he responded, “Well, right now he's a potential suspect in a murder investigation. What do you guys have?" It was an unbelievable coincidence that they should find him just like that. Detectives from the LAPD discovered that Gargiulo would visit Ashely Ellerin's house at odd hours or would often sit outside her house in his car late at night. Yeah, I think we’re all picking up major stalker vibes here with this guy. 

Cook County police eventually tracked him down and had a DNA sample taken at a hospital emergency room. It wasn’t easy as he refused to give them the sample but eventually caved. It was a positive match with genetic material found underneath Tricia Pacaccio's fingernails. He was snookered….or was he?

The Cook County State attorney's office, however, refused to indict Gargiulo, claiming the DNA could have been exchanged through casual contact. And to rub salt into the wounds of the victim’s family, the LAPD were not able to find any physical evidence linking him to Ashley’s death, so no charges were filed against him. He got away with it … for now.

And so began a growing of victims.

In late 2005 Gargiulo, who had now considered himself a free man, had moved into an apartment with a woman in El Monte, located in East Los Angeles. Life was good for him and got even better when a lady by the name of Maria Bruno moved in. Maria was 32 years old and had four children, although at the time her ex-husband Irving had custody of them. Maria was recently divorced and was ready to start her new life, the apartment she had chosen was known for its good security. She was excited and was enjoying her new home when tragedy struck only 10 days later. 

On December 1st, 2005, Gargiulo snuck into the apartment via the kitchen window where he entered Maria’s room and found her sleeping, vulnerable and defenseless. It was there he attacked her.

The next morning the ex-husband on a welfare check, entered the apartment and found her mutilated body. he immediately called 911 to report the horrors he had uncovered.

Police were in for another gruesome murder scene. Upon arrival they noticed that she had been stabbed 17 times in the chest, her throat had been slit so badly her head hung precariously as if decapitated. And what was most shocking and disturbing was that her breasts had been severed.

Like his other murders, Gargiulo had posed the body before leaving the apartment. Leaving behind a wake of bloody bodies and grieving families. Police recognized this detail from the 2 previous murders. The only clue found at the crime scene was a blue surgical shoe slipper, which contained a drop of Bruno’s blood and was discovered outside her apartment. They began their search for the killer. 

Gargiulo was on a roll. At least 3 brutally murdered women under his belt. The high he felt; controlling, killing, mutilating. He needed more. Enter 26-year-old Michelle Murphey. 

It was 2008 and Gargiulo had moved in with yet another girlfriend, this guy was obviously killer in the bedroom… get it? Too soon? Oh dear. 

The Santa Monica apartment they moved into was opposite from Michelle Murphey’s, and he soon discovered that he could see directly into her bedroom from his second-story window. Michelle for the love of god keep your blinds closed and doors locked! Don’t you know who just moved in!? 

It’s April 28th, 2008 around 10:15 pm. Michelle turned off the lights and went to bed. She was awakened less than an hour after falling asleep. She recalled opening her eyes to see a hooded figure standing over her and before she could even blink, he was on top of her, his legs straddling her, holding her down.  In court she told the jury: “I could tell it was a knife. I thought it was serrated. I grabbed at the knife... with both hands. I wrapped my hands around the blade... I was trying to hold the knife and get some leverage to stop him from stabbing me. I was still being stabbed. I was just trying to wiggle around to keep from getting hit.”

Murphey was stabbed numerous times on her arms, chest, shoulders and abdomen, there was just blood everywhere. At 5 feet she wasn’t particularly tall or big but fought with every fibre of her strength to hold him off. Her screams had ricocheted off the walls in the small apartment, she kept screaming over and over again at him, “Why? Why are you doing this?” But he didn’t answer, he kept attacking. 

The fight had carried on for a short while. Michelle kicked, lunged and scratched at her attacker until with one final burst of strength she kicked him off her and onto the floor. He got to his feet unsteadily and ran into the living room, making a run for the front door. Michelle now unafraid and adrelanized followed after him. She could see that she had injured him. What was most peculiar was that as he opened the door to leave, he whispered over his shoulder: “I’m sorry.”        

This time thankfully Police were able to trace Gargiulo to the scene of the crime, the blood drops from his injury were a match. Gargiulo was arrested in June 2008 on an attempted murder charge and held on $1.1 million bail. A search of his car produced a bag of tools and blue shoe slippers, hmmm… like the one found at the Maria Bruno murder scene. A subsequent search of his old apartment in El Monte led to the discovery of the matching bootie used in the Bruno slaying. Gargiulo was charged with the murders of Ellerin and Bruno in September 2008, and he also faced the special circumstance allegation of lying in wait for his victims. It would be another three years before prosecutors in Cook County, Illinois, felt they had enough to indict. Finally, in July 2011, Michael Gargiulo was charged with the 1993 murder of Tricia Pacaccio.

And so began the trial that captivated and shocked the world as more and more victims came forward.

So, who exactly is Michael Gargiulo? 

Michael Thomas Gargiulo was born on February 15, 1976, in Glenview, Illinois. He grew up with 6 other siblings. In one of his sessions with a therapist he revealed that he did not have a happy childhood, he claimed that he was often physically abused by his father and his siblings, but there was never any evidence to back up his claim. This didn’t mean that he wasn’t a troubled child. 

In his school years, he was known as a quick-tempered bully. 

One of his former childhood friends had told the press: “To watch him in action was something else,” He further elaborated on Gargiulo’s behaviour: “This guy would go from normal to crazy in, like, a second... The switch would flip, and he would just become almost inhuman.” 

Tricia Pacaccio wasn’t his only victim in Glenview. In 1995, he was in a romantic relationship that ended sourly. The woman, who was only 17 at the time revealed that he had raped her, she claimed that during a social visit, Gargiulo handcuffed her, removed her pants and sexually assaulted her.

Sexual assault and murder weren’t his only specialities, he was involved in a battery incident at Glenbrook South High School and was caught breaking into unlocked cars. He pleaded guilty to burglary and was placed on 18-month probation and ordered to pay a $200 fine. 

Shortly after this, he followed one of his brother’s out to LA where just like everybody else, he wanted to be a famous actor. This hadn’t materialized and because he was trained in martial arts and boxing, he naturally got a job as a bouncer at Rainbow Bar & Grill on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. This was a popular bar that was often filled with rich and beautiful people, the people Gargiulo wanted to be.

It was at this job that he made friends with two other bouncers, Temer Leary and Anthony DiLorenzo. The three became close, close enough that Gargiulo felt he could confess his sins to his new friends. The two claim that one day in 2000 while driving around LA, Gargiulo admitted to the Pacaccio murder.  

“He's like, ‘You guys ever kill anybody?’ And he’s like, ‘I have’. But the two didn’t believe him, just a macabre boast they thought. According to multiple people, Gargiulo was known to lie and embellish his stories-  most had taken what he said with a grain of salt. His friendship with the two bouncers didn’t last long.  Gargiulo was fired from the Rainbow Bar because he had gotten into an argument with one of the patrons and punched them. Listen, there are two golden rules when working retail. Number one: The customer is always right. Number two: Do NOT punch the guests! Clearly, Gargiulo didn’t read the rules when starting the job. 

After losing his job as a bouncer he turned to trade, where he worked odd jobs as an aircon and heating repairman. This is how he met and befriended victim Ashley Ellerin, and others. So that’s why he’s called the “Chiller Killer!” 

In 2007 he married Ana Luz Gonzales but when prince charming was arrested for murder and rape just over a year after their nuptials, she discovered the monster and filed for divorce.

Next up, the trial. 

Gargiulo’s trial officially began in May 2019. The media quickly dubbed him the “Serial Sexual Thrill Killer”, bit of a tongue twister. Can you ever have too many serial killer names? The trial was difficult to watch and listen to as the gruesome evidence was presented by prosecution and witnesses. What really put this trial into social media orbit was Ashton Kutcher’s involvement in the trial.

In his statement in court he had said: “ he had looked through a window and saw what he thought was red wine spilled on the floor before leaving, assuming she had already gone out.” He later stated that he was freaking out when he heard that she had been killed, especially in such a violent and horrific manner. 

Lead prosecutor Dan Akemon said that all the women were young, good-looking and had a zest for life — and all lived near Gargiulo. He had a type, and that was beautiful women. Akemon stated that Gargiulo had a pattern, he "watched and waited" for "the perfect opportunity" to kill in "blitz-style knife attacks and then escape detection.” This was an interesting point that was brought up as a former girlfriend of Gargiulo claimed that in 2003 he had punched her in the face and threatened to kill her, claiming he would get away with it because of his “extensive knowledge” of forensics. Which explains how detectives couldn’t link any DNA or physical evidence to him at the time of Ashley Ellerin’s murder. 

Key witness, Michelle Murphey, who was a survivor of Gargiulo’s final attack gave her testimony and silence filled the courtroom as the jury listened to her terrifying experience.  During the penalty phase of the trial, Murphy recounted the fear that gripped her following the vicious bedside attack. She spent months tossing and turning, fearful of the dark, unable to sleep, and wracked with insomnia.  The attack had a profound effect on this brave young woman.

She also testified to never having gone back to the apartment, and for a certain period, steered clear of her former neighborhood altogether. 

Ashely’s family also spoke in court describing the heart-wrenching grief they felt at their daughter’s death, Cynthia. Ashley’s mother said in court: "I started crawling around the bedroom on my hands and knees like an animal, screaming." Her father Mike had said he would never stop hearing his wife’s primal scream that will haunt him eternally.

Interestingly Gargiulo’s defense team argued his innocence in the murders and claimed he had “no recollection” of attacking Murphy due to mental illness, a classic move and slap in the face to grieving families of the victims.  

This approach did not work for them, neither the jury nor the judge sided with the defense, they wanted to see this monster behind bars. After several hours of deliberation, a jury recommended the death penalty for Michael Gargiulo on October 18, 2019, but his sentencing in California has been postponed due to defense requests. And there was another problem, in 2019 the practice had been banned under Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom. There were some political obstacles that needed to be tackled and loopholes to exploit in order to get that to happen. Then came the dreaded Covid19 pandemic that put a halt in the proceedings, something that Gargiulo no doubt welcomed with open arms. 

In July of 2021, LA Superior Court Judge Larry P. Fidler calling 45-year-old Gargiulo’s crimes “vicious and frightening” handed down the sentence of death. However, this sentence of death in California has become not much more than symbolic as the last person on death row to be executed was in 2006.

Gargiulo is currently imprisoned at the LA County Jail, his court days far from over. He still needs to be extradited to Illinois where he will stand trial for the murder of Tricia Pacaccio. If found guilty, he will be handed another sentence of 25 years to life. Throughout the court proceedings, Gargiulo has maintained his innocence and even told the police at the Los Angeles County Jail that just because his DNA was found on 10 women does not mean he murdered them, prompting detectives to assume there are more victims. Stupid move on his part. 

Police now believe that his death count is at 15 women, but there currently isn’t any evidence and may not be for many years to come.    

We hope for the sake of the grieving families and surviving victims that justice is swiftly served and that the healing can begin.