In closing arguments, an attorney for a man accused of murdering two women and attempting to murder a third in Southern California told jurors that actor Ashton Kutcher’s testimony points to a different suspect. On Wednesday, attorney Daniel Nardoni attempted to convince a jury that two other individuals may have been involved in the stabbing murders of 43-year-old Michael Gargiulo.

He said the testimony of Kutcher, who testified in the early days of the trial in May, was crucial in the case of Ashley Ellerin, who was murdered in her Hollywood home at 2001.

“Ashton Kutcher is a celebrity star in the entertainment industry,” Nardoni said. “And I believe Ashton Kutcher is the star witness in this case.”

Gargiulo is accused of studying renowned killer Ted Bundy and is facing the death penalty after being exposed as a twisted student of Bundy. On Tuesday, he was observed grinning in the courtroom as the jury listened to a horrifying closing statement.

“He (Michael Gargiulo) researched other serial killers, like Bundy,” said Deputy District Attorney Garrett Dameron. “He told people he knew how to leave no fingerprints. He knew how to avoid being seen exiting a crime scene covered in blood and with a bloody knife.”

The accused was charged with the murders of three women, one of them was Kutcher’s ex-girlfriend, who was just 22 years old at the time of her death.

Ashley Ellerin and Kutcher had planned to go out the night she was slain in 2001, according to Kutcher. He last spoke with Ellerin on the phone at 8:30 p.m.

Kutcher said that he informed Ellerin that he was running late while she had just stepped out of the shower.

Kutcher had just finished filming “Dude, Where’s My Car?” and was a couple seasons into “That ’70s Show.” He wasn’t yet the household brand and tabloid fixture that he would become after marrying Demi Moore a few years later.

Ellerin, a fashion design student, was 22 years old. The two had only met through mutual friends and were both newly single.

Ellerin’s apartment manager, an aspiring actor, testified that he was having a sexual connection with her and was in the house when Kutcher phoned, according to attorney Daniel Nardoni. Nardoni told the jury that the call had the potential to make him furious and aggressive.

A neighbor testified that he heard two cries coming from Ellerin’s residence at 8:30 p.m., just around the time of Kutcher’s call. This is most likely when Ellerin was slain, according to Nardoni.

Attorneys for a man accused of murdering two people in Southern California and attempting to murder a third will make one more attempt to persuade a jury that the case against him is weak and insufficient.

According The Sun, Kutcher testified tearfully throughout the three-month trial, recalling being “hours” late to pick her up.

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On the night of February 22, 2001, he mentioned that he was running late to the then 22-year-old. However, when the then-21-year-old Kutcher arrived two hours late, he found the lights on and the door closed.

He observed “what I thought was a red wine spilled on the carpet” through the window. “I didn’t really think anything of it; figured I screwed up,” a sad Kutcher said, adding that he thought Ashley had gone out with a friend.

She had been stabbed 47 times in a frantic attack while in the shower, and her brutalized body was discovered the next day by a roommate.

Nardoni told jurors that he didn’t have to prove that someone else killed Ellerin; all he had to do was show that there was another plausible suspect who may cast doubt on Gargiulo’s guilt.

A psychologist testified for the defense, claiming that Gargiulo suffers from dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personality disorder.