8 Celebrities Who Had Close Encounters With Serial Killers & Murderers

Stories about serial killers may seem like a topic reserved for the news or true crime podcasts but some people are unlucky enough to have gotten up close and personal with these mass murderers. These innocent victims are usually just regular people -- but on a few occasions, they’re actually familiar faces. A handful of celebrities say that they’ve had wild close encounters with serial killers that left them in a state of disbelief. For some, they crossed paths behind bars, but for others, they narrowly escaped an attempted murder that could have cost them their lives. Thankfully, these stars all survived and have been able to tell their tale. Read on to find out how these stars are connected to serial killers… 1. Bunnie XO Bunnie XO, who is married to musician Jelly Roll, recently had an unsettling exchange with convicted murderer, Wade Wilson, AKA the “Deadpool Killer.” The podcast host initially began speaking to Wilson for a potential docuseries about his crimes -- but things took a turn when he started handing out her phone number out to random women. When she confronted him over a phone call, Wilson got defensive and “vaguely threatened” her as things escalated. He brought up things he had heard she said about him and insinuated that he knew something bad about Jelly Roll’s past. Overall, it left Bunny feeling very uncomfortable and she eventually realized it was a mistake reaching out to him. “I feel bad for even having empathy for anybody other than the victims in this,” Bunnie said on  the Dumb Blonde podcast. “I always try to see every side of every story, but I didn't know his entire story and I just shouldn't have said what I said without knowing so many of the facts.” 2. Jack Merrill Grey’s Anatomy actor Jack Merrill had a terrifying experience with serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who killed 33 teenage boys and young men over the course of six years. Back in 1978, Merrill was 19-years-old and living in Chicago when he encountered the killer on his nightly walk home from the YMCA. Gacy invited him to go for a ride in his car and Merrill agreed -- but things took a turn when Gacy drove into a dangerous neighborhood. Gacy then drugged Merrill, handcuffed him and took him to his house. Gacy then brought Merrill inside his “dark” home, which he quickly “sensed was a trap.” The pair then drank beer and smoked “strong pot” before Gacy dragged him to his bedroom. Gacy put a terrifying homemade torture contraption around his neck and proceeded to rape him. “He stuck a gun in my mouth. Then he raped me in the bedroom. I knew if I fought him, I didn’t have much of a chance. I never freaked out or yelled. I also felt sorry for him in a way, like he didn’t necessarily want to be doing what he was doing, but he couldn’t stop. We’d been there for hours. Finally, I could tell he was tiring. All of a sudden he said, ‘I’ll take you home,’” Merrill wrote in a piece for People. Gacy did take Merrill home, but the actor never called the police because he didn’t know he was a serial killer at the time. He eventually realized Gacy was a murderer after seeing him on the news. While he experienced trauma from the horrific encounter, he made a pact with himself that he would get past it and succeed in life. 3. Ashton Kutcher When Ashton Kutcher was a young actor, he had a close encounter with serial killer Michael Gargiulo, AKA “The Hollywood Ripper.” Kutcher was actually set to go on a date with a woman named Ashley Ellerin who ended up being one of Gargiulo’s victims. On the day of her murder, Kutcher spoke with Ellerin at 8:24 p.m., telling her that he’d pick her up at 10 p.m. He later called her to say that he was running late but she didn’t answer. When he arrived at her home at 10:45 p.m., Ellerin didn’t answer the door -- but he figured that Ellerin was upset with him for being late. Before he left, he noticed fresh red wine stains on the carpet, which he eventually learned was actually blood. Gargiulo had stabbed her 47 times, nearly severing her head from her neck. Kutcher had been at the home so close to the murder that Gargiulo may have still been on the property. Kutcher later took the stand to testify against Gargiulo and helped establish a timeline surrounding the murders, which led to his conviction. 4. Sean Penn Sean Penn spent time in jail alongside Richard Ramirez, AKA “The Night Stalker,” who killed at least 20 people during home invasions in the state of California. During his 60 days in county jail, Penn says Ramirez seemed to take a liking to him while they were in cells across from one another. Ramirez ended up getting permission to write Sean a note asking for an autograph. “So, I get this thing from him and it says, ‘Hey, Sean, stay tough and hit them again -- Richard Ramirez, 666,’ with a pentagram and a rendition of the devil,” Sean shared while speaki