Episode 1: Murder in Cook County
The Hollywood Ripper story begins in Glenview, Illinois – an unincorporated suburb of Cook County, where 18-year old Tricia Pacaccio was just finishing high school. Tricia attended a road rally with her friends, one of the last times they would get to see each other before leaving for college. When she returned home, she was attacked at her side doorstep and stabbed over a dozen times. Her father found her body the next day, and the Cook County Sheriff’s Office began to investigate. After years of finding no leads, a new investigative team began to zero in on one of Tricia’s neighbors – Michael Gargiulo – who grew up with Tricia’s brother Doug. Even after finding himself in trouble with the law, police couldn’t convince Gargiulo to provide any information about Tricia’s murder, or what he may have known about it. Eventually, he moves to Hollywood, California, where another woman was murdered just blocks away from his house.