Going West: True Crime - Michael Gargiulo // 23

Episode Date: May 6, 2019

In 1993, an 18-year-old girl is murdered outside her home in Glenview, Illinois. When the police start considering her neighbor as a potential suspect, he flees to Los Angeles where he continues to stalk, watch, and murder other young women. The trial for him just began on May 2, 2019 and has made national headlines as they try to put this monster away for good. This is the case of Michael Gargiulo. **GOING WEST DOES NOT OWN ANY OF THE NEWS CLIPS PRESENTED** CBS This Morning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PVE1cRH66g CBS News: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIrnHGWn3iY KTLA 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dar7HLAVimk CBS 48 Hours: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSk850SRk3U  Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on to crime fans, I'm your host Heath, and I'm your other host Daphne, and you're listening to Going West. Today we're covering a case that is making headlines, so you guys have probably seen this over the past few days, and the trial is currently in motion, if you're listening to this in May of 2019. But before we get into this case, we've got some shout outs for you guys. First up is Jen from Colorado, thanks for listening. And then we've got Claire from South Bend, Indiana.

Next up is a huge thanks to Danielle from Ipsilanti, Michigan. And then we've got Jeremy from King's Port Tennessee. Thanks Jeremy. Thank you so much Jake from California. And then we have Bridget from Maryland. And thank you to Dee in West Tennessee. You guys are all awesome and your reviews made our days. And next up we've got some new patrons to give shout outs to. First up is Ashley.

Thank you so much Ashley. And then we've got Sarah and Beverly. Thank you so much guys for supporting us on Patreon. We're actually going to be putting out some many episodes for you guys this week. So make sure you go over and subscribe if you haven't done that yet. It's just $5 a month and you'll get bonus episodes,

mini-sodes, and bonus content. Find us at patreon.com slash going west podcast. All right, guys, you know the drill. This is episode 23 of Going West. So let's get into it. A led serial killer, Michael Garjulo, in Jailson's 2008, is accused of stalking and brutally murdering women for the thrill of it dating back to the early 1990s. One of the victims was a girlfriend of Hollywood a-lister, Ashton Kutcher. The trial of an alleged serial killer known as the Hollywood Ripper is underway in Los Angeles,

prosecutors say Michael Garjulo attacked four women with a knife killing three of them. I was walking and then it sounded him sitting in his car at the end of the street with the motor running and I went in and I just remember to keep calling Ashley. Where did you find this guy? This is very odd. I said, what the hell are you doing in front of my house? It's two or three in the morning. He started to go on about how the fact that he can go home last night because the FBI was waiting for him at his home to collect DNA samples from Chicago. And I said, well, what do you have to hide? Michael Garjula was born on February 15, 1976 in Glenview, Illinois, which is just outside Chicago in a middle-class family. He attended Glenbrook South High School where he played baseball, but many remember him as being incredibly short-ed and violent. This seems to be a bit

of a known fact amongst everyone he knew, and he appeared to be a very troubled kid and his old neighbors remember him being the odd one out of the family. They said that his family were very nice and good people, while Michael was constantly angry and often believed people because he seemed to enjoy picking on his peers. His friend reported later that he would flip his emotions off like a switch, like he could be totally normal, nice, and awkward, and then suddenly just be this total monster. It's believed that he was sexually abused as a child by his father, but we weren't able to confirm these claims. On the night of Friday, August 13, 1993, 18-year-old Trisha Picaccio was returning home from

a fun night with friends. Her and a big group of people got together for a scavenger hunt party before heading to TGI Fridays for some dinner. It was one of the last times the friends would all get together before leaving for college a few weeks later. As Trisha went home to her parents' house in Glenview, Illinois, it was incredibly chilly and foggy, and she didn't get home until around 1am. As she approached the side door of the house holding her keys, suddenly she was attacked

and stabbed to death. She never made it inside the house. It's really interesting that no one heard this happen, considering it was just outside of her house and her entire family was home inside. And she lived in a suburban neighborhood, so it's really sad that no one could recognize that this was happening and come to her rescue. Yeah, definitely. And I think that part of the problem or part of the reason why nothing was heard is because I think the attacker was very quick with his attack because we also know that Trisha was not sexually assaulted.

So later that morning Trisha's father woke up and poured himself a cup of coffee before heading outside and I think he was going to work on the van or something like that because he wasn't leaving the house, he was just going outside to the van. And when he opened the door, he noticed Trisha's shoes sticking out on the grass, and that's when he realized that it was his daughter laying on the floor. And he dropped his coffee and immediately tried to revive her, but that's when he noticed how bloodied her shirt was, and that she'd been stabbed. And at this point,

he began screaming at the top of his lungs for his son Doug, who was sleeping upstairs, and Doug woke up and ran down to see what was going on, and that's when his dad told him to call 9-1-1. And this is just such a really sad scene because Trisha's parents were asleep when this all happened. So Trisha had been laying outside for at least five to six hours, maybe even longer, and he wakes up starting his morning, walks outside, and his only daughter is laying on the ground. And that's just a terrifying thought. Especially because her father woke up and he just thought he was going to have his normal day, he made his coffee, and then came to find that that happened right outside of his own house when he wasn't able to stop it.

Yeah, that's a really chilling fact, you know, that she's laying beside the house while her parents and her brother are sleeping. At that point in the morning, there was really nothing her father could do. She had already passed away hours before. So it's almost kind of like that helpless feeling. I read that one of her friends who was with her the night that she died mentioned that at the end of the night, it was filled with lots of hugs and kisses because everyone was kind of saying bye together. These were their last moments together before going off to college like you mentioned. So they were kind of like extra sweet and extra appreciative of each other. So that's kind of a comforting fact.

Trisha's mom Diane was at work at the time. It's unclear what time she went to work, but she must have gone out the front door because she hadn't seen Trisha's body while she was on her way out of the house. When she heard the news, she rushed home and immediately began screaming and running towards her daughter's body. One of the officers at the scene actually had to tackle her in the front yard because he didn't want her to have that awful memory of her daughter. A homicide detective later stated that he thinks the crime scene could have been handled a lot better, and that some of the evidence was could have been handled a lot better, and that some of the evidence was actually compromised because of the fact that the area hadn't been

very secure. So this murder really shocked and terrified the neighborhood as it would in any suburban or any neighborhood in general, really. And Michael Garjula was actually Trisha's neighbor. So when Trisha was murdered, Michael's friend Scott called him to ask him if he heard what happened because they both lived in the neighborhood. Obviously, there's police cars and news vans and caution tape, so they're going to talk about it.

And Michael replied that he thought it was crazy and that he himself went over to the house because he didn't want to miss all the sirens and the commotion. So Michael and Scott actually met each other through Trisha's brother Doug and they pretty much grew up in the Pocaccio home. So Michael was familiar with the whole family. Two days before her murder, Michael and Scott gave Trisha a ride to her boyfriend's house. Now according to Scott, Michael and Trisha didn't have much of a relationship. She was just their friend's sister, but they were all around the same age. When detectives asked Trisha's parents Rick and Diane if Trisha had been friends with

Michael, they both said no, and they were very adamant about that no. They also mentioned that they never saw him act violently or aggressively, so he didn't raise any red flags for them when she was killed. Michael did start to weird Rick and Diane out about a year after Trisha was murdered, though. He would go by their house and bring them flowers and other plants. He even once brought them a gift certificate to a restaurant, and another time he bought Rick a t-shirt. Especially since this was a whole year later, they thought it was very strange that he was bringing these

random gifts. Since it was still an active investigation, Diane had brought this up in a conversation with one of the detectives on her daughter's case. I think they thought it was kind of nice but then at the same time were questionable about it because it's not like he's doing this right when it happened. You know, usually when somebody dies, your neighbors, your friends, etc. will bring you food and flowers and just stuff like that. So that would have been normal if you had done it a year prior, but since it was a whole

year later, it's kind of like, okay, too much time has passed for this to appear normal. Yeah, I do find that extremely strange because like you're saying, it's just weird to start coming around and start bringing gifts a year after this is happening. And to me, it really sounds like this is some guilt that's been adding up. Well, actually, one of the psychologists on the case who was talking to Rick and Diane at the time was convinced that Michael had something to do with the murder after hearing about this. And they thought it appeared as though he was feeling guilty and felt like he needed to

make amends and almost redeem himself, but without necessarily giving himself up. And detectives at this time noticed that Michael had previously been arrested for theft, and then they heard about this really strange conversation between Doug, Trisha's brother, and Michael. So apparently, Michael asked Doug, if you knew who did this, would you kill them, and Doug responded, saying, well, what do you think?

I think you know the answer. And at this point, it didn't seem as though Doug suspected Michael at all. He was just kind of answering a question. Later on, the detectives told Doug that Michael called them and said Doug threatened him, which is really weird if you think about it because in so many words Doug is saying to Michael that if he knew who killed his sister he would kill them which is a normal response of a family member and for Michael to feel threatened by that I mean what does that tell you? And I wonder if Michael is such a good manipulator that by calling the police on Doug saying that Doug had threatened him

maybe in some fucked up way, this is Michael trying to divert this angry behavior and angry nature on Doug, possibly making it seem like Doug could have been the culprit. To take any kind of heat off of his own back. Yeah, right, exactly. I don't know if he's smart enough to do that, but for calling the cops, it seems like there's this reason behind doing that. One of the main suspects that police had in this murder was Eric Agasim, who was one of Michael's friends.

When Michael sat down with detectives, he was aware they were looking into Eric, so he told them a story. Michael stated that the morning after the murder, Eric went to his house and asked him if he'd help him hide a gym bag. Michael said that he wasn't sure what was in the gym bag, but it heavily implied that it was the murder weapon. When detectives tried to interview Eric, he refused to talk to them, which made him look

even more suspicious in the detective's eyes. However, police weren't able to find any real evidence pointing to Eric, or anyone else for that matter, so Trisha's case went cold. And it just goes to prove what we're just talking about of how Michael is potentially very manipulative, and he's just trying to, like I said, get the heat off his own back by trying to pin the murder on anybody but himself, probably making up this story about a gym bag, and also it's weird that he doesn't bring up this gym bag until he's questioned as a suspect himself. You know, he didn't freely go to the police like, oh this happened, you gotta get the bad guy. He's making it seem like he's just trying to steer them very far away from himself. Oh by the way here's the super valuable piece

of information that I just decided I wanted to give you. Right, he sees that he's got an ace in the hole with Eric and he's like, I'm just gonna go for it, I'm going to steer them in Eric's direction, I'm gonna tell them this false story, and surprisingly enough, they sort of believe him for a while until they look more into Eric and realize that Eric really actually didn't have anything to do with this murder. So, he is pretty good at manipulating people, and just to be clear, he's 17, 18 years old at this point, so he's already putting these habits in place. And his story doesn't even really make any sense. You know, why would his friend involve him in the murder? Why would he need help throwing a bag into a river or something?

And why would Michael involve himself in obstructing and disposing of evidence? If he had a suspicion that his friend was involved in the murder Like if my friend came and asked me to go hide a duffel bag and I had Suspicion that he had something to do with a murder. There's no way and hell. I'm gonna help this guy out So five years after the murder in 1998 Michael Garjula was still living in the area and he decided to pay a visit to the Paccaccio House. Diane was at home at the time and she's the one who answered the front door. Michael told her that he needed to speak with her husband Rick, but Diane told him that he was at work.

Michael then asked if he could wait for him to get home and Diane said yes. He took a seat at the kitchen table and waited for almost an hour. When Rick finally came home, Michael looked at Rick as if he were going to tell him something. And right before Michael could say anything, his father and sister came up to the house and told them that they had to leave. So to me, it kind of seems like they were possibly all going somewhere as a family, and they had been waiting while Michael ran to the neighbor's house before coming to get him to leave. So I don't think that the family knew that he was going to confess something. I don't really know why they went over there, but they interrupted the situation, for sure.

know why they went over there, but they interrupted the situation for sure. Michael left without saying anything to Rick, but after that, Rick and Diane were convinced that he came to confess to the murder of their daughter. Rick called the detectives to tell them what had happened, and they decided to question Michael again. But when they went to his house to get him, he was gone. He had moved. In 1998, Michael headed to Los Angeles to start new, likely because he knew he would become a suspect in Trish's murder and he wanted to get far away from it. So he actually moved to Los Angeles in hopes of potentially becoming an actor. He even landed a small role as a boxer in a USC students graduate thesis film. So it wasn't like a big deal movie. I don't know how the film student found him, but the film was about boxing and Michael played a boxer, which turns out that something he was actually very interested in and he enjoyed boxing. So it kind of worked out.

The filmmaker leader stated that he thought there was something off about Michael, and that he was very quiet and withdrawn, and that he usually kept to himself. Michael didn't get any other roles as an actor after this, so he worked as an air conditioning and heater repairman. And for a time, he worked as a bouncer at the Rainbow Bar and Grill on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, which is a super well-known spot like where classic rockers hang out right next to the Roxy, which is a really badass venue. And anyway, one of his old co-workers leader reported that Michael once bragged to him

and some other co-workers that he killed a girl in Chicago. I mean, if he's gonna say that to his co-workers and his co-workers come back and say he said he killed a girl in Chicago, where would they pull that from? Why would they lie about that? Yeah, and to be honest, I think the reason why he's saying this is because he's thinking at this point I got away with murder. It's been five years.

I am all the way in Los Angeles. The murder happened in Chicago. He's thinking that he can brag and he'll be safe. What has never made sense to me though is that's not a good thing that you murdered somebody. Normal people don't think that's cool, so why would you be like, oh yeah, I killed someone. They're not going to be nice, dude. It's kind of like that douchebag that always has to let you know that they've been to jail before and they're super hard.

But the last thing you want to do if you're a murderer is tell someone that's like a secret you keep buried way down inside of yourself. You don't just go around bragging and telling people. People don't like that. Yeah, I don't like murderers. Yeah, people aren't going to be like, whoa, cool dude, really? Did you actually kill that girl? That's so fucking cool. What's surprising to me though is that it didn't seem like this co-worker told police this until far

down the line, which is pretty messed up. Yeah, that is kind of an unfortunate situation. If the co-worker had said something before, maybe this all would have ended a lot sooner. Also, he was a suspect in a Chicago murder, so if he tells police, hey, this guy said that he killed a girl in Chicago, they're gonna look at it and be like, wait, he's a suspect in that case, so that's a huge deal. But I guess for whatever reason they didn't report it. I mean, I'm assuming that the coworker probably chalked it up to this guy just inflating himself and trying to seem important or cool in some way and they probably just wrote it off. And we'll dive deeper into the life and crimes of Michael Garjulo after these

short messages. Hi true crime fans, I'm Aaron and I'm Shay. We host All Crime No Cattle, a conversational podcast which focuses on true crime stories from the Lone Star State. We strive to bring you a balanced and well-researched story about Texas cases big and small. We do the research so you don't have to. We also end every episode with a good new story. Just to remind everyone that real life isn't quite as depressing as true crime can make

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me. Visit True Crime Island.com where you can download or stream each episode, plus there's And we're back. In 2001, Ashley Elren was just 22 years old and she'd recently moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in fashion. While living at a house in the Hollywood Hills with her three best friends, she was attending the Los Angeles Fashion Institute and working at a makeup counter. She was absolutely adored by her friends and admired for being very fun and a super sweet young woman. Ashley and her friends had been at a party in Hollywood and that's when Ashley ended up meeting Ashen Kutcher one night. At that time he was still in that 70s show, so it was earlier on in his acting days, and they went on

on a couple dates, but it didn't appear that they were super serious or anything. Shout out to Michael Kelsow, you're my spirit animal. You would say that. Well, you're obsessed with that show, so. Yeah, I pretty much watch that show, like, or I used to watch that show almost every night. When we first started dating every single night, we fell asleep to that 70 show, and I just got so sick of it.

I'm sorry, it's just the best show. It's just like going to bed. Oh, let's turn on that 70 show without fail every single night. Anyways, love you, Ashton. So, around this time, Ashley and her roommates had problems with the heater system in their home. Ashley had previously met Michael Garjulo

when he offered to change their tire ones. After they got to talking, Michael offered to help fix the furnace in her basement since he was a repairman. Ashley agreed and set up a time for him to come by the house. While Michael was at the house, he started talking to the roommates and kind of trying to get to know them. He told them that he was a professional boxer. Even after Michael had fixed their heater, he wanted to remain in contact with Ashley. Her roommate stated that it was as if he was obsessed with her, but not in a romantic way.

More like he was obsessed with her being or her life. I read somewhere that he helped her with her tire on her street, and then somehow I guess they got into conversation about her furnace and then he decided to fix it, but I don't know where the line got crossed between, I'm fixing your things to now were friends, even though I don't think that she considered him a friend, and she definitely didn't consider him as a romantic interest. But he kept coming by the house, like he just kept showing up unannounced. And to be clear, I don't think that Michael Garjula's interest in Ashley was anything romantic

either. I think that he saw her lifestyle, her friends, the fact that she was dating actors, and of course, Michael wanted to be an actor when he moved to LA, so it seems like he just kind of wanted to implement himself in that social bubble, so to speak. Right, and the fact that he kept showing up unannounced really kind of freaked out the roommates, and they were like, how did you meet this guy? You know, who is he? They didn't really know him, but he always told really weird stories. And like I said, he just showed up at the house and they're kind of like, what are you doing? Like, we're not friends. Yeah, and you know, Michael was on the surface very charismatic. And

it's not like he was a hideous person. So it's easy to physically. I mean, it's easy to understand why, I mean, his soul patch was just got awful. I mean, just rip that to understand why I mean his soul patch was just got off Well, I mean just rip that thing off, but he definitely looked like he could have fit in with them potentially Right, I mean this is 2001 so Style was pretty terrible anyways, but I think that all of her roommates thought that he was very creepy But I think that he kept coming around trying to get into their little bubble and trying to meet friends. But also like you mentioned, I don't think that he lived within Ashley's neighborhood. I think he lived close for sure.

But to be in that neighborhood constantly and constantly dropping by, I think that was pretty strange. One morning at around 2 or 3am, Ashley's roommate Justin spotted Michael sitting in his car on their street with the motor running looking at their house And I think that Justin was walking up the street I don't know if he had gotten dropped off after a night of drinking I'm not really sure where he was coming from but it really freaked him out So he questioned Ashley about it like how did you meet this guy and why the hell is he sitting in front of our house in the middle of the night.

And the next day, Michael stopped by the house for a random visit like he did, and Justin confronted him about it. So apparently, Michael went on about how he couldn't go home that night because the FBI was waiting for him so they could collect DNA samples from a murder in Chicago. So you know, that's pretty weird thing to say to somebody. So Justin asked him what he had to hide, and that's when Michael actually pulled out a knife that was strapped to his ankle. And I don't know if that was a threat or if that was just like, I have to hide this knife because it's on my ankle and if they see it then they'll

think I'm weird. And then Justin asked him to get out of their house. Yeah, the way Justin explained it is that he basically physically removed Michael from the house. I don't think it was like Spartan kicked his chest out the door, but I think it was like, he had... No, it wasn't cool. Yeah, I think that he ushered him out of the front door, like, hey man, you can't be here anymore. On the evening of February 21st, 2001,

Ashton Kutcher and Ashton had plans to hang out. And I heard a couple different reports on her evening. One possibility is that Ashton Kutcher came to pick her up for the Grammy's viewing party at his friend's house, and another is that she wanted to go to the Grammy viewing party, but Ashton said no, and instead suggested that they hang out afterwards. Regardless, Ashtin tried to call Ashley that night so they could get together, but she wasn't answering his calls. So around 10.45 pm, Astin decided to go to Ashley's house. He rang the doorbell a few times, but there was no

answer. He decided to peer in the window to see if she was home, and he noticed what he thought was spilled wine on the floor. He didn't think much of it though, and he left. I feel like it's more likely that they were gonna hang out afterwards, because the Grammys are usually on around 5 or 6 pm, and this was 10.45 at night, so I only read in one article that he had said no to her coming to the Friends Viewing Party, and every other source said that they were going to a a Grammy's viewing party, but the timing just doesn't really align. And I think it's really interesting that he saw what he thought was wine spilled and then decided to leave after because if she's not answering the phone and she's not answering the door but then there's spilled

wine on the floor, spilled wine also to me says that something happened. So not that I blame him, but I just think it's interesting that he left after that. I think you have to think about it from a certain perspective. If you were showing up to a girl's house that you had recently kind of started seeing, and she's not answering your phone calls, maybe she's thinking that she's just blowing him off, or maybe she was upset that she didn't get to go to the he's thinking that she's just blowing him off or maybe she was upset that she didn't get to go to the Grammy's party. That's one possibility as well. And she got drunk or you know there's all these endless scenarios that could have been running through Aston's mind. But in the end it's pretty understandable that he didn't think anything of it, to me at least. I do get that. I think maybe in my brain since I have the true crime brain now that I would

have automatically been like, what is that? Why is that there? Even if I have thought it was wine. But I do wonder if he was suspicious by that at all or if he did just think he was being stood up. Like, I wonder if his initial reaction was, I wonder if something happened or she's totally blowing me off. Yeah, I mean, he may have had suspicion, you know, in the beginning when he first saw what he believed to be wine on the floor. He may have thought, like, well, that's kind of strange, but I don't think it was a big enough deal for him to be alarmed.

The reason Ashley didn't answer her phone or her door was because she was stabbed 47 times in the area outside of her bathroom. A few hours after her murder, her best friend and roommate came home to find Ashley laying on the floor, blue, and covered in blood. She immediately ran out of the house to her car to call 911 because she was afraid the perpetrator may still be in the house. When police and detectives arrived to the home, one detective described it as one of the worst crime scenes he's been on. He described that there was a large amount of blood and that it appeared as though whoever murdered actually was very, very angry because she was stabbed 47 times and was nearly decapitated.

Her attacker, who was left-handed, had come up behind her and slid her throat from right to left. There's actually a book called The Hot One, a memoir of friendship, sex, and murder by Caroline Murnick, who was one of Ashley L. Rins' childhood friends, and my cousin actually gave me this book about a year ago, and I just connected it the other day when I saw this on an article. By the way, everyone should go check out my cousin's book club on Instagram at BellaTrist. And so I haven't read it yet, but it discusses Ashley's murder in it and other details surrounding her life. So the book talks about how the two grew up in rural New Jersey, but once they went to different high schools, they grew apart and Ashley was

outgoing and popular while Carolyn struggled to fit in. Carolyn explained that Ashley moved to Los Angeles where she went to college but dropped out to begin stripping in Vegas and working as an escort. She also started experimenting with drugs and dated many actors, including Ashton Kutcher and Vin Diesel, so Carolyn describes the hot one to be Ashley. These details aren't really important in regards to her murder, but I just thought it was really interesting that her death was highlighted in this autobiography slash true crime book.

And a close friend to Ashley stated that the book didn't do a very good job at showcasing who Ashley really was, and a lot of those details are inconsistent with her true self. She also said that the book held a lot of truth, but think some of the facts were misunderstood or embellished. After Ashley's murder, Carolyn went to L.A. to cover the case and learn more about Ashley and her life and the details surrounding her murder. So if anyone wants to check that book out, it's called the hot one. As Ashley's case was extensively examined, detectives weren't able to conclude any of the evidence that was found, and her case, just like Tricia Picaccio's, went cold. Then in 2005, so four years after Ashley was murdered, yet another woman was slain.

So four years after Ashley was murdered, yet another woman was slain. Maria Bruno was a 32-year-old mother of four living in El Monte, California. She was originally from El Salvador and moved to the United States as a young girl. Maria married and had children young and ended up getting a divorce pretty soon before her murder. In the divorce, her husband received custody of the children, so she went off on her own to kind of start a new life. She moved into an apartment complex just 10 days prior to her murder, and her apartment was on the first floor. The front door was located within the complex's outdoor courtyard, and was only two stories high, so her apartment could be seen by a lot of others within the building since they all kind of seem to face inward.

So Michael Garjulo was actually her neighbor and he lived in the apartment across the courtyard and upstairs. So he was on the second floor that had a very clear view of her front door and the window into her living room and vice versa. Weirdly enough, she specifically chose that apartment complex because of the fact that it seemed safe to her. She liked that you needed a code or a key to get into the building and that her apartment faced inside the courtyard so she wasn't exposed to the street. And it turns out her worst nightmare was actually inside the building and not outside of it. That fateful night, the perpetrator removed a screen from Maria's kitchen window and

climbed in wearing booties over their shoes. They grabbed a knife from Maria's set in the kitchen and walked towards her bedroom where she lay asleep and alone. The perpetrator stabbed her, sliced her throat, and cut off her breasts. He even put one of her nipples over her mouth. She hadn't been found immediately. Her ex-husband, Irving Bruno, had found her lifeless body in a pool of blood, and he called 911. I couldn't find how long after she was murdered that he found her, but I'm assuming for whatever reason, maybe she wasn't answering her phone and

he decided to go over to her house, kind of like Ashton did, and that's when he found her. Yeah, and even if they were divorced and they weren't really talking, they still have children, so there's kind of that custody thing going on there, so that may have been the purpose of him being there. The detectives who were called to the scene described it as phenomenal and their worst nightmare. They said it looked like she was killed just to be killed, but that it was clearly an incredibly hateful act. She wasn't sexually assaulted and nothing was stolen from her house, so they knew it wasn't a robbery or attempted rape gone wrong.

While they were examining her apartment, they noticed a single blue cotton booty outside of Maria's front door. It had a drop of her blood on it so they knew that it was connected to her murder. However, they weren't able to conclude anything from this booty just yet. Unfortunately, there was no other evidence at the scene that led them to any real suspects. They looked at the people close to her and couldn't find anyone who had had a reason to murder her, not even her ex-husband. In 2008, so three years later, there was yet another attack. 26-year-old Michelle Murray

was sleeping in her Santa Monica apartment when around 11.40pm, a man crawled into her window, which was open a few inches. He then entered Michelle's bedroom and stabs her in the chest. So she's awoken by a knife plunging into her and she automatically begins trying to fight this man off of her. He continues to stab her chest, shoulder, arm, and her hands as she's attempting to push him away. Michelle then pushed her feet up and pushed him off of her and he ran while saying, I'm sorry. While he was leaving in a hurry, he

created a bunch of blood spatter on the steps outside of her apartment and the walkway of the complex which led into the alleyway. Michelle called 911 and then they rushed to her aid. Luckily, part of the blood that was found included blood of someone other than Michelle. They submitted the samples and received a DNA hit in 25 days. It was the blood of Michael Garjulo. Within 24 hours, Michael was arrested and charged with attempted murder. So Michelle did survive the attack. And when police looked further into Michael, they noticed that he lived in an apartment building that was parallel to Michelle's with Justin Alley separating them and their windows faced each other, meaning just like Maria, he was spying on her from his own home.

When Michael was in a Santa Monica police car on his way to jail, he asked Sergeant Richard Lewis which agency they were with, which led police to heavily believe that he committed more than one crime and he didn't know which one he got caught for. Sergeant Richard Lewis had noticed that his DNA had already been in the database, which had been entered by Cook County in Illinois. So the first thing he decided to do was call the Cook County Sheriff's Office and figure out why his DNA was in the database. They told him it was because he was suspected of a murder just outside of Chicago, which only solidified his attempted murder charges

even further. The DNA sample that Cook County obtained from him had been done just around the time of Ashley's murder while he was living in Los Angeles. So they suspected him of Trisha's murder even years after he left the state. So by now, the police are aware that Michael used to live in the same building in El Monte as Maria Bruno. They searched his old apartment for any clues and by a stroke of luck, they discovered a box of blue cotton booties in his old attic. It was the exact same type of bootie that they had found outside of Maria's apartment that night that she was murdered. Police were convinced that they had a stalker and murderer on their hands, and that he murdered Maria Bruno. Once they discovered that he had once stalked and been obsessed

with Ashley Elrin, they knew that he had killed her too. They thought they had enough evidence to indict him on two additional charges while he was in jail for the attempted murder of Michelle Murray, and wanted to bring him down for the murders of Ashley and Maria. Aside from this, police found a DNA profile from Trisha Picaccio's fingernails, and that profile matched to the DNA sample they obtained from Michael Garjulo. But because her crime scene wasn't secure or handled properly like we mentioned earlier, it was unknown if the DNA sample came from on top of the fingernail or underneath it. These create two completely different scenarios according to detectives.

Since Michael had indeed known Trisha and had even seen her two nights before her murder, that DNA could have been transferred innocently, so they didn't technically have enough evidence to put him at the scene of the crime. This fact really upsets the Piccachio family because, as I'm sure we all are, they are confident that he is the one who killed Trisha. And the only reason they can't conclude the evidence is because they weren't careful back in 1993. Unfortunately, there also isn't DNA evidence of Michael at the scene of Ashley's murder.

The reason they believe he murdered her is because he stalked her, her throat was slit from right to left, and Michael was left-handed, so this is consistent. And the murder was very similar to the others that he committed. So we pretty much know it was him, but since there's technically no evidence, it may be difficult to charge him with this crime, just like it will be for Trisha Picaccio. Michael actually states he is completely innocent of all the attacks and murders. Although he has been in prison for about 11 years now since 2008, he still says that he is 100% innocent.

He then goes on to state that he is a good and fair person, and none of that is being discussed only the bad things. Another interesting thing that Michael supposedly said was something along the lines of, just because 10 women were killed doesn't mean I murdered anyone. So police now believe he is responsible for more murders. Investigators are also very interested in hearing from anyone who may have known or ran into Michael to see if he could have stalked and murdered anyone else. Apparently, Michael knew martial arts, which made it easier for him to overpower his

victims, and he also studied forensic science. I also read reports stating that he was married with a child at the time of his arrest, but I could not confirm that. And today he is 43 years old and remains in prison. Over the years, the media has called him the Hollywood Ripper and the Chiller Killer. And I think the Chiller Killer is because he worked on air conditioning vents. The reason we wanted to cover this case now is because on May 2, 2019, the Los Angeles Capitol murder trial began, and that was just a few days before this episode came out.

Ashton Kutcher is expected to testify in court alongside 250 other people. This trial is expected to last about six months, so we want to make sure that we give you guys updates on our social media platforms as the information comes forward. If convicted, Michael Garjulo faces the death penalty for the potential murders of Maria Bruno and Ashley Elrin. After the trial in Los Angeles, prosecutors in Chicago are prepared to try Michael for the murder of Trisha Picaccio, regardless of the outcome from the LA trial.

The pre-trial hearing for the Los Angeles case was in June 2017. The trial was supposed to begin in October 2017, but there were delays, which is why it didn't start until May 2, 2019. And I sincerely hope that these young women and their families get the justice that they all deserve. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you so much everyone for tuning in and we will definitely keep you guys updated

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