'Hollywood Ripper' Found Guilty Of L.A. Murders, Faces Charges In Suburban Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Guilty on all charges.
That was the verdict Thursday in the California trial of the so-called "Hollywood Ripper" Michael Gargiulo
That same man still faces charges in the 1993 murder of a woman in Cook County.
CBS 2's Megan Hickey has a look at what happens next.
After Michael Gargiulo is sentenced in California, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office said it intends to seek extradition so he can face murder charges here, 26 years after he allegedly stabbed a Glenview teenager to death just steps from her home.
CBS 2's cameras were there on that August day in 1993.
18-year-old Tricia Pacaccio walked up to her home, house keys in hand, but never made it inside.
Police suspect that Tricia Pacaccio's attacker hid in the bushes and waited for her to come home in the middle of the night.
Michael Gargiulo, who was 17 years old at the time, lived down the street but wasn't officially linked to the case until 2003 when Gargiulo's DNA was found on Pacaccio and it turned out to be a match.
But Gargiulo wasn't charged.
RELATED: Guilty Verdict In Trial Of 'Hollywood Ripper'
It took another eight years before the Cook County State's attorney office charged Gargiulo in the Glenbrook South High School graduate's death, thanks in part to a "48 Hours Mystery" report on the case that brought forward new witnesses.
"What we had to go through is insulting," said Diane Pacaccio, Tricia's mother.
During his more than a decade of freedom, Gargiulo moved to California where on Thursday, a jury found him guilty of attacking three other women with knives, killing two of them.
Pacaccio's friends and family have argued for years that the mishandling of the case in Illinois may have let a killer go free to commit more crimes. When Gargiulo is sentenced in California, he could face the death penalty.
Diane Pacaccio said that she is grateful that the California victims got their justice but she's upset that it took this long.
"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. And I'm very angry that Cook County knew that his DNA should have never been on my daughter."
Cook County State's Attorney's Office says they intend to seek extradition for Gargiulo to face charges in the 1993 murder of Tricia Pacaccio. The so-called "Hollywood Ripper" was charged in her stabbing death in 2011. @cbschicago
— Megan Hickey (@MeganHickeyTV) August 15, 2019
Pacaccio said the verdict comes nearly 26 years to the day since her daughter's death.