Michael Gargiulo was convicted in 2019 of fatally stabbing two women and attempting to kill a third in Southern California. Gargiulo returns to the TV spotlight as he awaits sentencing for those crimes and extradition to Illinois to stand trial for a similar slaying in the Glenview area.
An hourlong episode of “People Magazine Investigates,” scheduled to air at 9 p.m. Monday on the Investigation Discovery network, recalls the 2001 murder of 22-year-old Ashley Ellerin; the 2005 killing of 32-year-old Maria Bruno; and the 2008 attack on Michelle Murphy. A jury recommended the death penalty for Gargiulo — who has been dubbed the “Hollywood Ripper” — in October 2019, but he has yet to be formally sentenced. A court date is scheduled for July.
A spokesperson for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office told the Tribune the office plans “to seek Gargiulo’s extradition to Illinois for further proceedings at the conclusion of the matter in California.”
Gargiulo, 45, is charged with first-degree murder in the 1993 killing of 18-year-old Tricia Pacaccio. The Glenbrook South High School graduate was stabbed to death outside her family’s home in unincorporated Glenview days before she was set to study engineering and environmental issues at Purdue University. Gargiulo, who was 17 at the time, lived nearby and had been an occasional visitor to the Pacaccio home as a family friend.
Authorities say a 2003 DNA test linked Gargiulo to Pacaccio’s death, but he was not charged until July 2011. Shortly after watching a May 2011 episode of CBS’ “48 Hours Mystery” about the string of slayings, two men came forward to say Gargiulo had told them he killed a girl in Chicago.
The “People Magazine Investigates” episode features interviews, police photos and footage of Gargiulo’s Los Angeles trial, which drew international interest because actor Ashton Kutcher testified he was supposed to meet Ellerin for drinks the night she was killed. “People Magazine Investigates” recently recalled another Illinois slaying on an episode that aired in March.
tswartz@tribpub.com
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