COOK COUNT, Ill. — A notorious serial killer already convicted in California appeared in a Cook County courtroom on Friday to face charges for the 1993 murder of a teen girl in the north suburbs.
48-year-old Michael Gargiulo walked into the Skokie Courthouse on Friday wearing sunglasses and using a cane, telling the judge that he had suffered two brain hemorrhages and a stroke while in a California penitentiary.
In a surprise development, Gargiulo, who is already on death row in California, was extradited to Cook County on Thursday from the California Department of Corrections, more than 13 years after he was charged in the killing of 18-year-old Tricia Pacaccio in his hometown of Glenview.
Pacaccio was found stabbed to death on the doorstep of her family’s home in unincorporated Glenview in August 1993. Pacaccio had recently graduated high school and lived near Gargiulo, who was 17 at the time and friends with her younger brother.
During his court appearance, Cook County Judge Anthony Calabrese ordered that Gargiulo remain detained pending trial.
“The arrest and prosecution of Michael Gargiulo marks a crucial moment in our pursuit of justice for Tricia Pacaccio,” Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said. “While nothing can erase the pain of her loss, we remain committed to the Pacaccio family and are grateful that they can finally see this case move forward.”
Pacaccio’s family members were in the courtroom on Friday but did not speak with reporters afterward.
Gargiulo is set to make his next court appearance on Friday, Sept. 20.
Gargiulo’s extradition is the latest development in a decades-long effort to bring Pacaccio’s killer to justice.
Gargiulo moved to California in 1998 and in 2003, detectives were able to link him to the case through DNA material found under Pacaccio’s fingernails, but prosecutors declined to approve charges.
New evidence came to light in 2008 after Gargiulo was arrested in connection with a violent string of attacks after the attempted murder of his only known surviving victim, Michelle Murphy, in Santa Monica.
Murphy was able to fight off Gargiulo and the trail of evidence left behind later linked him to the murders of Pacaccio, 22-year-old Ashley Ellerin, who was stabbed to death at her Hollywood Hills home in 2001, and 32-year-old Maria Bruno, who was killed in El Monte in 2005.
In 2011, Gargiulo was charged with murder and attempted murder in connection with the attacks.
Gargiulo who was dubbed “The Chiller Killer” and “The Hollywood Ripper” by various media outlets at the time of the gruesome murders, was referred to as “The Boy Next Door Killer” by prosecutors, as he was found to live near the victims who he stalked before killing.
In 2019, Gargiulo was convicted of murder and attempted murder in the three California attacks and was later sentenced to death in 2021.
Among those who testified in the months-long 2019 trial was actor Ashton Kutcher, who was supposed to go on a date with Ellerin shortly before her murder.
During the 2021 trial, where Gargiulo was sentenced to death in the murders of Ellerin and Bruno, California prosecutors were allowed to present extensive evidence from the Glenview case as they sought to present him as a serial killer.