Michael and Cynthia Ellerin believed their daughter Ashley had finally received justice when the man who killed her in 2001 was sentenced to death five years ago.
Michael Gargiulo had stalked Ashley for weeks before entering the 22-year-old’s Hollywood Hills home on February 21, 2001. Prosecutors said he stabbed her 47 times as she prepared for a date with actor Ashton Kutcher.
Gargiulo was arrested seven years later after a failed attack on a neighbor in Santa Monica left traces of his blood at the scene. DNA evidence connected him to Ashley’s killing and two others, earning him the nickname the ‘Hollywood Ripper.’
During sentencing, the judge described Gargiulo as ‘completely vicious and frightening’ while rejecting the defense’s request to spare him the death penalty.
Michael Ellerin told the court that his wife responded to news of their daughter’s murder with ‘mournful screams and primal wailing.’
The family’s life had been reduced to an ‘altered, diminished existence,’ he said, but they drew some comfort from knowing Ashley’s killer would ultimately pay with his life.
That sense of justice was shattered last Thursday when outgoing California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that he was commuting the death sentences of all 548 people on the state’s death row to life without parole. Gargiulo was among those whose sentences were changed.
It marks the largest mass commutation of death sentences in US history.
Ashley Ellerin was killed inside her Hollywood Hills home on February 21, 2001
She was stabbed 47 times while preparing for a date with actor Ashton Kutcher
Michael Gargiulo is among the 548 California death row prisoners whose sentences will be commuted to life without the possibility of parole
The Ellerins described the decision as a ‘slap in the face’ to their family and to every relative of a murder victim in California.
‘When someone kills multiple people as a serial killer, or kills first responders in the line of duty, there is no redeeming that person,’ Michael said.
‘The man who killed my daughter is a serial killer. He belongs in that category of evil and should be put down.’
He continued: ‘If you’re talking about closure, it comes from knowing that the person who killed your daughter is no longer alive and cannot enjoy the privilege of thought, study or reflection.
‘This is not about vengeance. My healing from the pain of losing my daughter would be strengthened by knowing that Gargiulo has lost the privilege of breathing.’
Ashley’s mother, Cynthia, said: ‘I encourage Newsom to watch the trial of a serial killer and see the overwhelming proof that the jury got it right. That is proof that some people do not deserve to live, retain rights or have taxpayers support them.
‘I can tell you that if it were his daughter, he would change his tune.’
Prosecutors have said Gargiulo’s first victim was Tricia Pacaccio, 18, a family friend and neighbor who was stabbed 12 times outside her Glenview, Illinois, home on August 13, 1993.
That 70s Show actor Ashton Kutcher, who briefly dated Ashley, testified at Michael Gargiulo’s Los Angeles trial
Governor Gavin Newsom, who has been in office for eight years, is due to step down in January
Prosecutors said Michael Gargiulo killed three women and attempted to kill a fourth, Michelle Murphy, who survived
Gargiulo later moved to Los Angeles and, by 2001, lived a short distance from Ashley’s Hollywood Hills bungalow. Prosecutors said he gradually inserted himself into her life during the months before her killing.
Kutcher, who had briefly dated Ashley, testified that he arrived late on February 21 to take her to a post-Grammy Awards party. She did not answer the door.
He looked through a window and saw what appeared to be red wine stains on the floor. Believing he had ‘screwed up’ by arriving too late, he left her a message and went away.
Ashley’s roommate discovered her body in a pool of blood the following day. Prosecutors said Gargiulo had cut her throat with such force that she was nearly decapitated.
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‘We believe she had just left the shower and was getting ready to go out with Mr. Kutcher when she was attacked from behind,’ LA County Deputy District Attorney Dan Akemon told jurors.
Our News Outlet has contacted Kutcher for comment.
The killings also led to Gargiulo being dubbed the ‘boy-next-door killer.’
Ashton Kutcher knocked on Ashley Ellerin’s door on February 21, 2001, after they planned to attend a Grammy Awards after-party. When she did not answer, he said he left
Gargiulo appeared in court alongside his defense attorney, Daniel Nardoni
Prosecutors demonstrated how close Michael Gargiulo lived to Ashley Ellerin
In December 2005, Gargiulo stabbed 32-year-old Maria Bruno 17 times and mutilated her body inside her El Monte apartment, roughly 30 minutes from Ashley’s home.
In April 2008, he broke into the Santa Monica apartment of another neighbor, 26-year-old Michelle Murphy, and attempted to stab her to death.
Murphy fought back and survived. Gargiulo was cut during the struggle, leaving behind a blood trail that helped investigators link him to the other killings.
In an open letter, Newsom said state-sanctioned killing was ‘incompatible with California’s values.’
‘I know we cannot execute people in our imperfect legal system and remain true to our core values, first among them justice and human decency,’ he wrote.
Because Gargiulo has multiple felony convictions, his commutation, like those of hundreds of other prisoners, requires approval from the California Supreme Court under the state constitution.
‘What he is doing, in my opinion, is positioning himself for a presidential run,’ Michael Ellerin said of Newsom, who is leaving office in January.
Ashton Kutcher testified that he looked through Ashley Ellerin’s window and saw red liquid on the floor, which he believed was wine. Prosecutors said it was blood and that Ashley was already dead when Kutcher knocked on her door
Prosecutors presented Ashley Ellerin’s autopsy report, which documented the 47 stab wounds inflicted across her body
Ashley Ellerin studied fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) after previously attending UCLA’s fine arts program
Ashton Kutcher testified that he was ‘freaking out’ and immediately contacted police after learning of Ashley Ellerin’s death because he feared his fingerprints might be on her apartment door
Newsom, who has been widely mentioned as a possible 2028 Democratic contender, has long opposed capital punishment. He supported a 2016 ballot measure to abolish the death penalty, but California voters rejected it.
Former Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley, who oversaw numerous death penalty cases while serving as the county’s top prosecutor from 2000 to 2012, also believes Newsom’s political ambitions influenced the decision.
‘He has insulted thousands of prosecutors across California, as well as the judges and jurors who actually sat through these cases,’ Cooley told Our News Outlet.
‘This is phony posturing timed to serve his political ambitions. It is a slap in the face to the families of rape and murder victims and to California’s justice system.’
Newsom has said the prisoners will continue serving life without the possibility of parole, but Cooley warned that could eventually change.
‘Newsom is leaving office, but what happens if the next governor or the state legislature makes further changes allowing lifers to become eligible for parole?’ he said.
‘That is a serious question given California’s history of reducing sentences through ill-conceived legislation.’
Michael Ellerin hopes to discuss his concerns with incoming California governor Xavier Becerra. He said victims’ families and survivors should be consulted before any additional changes are made.
‘There are evil people in this world who deserve nothing less than death,’ Cynthia Ellerin said.
