The “Hollywood Ripper” was sentenced to death for the murder of two women, including Ashton Kutcher’s girlfriend.

California judge officially ruled the death sentence a Michael thomas gargiulo, 45, almost two years after a Los Angeles jury found him guilty of murdering two women and stabbing a third, who survived. Prosecutors called him a “killer neighbor” because he lived near all of his victims and watched them before launching his attacks.

The media dubbed Gargiulo as “Hollywood Ripper“For the Los Angeles area murders of Ashley Ellerin, 22, on February 22, 2001, and Maria Bruno, 32, on December 1, 2005. Ellerin was preparing to go to the Grammy Awards with the actor Ashton kutcher when Gargiulo broke into her Hollywood home and stabbed her 47 times.

Bruno, a mother of four, was stabbed 17 times while sleeping and then mutilated in his apartment in El Monte.

The conviction, delayed by procedural issues and the pandemic, came nearly two years after a jury convicted Gargiulo and recommended his execution.

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The capture of the “killer neighbor”

Gargiulo was arrested after Michelle murphy, then 26, pushed him away when he assaulted her in April 2008. Murphy was stabbed eight times in her Santa Monica apartment, but Gargiulo was also cut in the attack and left a trail of blood. Murphy was a key witness during the trial and spoke again on the Friday before sentencing. “To this day, spending the night alone creates a world of fear in me,” she said. “How is it fair that one person’s actions can destroy the lives of so many people?” ”

The link with Ashton Kutcher

Gargiulo’s case received increased attention as one of the victims was about to have a date with actor Ashton Kutcher, who testified at the trial.

Kutcher, star of the television comedies “That ’70s Show” and “Two and a Half Men”, testified at a proceeding in the Gargiulo trial, telling the jury that I had spoken to Ellerin on the phone about two hours before that he came to get her.

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He said when she didn’t answer his knocks on the door, he looked out the window and saw what he thought was red wine on the floor and left, thinking she was already gone. Ellerin’s roommate found his body the next morning.

Gargiulo is now expected to be extradited to Illinois, where he was charged with the August 14, 1993 murder of Tricia pacaccio, 18 years old. Pacaccio, the sister of one of Gargiulo’s childhood friends, was stabbed to death in the front door of her house after an evening with friends. Gargiulo was charged with her death in 2011.