Michael Gargiulo, the convicted serial killer known as the Hollywood Ripper, appeared in court for the 1993 murder of Tricia Pacaccio, the 18-year-old Glenview teen found stabbed to death on her family's doorstep. Pacaccio's father, Rick, discovered his daughter's body on Aug. 14, 1993, her house key still in her hand.
A Killing That Went Unsolved For Years
Pacaccio had just returned home from spending time with friends when she was attacked, according to FOX 32 Chicago, which reported she was stabbed 12 times. At the time, Gargiulo lived down the street from the Pacaccio family and was a classmate of Tricia's at Glenbrook South High School, according to CBS News Chicago. Prosecutors have said Gargiulo was also a friend of Pacaccio's brother, according to NBC Chicago, which reported that Gargiulo allegedly sought help disposing of knives in the days after the killing and told a witness he feared police were pursuing him.
It would take a decade before investigators made a scientific breakthrough. Cook County sheriff's detectives obtained a DNA sample from Gargiulo in 2002, and tests the following year confirmed his DNA was found under Pacaccio's fingernails, per the Chicago Sun-Times. Even so, it was 2008 before Cook County prosecutors announced they were reexamining the case, the paper's report notes.
Charged 18 Years After The Killing
Cook County prosecutors formally charged Gargiulo with Pacaccio's murder in 2011, nearly two decades after she died, according to the Chicago Tribune, which reported the charges followed two witnesses who said Gargiulo had told them he killed a girl in Chicago. Yet Gargiulo did not appear in a Cook County courtroom until 2024, after authorities extradited him from California, the outlet's report states.
The Cook County Sheriff's Office said Gargiulo made his first court appearance on Sept. 6, 2024, more than 13 years after he was initially charged. The Cook County Sheriff's Office confirmed the appearance in a statement describing him as formerly of Glenview. One report from that period, from CBS News Chicago, said Gargiulo was due back in court on Sept. 20, 2024, and was denied pretrial release after that first hearing.
Already A Convicted Killer In California
Gargiulo's Illinois case follows a string of convictions on the West Coast, where he earned the Hollywood Ripper nickname. In 2019, a jury found him guilty of murdering 22-year-old Ashley Ellerin in 2001 and 32-year-old mother of four Maria Bruno in 2005, along with the attempted murder of Michelle Murphy in 2008, according to CBS News Chicago's reporting. Ellerin was killed hours before she was scheduled to go on a date with actor Ashton Kutcher, the outlet reported, and Murphy survived after waking up to a man stabbing her in the arm as she slept on April 28, 2008, per People. Gargiulo was sentenced to death in California in 2021.
The television program 48 Hours had worked on the Pacaccio case since the summer of 2008, according to CBS News Chicago's reporting, and helped connect Pacaccio's family with Chicago authorities. The network's reporting also describes how a witness came forward after an earlier program aired, feeding investigators additional information used to build the case against Gargiulo.
What Comes Next
Cook County's online case-information system is intended to show the general status of historical and in-process cases, though the Cook County government notes that the online data is not the official court record. Gargiulo remains charged rather than convicted in the Pacaccio killing.
