Criminology - The Hollywood Ripper

Episode Date: September 24, 2023

On February 21st, 2001, 22-year-old Ashley Ellerin was stabbed to death in her Los Angeles home. The tabloids covered the murder because actor Ashton Kutcher was set to have a first date with Ashley that night. He ran late at a Grammy's party, and he said that by the time he got to Ashley's house, she didn't answer the door. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss the murders committed by the Hollywood Ripper. It took some time but Ashley's murder along with several others was tied to a man named Michael Gargiulo. DNA was used to connect Michael to the murders but it took many years for him to be tried and convicted for all of them. You can help support the show at patreon.com/criminology An Emash Digital production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey there, it's Wayfair here, where delivery and setup are as easy as a few taps on your phone. You're relaxing in an old hammock, scrolling Wayfair's app, when you spot it, a brand new patio set. Next thing you know, Wayfair delivers it right to your patio and sets it up. Oh, you need a new grill, too? All right, Wayfair's got you covered. With Wayfair's room of choice delivery and fast experts set up on qualifying orders, life gets a little easier. Visit Wayfair.com or the Wayfair app. podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised.

So everyone and welcome to episode 275 of the criminology podcast. This is Mike Ferguson. And this is Mike Morford. Morph, how you doing, buddy? I'm doing good. How about you? I'm doing great. Getting ready for CrimeCon.

Obviously, when this episode comes out, we'll be at CrimeCon. But we're taping it much earlier than that. We've got to get ready. Yeah, if you're at CrimeCon and you hear this, come on over and see us because we'll be at Podcast Row through Sunday. And then tomorrow night, my wife and I have a trip planned. We're going down to see the girls at college, pick them up, go out to dinner, take them shopping, buy them some stuff that they need.

I'm really excited because I miss them bad. Yeah, that's what happens when they leave the house. You like the peace and quiet, but then all of a sudden you're like, it's too quiet, huh? Oh, it's way too quiet. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts. We had Tim Beek, Pamela Geary, and D. Oz. So that's a lot of great new support. We really appreciate it.

Yeah, thank you so much for supporting the show. It means a lot to us. And for anyone else that would like to, you can head over to patreon.com slash criminology. All right. Let's go ahead and jump into this case. And in this week's episode, we're discussing a case that has popped back up in the media recently, at least on social media due to recent events. In early September 2003, actor Danny Masterson was sentenced to 30 years to life for two counts of forcible

rape. And shortly after the sentencing hearing, character letters written by celebrities to the judge who know Masterson began to make their way online. Many actors wrote about how diligent he was at work, how he helped establish a drug-free atmosphere on set, and how he was a decent man and father who wouldn't be a threat to anyone else ever again. Many of the letters were from people who claimed to respect the justice system and the victims, but who would also ask that Masterson not be taken from his family and punished behind bars for too long. After backlash from writing these letters after his conviction, two of his friends spoke out in an apology video that only caused more criticism.

actors Milakunus and Ashton Coutcher, two of Masterson's castmates on that 70s show, which began airing in 1998, didn't do themselves any favors with their video. But it's not just the public looking down on their actions. Masterson's ex-girlfriend, Chrissy Bixler, who he was acquitted of sexually assaulting at the same trial, recently posted something interesting on Instagram. It read, Dear Ashton, I know the secret your role model keeps for you, ones that would end you. Did you forget I was there?

You were on speakerphone that night. You called Danny on February 21st, 2001. I heard everything. I heard the plan. So we have so much to talk about Morph already. I mean, first, there is the crimes committed by Danny Masterson.

Horrible, nasty stuff. But Danny was a star on that show, that 70 show, with Mila and Ashton and then, you know, there's a tie in with all of this star power to the subject of this episode. So, you know, it's kind of interesting from, from that standpoint. Now, I really enjoyed that 70 show. I thought it was fun. It was light. I got a kick out of it. I also like to show that Danny Masterson did with Ashton Coucher called Durant on Netflix. I thought that was a really

good show. But then when all of this stuff came out about him and then once it was proven in court, obviously, you know, how do you look at that person that you saw on the screen? And how do you look at the shows that that person was in after the fact? Well, someone who's never watched an episode of that 70s show, I can't really comment on the show. I know a lot of people did watch it. I think it's always shocking when somebody that's like a play as a beloved character and a show, all of a sudden you find out that they're guilty of these terrible crimes. You sort of lose sight that it's a real person playing a part and not that character. So I think a lot of people, you know,

have had to sort of distance themselves from the character and the person because they're two different things. But I wonder if it's going to lead to calls for people. to not air for the television stations to not air reruns of the episode if it leads to that kind of outcome. Yeah, I think that's that's always a kind of a tricky thing, right? This, this happened at a certain period in time. And then if somebody does something after that, you know, what happens to that piece of work that was done previously? Now, the ranch was a little different because the stuff about Danny started to come out while they were, you know, putting out those, those episodes. Now, he wasn't proving guilty at that point, but it's still kind of a strange

thing. I mean, you can, you can look at a lot of these celebrities and ask that question. Is it possible to separate what they did from their work? And I think for a lot of people, the answer, would be no, but that's just my guess. Yeah, my first introduction to Ashton Coutcher was with Dude Where's My Car, which is an all-time classic. But even back then, I remember there were the, you know, when he first started out, his career was just taking off. There were these whispers that he was connected to a murder girl that was his girlfriend and sort of just these, you know, in the background, there was this, the story of Ashton being connected to. to this victim, which we're going to talk about.

And as we'll hear, that's not exactly the case. She wasn't his girlfriend, but that's sort of the story that's, that's been out there for years. But no doubt, right? When you have star power attached to any case, well, it just adds that celebrity factor. And obviously, we'll be talking about him in this episode and all that. But getting back to this Instagram post by Chrissy Bixler, you know, it's both. specific and vague at the same time while also being threatening. You would have to say that.

You know, it's almost like, I know what you did. And if I reveal what I know, you'd be ruined. And that very specific date, February 21st, 2001, Ashton Coucher is connected in a way to a murder that happened in Los Angeles. And so that's, that, you know, for me, makes this Instagram post even more ominous. It's, it's not just, I know what you did and I'm not going to give any specifics around it. She threw out a specific date. And that date was when a woman was murdered. Now, while the identity of the killer is no. And it's not Ashton Coucher, it brings up many questions about, you know, maybe a secret plan or something that could have been that night, looking into the details or maybe what would be described

better as gossip, you find multiple victims whose stories have been tossed aside for the juicier rumors. Most headlines you'll find about the case in L.A. include Ashton Coutcher's name, not the victims. And most of those stories incorrectly label her as his girlfriend, likely as clickbait. This week's episode is about the murders of of Ashley Elloran, Maria Bruno, and Tricia Pukascia, as well as the attempted murder of Michelle Murphy. On February 21st, 2001, 22-year-old Ashley Elloran was stabbed the death in her Los Angeles home. It was a brutal crime scene. Her killer had almost decapitated her, and she had suffered 47 stab wounds.

Some of the wounds were up to six inches deep, and one of them, according to Detective Tom Small, in an article in Chicago magazine, quote, actually penetrated the skull and took out a chunk of skull, like a puzzle piece. Around 8.30 a.m. on February 22nd, Ashley's roommate, Jennifer DeSisto, returned home. She had spent the night to her boyfriend's house because when she tried to return home the night before at around 10 p.m.,

she realized she had left her keys in her boyfriend's car. She tried the door, but it was locked, and Ashley didn't answer, even though there were lights on inside. So she went back to her boyfriend's for the night. In the morning, she unlocked the door and went inside. On the landing outside their bedrooms, Jennifer found Ashley's body. She was wearing a turquoise bathrobe, a camisole, and a pair of boxers. Detective Small felt that her body had been moved and posed.

Her hairdry was on the counter and her curling iron was on the toilet seat. There was no sign of forced entry. The door had been locked and there were bars over the windows, which were intact. Investigators worked to create a timeline and rule out those. closest to Ashley, the manager of the rental home that Ashley and Jennifer shared, Mark Durbin, was looked at because he and Ashley were sometimes intimate and he lived nearby. Durbin claimed they had actually had sex just before she was killed. He had left the home between 8.15 and 8.30 p.m. and gone to the nearby home he shared with

his girlfriend. The houses were so close, you could see Ashley's rental home from Durbin's home. Around 10 p.m. He looked out his window and saw someone, but he's unsure who, walking back and forth outside of Ashley's house. A second, surprising person of interest that police looked at was 23-year-old actor, Ashton Coucher. At the time, season three of that 70s show was nearing its end. It was incredibly popular, and Coocher played a beloved character.

Authorities needed to rule him out because he and Ashley were supposed to go out on a date the night she was killed. The timeline here is a bit murky, but Ashby. but Ashton and Ashley spoke on the phone around 3 or 4 p.m. And she agreed to go out for drinks with him later that night. He called her again around 7.30, but she didn't answer. He called her a third time around 8.30 to check in with her, and this time she answered. Ashton told her he was going to finish watching the Grammys at his friend, actress Christy Swanson's house, and he would be a bit late.

This was fine with her because she still needed to finish up blow drying her hair anyway. Mark Durbin claims he was over at Ashley's and that the two had sex. sometime between 7 and 8 p.m. So I think it would have been pretty natural for police to wonder if Ashley was murdered due to jealousy or maybe even some type of love triangle. And if Ashton Coucher had been upset by not being the only one Ashley was seeing. But this was to be their first date. They had met in December when both were in relationships.

And those relationships had only recently in. There was no expectation of exclusivity, and we don't even know if Ashton knew that Ashley had Mark over that night. Mark knew that she was planning to see Ashton, though, since he was at her apartment at 8.24 p.m. when Ashley spoke to Ashton on the phone. And she said she needed to do her hair. According to Ashton, after the Grammys wrapped up, he called Ashley, but she didn't answer. It was around 10 p.m. And Ashton was going to tell her, that he wouldn't be there until about 10, 15. But since he couldn't get a hold of her, he decided to let his dogs out for a while instead. He then called her a few times, but he was

trying to play a cool and not seem desperate. So you know, Morph, as we go through our episodes, we often talk about people and their dating history and they were dating this person and seeing this person. But it seems so strange when, you know, you're talking about it in the context of a star. You know, we're talking about the Grammys. And, you know, he's over at Christy Swanson's house, who's, you know, another actress. I don't know. It just seems strange.

And then there's this whole thing about, you know, he's calling her, can't get a hold of her, doesn't want to call too much because he doesn't want to seem desperate. Okay, well, that's something that, you know, a lot of us would have done back in the day. should I call again? I don't want to make it sound like I'm super desperate for this date. But I also want to go on the date. Yeah, so I think that would apply to someone that's not an actor, you know, that happens to people in regular life that are just run-of-the-mill citizens as well,

not celebrities. Right. And I think that's why it's so strange because when you talk about a celebrity, you think, oh, they don't have these type of issues. Yeah, they do. They have the same type of. issues and situations that non-celebrities have. But you just think of Ashton Coutcher as kind of this Calvin Klein model,

and, you know, why would he be worried about seeming desperate calling too many times? It's just a normal thing. At around 1045, Ashton stopped by Ashley's house to see if she was home. It was just six blocks away. Her car was parked outside, and there were lights on, inside the house, so he figured she was just upset that he was so late. They had agreed that he would be a bit late, but that was at 8.30, and now it was almost 11 p.m. Ashton knocked, but Ashley didn't come to the door. He wiggled the door handle, ready to apologize to her if he could get in, but the

door was locked. He looked in the front window and noticed that the house was a mess, but since Ashley had just moved in and was remodeling the house, it wasn't that weird. He also spotted some spilled red wine on the carpet by her room, but remembered how rowdy the last gathering he attended at her house had gotten, and he wasn't surprised. Eventually, with no word from Ashley, Ashton Coutcher left her house until the next morning when he heard that Ashley had been killed. Ashton just figured she had been mad at him and went out with someone else. But when he learned the truth, he was scared. He later told people magazine, my fingerprints are on this door and I was freaking out.

He approached authority saying, let me tell you what happened. He had an alibi for earlier that night watching the Grammys over at Christy Swanson's house and he was seen at a party later that night. Los Angeles County

Deputy District Attorney Dan Aikman told People Magazine we believe she had just exited the shower and was getting raid to go out with Mr. Cucher when she was attacked from behind. In that same People magazine article, Dan Aikman said there was a narrow, very narrow window of opportunity for someone to get into the house and murder Ashley. And whoever that person was

must have been watching. Friends of Ashley's told authorities that they couldn't think of anyone who would want to hurt her. They did voice concerns about an air conditioning and heating repairman named Mike that creeped them out, but they didn't know anything else about him. And after that, there really was no movement in the case. On December 1st, 2005, 32-year-old single mother of four, Maria Bruno, told friends that someone she described as being a weird guy had been watching her around her new apartment complex in El Monte, California. She had been living in the building for just 10 days following a separation with her husband Irving. It was clear that this strange man who has watching Maria had already majorly creeped her out. According to Chicago magazine, he even followed

her into her apartment once, saying, okay, I'm leaving when she got upset, slamming doors shut after him. It was hard for her to describe him to friends. He was wearing a hoodie and a baseball cap. One of her neighbors had seen him outside her apartment, looking inside and trying to open the door. And this is something that you hear about in a lot of true crime stories. You know, someone has kind of a weird interaction with someone and they tell their friends about it. And I think if you're those friends, what do you make of it? And my thought is at the time, probably not much. Just a strange interaction. Okay, this person got creeped out a little bit, but it's nothing to worry about. But obviously after something devastating happens to that person, then I think those kinds of,

comments have to be looked at in a completely different life. And that's something that, you know, I always kind of think about. You know, what does something mean while a person is perfectly fine? They're okay versus what does something mean after they've been attacked or murdered? Yeah, I think a lot of times you see a creepy person and you pay attention to them, but you don't really get too creeped out by them as somebody passing them by. But other times, we know that you get a real gut feeling about someone and they're up to no good, or you just get a sense that they're dangerous.

And I think that's what was going on in Maria's case. And especially after we're getting ready to talk about, it really is powerful what she was feeling about this person. So having Maria tell these friends about this experience she had, That seems pretty powerful. In the suburbs of D.C., a woman fails to show up for work and is found brutally murdered. I wonder what's emergency. We just walked in the door, and there's blood in the foyer.

For the next two decades, the case remained unsolved until new technology allowed investigators to do what had once been impossible. A new series from ABC Audio in 2020, blood and water. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts. On the evening of December 1st, someone made it inside Maria Bruno's apartment and stabbed her 17 times with a knife from her kitchen. Her neck had been cut, nearly decapitating her, just like Ashley Ellery. Maria's killer mutilated her body, cutting off both of her breasts after she was dead and removing her breast implants. The killer had left one of Maria's nipples in her mouth. To say that the crime scene was gruesome would be an understatement.

Like Ashley, Maria's body seemed posed. There was one blue medical booty found outside of her apartment. The building was generally considered secure. You needed a code or a key to get inside. And so this led police to ask the question. Did Maria know her killer? It was Maria's estranged husband, Irving Bruno, that discovered the bloody crime scene and called 911.

Due to past domestic violence incidents and the recent separation, authorities immediately looked at Irving as a potential suspect. Inside his car, investigators found drops of Maria's blood. He admitted that he had seen Maria the night she was killed, but they were on good terms and had even talked about getting back together. They had gone out to a restaurant together for dinner, where she had cut her finger, explaining away the blood in his car. Staff at the restaurant confirmed the story,

and police moved him off the list of suspects. but with Irvin cleared, there were no other clear suspects and the case went cold. On April 28, 2008, 26-year-old Michelle Murphy returned home to her apartment in Santa Monica, California, at about 6.45 p.m. She did her laundry and worked out like she did multiple times a week. Around 10.30 p.m., she went to bed. It was just a normal night. Living on the second story, she felt safe, leaving the living the living room, window cracked to let in a nice breeze just before midnight. Someone made it into her room,

straddling her in bed and stabbing her. The attacker, wearing a hoodie and a baseball cap, had cut the screen of the open window and crawled inside. Desperately, Michelle grabbed for the knife, fighting for her life. She would later tell ABC News, I was trying to hold the knife to get some leverage to keep it from stabbing me. She screamed out to her attacker, why are you doing this? Finally, Michelle was able to kick her attacker. In the struggle, he accidentally cut himself with his own knife. Soon after, he fled, leaving Michelle badly injured, but alive. Michelle told ABC News that as her attacker fled, he oddly yelled out as he ran out the door, I'm sorry. Authorities collected samples of the attacker's blood trailing out of the apartment in an effort to get his DNA.

The trail led across an alley and into another nearby apartment complex. After nearly a month of waiting, there was a hit on the DNA sample. It came back to a man named Michael Gargulo. Since 2007, he and his wife, Anna Luz-Gonzalez, had lived in the apartment complex across the alley from Michelle Murphy. From their apartment on the second floor, there was a direct view of Michelle's apartment. If her blinds were open, he would have been able to see directly into her bedroom. It turns out that Michael Gargulo's DNA was in the system from a similar crime in Illinois.

On August 14, 1993, sometime between 1 and 2 in the morning, someone killed 18-year-old Tricia Pachasio on the side porch of her home in Glenview, Illinois. She had been holding her house key when she was attacked. Her key chain was on the ground next to her. Her left arm had been broken and she had been stabbed six times. She was still fully clothed and there were no signs of sexual assault. Her father Rick found her the next morning when he was letting the dog out. He later said of the incident to CBS News, I died right then and there.

DNA presumably from Trisha's killer was recovered from under her fingernails and taken into evidence. Since it was still relatively early on in the world of. DNA science, it took a long time to develop a profile and match it to someone. In fact, it took a decade. And as a father, I can't think of a more devastating scenario. I'm sure it felt just like a normal day. Let the dog out and then he finds his daughter murdered. I mean, that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Such a scary thing. thought. Yeah. And as a father, especially to a daughter, you want to be there to protect them. And to know that this happened right outside the door while he was in the house, you know, I'm wondering if that's left him

feeling some kind of guilt that he didn't hear something that he couldn't react to try and save her. Oh, I don't have any doubt that he did and probably still does feel a great amount of guilt. you know, the what-ifs have to creep into your mind. What if I had heard something? What if I had been able to stop it? And I've said this before, but it doesn't matter to someone in Rick's position whether or not they would have even been able to do anything

or they should have heard something. None of that matters. It's all about how could I have stopped this? And so my thought is that people in his position, they put a lot on themselves. When they really shouldn't, it's just there's no way around it. In 2003, 10 years after Trisha was murdered, the DNA recovered from under her nails was matched to Michael Gargulo, who was a friend of Trisha's younger brother, Doug. At the time of Trish's murder, Garjulo was 17 years old, and he lived just one street over

from the Pachasio family. He and a friend had given Trisha ride home the day before she was killed, and police never charged Garjulo and Trisha's murder, apparently because according to them, they had no way to prove that his DNA from under Trish's nails wasn't from the day before her murder when he drove her home. That sounds to many like a really weak excuse not to charge Michael Gargulo in Trish's murder, once they had the DNA that matched to him,

or at the very least, they should have taken a fresh look at him as the prime suspect. police didn't even tell Trish's family about matching the evidence under Trish's fingernails to Gargulo. When Trish's mom, Diane, found out that the DNA under her daughter's nails had been matched to Gargulo, but nothing was done. She was upset. She told Chicago Magazine, I don't know how they want to twist and turn it, but they know his DNA shouldn't have been on her. And I know many people look at this and say, well, his DNA was found under her fingernails. How could they not charge him? But I'm going to play devil's advocate here a little bit and say, you know,

once you get in front of, let's say a jury, yes, that DNA was under there. But you're going to have a defense attorney who is raising or trying to raise a lot of reasonable doubt about why that would be under there. Now, if he had no connection to Trisha or he hadn't given her a ride home, then a lot tougher to try to raise that reasonable doubt. But you can see how a good defense attorney could say to the jury, well, how do you know it didn't come from an embrace? Maybe, you know, a little bit of fooling around. Yeah, I can definitely see a defense attorney. trying to plant that in the jury's mind at the same time, and we don't really know the answer to this,

was the DNA in the form of gouges of skin that she ripped off of him during a struggle? You know, how would that, if that's the case, how would that be under her nails from a simple ride home? That argument I don't think would hold up in court. I think a jury would probably see through that. According to police, they had looked into Michael Garjulo as a suspect, and Trisha's murder multiple times, but never closely enough to find the truth. In 1997, he was arrested for felony vehicular burglary and was offered a deal. A misdemeanor charge was zero jail time just for talking about what he knew about Trish's death.

Though the deal was a dream scenario for Garjulo's lawyer, Michael refused to say anything. There were multiple times that Michael Gargulo may have shown. shown his guilty conscience. After Trisha was murdered, he sent her family flowers and a coupon for a restaurant and bought her father a shirt. Trisha's mom, Diane, told Chicago Magazine, it was weird. In the fall of 1998, he showed up at the Poccaccio home asking for Rick. He was at work, so he asked Diane if he could wait for him to return. Diane said, I was shocked. He waited for over an hour. Soon after this, Michael Gargulo moved to the Los Angeles area where he continued killing. On June 6, 2008, 35-year-old Michael Gargulo was arrested in the parking lot of right aid near his home.

According to CBS News, when police approached him, Garjulo said, which agency is this? Indicating that he was expecting this kind of thing for multiple jurisdictions. A search of his car was revealing. There were tools and blue medical booties inside. Garjulo was charged with the attempted murder of Michelle Murphy, since she could testify against him, and his DNA was a match to the trail leading from her apartment to his complex. Investigators worked behind the scenes to indisputably link him to other crimes. Michael Gargolo had lived in the same apartment complex as Maria Bruno, making the blue booties in his car stand out even more, since one was found at Maria's crime scene.

In the attic of Gargulo's apartment was a single medical booty in a plastic bag. It matched the booty found outside Maria's apartment and had Gargulo's DNA on it. Despite having no DNA evidence in either case, in September 2008, Gargula was charged with the murders of Maria Bruno and Ashley Ellorin. So more of you'd have to say, not looking real good here for Michael Gargulo. When you have a blood trail from the victim's place to your place. and that blood turns out to match you through a DNA match, and the surviving victim can testify against you. That's pretty powerful.

And then you've got this blue booty connection. You know, unless you're in some type of very specialized field, why are you carrying around medical booties inside your car? Well, one of the theories, I'm sure, is that he used them in his attacks to try not to leave identifying footprints. And even though his DNA wasn't found on the booty at Maria's apartment, it's still pretty powerful that he did use those. In June 2011, Michael Gargulo was finally charged in Illinois with the murder of Trisha

Picassio after seeing a 48 hours episode about him. Two witnesses came forward telling a grand jury that in the 1990s, Michael confessed to them about killing Trisha. While Garjulo was finally being held accountable for Trisha's murder, police admitted that he had slipped through the cracks and that he should have been arrested sooner. Cook County Detective John Reed told Chicago Magazine, I can't put a happy face on this because we dropped the ball. And these types of quotes, are always interesting to me because, you know, when it comes out that police most likely missed something, there's usually two routes they go, right? They come up with an excuse,

or they come out like John Reed did and say, hey, we just biffed it. And, you know, the candor there, to me, is kind of refreshing. You know, I get tired of the CYA all the time. sometimes you just have to come out and say there's no other way to put it we drop the ball and that's what he said and what he said is as i think you put it refreshing because we don't see that a lot and hopefully that sunk in with trish's parents and they were accepting of that they realized that they had made this mistake and i think this mistake is very far reaching because if Garjulo had somehow been arrested and in prison by this time, these California crimes would never happen. There'd be two other women still alive in California and one that was almost killed.

She would have never gone through what she went through. So definitely some far-reaching repercussions from not having identified him sooner and held him accountable for Patricia's murder. It's that ripple effect. you know, and it comes in many forms. Fresh air, longer days, a chance to reset. This season let therapy be part of your spring cleaning. Clearing mental clutter, shaking off stuckness, and building something better. Grow therapy helps you get there.

Whether it's your first time in therapy or your 15th, grow makes it easier to find a therapist who fits you, not the other way around. They connect you with thousands of independent licensed therapists across the U.S., offering both virtual and in-person sessions, nights and weekends. You can search by what matters, like insurance, specialty, identity or availability and get started in as little as two days. And if something comes up, you can cancel up to 24 hours in advance at no cost. There are no subscriptions, no long-term commitments. You just pay per session. Grow helps you find therapy on your time. Whatever challenges

you're facing, Grow Therapy is here to help. Grow accepts over 100 insurance plans, including Medicaid in some states. Sessions average about $21 with insurance and some pay as little as $0 depending on their plan. Visit growtherapy.com slash book now to get started. That's growtherapy.com slash book now. Growtherapy.com slash book now. Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan. During Michael Gargulo's California trial,

Deputy District Attorney Dan Aikman laid out how Ashley Elloran and Michael Gargullo crossed paths. At the time, he lived just 400 feet from Ashley's Pinehurst Road home in an apartment complex on Orchid Avenue. First, he changed her friends. flat tire after seeing him pulled over outside her house. They spoke while he changed the tire, and he gave Ashley his card. He did heating and air conditioning repair. After this, he called her to try and talk to her often. The next time she saw him, he had shown up to a party at her home uninvited.

Reportedly, he had let himself into her home using a copied key before fleeing. It's unknown how he made a copy of this key, where if this report is even accurate. So this definitely brings us back around to something that we talked about early in the episode. And it was Ashley's friends trying to figure out if there was anyone that they could think of who would want to hurt Ashley. The one name that they brought up was a man named Mike who Ashley had voiced concerns about. And I think they even mentioned that he did heating and air or something like that. pretty hard not to think that that mic was Michael Gargulo. And I think that only underscores the importance of police talking to friends of a victim,

just trying to get a sense of who might have had a motive or who might stand out to them. And although they couldn't provide much information, the mic and the air conditioning thing is, it's pretty striking looking back at that now. Yeah, yeah, no doubt. Now, you know, you can look back at it and say, well with that, police should have been able to figure it out. It's not always that easy, but it is pretty interesting after we know who the killer is to go back and look at statements made earlier.

Garjulo's defense attorneys blamed Maria Bruno's estranged husband Irving for her murder and pointed the jury to others closer to Ashley Ellorin, who may have actually committed her murder. but due to the DNA evidence being undeniable in Michelle Murphy's attack and because of the fact that she was able to testify against Michael Gargulo, the defense didn't dispute Michelle's attack, but instead used it as evidence that Gargulo suffered from dissociative identity disorder. They claimed that he had basically blacked out until he cut his hand. He then apologized and fled. as one of his attorneys told the court, this is an individual who just came to. He had no idea where he was or what he was doing because he was in a dissociative state. So I think this is comical almost for the defense attorney to try and say, well, in this one case, Maria of his husband, Irving, killed her. And then in Ashley's case, well, these other people that are closer to her may have killed her.

but in Michelle's case where they couldn't explain away the fact that he had attacked her. They said, well, he is guilty of this one, but he has this dissociative identity disorder. It's almost like they want you to accept that he's guilty of one of these things, but not for all of these attacks, which I just, to me, it's, it's comical. Yeah, but, you know, when I think about it, it's like you're the defense attorney. What do you have to work with? Well, not a whole heck of a lot here. So what are we going to do? Well, we'll blame this person.

We'll cast doubt on this person. And in this one where we really can't do much of anything, we'll make a mental health claim. I mean, what else can they do? I often look at these defense attorneys as really being up against a wall because they're defending a guilty person in the case. a lot of the cases that we do, they turn out to be guilty. So, I mean, they just have to come up with something. I guess her goal is just to throw something against the wall and see what sticks.

Yeah, yeah. Try to raise reasonable doubt any way they can. Well, the jury didn't buy the defense's claims. And in 2019, Michael Gargulo was found guilty on all three charges related to the murders and attempted murder. The jury recommended the death penalty. According to his attorney, Dan, Daniel Nardoni. There was ample evidence for third-party culpability that raises a reasonable doubt, probably referring to Ashton Coutcher and Mark Durbin. Both had some interactions with Ashley Elrin and romantic or sexual connections, and both had placed themselves at the residence on the night of the murders. Durbin admits being inside and being intimate with Ashley, but Ashton Cutcher claims that when he tried the door, it was locked. There are many who don't believe this is what really

happened. Some people actually think that Ashton Coucher entered the home, looking for Ashley that night, and found her already dead. Rather than call 911 immediately, the theory holds that he called his team, whoever actors call when they have a crisis, because he didn't want to be linked to the story in the tablets. Phone records would prove they talked that day. So there was nothing he could do about that. And he had already been inside the home, the best move was to minimize his presence there, lock the door and leave, let someone else find her and let them deal with it. You'll recall that early in the episode, we mentioned that Danny Masterson's ex-girlfriend, Chrissy Bixler, made an Instagram post hinting that she had some kind of info on Ashton

Coucher that could bring him down. People have theorized that if Ashton really did find Ashley dead and then panicked and made a call for help, then maybe one of the people he called was his friend Danny Masterson and that perhaps Chrissy Bixler overheard this call. Theories connecting Ashton Coucher to Ashley's murder, or at least to having more of a role in it, continued to Dog Coucher. Many point to Holmes floor plan as proof that Ashton lied. The landing that Ashley was killed on outside the bedrooms is blocked from view by walls from the windows on the porch. That's definitely what it looks like in diagrams, but if you look closer, there are multiple doors, not solid walls. A 3D walkthrough of the home shows a clear line of

sight from the landing between the two rooms, just outside the bathroom, to the front door and the window next to the door. There's a second door with a few steps, basically two doorways right next to each other, separated by a wall, and Ashley had been found closer to that doorway, which is closer to one of the bedrooms, making the likelihood that Ashton could see Ashley's body through the window very possible. And remember, Ashton admitted to looking in and seeing what he thought was spilled wine. Maybe it was blood that he saw. There's an article in the Daily Mail that mentions a jury visit to the home where they were only allowed to view the exterior without going inside. On this same visit, a detective apparently pointed out the spot

in which Ashley was found lying on the floor outside of her bathroom, indicating that the area was somewhat visible from the outside of the home. The same article also mentions that he looked into a side window, so he may have had a different vantage point than the one we assume when you look at the porch. To many, for a guy who didn't want to call Ashley too many times, it seems weird that Ashton Coutcher would be peering into windows in the side of her house, quotes from his actual testimony at trial. Ones we could find anyways, mention only the windows on the front door specifically. Overall, it doesn't seem like anyone's accusing Ashton Coucher of being involved in Ashley's murder,

but rather than distancing himself from it and the negative attention it would have brought it. Actors have certainly been accused of worse cover-ups in the past. Some blame Ashton Coutcher for slowing down the investigation, making it harder for prosecutors to build a solid case against Michael Gajulo until he had killed again, once and almost twice. But it seems that a lack of reporting the murder on Ashton Coutcher's part wouldn't have prevented Gargulo from killing again. After all, Ashley was found dead hours after Coocher was at her home.

Even if he had found her and called 911 right away, It only made a difference of hours, not days. And Michael Gargulo didn't strike again for over nine months. The lack of Michael Gargulo's DNA at Ashley's house and Maria's apartment doesn't necessarily point to a different killer. According to Michael's former best friend Mirko Hoffman in a CBS news interview, Michael studied forensics. And according to Mirko, he would learn from people's mistakes. other criminals mistakes. This explains the booties he wore when he killed Maria

and possibly during his other murders too. If he hadn't happened to drop one in the courtyard of Maria's building, we'd never know about it. The lack of DNA meant authorities in L.A. were unable to arrest Gargula. They were waiting for the Cook County District Attorney who did have DNA to file charges. But instead, they got another attack.

Thankfully, Michelle Murphy survived and was able to testify against him. In July 2021, Michael Gargulo was sentenced to death. Garjulo had been dubbed the Hollywood Ripper, has also been called the Chiller Killer, probably due to working on air conditioning, and the boy next door killer, since he lived near each of the women he attacked. But he denies any guilt in every case. In court, he told Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fiddler, I'm innocent. I've been framed by tunnel vision detectives. He also claimed that he was denied the chance to testify,

which in his mind would have changed things. After a motion to reduce the sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole was denied, the defense countered, saying that Michael Gargolo had competency issues, stating, it's not right to execute a mentally ill person. Michael Gargolo's 16-year-old son begged the judge for leniency, saying, I don't see a psychopath. I don't see a murderer. All I see is my father.

Despite some people supporting Garjulo, other people noted that he had quite the temper. A former bandmate of Garjulo's name Scott Olson told Chicago Magazine to watch him in action with something else. This guy would go from normal to crazy in like a second. Garjulo had been fired from his job at the Rainbow Bar and Grill on the Sunset strip for punching a customer. A woman named Maria Girola told detectives that Gargulo had followed her around while wearing blue booties until she went on a date with him.

They began dating and he moved in with her. But soon after, he hit her and she filed a restraining order against him. Another woman he dated, Grace Kwok, recalled leaving him due to his abuse on Thanksgiving weekend in 2005, just before Maria Bruno was. killed. And I think all of these details that come out are important. I mean, do they necessarily on their own mean that he was a killer? Well, no, obviously they don't. But do they speak to his character? And I would say yes. I mean, you're punching people. He followed this one woman around wearing blue booties. And it seems like he was abusive against multiple.

women. That's saying something about you. I think it's always important to fill in the blanks in somebody like this predator's background and you can start to see the history and how they're dangerous and build a timeline. Two years before Gargulo was sentenced, California governor Gavin Newsom declared a moratorium on executions. Ashley's father, Michael Elloran, was upset by the moratorium, calling it in an interview with L.A. Mag, political intrusion into his daughter's murder trial. And he said that Governor Newsom had no right to ignore the documented will of the voters. Taking all of that into account, including a letter from Governor Newsom, Judge Fiddler believed the death penalty was the most

appropriate sentence. So my first thought is, I definitely understand a father, being upset with someone stepping in and saying, well, no, we're not going to put this person to death. But even the judge believed that the death penalty was the most appropriate sentence. Now, we know no one's been executed in California for quite some time. I don't see it happening anytime in the near future. And depending on what side of the death penalty you're on, you're either happy about that or not happy about that. But to me, I can definitely see the family. And in this case, the father specifically being upset because they want what they believe is the appropriate justice carried out. And I just don't think it's going to happen that way.

We've definitely covered cases where the families of the victims have forgiven the killers or have asked for mercy and they're not in favor of the death penalty. they're happy just to see the perpetrator go to prison for the rest of their lives. But in this case, it sounds like for sure that the families were supporting the death penalty. And I think, like you mentioned, wherever you come down on that side of the argument, death penalty pro-con, one thing I think that gets lost is the ability for prosecutors to make plea deals. Because if you're a defendant in a murder trial, is there any leverage a prosecutor had? to get a defendant to take a plea deal because the worst case scenario for the defendant is they can go to trial and try and get off

knowing that they probably wouldn't be executed even if they're found guilty. Where on the other hand, if executions were held and carried out, that same defendant might take a plea deal and save the expense and turmoil of a trial because they know that they may put to death. So I think it does limit the prosecution

his ability to to maybe make plea deals in some cases when the defendant has nothing to lose by going to trial. Yeah, I think that's a great point, one that we probably don't talk about enough. If you're a defendant in California, no doubt you know that you're not going to be put to death. So are you more willing to risk a trial and risk a possible death sentence because you know it's just never going to happen? And I would say the answer is probably yes.

As of 2021, the last update we can find about Michael Gargulo was that he was awaiting trial for the murder of Trisha Piccacio in Illinois. It will be up to a jury to decide whether to hold him accountable for her death, but with DNA evidence and the convictions in California, it may be an uphill battle for the defense in that case. Like in California, the death penalty was repealed in Illinois. So additional prison time is all that Garjulo really faces, if found guilty for Trisha's murder. So we know three murders and one attempted murder that Michael Gargulo is connected to.

But questions remain. Why did he do what he did? And are there any other victims of his out there? During the seven and a half years between murdering Trisha Piccaccio in Illinois in 1993 and Ashley Ellorin in California in 2001, who else might have crossed past with Garjillo? and not live to tell their story. Time will tell if he's linked to any other cases. And more of, you know, one of the things that jumps out to me in these cases is that I wholeheartedly

believe more often than not, these predators have many more victims than is known about. I truly believe that. You know, here's a person who was attacking people who lived very close. to him, which doesn't seem like a smart thing to do if you're a killer. And there's no doubt that he took precautions. Even his friend said he studied forensic. He studied other criminals. So he was trying to educate himself. And it's hard to use that word, but educate himself on how not to get caught. So you're telling me a person like that isn't out looking for victims. a lot of the time.

I mean, there's no way to know what the number could be, but you'd have to say living in multiple states over many years, that number's got to be higher. And that is a scary thought. Yeah, and as an HVAC technician, how many homes did he go into? How many people invited him in? They might not have invited him in when he wasn't working.

Maybe they thought he was creepy. But when a HVAC guy shows up, to your house to do a repair. Do you question whether they're a killer, even if they're a little bit odd, usually let them into your house to do the work. So who knows how many homes he got into and started plotting on different victims that he might go after. And I'll tell you, one of the scary things to me is when we talked about him possibly copying keys. You know, think about an HVAC technician coming in. Are you watching that person the entire, time they're there, I know for me, I don't. So is it possible that like in the movies,

they've got one of those little, like a putty thing and they're making a copy of a key. I know that seems far-fetched, but if he was able to do it, he might have done it in some way like that. And to think about, you know, any person coming into your home, okay, they're probably seeing pictures on the wall. And in doing so, do they see someone that catches their eye and then they start to make a plan, that they're going to come back and attack that person? I don't know, man, that stuff is, is very, very scary to me. Yeah, it's, it's a scary thought that you think that people that are coming to your house to do work are screened and they're going to be safe. and I'm sure that to some extent they are,

but obviously their employer doesn't know they're a serial killer or a predator. So that's the frightening part is that somehow they can slip into your home and and who knows what that could lead to. But as we wrap up this case of Michael Garjulo, I thought it was a very interesting case for a number of reasons. Obviously, we have some stars, right, connected to the case and some. way. And then you have this man murdering and attacking people over, you know, a span of time. You said it earlier. Morph, could some of the later murders and attacks have been prevented?

And I think a lot of people look at it and say, yes, it's possible. You know, I played devil's advocate a little bit. And I could see from maybe a prosecutor's point of view. where the DNA wasn't going to be a slam dunk, maybe, possibly, like it is in many cases because it was known that the two people were together days before the murder. And do you want to take that to trial? Because if you lose, we know what happens. So I don't know whether that decision was right or wrong. But we do know what ultimately happened.

after that. So it's logical for people to question it. But what is not in doubt is that Michael Gargulo was a predator, a scary predator. But that's it for our episode on Michael Gargulo. If you love the show and haven't done so yet, go out, give us a five-star rating. You can leave a review as well. That helps. What also helps is word of mouth. Keep telling your friends about the Criminology Podcasts. If you want to find us on social media, we're on X, formerly Twitter, with a handle at Criminology Pod. You can also find us on Facebook by going to facebook.com slash criminology podcast, or you can

join our Facebook discussion group, criminology podcast, discussion and fans. So that's it for another episode of Criminology, but Morph and I will be back with all of you next Saturday night with a brand new episode. So until then, for Mike. And Morph. We'll talk to you next week. Take care, everyone.