Why Ashton Kutcher Was Scared He’d be Accused of Murder

There are a lot of things that people typically worry about when someone stands them up for a first date. Whether the other person liked them, whether they said something dumb to make their date not want to go out…

But the one thing that you don’t expect to have to be concerned about after getting stood up is being accused of murder. But that is exactly the position that Ashton Kutcher found himself in in 2001.

Why would Kutcher be accused of murder?

On February 21, 2001, Kutcher and his friend, Ashley Ellerin had plans to get dinner and drinks together after finding out that they were both newly single. The pair met in December of 2000 but had only recently decided to get together.

While Ellerin was getting ready to go out with Kutcher, a man named Michael Gargiulo allegedly broke into her home and stabbed her 47 times.

“We believe she had just exited the shower and was getting ready to go out with Mr. Kutcher when she was attacked from behind,” Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Dan Akemon said in the opening statements of the trial against Gargiulo.

When Ellerin didn’t show up to the date, Kutcher tried to call her multiple times. After he failed to get in contact with her, he testified that he went to her house at some time between 10:30 pm and 10: 45 pm and nobody came to the door. The door was locked but there were lights on inside her house so Kutcher figured she had just gone out with friends and ditched him.

At the time, Kutcher believed that Ellerin was probably angry at him as he had spent the evening at actress Kristy Swanson’s house watching the Grammys and had stayed too long.

“I assumed she had left for the night and I was late and she was upset,” he said at yesterday’s trial.

What did Kutcher do once he learned of the murder?

By the next day, police had discovered that Ellerin had been murdered. Once Kutcher found out, he became nervous because he had just gone to her house the night before.

“My fingerprints are on this door and I was freaking out,” he said. “I told [an officer], ‘Let me tell you what happened.'”

The murder trial

Kutcher is one of over 100 witnesses who will testify against Gargiulo, who is now being called a “serial sexual killer.” He alledgely stalked and stabbed his victims who were all young women who lived in his area.

How did Ellerin meet Gargiulo?

When Gargiulo met Ellerin he was 24 years old and working as an air conditioning repairman. The pair first met outside her home in 2000 after he asked her if she needed help changing a flat tire.

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After meeting her, Gargiulo began stalking the young woman. Friends of Ellerin allegedly told police that he would often show up to her house unexpectedly. Another friend said that he saw the man parked outside of her house at strange hours, according to People.

Gargiulo had easy access to Ellerin as he lived less than a block away from her.