Ashton Kutcher recalls knocking on slain woman’s door, then “freaking out”

Kutcher said he told detectives the next day he knew his fingerprints were on the door and he was “freaking out.”

The testimony came in the trial of 43-year-old Michael Gargiulo, who is charged with killing Ellerin and another woman. Los Angeles prosecutors say Gargiulo murdered three women including Ellerin who was friendly with the actor.

“48 Hours” correspondent Maureen Maher reported that during opening statements, prosecutors told jurors they believe Ellerin was attacked from behind by Gargiulo after she exited her shower on February 21, 2001. Around 10:45 p.m., Kutcher arrived to take her to a Grammys party. According to deputy district attorney Daniel Akemon, Kutcher looked in the window when he arrived at Ellerin’s home and thought he saw wine spilled on the floor. “We believe now the evidence will show that was actually blood,” Akemon said.

Kutcher allegedly told police, when she didn’t answer the door he left. Ellerin was found brutally stabbed to death by her roommate the next morning.

Prosecutors describe Gargiulo as a “methodical and systematic” killer. He is accused of attacking at least four women, three in California and one in Illinois.

Michelle Murphy, the prosecution’s first witness, was allegedly Gargiulo’s only survivor. Prosecutors claim Murphy battled for the knife and say Gargiulo used to stab her, cutting him, and leaving his DNA at the crime scene – DNA that was found years earlier on another victim, Tricia Pacaccio, across the country.