Glenview Victim's Family Awaits Extradition Of 'Hollywood Ripper'

GLENVIEW, IL — The family of the Glenview teenager believed to be the first victim of convicted serial killer Michael Gargiulo is ready for him to return to Illinois to face justice.

Gargiulo, 43, was convicted Thursday of stabbing to two women to death and attempting to murder a third in California — 26 years and one day after he allegedly stabbed 18-year-old Tricia Pacaccio to death as she arrived home.

Prosecutors will seek his extradition to Cook County following the conclusion of proceedings in Los Angeles, according to a statement from the Cook County State's Attorney's Office. But first, the Los Angeles County jury that found him guilty of the slayings of 22-year-old Ashley Ellerin in 2001 and 32-year-old Maria Bruno in 2005, as well as the attempted murder of 26-year-old Michelle Murphy in 2008, will determine his sanity and whether he will face the death penalty or the rest of his life in prison.

Dubbed the "Hollywood Ripper," Gargiulo grew up in Glenview and attended Glenbrook South High School with Pacaccio, although the two were barely acquainted, according to a 2011 feature in Chicago Magazine. Pacaccio's brother, Doug, remembers being friends with Gargiulo, who lived nearby.

"I have joy in my heart that Michael has been held accountable for his actions. The bitter part about it is that I don't feel like it's done yet," Doug Pacaccio told WLS. He testified in the California trial and said he is ready to do so again.

Prosecutors linked Gargiulo's DNA to Pacaccio's murder in 2003 but said it was not enough to bring charges, according to former Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez. He was arrested in Santa Monica in 2008 and charged in Illinois in 2011.

"I'm very angry. I'm very angry that all of this went on and I'm very angry that this has gone for 26 years," Tricia's mother, Diane, told WBBM. "And I'm very angry that Cook County knew that his DNA should have never been on my daughter."

Pacaccio's parents initially became suspicious when Gargiulo, then 17, began showing up with gifts after their daughters death, according to a 2011 report from 48 Hours Mystery. Five years later, they were convinced when Gargiulo showed up at their house and waited for more than an hour for her Tricia's father to arrive home before Gargiulo's father and sister whisked him away.

He moved to Los Angeles a short time later and worked as an actor, a boxer and a repairman prior to his arrest.