Ashton Kutcher To Testify About Friend's Murder In 'Hollywood Ripper' Trial

Ashton Kutcher is expected to take the stand Wednesday in the trial of the alleged “Hollywood Ripper” serial killer and speak publicly for the first time about the 2001 murder of his girlfriend.

Kutcher’s testimony is expected to provide crucial details about the time of death for Ashley Ellerin, one of three women Michael Gargiulo is accused of murdering, according to CBS News.

Kutcher had been planning to take Ellerin on a date to a post-Grammy party on Feb. 21, 2001—but the fashion student never answered the door. Her roommate would discover her dead body the next day. She had been stabbed 47 times, local station KCBS reports. The pair had reportedly been casually dating at the time of the murder.

Kutcher told investigators at the time that he had spoken to Ellerin at 8:24 p.m. to confirm their plans, but when he called again at 10:15 p.m. she didn’t answer, People reports.

Kutcher arrived at Ellerin’s home around 10:45 p.m. to pick her up, but no one came to the door. He looked into the home and saw what he thought was red wine spilled on the floor and then left.

“We believe now the evidence will show that was actually blood,” Deputy District Attorney Daniel Akemon said.

Kutcher’s testimony is expected to show that Ellerin must have been killed within a very small window of time and was likely killed by someone who had been watching the 22-year-old.

Prosecutors believe Gargiulo is a “serial, psychosexual thrill killer” who stalked his victims before the vicious attacks.

He is also accused of killing 17-year-old Tricia Pacaccio in her front porch of her home in the Chicago area in 1993, and young mother Maria Bruno, 32, in 2005.

Prosecutors say all three victims lived near Gargiulo, a former bouncer at Rainbow Bar & Grill and air conditioner repairman, at the time of their deaths.

A fourth woman, Michelle Murphy, was brutally stabbed in her Santa Monica home in 2008 but managed to survive.

“What you will hear is that Michael Gargiulo for almost 15 years was watching, always watching,” Akemon told the jury in his opening statements according to the local station. “And his hobby was plotting the perfect opportunity to attack women with a knife in and around their homes.”

Gargiulo has denied his involvement in any of the murders.