In 2001 — long before he dated Brittany Murphy, married Demi Moore or had a baby with Mila Kunis — Ashton Kutcher had a girlfriend named Ashley Ellerin, who was murdered by a serial killer.

Gawker recently brought the scary story from the 36-year-old’s past to our attention as part of a new column called, “Remember When?”

The 22-year-old student and part-time stripper was seeing Ashton when she met her untimely death at the hands of then 24-year-old Michael Gargiulo, a local repairman who had an unhealthy interest in Ashley.

On Feb. 21, 2001, the night of the Grammys, Ashley reached out to Ashton to ask if she should come to his friend’s house to watch the award show. He told her no and that they would meet up later at her home.

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Ashley Ellerin

Unfortunately, Gargiulo got to her first.

A 2010 piece in ‘LA Weekly’ states, “Kutcher, interviewed by detectives the day after Ellerin’s slaying, said he called her twice that night but she didn’t answer. He blamed bad reception and drove over at 10:45 p.m. Ellerin’s lights were on and her maroon BMW was in the drive. He knocked several times, and when she didn’t answer he peered through a front window.

“Kutcher saw what he assumed to be red wine stains leading toward the bedroom. ‘He figured she was upset’ because he was late, and ‘she brushed him off. So he left,’ testified LAPD Detective Thomas Shevolek.”

Ashley’s roommate discovered the crime scene and the body the next morning. The victim had been stabbed 35 times in such a frenzied attack, that her head was almost severed from her body.

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Michael Gargiulo

After friends’ concerns about “Mike the furnace man” led police to Gargiulo, he was arrested and has since confessed to killing as many as 10 women.

The alleged serial killer is currently awaiting trial, and though Ashton has rarely spoken about his role in the chilling case, he’s expected to testify.