Solved case · 2001
Also known as Hollywood Ripper murders · Michael Gargiulo case
The short answer
Ashley Ellerin, 22, was stabbed to death in her Hollywood home in 2001 and Maria Bruno, 32, in her El Monte apartment in 2005; Michael Gargiulo was convicted of both murders and of the 2008 attempted murder of Michelle Murphy, and was sentenced to death in 2021.
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Suggest coverage for this caseAshley Ellerin, a 22-year-old fashion student, was found stabbed to death in her home in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on February 21, 2001. She had planned to go out that evening with the actor Ashton Kutcher, who later testified at the trial. Her death went unsolved for years.
On December 1, 2005, Maria Bruno, a 32-year-old mother of four young children, was stabbed to death in her apartment in El Monte, California.
On April 28, 2008, Michelle Murphy, then 26, was attacked in her apartment in Santa Monica. She fought off her attacker and survived multiple stab wounds. The attacker was cut during the struggle and fled, leaving a trail of blood. That evidence led to Michael Gargiulo, who was arrested by Santa Monica police on June 6, 2008, and detectives went on to link his DNA to the earlier killings.
Gargiulo's trial in Los Angeles began on May 2, 2019. Prosecutors called almost 250 witnesses. On August 15, 2019, the jury convicted him of first-degree murder in the deaths of Ellerin and Bruno and of attempted murder in the attack on Murphy. On October 18, 2019, the same jury returned a verdict of death.
On July 16, 2021, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry P. Fidler sentenced Gargiulo, then 45, to death. Gargiulo told the court he was innocent. The judge said that "everywhere that Mr. Gargiulo went, death and destruction followed him." Governor Gavin Newsom has halted executions in California for as long as he is in office.
Gargiulo also faces a charge in Illinois. In August 1993, 18-year-old Tricia Pacaccio, a recent high-school graduate, was found stabbed on the doorstep of her family's home in unincorporated Glenview, near Chicago. According to the Cook County Sheriff's Office, DNA linked Gargiulo to that case in 2003, and he was charged in Illinois with her murder in 2011. He was extradited from California to Cook County on September 4, 2024, and at his first court appearance in Skokie two days later he was ordered detained. He has not been tried in the Pacaccio case, and that first-degree murder charge is pending.
Murphy was the only person to survive one of the attacks in the case. The blood evidence left after she fought back connected Gargiulo to the killings of Ellerin and Bruno, which had gone unsolved for years.
Tricia Pacaccio, 18, is found stabbed on the doorstep of her family's home in unincorporated Glenview, Illinois.
Ashley Ellerin, 22, is stabbed to death in her home in Hollywood, Los Angeles.
Maria Bruno, 32, is stabbed to death in her apartment in El Monte, California.
Michelle Murphy, 26, survives a stabbing attack in her Santa Monica apartment.
Santa Monica police arrest Michael Gargiulo.
Gargiulo is charged in Illinois with first-degree murder in the death of Tricia Pacaccio.
Gargiulo's trial begins in Los Angeles.
The jury convicts Gargiulo of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.
The jury returns a verdict of death.
Judge Larry P. Fidler sentences Gargiulo to death.
Gargiulo is extradited from California to Cook County, Illinois.
At his first appearance at the Skokie courthouse, Gargiulo is ordered detained pending trial on the Illinois murder charge.
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
Fashion student, 22, stabbed to death in her Hollywood home on February 21, 2001.[5]
Mother of four, 32, stabbed to death in her El Monte apartment on December 1, 2005.[4]
Survived a stabbing attack in her Santa Monica apartment on April 28, 2008, at age 26.[2]
Convicted in Los Angeles on August 15, 2019, of the first-degree murders of Ashley Ellerin and Maria Bruno and the attempted murder of Michelle Murphy; sentenced to death on July 16, 2021. Separately charged in Cook County, Illinois, with first-degree murder in the 1993 death of Tricia Pacaccio; that charge is pending.[2]
Los Angeles Superior Court judge who sentenced Gargiulo to death on July 16, 2021.[2]
From the record
Coverage is not a source: every fact in this file rests on the records below.
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Image recordCC BY-SA 4.0SourceSOLVEDListenHollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States · 1990s
In April 2008, California pensioners Helen Golay and Olga Rutterschmidt were convicted of conspiring to murder homeless men Paul Vados and Kenneth McDavid in staged hit-and-run deaths to collect millions in life insurance; both were convicted of Vados's murder, and Golay was also convicted of McDavid's murder.
Credit: Family of Celeste Rivas HernandezEditorial useSourceONGOINGListenHollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California · 2020s
On September 8, 2025, the decomposed remains of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez were discovered in the front trunk of an impounded Tesla registered to musician David Burke, known professionally as D4vd; prosecutors allege the two had a sexual relationship beginning when Rivas was 13. Burke was arrested in April 2026 and charged with first-degree murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, and unlawful mutilation of human remains.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons, photo by Glenn Francis (PacificProDigital.com)Editorial useSourceSOLVEDListenHollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California · 2010s
Amie Harwick, a Los Angeles marriage and family therapist and author, was strangled and thrown from her third-floor Hollywood Hills balcony on February 15, 2020, by an ex-boyfriend who had a history of stalking her. He was convicted of first-degree murder in 2023 and sentenced to life without parole.
Credit: Mona EshaikerCC BY-SA 3.0SourceSOLVEDListenHolmby Hills, Los Angeles, California · 2009
Singer Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009, in Los Angeles from acute propofol intoxication administered by his personal physician, Conrad Murray. The Los Angeles County coroner ruled the death a homicide, and Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in November 2011.
Credit: CBS News / Travis Alexander (personal photo)Editorial useSourceSOLVEDListenMesa, Arizona, United States · 2000s
Travis Alexander, 30, was stabbed, slashed, and shot to death in his Mesa, Arizona home on June 4, 2008. His ex-girlfriend, Jodi Arias, was convicted of first-degree murder in 2013 and sentenced to life without parole in 2015 after two juries deadlocked on the death penalty.
Credit: AuburnPilot at English WikipediaPublic domainSourceUNSOLVEDListenOranjestad, Aruba · 2005
Natalee Holloway, an 18-year-old Alabama high school graduate, disappeared during a graduation trip to Aruba on May 30, 2005, and has never been found; Joran van der Sloot, last seen with her that night, was never charged over her disappearance in Aruba but later pleaded guilty to related U.S. extortion and wire-fraud charges and confessed to killing her.
