Horrific details revealed about Ashton Kutcher's murdered ex

Actor Ashton Kutcher. Photo / Getty Images

Ashton Kutcher is preparing to take to the witness stand to testify against the man charged with the grisly murder of the actor's then-girlfriend.

Michael Thomas Gargiulo stands accused of murdering three women, including Ashton's then-girlfriend, 22-year-old Ashley Ellerin, on February 21, 2001.

And ahead of the trial new court documents have revealed the full horror of the killings.

Ashley, who lived just 400ft away from Gargiulo in Los Angeles, was attacked while she was showering and stabbed 47 times.

New court documents published in the National Enquirer claim: "He slashed Ms. Ellerin's throat so violently [he] nearly decapitated her.

"After she was murdered her body was left displayed in a... demeaning pose that was sexual in nature."

The next victim air conditioning repairman Gargiulo is charged with killing is Maria Bruno, whose home was less than 100ft from Gargiulo's in Monterey Park, California when she was killed on December 1 2005.

"Gargiulo quite literally butchered her body - stabbing her multiple times, slitting her throat, slicing off her breasts, and staging her for family members and police to find," state court documents filed by the prosecution.

The prosecutors call Garigulo "a serial, psycho-sexual thrill killer who engages in the systematic slaughter of beautiful women because he takes sexual pleasure from manipulating, stabbing and killing his victims."

Gargiulo, now 37, was arrested in 2008 after DNA evidence was recovered from the Santa Monica apartment of Michelle Murphy, who survived an alleged knife attack in April of that year.

He stands accused of her attempted murder.

He is also accused of the 1993 killing of high school classmate Tricia Pacaccio in the Chicago suburb of Glenview, where Gargiulo lived at the time.

Kutcher is due in court to testify in the trial of Gargiulo within the next few months, the report claims.

The 36-year-old actor has rarely spoken about the death of Ashley - but his written testimony to police reveals shocking details of what he saw on the night of the murder.

On February 21 in 2001, Kutcher had received a call from Ashley.

The student, aspiring model and part-time stripper had tried to make a date with the then 23-year-old actor - but Kutcher had fatefully turned down the offer.

Instead Ashton had watched the Grammys, which took place that night, at a friend's house, turning down Ashley's request to join him.

He said he would later come to visit her at her Hollywood bungalow - just behind the famous Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

Kutcher told police that he later tried to call Ashley twice during the evening but she had not picked up her phone.

Kutcher drove to her apartment at 10.45pm in the hope of smoothing over what he thought was a looming argument, and found that the lights were on in her apartment and her car was parked outside.

After knocking on the door and calling out to her with no answer, Kutcher said he looked through a window into the apartment and saw what he thought was red wine pooled on the floor.

Kutcher, already starring in That 70s Show, thought she was angry at him for not making the earlier date and left.

Unbeknown to Kutcher, Ashley was lying dead just beyond his view from the window. The red wine he had seen pooled on the floor was her blood.

Ashley's body was found by her roommate, Justin Peterson.

Kutcher's testimony will be crucial for prosecutors to prove the time of death and strengthen their case.

Gargiulo knew Ashley and friends of hers say that he had taken an intense interest in her in the time before her murder. He had even allegedly visited her home, and offered to fix her heater.

Ashley had also dated Pitch Black star Vin Diesel and Law And Order's Jeremy Sisto, who reportedly flew Ellerin to a set in Toronto, where he was filming 2001's Angel Eyes.

- Daily Mail