In a court hearing last week, actor Ashton Kutcher said he ‘freaked out’ when he discovered that the woman he was about to date had been killed.
Kutcher was in the court to provide evidence at the trial of Michael Gargiulo – the serial killer notoriously known as the ‘Hollywood Ripper.’
Gargiulo has been charged with two charges of first-degree murder which he committed from 2001 to 2005.
The former model said he was supposed to go on a date with Ashley Ellerin on February 22, 2001. But when Kutcher arrived at her apartment, he found her door to be locked.
The 41-year-old said the lights of Ashley’s apartment were on and he could look through the window.
Kutcher recalled that he saw “what I thought was a red wine spilt on the carpet” but that “wasn’t alarming because I went to her house party (days before) and it was like a college party, he said. I didn’t think much about it.”
The Two and a Half Men star continued: “I knocked on the door. There was no answer. Knocked again. And once again, no answer.
“At this point, I pretty well assumed she had left for the night, and that I was late, and she was upset.”
The 22-year-old was found dead in the apartment by her roommate, the next day. The young design student was stabbed 47 times, according to prosecutors.
Kutcher added: “I remember the next day after I heard about what happened, I went to the detectives and said ‘my fingerprints are on the door.’ I was freaking out.”
The prosecutors assured the actor that he was not a suspect in Ashley’s murder.
Contrary to media reports, Kutcher has maintained that Ashley was just a casual acquaintance he met at a party and the two of them weren’t a couple.
According to police, Ashley was attacked from behind by Gargiulo while she was leaving the shower. It happened shortly after she got off a call with Kutcher, a couple of hours before they had to go on a date.
Gargiulo, 43, is on trial at Los Angeles superior court. He has also been charged with killing 18-year-old Chicago resident Tricia Pacaccio in 1993 and 32-year-old LA resident Maria Bruno in 2005.
LA prosecutors are seeking to get a death penalty for Gargiulo, who was arrested by the police in 2008 and hasn’t pleaded guilty to his charges so far.