Judge orders death sentence for Boy Next Door Killer

LOS ANGELES — For crimes he called “vicious and frightening,” a judge imposed a death sentence for a man prosecutors called the Boy Next Door Killer in the homeinvasion murders of two women and the attempted murder of a third.

Victims’ family members wept as Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Fidler handed down the sentence Friday to Michael Thomas Gargiulo, 45. “Everywhere that Mr. Gargiulo went, death and destruction followed him,” Fidler said.

Gargiulo’s case drew added attention because one of his victims was about to go on a date with actor Ashton Kutcher, who testified at the trial.

Gargiulo was found guilty of the 2001 murder of Ashley Ellerin, a 22yearold fashion design student, in her Hollywood home as she prepared to go out with Kutcher. At the trial, Kutcher said that he was late to pick up Ellerin, who did not answer her door. He looked inside to see blood stains that he thought were spilled wine.

Ellerin was found with 47 stab wounds.

Gargiulo was also convicted of the murder of 32yearold Maria Bruno, a mother of four, in her home in El Monte, east of Los Angeles, in 2005. Bruno’s breasts were cut off and her implants were removed.

And he was found guilty of the attempted murder in 2008 of Michelle Murphy, who fought him off in her Santa Monica apartment, forcing him to flee and leave a trail of blood that also led to his eventual arrests for the other two killings. Murphy was the key witness at the trial.

She cried as she talked about meeting the families of the two women who didn’t survive their attacks. “How is it fair that one person’s actions can destroy the lives of so many?” she said.

Gargiulo is a former air conditioner and heater repairman, bouncer and aspiring actor who was called the Boy Next Door Killer by prosecutors because he lived near the victims he stalked then attacked in their homes.

He is unlikely to be put to death anytime soon. California has not executed anyone since 2006 and Gov. Gavin Newsom has halted executions for as long as he is in office. But courts have been proceeding on the assumption that executions may one day resume.

Gargiulo is now expected to be extradited to Illinois for the 1993 killing of Tricia Pacaccio in his hometown.