Ashton Kutcher feared being accused of girlfriend Ashley Ellerin’s murder ‘by Hollywood Ripper’ as his fingerprints were on her door
ASHTON Kutcher has told a court how he “freaked out” when he discovered his girlfriend Ashley Ellerin had been brutally stabbed to death.
The former Two and a Half Men star was testifying as a witness at the trial of a man dubbed the Hollywood Ripper who is charged with the murder of the young woman and two others.
Giving evidence at the murder trial, a tearful Kutcher said he turned up two and a half hours late for a planned date at fashion designer Ashley Ellerin’s Hollywood home in 2001.
Peering through the window he saw “what I thought was a red wine spilled on the carpet.”
“I didn’t really think anything of it,” Kutcher said, adding that he “figured I screwed up” by showing up late, and he assumed Ellerin had gone out with a friend and so he left.
Ellerin, 22, was found dead at her home the next morning by a roommate.
She had been stabbed 47 times, prosecutors said.
Some wounds were six inches deep, on her neck, chest, stomach and back while she had been taking a shower.
Kutcher, now 41, said when he learned what had happened to Ellerin, he spoke with police.
He said: “I remember the next day after I heard about what happened, I went to the detectives and said ‘My fingerprints are on the door’. I was freaking out.”
Married plumber Michael Gargiulo, 43, is on trial at Los Angeles Superior Court for the murder of Ellerin and two other women Tricia Pacaccio and Maria Bruno as well as the attempted murder of another, Michelle Murphy, now 37.
Gargiulo was arrested in 2008. He has pleaded not guilty.
In a previous hearing in the case District Attorney Dan Akemon told the jury that Gargiulo
had led a “double life” as a killer.
He said: “What you will hear is that Michael Gargiulo for almost 15 years was watching and waiting.
“His hobby was to wait for the perfect opportunity to attack women in and around their homes.
‘I SCREWED UP’
“Ashley Ellerin led a glamorous life. She was a beautiful 22-year-old fashion student who socialised with the Hollywood crowd.”
Akemon described Gargiulo as “the boy next door killer,” saying his crimes involved the “methodical and systematic slaughter of women”.
He added at the time: “His hobby was plotting the perfect opportunity to attack women with a knife in and around their homes.”
Gargiulo’s defence lawyer Dan Nardoni has previously claimed in court that Ashley had “consensual sex” with another man hours before she was brutally murdered.
Who is Michael Gargiulo, accused of being the Hollywood Ripper?
Michael Gargiulo, 43, is a married plumber who is currently on trial in Los Angeles accused of being the serial killer known as the Hollywood Ripper.
He is accused of killing three women between 1993 and 2008 and the attempted murder of another woman in the Los Angeles area between 2001 and 2008.
It is claimed Gargiulo stalked his victims before attacking them.
District Attorney Dan Akemon told the jury that Gargiulo had led a “double life” as a killer and a husband.
He described Gargiulo as “the boy next door killer,” saying his crimes involved the “methodical and systematic slaughter of women”.
Along with being accused of killing Ashley Ellerin is also accused f murdering his 18-year-old neighbour Tricia Pacaccio in August 1993 in Glenview, Illinois.
In December 2005 he allegedly stabbed his 32-year-old neighbour Maria Bruno to death at her home in El Monte, California.
Michelle Murphy, now 37, is thought to be the only woman to have survived an attack by the Hollywood Ripper.
She was woken by a hooded attacker who straddled, ambushed and repeatedly stabbed her with a serrated knife in her Santa Monica apartment in April 2008.
most read in world news
He said she had sex with her apartment manager Mark Durban just hours before Kutcher was due to pick her up from her apartment.
In 2001, Kutcher was making his name as one of the stars of the television comedy “That ’70s Show.” Ten years later he was cast in the hit comedy “Two and a Half Men.”
In 2005, Kutcher married actress Demi Moore. After their 2013 divorce, he wed Mila Kunis and they now have two kids.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368. You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.