Michelle Murphy, 37, claims Michael Gargiulo stabbed her 'seven or eight times' during an attack at her Santa Monica apartment in April 2008
The lone surviving victim of the 'Hollywood Ripper' struggled to fight back tears in court today as she told of how she woke up naked in bed to find a hooded attacker straddling her and repeatedly stabbing her with a serrated knife.
Michelle Murphy, 37, claims Michael Gargiulo stabbed her 'seven or eight times' as she 'grabbed the knife with both hands to try to stop him' during the 2008 attack, she told a Los Angeles courtroom.
Gargiulo, 43, is accused of attempting to murder her and killing two other women - Ashton Kutcher's girlfriend Ashley Ellerin and mother-of-four Maria Bruno.
During the frenzied attack at her Santa Monica apartment, Murphy testified that she screamed at her attacker, 'Why are you doing this?' But he said nothing - until he ran out the door of her apartment and said: 'I'm sorry' before he was gone, she said.
During Murphy's more than two hours of dramatic testimony, the jury was shown graphic photographs of the deep and bloody gashes inflicted to her right arm, chest and hands - wounds she still bears the scars of today.
Gargiulo, 43, (pictured) is accused of attempting to murder Murphy and killing two other women - Ashton Kutcher's girlfriend Ashley Ellerin and mother-of-four Maria Bruno. Pictured: Gargiulo in LA Superior Court last Thursday
Murphy, is the prosecution's star witness, since she is the only one who survived an alleged attack by Gargiulo (pictured) after she kicked her hooded attacker off of her
Brown-haired Murphy, who wore a black shirt and black pants, is the prosecution's star witness, since she is the only one who survived an alleged attack by Gargiulo.
The shaven-headed former air-conditioning and heating repairman was dressed in a striped blue and white shirt, blue patterned tie and dark pants, as he stared blank-faced at Murphy.
She sat in the witness box recounting how on April 28, 2008, she returned from work to her apartment - across the alley from where Gargiulo was living at the time.
After doing her laundry, Murphy - then 26 - worked out in the alley next to her home, skipping rope and doing sprints. Then, after showering and watching some TV, she went to bed, naked, around 10.30pm, she told the court.
The next thing she knew, she woke up and 'there was someone on top of me stabbing me. My arm was being stabbed.'
Murphy - whose roommate was away the night - said her attacker straddled her with one foot on he ground and one on the floor. Motioning with her left hand, she demonstrated to the court how the man kept stabbing her with his left hand.
She said: 'I could tell it was a knife. I though it was serrated.
'I grabbed a the knife with both hands to get some leverage to keep him from stabbing me. But he still stabbed me.'
Pictured: The bloody hands of survivor Michelle Murphy were shown to the jury after she fought off her attacker and survived. The defendant, dubbed 'the boy next door killer', is said to have stabbed Michelle multiple times at her Santa Monica home
Prosecutor Daniel Akemon told the jury that Gargiulo - a neighbor of each victim at the time of the attacks - could watch Michelle, who said she woke to find him in her home one night. They also argued his DNA was on her comforter (pictured)
Pictures from inside Murphy's bathroom (left) show the aftermath of her attack as she tried to stem her heavy bleeding. Diagrams of the wounds to Ashley Ellerin's body are pictured right
Murphy - who is only 5ft 1in tall - told how she battled her assailant, who was wearing a dark hoodie with the hood up, and
