The Murder Of Ashley Ellerin

2021-02-26 18:02:33 Written by Zaryab Wasli

The murder of Ashley Ellerin

 

Ashley Ellerin (pictured left) was only 22 years old when she was savagely killed inside her own home on February, 21st 2001. Before her demise, Ashley was a dancer and a fashion student who resided in Los Angeles, California. Unfortunately, killings in Los Angeles are not unusual, and the night Ashley was killed also happened to be the night of the Grammys. 

 

Due to this, most of the media coverage in the following days, particularly in Los Angeles, was concentrated on the award show. Also, there were approximate 15,980 killings in the United States that year, which made it impossible for the media to largely cover every single incident. Sadly, this means the public possibly would have never heard about Ashley Ellerin’s disastrous death if it weren’t for this one small detail: her boyfriend at the time of her demise was popular Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher. 

Ashley and Ashton last spoke on the phone just hours before she was killed. Ashley asked if she could attend the Grammy viewing party at Ashton’s friend’s home with him that night, but Ashton said no. He assured her that he’d come to see her at her bungalow later after the show rather. Ashton said to detectives that he left the viewing party around 10:45 pm and phoned Ashley. She didn’t answer the phone, and Ashton guessed she was ignoring him because she was aggravated that he didn’t invite her to the party. He then decided to drive to her house to try and sort of what he believed was an impending argument. When Ashton got there, all of the house lights were on, and Ashley’s car was parked in the driveway. He thumped on the door, but there was no answer. Ashton then gazed through a side window and saw what he thought to be red wine spilt on the floor. He reckoned that Ashley had gone to bed after having drinks, and decided to go home. Ashley’s corpse was found the following morning by her roommate, Justin Peterson. She was found collapsed in the hallway by the bathroom, just out of view from the side of the window that Ashton looked through. She had been stabbed 35 times. 

 

Ashley’s friends instantly had a suspect in mind:

air-conditioning repairman Michael Gargiulo (pictured bottom right). Michael, who was 24 years old at the time, resided with his girlfriend in the same neighbourhood as Ashley and Justin. He reached Ashley and Justin one day after seeing them sitting outside in front of their home and handed them his business card. After that, Ashley’s friends said that Michael started to show up fairly often. Ashley was kind to Michael and even asked him to a few parties at their bungalow, despite her friend’s growing suspicions that Michael was obsessed with her. Two months before Ashley’s killing, Justin noticed that Michael was parking his car outside of their bungalow at odd hours of the night. When Justin met him about it, Michael said that the FBI was after him in connection with a murder in Chicago. He told that the FBI wanted his DNA and he was hiding from them. Justin instructed Ashley to stay away from Michael after this, but Ashley still brushed off any suspicions about him. 

 

Michael was certainly a strong potential suspect very early into the investigation, but police did not have evidence to arrest him at that time. Seven years later, in 2008, Michael was caught for the attempted killing of another young woman in his neighbourhood: Michelle Murphy. Michael assaulted the woman in her apartment, but Michelle was eligible to fight him off and recognize him to authorities. It was then that investigators were eventually able to attain Michael’s DNA. Not only did that DNA match the DNA found on Ashley’s corpse, but it also linked Michael to two other murders: 32-year-old Maria Bruno in 2005, and 18-year-old Tricia Pacaccio in 1993. Michael was 17 years old at the time of Tricia’s killing, and it speculated that this case is the one that he was referring to when he said Justin he was hiding from the FBI. At this point, police knew they had a serial killer on their hands. 

Michael is anticipated to go to prosecution for all three murders, plus the attempted murder, at some point in 2019. Though he has now been accused of killing three women, it is believed that Michael has killed six other women whose killings are currently unsolved. His withstanding victim, Michelle Murphy, is expected to confirm at his trial. Ashton Kutcher is anticipated to testify as well. Michael is currently behind bars as he awaits his day in court.