Ashton Kutcher arrived to select Ellerin up for a date—but she don’t respond to the entranceway because she had been already stabbed to death by accused serial killer Michael Gargiulo
MODIFY: a jury suggested that Michael Gargiulo be sentenced to death when it comes to murders of Ashley Ellerin and Maria Bruno. Sentencing is planned.
The storyline is much like one thing away from a movie that is terrifying just it is all too genuine.
Michael Gargiulo, 43, happens to be discovered bad of murdering two ladies and also the tried murder of some other, the jury deliberating for three times before coming back using their verdict regarding the morning of Aug. 15 carrying out a trial—and that is three-month 2 full decades of looking forward to the victims’ families.
Prosecutors claimed that, regarding the Ashley Ellerin had just gotten out of the shower and was about to get ready for a night out when Gargiulo stabbed her to death night.
Ellerin’s human body, lying just away from entry into the bathroom, was not discovered until about 9 a.m. the following day, whenever her roomie, Jennifer Disisto, gone back towards the rented bungalow they shared on Pinehurst path in Hollywood. Paramedics pronounced Ellerin dead at 9:28 a.m. on Feb. 22. She was indeed stabbed 47 times, with 12 associated with the wounds considered fatal by themselves, and there have been many protective wounds on her behalf fingers and forearm that is right.
In a strange only-in-Hollywood twist, Ashton Kutcher, who was simply featuring on That ’70s Show at that time, had been her date for the evening that is prior. He later told police—and testified in court may 29—that he had final talked to Ellerin at 8:24 p.m. to ensure their plans. They certainly were likely to go to a Grammys after-party together. He called once more right after 10 p.m. as he had been on their method over, but she did not get. The star knocked at around 10:45 p.m., he stated. There clearly was no solution. He peered through the screen and recalled seeing what things to him appeared as if spilled wine in the carpeting.
Her vehicle was at the driveway, but he thought she may be angry at him because he had been belated and purposely maybe not answering, therefore he left.
“He thought when this occurs he previously been stood up,” Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Dan Akemon stated in the opening declaration as Gargiulo’s trial got underway in May. “We think now the data will show which was really bloodstream, and Ashley had been already murdered.”
Ellerin, 22, had been a student at L.A.’s Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) since well as a stripper that is part-time and, based on Kutcher’s testimony, she had met the star through buddies.
“She had a lot of boyfriends,” LAPD Homicide Detective Tom Small told Los Angeles Weekly. “At the period Kutcher ended up being nevertheless coming. He previouslyn’t founded their big-time qualifications yet. They came across through a shared friend. It absolutely was a friendly thing. They sought out maybe once or twice.”
Kutcher stated in court so he introduced her to a buddy and the two of them briefly dated that he was dating someone else when he first met Ellerin.
Then he visited Ellerin’s house about fourteen days they made plans to get dinner and drinks before she died for a housewarming party and, both single by then.
The initial plan had been for him to grab her at 8 p.m., but he had been invited to look at the Grammys at a pal’s household. He stated in court which he called Ellerin at around 7:30 to inform her he’d be later on than 8, then called once more to help keep her published on their whereabouts. He left a voicemail, then she called straight back from her roomie Jen’s phone, saying the homely household phone was not working. It had been 8:24 p.m. He had been told by her she ended up being simply out from the bath and was going to dry her locks, Kutcher recalled, so their lateness was not a challenge.
Among the detectives that are first the scene later recalled seeing a hair dryer in the lavatory seat.