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Celebrity Justice
Suspect Named in Murder of Ashton's Ex

Posted Aug 30th 2008 9:29AM by TMZ Staff

Ashton KutcherPolice have used DNA to link a man to the 2001 murder of Ashley Ellerin -- who happened to be dating Ashton Kutcher at the time of her death.

The story goes like this: Back in the pre-Demi days, Kutcher told police he went to pick up Ellerin for a post-Grammy party, but she didn't answer the door. He looked through a back window and saw what he thought were red wine stains on the carpet. He eventually left.

Those weren't wine stains and her body was discovered the next day by a friend.

Michael Gargiulo has been in custody since June for attempted murder of another woman. That's when DNA tests were used to link him to several murders, including Ellerin's.

Gargiulo's lawyer, Anthony V. Salerno, says he has not been charged in Ellerin's murder, but admits he's the prime suspect.

Tags: Ashley Ellerin, AshleyEllerin, Ashton Kutcher, AshtonKutcher, girlfriend, killed, Michael Gargiulo, MichaelGargiulo, murder, suspect

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31. Thats weird. I never liked Ashton Kutcher.
His explanation of events is very vague.
He gives no details.
If he were piking up the girl for the date then why would he look through the BACK window ?
Wouldnt you try the frnt door, &this article says nothing about him trying the frontdoor. & why couldnt he call his dates phone or cellphone ?
& i bet no murderer would leave the door locked.
The fact that he says he saw wine stains says is suspicious alone.
It depends rele how long the bloodstains were there.
If a long time the bloodstains would have dried too a brown; has anyone ever seen brown wine ? Because i havent.
If not a long time then they would appear bright red; no wine is bloodred either.
Usually a deeepred.
If his date was usually neat; wouldnt this raise suspicions ?


The way i see it theres these possibilities :
1.He maybe made a comment about his girlfriend that someone overheard & they set out too find her & eventually kill her.
A.the comment may have been good & some obsessed stalker who loved Ashton went crazy & that drove them too commit the murder
B.The comment may have been bad and some crazed stalker would commit the murder too please Ashton.
2. He hired a hitman & faked ths whole thing of picking her up to avoid suspicion.
A. Maybe they had a fight previously or she did something that might harm his carreeer
3. He aw the killer; feared for his life; & only looked through the backwindow & left.
A. Ye, i bet your asking, why not snitch though ? Maybe it was a friend; or maybe the killer threatened Ashton next
4.He is completely in everyway innocentt.
A. its posssible.
5.He killed her.
A. Maybee.

Posted at 12:10PM on Aug 30th 2008 by Michele

32. run Ashton run........

Posted at 12:03PM on Aug 30th 2008 by Kushy

33. If I was detective Ashton Butcher would have been my prime suspect.

Posted at 10:36PM on Aug 30th 2008 by AshtonButcher

34. #25 retard-----This is a comment site. People are commenting and discussing. This story is also on my Comcast homepage, where there is a discussion going. Nobody said they hated him, you moronic idiot. If you expect everyone to have the same thoughts as you, you are in for a big shock when you decide to live in the real world.

Posted at 12:12PM on Aug 30th 2008 by Bebe

35. Ashton was young...oh gimme a break 22 is old enough to know if u got pick up your date and something unusal happens like she doesn't answer the door and there is red all over a carpet where there were none something is wrong...maybe just maybe you might be concerned...and try to find out why you were stood up? According to Demi he is soooooo mature....doubt that seriously.

Posted at 12:12PM on Aug 30th 2008 by Kushy

36. It's ASHTON KUTCHER.

Do you REALLY expect him to use anything remotely resembling a brain?

We should all consider ourselves lucky he even recalls or could spell the year 2001.

Perhaps if it was Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie they could have shed healing tears over the corpse and resurrected it from the dead, but alas alack it was Dummy Moore's Boy-Toy, star of "Guess Who?" and "My Boss's Daughter".

"Dude, Where's My Winestain?"

Posted at 12:19PM on Aug 30th 2008 by Toby Christensen

37. Michele...you sound like an obsessed Ashton fan! Maybe you killed her out of your psychotic love for him! Maybe?

Posted at 12:18PM on Aug 30th 2008 by hmmmm

38. # 31 if the killer has seen him I'd bet Aston would have been killed too. If Ashton has see the killer don't you think he would have been able to ID him....some of your theory is too far out there...maybe not for Hollywierd but I'm just saying.

Posted at 12:20PM on Aug 30th 2008 by Kushy

39. IT JUST SEEMS LIKE IF UR RICH AND FAMOUS U LITERALLY CAN GET AWAY WITH MURDER. I BELIEVE ASHTON HAS A DEGREE OF ACCOUNTABILITY.HIS ALIBI DOES NOT HOLD MUCH WATER HE BASICALLY WAS AT THE MURDER SCENE AND VEIWED IT.IF THAT WAS ME THE POLICE WOULD HAVE HELD ME FOR 24HOURS. AND THEY MOST DEFINITELY WOULD FORCE A CONFESSION. GUILTY OR NOT THEY WOULD TRY TO HANG ME JUST SO THEY WOULD GET ANOTHER CASE OFF THERE BACK.I DONT HATE ASHTON NOR DO IFEEL LIKE IM AFRIEND OF HIS. I JUST HATE HOW THE RICH AND FAMOUS GET SPECIAL TREATMENT BUY THE JUSTICE SYSTEM. B.S.

Posted at 12:54PM on Aug 30th 2008 by KDIZZLL

40. I agree with rwpoly and to go further if the stains were what he though wine and there was no other sign he may have thought she was otherwise engagued in other actives and did not have time to stop and c;lean the "wine stains"

Posted at 5:27PM on Aug 30th 2008 by charmed

41. Hope if I ever need a hero-somebody besides Ashton is around!! Poor chick could have been laying there bleeding to death thinking-"It's going to be okay-Ashton is coming and he will save me!: Then he comes and peeps through the window and leaves! What a punk! Probably jumps on the table and screams DEMI when he sees a mouse.

Posted at 12:22PM on Aug 30th 2008 by zep

42. I don't think Ashton was involved. Maybe when he saw the "wine stain" he thought she was cheating on him and had stood him up. He's not exactly a rocket scientist as it is, and he was a lot younger then.

Posted at 12:30PM on Aug 30th 2008 by Kay

43. I am glad that DNA pulled this evil demon out. An innocent man could have been accused of his crime.
Let that creep rot in prison, he has anger issues with women.

Posted at 12:40PM on Aug 30th 2008 by Willa

44. Why did I not know about this? Did everyone know that Ashton was going through this? I wouldn't have dealt with stupid punkd shows with my bf if i knew how horrible of a person he was... Stars are stars for a reason I guess. They can be the only one around worth watching because their heads let off so much hot gas. They only care about how hot they are, how much money they make, and how cool their after parties are... I hope she didn't lay there all night. Doesn't Demi fear that her boy toy would run from danger again? Oh and Trebor Elknid, what the heck are you talking about? Lay off the oxy

Posted at 1:28PM on Aug 30th 2008 by molly

45. In some states, failure to report a crime is a crime in itself, So is failure to render aid. Kutcher should be charged with something, and his DNA should be tested against whatever was found at the scene. At the least, he must have been drugged, or brain-damaged by drugs. Something major is wrong with Demi, too, or she couldn't possibly be with this guy.

Posted at 12:47PM on Aug 30th 2008 by Jane

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