Serial killer known as ‘Hollywood Ripper’ extradited to Illinois for 1993 murder of his teen neighbor

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Serial killer known as ‘Hollywood Ripper’ facing charges in Illinois for 1993 murder of teen

Michael Gargiulo, 48, has already been sentenced to death for the murders of two women in California.

A serial killer known as the “Hollywood Ripper” and the “Boy Next Door Killer,” who has already been sentenced to death for two murders in Southern California in 2001 and 2005, has been extradited to Illinois for the 1993 murder of an 18-year-old. 

Michael Gargiulo, 48, has been charged with the August 1993 murder of Tricia Pacaccio, 18, who was found by her father outside of her home in Fairview, Illinois, after spending an evening with friends, according to FOX 32. 

“Michael Gargiulo, was a friend and classmate of the victim’s brother. The defendant’s residence was located one block from the Pacaccios,” Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Ethan Holland told reporters from the courthouse in Skokie, Illinois, on Friday. 

Gargiulo was a suspect during the initial investigation, but he wasn’t linked to the crime through DNA until after he had left for California where he killed Ashley Ellerin, 22, in 2001 and Maria Bruno, 32, a mother of four whose breasts were cut off during her killing, in 2005. 

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Michael Gargiulo has been charged in the 1993 murder of 18-year-old Tricia Pacaccio outside of her home.  (FOX 32)

Actor Ashton Kutcher testified at Gargiulo’s trial for Ellerin’s murder that he was supposed to pick her up for a date that night in 2001, but she had been murdered by the time he arrived at her house. She was stabbed 47 times. 

Gargiulo allegedly also attempted to murder another woman in the Los Angeles area in 2008. 

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A sketch of Gargiulo in court on Friday.  (FOX 32)

After those murders, Holland said more witnesses came forward. “These witnesses indicated that in the late 1990s Michael Gargiulo had admitted that he had killed a girl in Chicago.”

Holland said someone known as “Witness A” “accompanied Gargiulo, and another individual to get rid of knives that Gargiulo possessed. Gargiulo admitted to witness ‘A’ that he was afraid that police were coming after him.” 

Pacaccio was found dead outside of her home in August 1993.  (FOX 32)

He added that another person who came forward, known as “Witness C,” said that Gargiulo had told him he had “buried the b—-. When pressed by witness ‘C’ to tell the truth, Gargiulo said that he was only kidding and he had actually ‘left the b—- on step for dead.’” 

Gargiulo was finally charged with Pacaccio’s murder in 2011, but wasn’t extradited until he was sentenced in California. 

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Gargiulo is being held without bond and is due back in court on Sept. 20. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Cook Country State’s Attorneys Office.