The grisly crime scenes of the 'Hollywood Ripper serial killer' are shown to a jury
Michael Gargiulo is facing two counts of murder and one of attempted murder from attacks between 2001 and 2008
These are the grisly crime scenes left behind by the alleged Hollywood Ripper serial killer which have been shown to a jury, along with a diagram showing the stab wounds suffered by Ashton Kutcher's ex girlfriend during the frenzied attack which left her dead.
Michael Gargiulo, 43, is accused of murdering two women, the actor's former partner Ashley Ellerin, 22, and Maria Bruno, 32, as well as trying to kill another, Michelle Murphy, in the Los Angeles area between 2001 and 2008.
He was separately charged with killing an 18-year-old Illinois woman, Tricia Pacaccio, whose father found her fatally stabbed on their family's doorstep with her house key still in hand in 1993.
Disturbing images from inside the home of one brave survivor, Michelle Murphy, show her bloody bedding and the blood splattered walls and floors of her apartment as she fought off her attacker and survived.
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The bloody hands of survivor Michelle Murphy were shown to the jury after she fought off her attacker and survived. The defendant, dubbed 'the boy next door killer', is said to have stabbed Michelle multiple times at her Santa Monica home
Prosecutor Daniel Akemon told the jury Thursday that Gargiulo - a neighbor of each victim at the time of the attacks - could watch Michelle, who said she woke to find him in her home one night. They also argued his DNA was on her comforter, pictured
The defendant, dubbed 'the boy next door killer', is said to have stabbed Michelle multiple times at her Santa Monica home before she bravely fought him off and survived the attack in 2008.
A diagram shown to the jury indicated just how close Michelle lived to Gargiulo, an air conditioning repairman, who would allegedly 'watch, shadow, stalk and hunt down' his victims who lived nearby before fatally stabbing them for sexual pleasure.
Images seen by the jury show the window to Michelle's apartment with a sliced open screen and pictures from inside her bathroom show the aftermath of her attack as she tried to stem her heavy bleeding.
Even more sickening is the hand prints left on her hallway floor as she fell trying after being stabbed and images of the defensive wounds on her hands from fighting off her attacker, which has left her scarred for life.
Prosecutor Daniel Akemon told the jury Thursday that Gargiulo - a neighbor of each victim at the time of the attacks - could watch Michelle, who said she woke to find him in her home one night. They also argued his DNA was on her comforter.
Disturbing images from inside Michelle's home show bloodied bedding and walls
The hand prints left on Michelle's hallway floor as she fell after being stabbed in her own home
Pictures from inside Michelle's bathroom, left, show the aftermath of her attack as she tried to stem her heavy bleeding. Diagrams of the wounds to Ashley Ellerin's body are pictured right
Another of Gargiulo's alleged victims, Kutcher's ex Ellerin, was found dead in 2001 in her Hollywood Hills home. The actor told police he went to pick up the fashion student-model for a post-Grammy Awards party, but she did not answer the door.
He checked a back window and spotted what he thought were red wine stains on the carpet and then left. Her body was discovered the next day by a friend.
The prosecutor showed diagrams of the stab wounds next to the actual photos of Ellerin's body to the jury as the trial got underway Thursday.
Ashley was stabbed to death in the hallway outside her bathroom,' Akemon told the jury. 'She was stabbed over 47 times…she was almost decapitated.'
Ellerin was left with gaping wounds - some up to six inches deep -by a knife-wielding intruder who attacked her while she was taking a shower.
Akemon also showed horrifying images from inside the home of 32-year-old Maria Bruno, found stabbed to death in suburban El Monte in 2005.
Tragic Maria's breasts had been cut off during the brutal attacks and the jury were shown the graphic pictures from the crime scene after her estranged husband, Irving Bruno, found her lying in a 'pool of blood'.
The knife pack used to mutilate her was found on the kitchen floor with the chef's knife missing, pictures showed. A desperate Irving Bruno called 911, saying: 'They took her breast...my wife has breast implants...they placed it over her mouth.'
Pictures of the victims were shown during the opening statements of Gargiulo's trial Thursday
Kutcher's ex-girlfriend, 22-year-old Ashley Ellerin, left, was found dead in 2001 in her Hollywood Hills home. Gargiulo is believed to have killed up to 10 women, including Maria Bruno, 32, right, in 2005
Gargiulo was living a 'double life', the court heard. He was attacking women and killing them and he was able to go undetected for almost 15 years,' said assistant district attorney
Prosecutor Akemon said: 'What you will hear is that Michael Gargiulo for almost 15 years was watching, always watching. And his hobby was plotting the perfect opportunity to attack women with a knife in and around their homes.'
Gargiulo - dressed in purple dress shirt, with his head shaved and sporting a graying goatee and Versace glasses Thursday - was living a 'double life', the court heard.
On the one hand he was a husband and father, jurors were told. On the other, 'he was attacking women and killing them and he was able to go undetected for almost 15 years,' said Akemon.
Gargiulo has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and an attempted-murder charge stemming from attacks in the Los Angeles area between 2001 and 2008. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. He will be tried separately for Pacaccio's murder in Illinois in 1993.
Images seen by the jury show the window to Michelle's apartment with a sliced open screen, left. The knife pack used to mutilate Maria Bruno was found on the kitchen floor with the chef's knife missing, right
Gargiulo was a neighbor of each victim at the time of the attacks. Michael Gargiulo's trial began with a prosecutor outlining the California murders for jurors, calling the defendant 'the boy next door killer' and his crimes 'the methodical and systematic slaughter of women'
This map shows the floorplan of Ellerin's Hollywood Hills bungalow where she was murdered. It depicts where her body was found stabbed to death
His defense attorney, Dan Nardoni, repeatedly tried to discredit the prosecutions case during opening statements by telling jurors that other men had better access or motive in the killings.
He said that Ellerin had sex with her apartment manager just hours before Kutcher was scheduled to pick her up from her Hollywood apartment.
Prosecutors say Gargiulo moved to Los Angeles in 2001 and targeted Ellerin, a model and student who was living in Hollywood and dating TV star Ashton Kutcher, who was aged 23 and starring in his first TV hit, That 70s Show.
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Gargiulo will be tried separately for Tricia Pacaccio's murder in Illinois in 1993
Gargiulo 'injected himself' into Ashley's life, changing a tire for her and fixing her furnace, said Akemon. 'He gatecrashed a party at her home and fixated on her. Somehow he got a copy of a key to her apartment and let himself in…then ran away.'
It was the failed murder attempt on Murphy in April of 2008 that ended what police claim was a 15-year killing spree by Chicago native Gargiulo.
DNA evidence collected at Murphy's apartment not only led to his arrest in June 2008 for his alleged attack on her, but also linked him to the Ellerin and Bruno murders, say prosecutors. He was indicted for those killings just two months later.
Gargiulo was a close friend of Pacaccio's brother and detectives had long suspected him in the killing. But they could never put together enough evidence to charge him with Pacaccio's murder - until the attack on Murphy 15 years later.
Kutcher, who is married to Mila Kunis, is among the witnesses expected to take the stand.
A map showing the distance of 400ft between Gargiulo and Ellerin was presented as evidence during opening statements at his murder trial
This map shows that Gargiulo and alleged victim Pacaccio lived only 550ft away from one another in 1993 when she was murdered
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