Ashton Kutcher is getting set to take the witness stand in the trial of accused serial killer Michael Gargiulo.
It's a case that has haunted Kutcher for 18 years. Police say Gargiulo brutally murdered three young women including Ashley Ellerin, who was set to go on a date with Kutcher the night she was killed.
It was February 2001 and Kutcher was starring in “That '70s Show.” He met Ellerin on the Hollywood party scene and was smitten by the 22-year-old model and aspiring fashion designer. On the night she was murdered, the actor had invited her to a Grammy party.
Kutcher went to her house to pick her up, where he rang the bell, but there was no response. Then, police say, he peered through the window and saw what he thought was red wine on the floor. There was no sign of her, so he left. Turns out, it wasn't wine he saw but a pool of her blood. She had been stabbed 47 times and was lying dead behind the front door.
Police were stumped and they couldn't figure out who might have killed Ellerin. The case went cold until seven years later, in 2008, when cops arrested Gargiulo after they say he attacked another young woman.
In a jailhouse interview with CBS’ “48 Hours,” Gargiulo denied that he was a killer.
“My truth is being 100 percent innocent being wrongfully charged,” he claimed.
But cops say DNA evidence links him to the murder of Ellerin and two others.
Gargiulo's trial is expected to last at least six months. He has pleaded not guilty.
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