Photo: LUCY NICHOLSON / AFP / Getty Images
A man accused of perpetrating bloody homicides in Los Angeles and who was labeled as “the murderer who lives next door” for attacking women in their own homes, was sentenced this Friday with the death penalty, reported The Associated Press .
After two years of postponement of the sentence due to the pandemic and other reasons, Judge Larry P. Fidler gave his verdict against Michael Thomas Gargiulo, of 45 years old, whose trial reached greater drama and attention when it was known that one of his victims was going to have a date with the actor Ashton Kutcher , who was even one of the witnesses at the trial.
The convicted person was found guilty of the death of Ashley Ellerin, of 22 years, in his Hollywood home in 2001 as the design student was preparing for a date with Kutcher. He was late to pick her up and she never answered the door . Ellerin had been cruelly stabbed with 47 knife wounds .
Gargiulo was also accused of murdering María Bruno, of 32 years, in his house in El Monte in 2005. At the terrifying crime scene, she was found with her breasts cut and implants removed .
It remains to be seen if the defendant is ultimately executed, something that hasn’t happened in California since 2006. Last December, the new Los Angeles prosecutor, George Gascón, stated that no one else will be sentenced to death in the county .
The killer’s third victim in Southern California was Michelle Murphy, from 26 years, who survived defending himself in his Santa Monica apartment in 2008 . It was that incident that was key to the arrest of the murderer, indicated AP , since the investigators discovered his blood which they later linked to the two murders.
Dear Media: Good Gargiulo was found guilty. BUT the victims deserve to be honored & named. They are more than just statistics or Ashton Kutcher’s date. And for the love of God, stop glorifying serial killers & giving them disturbing monikers – it’s what they seek # HerNameWas pic.twitter.com/hR9mQrBaz5
– Laura Richards BSc, MSc, MBPsS (@laurarichards 99) August 15, 2019
The murderer sentenced today had committed his first homicide in 1993 in Chicago, where he is originally from, by killing Tricia Pacaccio, from 18 years.
Gargiulo, who wanted to dedicate himself to acting and who worked as an air conditioner repairman , He had no reaction this Friday when he heard the sentence of the judge, according to the AP report, but he complained that his lawyers did not allow him to climb to the witness chair .