Ashley Ellerin
Ashley Ellerin | |
|---|---|
| Born | Template:Birthdate |
| Died |
February 21, 2001 (aged 22) |
| Occupation | fashion consultant, exotic dancer |
| Known for | brutally raped and murdered |
Ashley Ellerin was an American woman whose brutal murder triggered particular controversy.[1]
Her murder is tied to Hollywood star Ashton Kutcher and convicted serial killer Michael Gargiulo, and to Kutcher's friend and co-star, Danny Masterson.[1][2]
Background
[edit | edit source]Ellerin spent part of her youth in New Jersey, where she became childhood friends with Carolyn Murnick.[3] Murnick grew up to be a writer and editor, and wrote a posthumous biography of Ellerin entitled The Hot One: A Memoir of Friendship, Sex, and Murder.[4]
According to Murnick, while Ellerin was an aspiring fashion designer, she moonlighted working at a strip club, and "she confessed to Murnick that on occasion, 'there were arrangements that happened in hotels, too.'”[4]
Ellering initially studied at UCLA, then transferred to the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising.[5]
Murder
[edit | edit source]Twenty-two year old Ellerin had a date with twenty-three year old Kutcher on the night she was murdered, February 21, 2001.[1] Her neighbor, Gariulo, was, eventually, determined to have killed her, but only after he murdered other women.
Kutcher may have been the first person to discover her body.[1] He told Police he thought Ellerin had given up on waiting on him, because he was late, and that he thought he blood, visible in her apartment, was merely spilled red wine.
However, after it became known that Kutcher, and his wife Mila Kunis, wrote character reference letters to the judge with the responsibility of sentencing their friend and co-star Masterman, one of Masterman's accusers, Chrissie Carnell Bixler, made disturbing comments.[6] Bixler described being present, with Masterson, when a disturbed Kutcher phoned him for advice on the night of the murder.[7]
Some commentators have interpreted Bixler's comments as casting doubt on Kutcher account to the Police that he didn't realize he had arrived on a murder scene.[1]
Ellerin had been stabbed 47 times.[8]
Kutcher would, eventually, testify at Gargiulo's trial.[9]
Relationship with Ashton Kutcher
[edit | edit source]Ellerin's family was aware she had a date with Kutcher.[5] They told Murnick he did not contact them after her death, and did not send flowers.
Describing Ellerin as "the hot one"
[edit | edit source]In September 2017, a few months after the publication of The Hot One, another friend of Ellerin's wrote an open letter to Murnick, full of criticisms of her.[10] Sarah Gage, also a writer, had become good friends with Ellerin, after she and her family had moved back to California. She criticized Murnick for focussing too much on the salacious details of Ellerin's life, just like the mainstream media, even though she claimed to be a friend.
Gage, like Ellerin, described the experience of being Ellerin's side-kick, while it seemed Ellerin had the undivided attention of all nearby men.[5][10] The title of Murnick's book is taken from her feeling she was in a distant second place, as "the smart one", when the pair were together, in the presence of men.
The two writers seemed to agree that it was not Ellerin's physical beauty, alone, that seized men's undivided attention.[5][10] They seemed to agree that Ellerin had a kind of feral charm and confidence, which is what really drew men in.
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "HORRIFIC! Ashton Kutcher LIED!? Letting Hollywood Ripper MURDER MORE!? Ashley Ellerin Truth Exposed" (video). YouTube. 2024-03-06. Retrieved 2025-01-04.
- ↑
Smith, Bryan. "Did Alleged "Hollywood Ripper" Michael Gargiulo Kill Tricia Pacaccio?". Chicago magazine. Archived from the original on 2011-06-18. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
Then, in 2006, a Hollywood homicide detective called. He was in Chicago investigating the similarities between Tricia’s death and the 2001 stabbing murder of a Los Angeles woman named Ashley Ellerin, who was linked romantically with, among other celebrities, Ashton Kutcher. During the conversation, the detective, Tom Small, dropped a bombshell: Were the Pacaccios aware that in 2003 the DNA of a suspect in Ellerin’s murder—a man named Michael Gargiulo—had been matched to DNA found on Tricia’s fingernails?
- ↑
Leah Carroll (2017-09-25). "The Hot One Memoir Book Review Carolyn Murnick". Refinery29. Retrieved 2025-01-05.
It's these secrets and mysteries that form the core of Carolyn Murnick’s The Hot One: A Memoir of Friendship, Sex, and Murder, a book that, since hitting shelves August 1, has been the subject of many reviews, think pieces, and even a new literary designation: The True Crime Memoir. It’s an honest and often difficult account of the the brutal murder of the author’s childhood friend, and the echoes and implications of that crime in Murnick’s life and memory.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1
Austin Harvey (2023-11-16). "Ashley Ellerin, The Woman Who Was Murdered While Getting Ready For A Date With Ashton Kutcher". All That's Interesting. Retrieved 2025-01-04.
Although Murnick and Ellerin lost contact for several years, they reconnected around 2000. Ellerin was an aspiring fashion designer and worked at a local strip club, though she confessed to Murnick that on occasion, 'there were arrangements that happened in hotels, too.'
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Carolyn Murnick (2017). The Hot One: A Memoir of Friendship, Sex, and Murder. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4516-2581-3. Retrieved 2025-01-05.
- ↑
Alice Kelly (2023-09-11). "Danny Masterson's Accuser Details Alleged Call With Ashton Kutcher the Night His Date Was Murdered in 2001". SheKnows. Retrieved 2025-01-04.
After the letters were made public, one of Masterson’s accusers took to her social media with a message for Kutcher. Chrissie Carnell Bixler, who dated Masterson in the late 90s and early 2000s, posted an Instagram story that read: “Dear Ashton, I know the secrets your ‘role model’ keeps for you. Ones that would end you. Did you forget I was there? You were on speaker phone that night you called Danny on February 21, 2001. I hear everything. I heard the plan. In my opinion, you’re just as sick as your ‘mentor.’”
- ↑
Tara Watson (2023-09-11). "Ashton Kutcher controversy: What Chrissie Bixler said". Mamamia. Archived from the original on 2023-09-13. Retrieved 2025-01-04.
In response to the letters, Chrissie posted on Instagram, "Dear Ashton, I know the secrets your ‘role model’ keeps for you. Ones that would end you. Did you forget I was there? You were on speaker phone that night you called Danny on February 21, 2001. I hear everything. I heard the plan. In my opinion, you’re just as sick as your ‘mentor'," she said.
- ↑
Hayley Minn (2021-07-19). "The Hollywood Ripper who sliced off breasts and killed Ashton Kutcher's lover". The Irish Sun. Archived from the original on 2021-07-19. Retrieved 2025-01-04.
Ashley Ellerin was found in her Hollywood home with 47 stab wounds, on the night she was due to go on a date with Ashton Kutcher on February 21, 2001. The impact of the stab wounds had nearly decapitated her.
- ↑
"Ashton Kutcher Expected to Testify Against an Alleged Serial Killer". PAPER Magazine. 2019-05-03. Archived from the original on 2023-12-01. Retrieved 2025-01-04.
However, Kutcher's testimony will reportedly be related to the death of 22-year-old fashion student and stripper Ashley Ellerin, whose body was found by a friend the day after Kutcher stopped by her Hollywood Hills home to pick her up a Grammys afterparty.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2
Sarah Gage (2017-09-22). "An Open Letter to Carolyn Murnick, Author of The Hot One: A Memoir of Friendship, Sex, and Murder…". Medium. Archived from the original on 2018-06-07. Retrieved 2025-01-05.
But nah, fuck that. You have exploited her just like the rest of them have. I mean I’ll still give you that understanding, and I won’t say you don’t love her because I can’t claim to know what’s in your heart, and pretty much everybody loves their childhood best friend, even though they grow apart for a reason. But by your own account in your book, when you spent time with her as an adult, you really didn’t like her much. f