A man convicted and sentenced to death for killing two Southern California women has been extradited to Illinois to stand trial after he was charged in the 1993 slaying of a suburban teenager.
Michael Gargiulo, now 48, appeared in a Skokie courtroom Friday afternoon accused of stabbing 18-year-old Tricia Pacaccio to death.
“Michael Gargiulo was a friend and classmate of the victim’s brother,” Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Ethan Holland said. “The defendant’s residence was one block from Pacaccio’s.”
According to prosecutors, Pacaccio was stabbed to death on her way home from a night out with friends.
Her body was discovered by her father on the steps of their home in unincorporated Glenview the next morning.
“The victim’s car was found parked in the front driveway of the home, her purse and car keys were found at the scene and there were no obvious signs of an attempted robbery,” Holland said.
Several days after the murder, prosecutors said Gargiulo sought help to get rid of his knives.
“Witness ‘A’ went with Gargiulo and another person to get rid of knives that Gargiulo had. Gargiulo admitted to Witness ‘A’ that he was afraid the police would come after him,” Holland said.
Decades later, forensic evidence linked Gargiulo to the suburban murder, and he was charged with first-degree murder in 2011.
At the time, Gargiulo was already arrested and charged in Los Angeles with the murders of two women and the attempted murder of a third. One of the victims dated actor Ashton Kutcher in 2001.
Nicknamed “The Hollywood Ripper,” prosecutors said the victims were all stabbed to death in their homes after a burglary.
Gargiulo was denied pretrial release and will appear in court again on September 20.