Pennsylvania lady’s last moments captured on house safety video. Will it assist show she was murdered?

On a steamy August night time in 2013, Melissa Rocuba was airlifted to a hospital nonetheless clinging to life with a bullet wound to her head. Her then 22-year-old daughter Chelsea Cicio, who lived subsequent door,  was already there when the helicopter arrived.

Chelsea Cicio: I had no concept how I received down there. … I used to be simply panicked and frantic.

Her sister Sabrina Rocuba, who lives in Wisconsin, sped to the airport in tears.

Sabrina Rocuba: It was simply numerous me simply praying to God that my mother was gonna be OK.

Melissa’s sister Joanne Swinney, and their father — then a police sergeant in one other county — raced to Melissa’s bedside.

Anne-Marie Inexperienced: It is a number of hours of driving.

Joanne Swinney: Not that night time. … we received there actually quick.

AN ACCIDENTAL SHOOTING?

Bruno was being handled at a unique hospital, the place specialists operated on his hand.

Sabrina Rocuba: He had a gap by means of the center of his hand. 

Pennsylvania State Police detectives needed to know the way the bullet went by means of Bruno’s palm and hit Melissa within the head.

Lower than 15 hours after the capturing, with Bruno’s hand freshly bandaged and Melissa on life assist, detectives requested Bruno to stroll them by means of his home and clarify what occurred after the couple arrived house from an evening out with pals.

BRUNO ROCUBA (to detectives): Obtained house from work at 3:30 within the afternoon.

BRUNO ROCUBA: And we got here house simply earlier than 10, and after that we went downstairs, washed up, got here as much as go to mattress.

Utilizing a toy gun offered by police, Bruno demonstrated how he claims his .40 caliber pistol went off unintentionally.

BRUNO ROCUBA (to detectives): My spouse was house alone all final week. So, I left it within the high drawer on the nightstand for her due to current break-ins.

He mentioned their grandson was coming over the subsequent day, and he needed to soundly retailer the gun.

BRUNO ROCUBA: I went to test the, um, chamber to see if there was a spherical in there.

TROOPER MCGURRIN: OK.

Sitting on the mattress nonetheless stained together with his spouse’s blood, Bruno tried to indicate them what occurred.

Bruno demonstrated how he says he was sitting, pointing his gun to the left aspect of the mattress together with his proper hand.  He mentioned Melissa was sitting in mattress, watching TV, when she leaned again and that is when he “will need to have pulled it away after which shot by means of my hand.”

Earlier, investigators had gone by means of the home capturing video of the scene and amassing proof and did not word any indicators of a battle. Hospital workers discovered no different accidents on Melissa, and Bruno mentioned they’d been getting alongside simply high quality.

TROOPER MCGURRIN: Any discussions or any arguments or something —

BRUNO ROCUBA: No.

TROOPER MCGURRIN: — earlier than that occurred?

BRUNO ROCUBA: No. There was nothing.

Sabrina Rocuba: He seemed me in my face and mentioned, “we walked in the home holding palms … there was no arguments that night time.”

Jack Wilczewski and his spouse Tonia had been out to dinner with Bruno and Melissa that night, and he says every part appeared high quality.

Anne-Marie Inexperienced: No arguing?

Jack Wilczewski: No arguing. No nothing. They had been high quality that night time.

The day after the capturing, Bruno agreed to a polygraph examination. In response to police data, the outcomes had been inconclusive. Apprehensive about her father, Chelsea says she instructed he communicate with legal professional Joe D’Andrea.

Anne-Marie Inexperienced: Did you surprise why he was calling you?

Joe D’Andrea: Properly, I am a reasonably well-known legal protection lawyer round … and, uh, police had talked to him … with out my participation or information. … I suppose he was curious if there was something he needed to fear about.

Melissa spent a number of days in intensive care.

Sabrina Rocuba: I keep in mind speaking to … the neurologist, and I used to be like, there’s gotta be one thing you are able to do. … They usually had been simply attempting to calm me down and inform me that there is no hope.

Three days after the capturing, Melissa’s household made the agonizing resolution to take her off life assist.

Joanne Swinney: We knew she was — she was struggling.

It was Aug. 10, 2013, at 1:45 a.m., when Melissa handed away. Joanne says they had been all in shock, and regardless that nobody within the household needed to consider Bruno had intentionally shot Melissa, they had been stunned when he was by no means arrested.

Sabrina Rocuba: My grandfather mentioned … if that occurred in Bucks County the place my grandfather was a police, he was like, your dad would have immediately been in cuffs. He was like, he did not spend a single night time in jail, which is de facto bizarre.

Joe D’Andrea says the District Lawyer’s Workplace felt they did not have sufficient proof to cost Bruno with homicide — and determined to not cost him in any respect.

Joe D’Andrea: They had been satisfied … that they could not show a case.

Melissa’s loss of life certificates listed her reason behind loss of life as a gunshot wound to the pinnacle. The way of loss of life was left pending.

Anne-Marie Inexperienced: Nobody mentioned to you, we have concluded, it was an accident —

Chelsea Cicio: No. It was simply nonetheless an open — open case.

However because the household started to catch their breath and course of Melissa’s loss of life, they slowly began evaluating notes about Bruno’s model of what occurred and his habits earlier than and after the capturing — and a case for homicide started to unfold.

Chelsea Cicio: I simply could not — I could not justify any of his tales.

“IT’S LIKE HE WANTED HER ERASED”

The daughters of Melissa and Bruno Rocuba say they grew up believing they’d the perfect household.

Sabrina Rocuba: So did all my pals. I keep in mind my finest pals had been like … your loved ones’s so loving and joyful and also you guys do every part collectively.

Joanne Swinney: I at all times needed my sister’s life. She had the children, she had the wedding, the nice man.

The couple met in the summertime of 1988. Again then, Melissa, who was simply 19, was a police officer. Bruno, 22, was enlisted within the Navy.

Anne-Marie Inexperienced: And what did you consider Bruno once you met him?

Joanne Swinney: I beloved him. … He appeared to like my sister.

Sabrina Rocuba: She beloved being a spouse and she or he beloved being a mom.

Chelsea Cicio: She was a tremendous mother.

And Bruno was an ideal dad, says Sabrina.

Sabrina Rocuba: My dad was fantastic. I imply, I can not complain about him as a dad.

Chelsea Cicio: We went looking collectively. We went fishing collectively. … After I was actually younger, I needed to chop my hair to be like my dad, like that is how shut we had been.

However as the women grew older, and have become mother and father themselves, they are saying they started to see flaws of their guardian’s marriage.

Sabrina Rocuba: We had moved in there, me and my ex-husband, with my mother and father, when my daughter … was … about 9 months outdated … And it was like on a regular basis they had been consistently arguing. … The breaking level was once they received actually drunk one night time … And my dad grabbed her by the again of the hair, and he whipped her into the wall. … It made a very loud thud, and she or he could not breathe. … I used to be like, we won’t keep right here anymore. This is not wholesome.

Sabrina Rocuba: I attempted speaking to my mother … and she or he was similar to, nicely, all people has, like, disagreements, and, like, she downplayed, she by no means needed to speak dangerous about our dad to us.

Two weeks earlier than the capturing, Chelsea says her mom shared a startling secret about one thing Bruno had executed to her.

Chelsea Cicio: She took me for journey within the automotive and instructed me, , that he had pulled a gun on her earlier than.

Sabrina Rocuba: My mother instructed my sister … that my mother did not need to have intercourse with my dad one night time. And my — my dad pulled a gun on my mom over this.

Chelsea Cicio: Why would she inform me this now? She’s by no means mentioned a foul phrase about him earlier than. And abruptly it was, “Chels, I simply want you to know that like your dad’s not at all times who you suppose he’s.”

Chelsea admits that she had a foul feeling about her mom’s capturing from the beginning however stayed silent for the sake of her father.

Chelsea Cicio: I did not wanna simply say one thing that will’ve put him in jail if he actually did not do it.

Joanne says she additionally had her doubts about her sister’s loss of life, as a result of simply months earlier than the capturing, Melissa instructed her she needed out of her marriage.

Joanne Swinney: She was questioning issues. … and requested … how she would be capable of — to do it on her personal.

Anne-Marie Inexperienced: Was Bruno controlling?

Joanne Swinney: Very … My sister could not go wherever with out him figuring out her each transfer.

Joanne says it wasn’t lengthy after Melissa’s loss of life, when her thoughts started to race.

Joanne Swinney: I began taking part in again every part. Every little thing that I may keep in mind.

For starters, says Joanne, Bruno spent little or no time by his spouse’s aspect as she lay dying.

Joanne Swinney: He would come there, perhaps keep like an hour … after which depart.

Joanne Swinney: When she died, he wasn’t there, he was on the home.

Chelsea says her father’s habits started to hang-out her as nicely. As an example, simply hours after the capturing, Chelsea says her father requested her to convey him her mom’s cellular phone, which had not been collected by police. She says her father needed to erase a number of textual content messages that he feared investigators would possibly take the mistaken method.

Chelsea Cicio: It was like, I do not need them to suppose something due to like just a little like argument or one thing they’d, perhaps it was that week or day.

Anne-Marie Inexperienced: Did that strike you as odd on the time?

Chelsea Cicio: It did, however … you do not need to consider it.

With their mom nonetheless in intensive care and with the police completed amassing proof, the women say their father had one other unusual request.

Chelsea Cicio: He requested us to do away with the mattress.

Bruno requested his women to scrub his home and do away with the blood-stained mattress.

Chelsea Cicio: He is like … I can not go house to that. … I do not need to see all of the blood. And right here I’m, 21, 22. … Now as an grownup, I am like, wow, I can not consider he requested us to do this. … However I simply stored going and I stored wanting to ensure he was OK.

Sabrina Rocuba: We had been so involved trigger he stored making feedback that he was gonna take his personal life, that he could not cope with this.

Anne-Marie Inexperienced: How did you do away with that mattress?

Chelsea Cicio: We took it at the back of a truck … and we burned it within the woods.

Chelsea and Sabrina say that earlier than their mom was even buried, their father requested for assist purging all traces of her.

Chelsea Cicio: He needed us to do away with every part. It is like he needed her erased.

Joanne Swinney: All my sister’s garments. We needed to go right down to the thrift retailer the place they donated the garments … and I needed to get garments for my sister to bury her in.

Bruno even removed Melissa’s canine, Zeus.

Sabrina Rocuba: Mother beloved that canine. And my dad removed him proper after my mother died.

It wasn’t lengthy earlier than Joanne says she started to suspect that Bruno had one other motive for erasing the reminiscence of Melissa.

Joanne Swinney: My sister’s finest buddy … mentioned that Bruno contacted her not too lengthy after my sister had handed away and mentioned, how lengthy do you suppose it’s earlier than, , you could possibly sort of like go public with courting somebody? And she or he mentioned, are you freaking kidding me? …  And he was lifeless critical.

Bruno was speaking about Tonia Wilczewski, Jack Wilczewski’s spouse. The couple that Bruno and Melissa had been out to dinner with on the night time of the capturing.

Jack Wilczewski: We had been collectively 15 years at the moment.

Jack says he has no concept when the connection started, however says he began noticing an enormous distinction in his spouse’s relationship with Bruno the day after the capturing — when he walked into Melissa’s hospital room and located Tonia and Bruno.

Jack Wilczewski: I assumed they had been kissing. … After all, they mentioned they had been speaking in one another’s ear, however they had been embraced with one another.

Jack says within the weeks after the capturing, he would typically come house from work and discover Bruno’s automotive in his driveway.

Jack Wilczewski: And after a pair occasions I used to be like … why are you coming right here? Why — are you able to wait till I get house at 5 o’clock or 4 o’clock?

Anne-Marie Inexperienced: And the way did Tonia clarify it?

Jack Wilczewski: After all, they at all times made me out like I used to be the idiot. I used to be seeing issues I did not see.

Inside months of Melissa’s loss of life, Jack says his spouse went lacking from their house — and he knew precisely the place to search out her.

Jack Wilczewski: I awoke 2 within the morning and she or he wasn’t there. So, I am pondering go to Bruno’s home. I went and … pulled out in entrance, and I blew the horn and she or he come strolling out along with her purse with barely any garments on. … Obtained in her automotive, drove to our home … packed her baggage and moved in with him proper there.

Chelsea now had a brand new neighbor: Tonia Wilczewski.

Chelsea Cicio: I keep in mind searching my window and she or he was cooking Christmas dinner in my mother’s kitchen. I wasn’t invited.

Chelsea says she pressured herself to simply accept what was, as a result of she did not need her father to be alone. Then, a few year-and-a-half later, she says her father casually revealed an alarming new element about her mom’s capturing.

Chelsea Cicio: I sort of at all times knew … and I did not need to consider it. However once I heard it come from his personal mouth … I could not get previous it.

BRUNO ROCUBA’S CHANGING STORY

Because the months ticked on, it was now 2015 — a few year-and-a-half since Bruno Rocuba had allegedly, unintentionally, shot and killed his spouse, Melissa. His daughter Chelsea says she was nonetheless struggling along with her father’s relationship, with Tonia Wilczewski.

Chelsea Cicio: I needed to reside right here. I needed to see her. She minimize her hair like my mother. She would go get her nails executed like my mother. She sat on my mother’s entrance porch … in my mother’s chair.

With the passage of time, she says she lastly had the braveness to ask her father for an evidence about his actions on the night time of the capturing, and says she received an astonishing reply.

Chelsea Cicio: He mentioned, I did not imply to kill her. I simply tried to scare her.

Chelsea says that Bruno modified his story and admitted that he and Melissa had been arguing the night time of the capturing. The gun, he mentioned, was simply meant to frighten her. Then, Chelsea says her father abruptly modified the topic.

Chelsea Cicio: He mentioned … he had groceries within the automotive, and he rotated and walked out like he hadn’t simply mentioned what he mentioned to me. … That is once I knew he really held a gun to my mother on function. And I could not ever take a look at him the identical.

Chelsea says she spent months agonizing about what to do subsequent after which instructed her father she was going to share their dialog with investigators.

Chelsea Cicio: And he … was like, go forward, something you inform them, I will wreck your credibility … and no person will consider you.

Chelsea says she was now decided and went right down to the state police barracks and crammed out a report, which included details about the incident she says her mom shared not lengthy earlier than her loss of life: about that point Bruno threatened her with a gun when she refused to be intimate with him.

Anne-Marie Inexperienced: It took lots so that you can go down there. What had been you hoping would’ve occurred?

Chelsea Cicio: I hoped they’d have reopened it …

Anne-Marie Inexperienced: And what really occurred?

Chelsea Cicio: Nothing occurred.

Chelsea recollects being instructed that it was her phrase towards her father’s and she or he says an investigator instructed that her coming ahead may have been motivated by cash.

Chelsea Cicio: And at that time I had no concept I used to be even entitled to my mother’s inheritance.

Melissa left behind a will and over $300,000, meant to be divided between her husband and daughters. However not lengthy after Melissa’s loss of life, Bruno had his daughters signal paperwork that gave him full management of their mom’s property.

Sabrina Rocuba: He had despatched me a paper within the mail, mentioned don’t take a look at it. … go get this notarized and signal and ship it again to me, which I did. I did not query; it is my dad.

Sabrina says she knew she was signing away her rights to the cash — however felt pressured to do it.

Sabrina Rocuba: He was so good at manipulating me and making me really feel responsible.

Chelsea signed those self same papers, however says she was in shock, and did not perceive the results.

Chelsea Cicio: That harm, that he would take from us. And particularly from his grandson.

The sisters say they started to surprise if cash had been a motive for his or her mom’s capturing. However with out police motion, they felt they needed to transfer on.

Chelsea Cicio: So, I sort of began letting it go.

Chelsea says she even let her son Greg construct a bond together with his grandfather.

Chelsea Cicio: I hated him for taking my mother from me, however I beloved how good he was to my son.

4 years later in 2020, Corporal Greg Allen was assigned to research open-cases for the Pennsylvania State Police and says this case caught his eye.

Anne Marie Inexperienced: What about this case stood out to you?

Cpl. Greg Allen: To me, it was the unique 911 name.

911 OPERATOR: What’s the issue there?

BRUNO ROCUBA: A gunshot wound. My spouse.

Cpl. Greg Allen: On the 911 name, I hear three completely different accounts of what occurred.

911 OPERATOR: OK. Was it self-inflicted?

BRUNO ROCUBA: No, we had been preventing.

Cpl. Greg Allen: He says, “we had been preventing.”

When questioned, Bruno shortly modified his story.

911 OPERATOR: You mentioned you guys had been arguing?

BRUNO ROCUBA: No, we had been — we had been taking part in round with the gun after we had been shootin’ it. We had been gonna go capturing, and I – and I pulled the set off, and went by means of my hand.

He additionally provided this model:

BRUNO ROCUBA (911 name): I used to be taking part in with the gun, and I let it go off.

Bruno knew his method round weapons, says Allen. So, why would he have his finger on the set off of a gun that was loaded?

Crime Unit Supervisor Corporal Dan Nilon was requested by Allen to look at all of the proof, starting with Bruno’s police interview.

BRUNO ROCUBA (to detectives) : My spouse was sitting on the mattress on that aspect. I used to be on this aspect. I went to test the, um, chamber to see if there was a spherical in there.

TROOPER MCGURRIN: OK.

BRUNO ROCUBA: My spouse leaned again towards me. Possibly she did not know I used to be doing it, and I pulled the set off by chance or else I let the slide go and it discharged.

Cpl. Dan Nilon: There have been so many pink flags … that we knew he wasn’t telling the reality.

To start with, says Nilon, if Bruno was actually attempting to clear the gun’s chamber, he would have ejected the journal.

Cpl. Dan Nilon: The very first thing you are going to do once you unload the gun is drop the journal out of it.

There have been additionally two safeties on the gun. Nilon confirmed “48 Hours” simply how arduous it’s to discharge the weapon, unintentionally.

Cpl. Dan Nilon: So, your grip, your hand must be on the grip. Moreover, there’s a set off security. There’s a small piece of the set off that must be depressed to ensure that the gun to fireplace. So, each issues have to happen.

There have been additionally questions on the place Bruno and Melissa had been sitting when the deadly shot was fired.  Allen and Nilon reviewed Bruno’s walkthrough video with police with “48 Hours.”

BRUNO ROCUBA (to detectives): I went like this, and she or he was sitting on the mattress there.

Cpl. Greg Allen: So, you see the best way that he is holding the gun? He’s pointing it to the other aspect of the mattress.

However Nilon and Allen say there was blood and ballistics proof on the wall behind Bruno, not the other aspect of the mattress.

Anne Marie Inexperienced: So, the proof is right here and right here. (factors to the wall behind the mattress)

Cpl. Dan Nilon: Sure.

Cpl. Greg Allen: Every little thing is behind him proper now.

Anne-Marie Inexperienced: However he says he shot this manner. (factors to the left of the place Bruno was sitting within the video)

Cpl. Greg Allen: Right.

They would wish DNA testing and a forensic skilled to substantiate their suspicions that Bruno was mendacity.

However, within the meantime, Nilon discovered a key piece of proof that he says nobody had ever examined. Video and audio from the night time of the capturing recorded on a house safety system.

MELISSA ROCUBA (house safety video, speaking to Bruno): What’s mistaken with you?

Seems {that a} safety digicam mounted to the entrance of the home, had recorded Melissa Rocuba’s final phrases.

MELISSA ROCUBA’S LAST MOMENTS CAUGHT ON TAPE

The ultimate pictures of Melissa Rocuba had been recorded on this the couple’s house safety digicam and saved to a DVR.

Corporal Dan Nilon says when he first found the recording, he may see Melissa and her husband Bruno arriving house from their night time out. However it was troublesome to make out most of what they had been saying.

CPL. DAN NILON: I keep in mind sitting in our workplace with the door closed, headphones on … the workplace fridge unplugged, attempting to get as many phrases as I may.

Corporal Greg Allen says that one factor was clear.

Cpl. Greg Allen: There was undoubtedly an argument that occurred between them.

MELISSA ROCUBA (house safety video): What’s mistaken with you?

 Allen says the unique investigators instructed him they’d no approach to assessment the recording, as a result of they did not have entry to the mandatory know-how. However Allen’s crew did — and will now see that the recording begins within the driveway, the place you possibly can hear the couple arguing.

MELISSA ROCUBA (house safety video): What?

BRUNO ROCUBA: Subsequent time you get your individual f*****’ journey.

MELISSA ROCUBA: No matter.

BRUNO ROCUBA: Yep, No matter.

However it does not appear to finish there. As soon as inside the home, Melissa and Bruno are not seen, it feels like they’re nonetheless arguing, says Allen.

Cpl. Greg Allen: That point of 12 months, their … window was open, so you could possibly additionally decide up sound, audio from inside … as nicely.

The sound was simply a lot more durable to listen to. However with Bruno’s altering tales, and attainable proof of an argument, investigators had been now treating Melissa Rocuba’s loss of life as a attainable homicide.

Cpl. Dan Nilon (watching footage): That is the final time she’s ever seen…

Cpl. Greg Allen: Dan and I’ve been doing this a very long time and we noticed that and … the proof speaks for itself.

Then-Lackawanna County District Lawyer Mark Powell agreed.

Mark Powell: My intestine response was that is most likely a case that ought to have been charged again in 2013. … and I can solely guess … that they thought it did not warrant prices as a result of he shot himself by means of the hand.

Anne-Marie Inexperienced: As a result of who would purposely shoot themselves within the hand?

Mark Powell: Positive. Positive.

With Powell’s crew now onboard, Melissa’s household was knowledgeable that the case was as soon as once more lively.

Sabrina Rocuba: I used to be like, that is completely different … they’re very, very positive about themselves. … That this was a criminal offense. My dad did this on function.

Chelsea Cicio says she now had blended emotions about her relationship along with her father.

Chelsea Cicio: I reside subsequent door, so my son’s very shut with him. It isn’t black and white.

Investigators then despatched a portion of the DVR recording to an FBI crime lab for enhancement.

Cpl. Dan Nilon: I keep in mind pondering the possibilities of this serving to us are most likely slim as a result of … this method is outdated.

DNA testing was additionally ordered on among the blood proof and a forensic skilled was employed to assist decide how the capturing passed off.

Mark Powell: We retained the companies of Dr. Wayne Ross. who’s a extremely revered forensic pathologist … and a blood sample skilled.

A few month later the improved DVR audio was again and Dan Nilon says it was clear the couple had been arguing proper up till the second the gun went off.

MELISSA ROCUBA (house safety audio): F*** you.

Anne-Marie Inexperienced: What do you hear on that tape?

Cpl. Dan Nilon: Numerous curses backwards and forwards, yelling, screaming …

MELISSA ROCUBA (house safety audio): Shut up.

It is nonetheless arduous to make out each phrase, however the official police transcript notes that Bruno and Melissa might be heard cursing and calling one another names. The transcript additionally notes the sound of a “canine barking.” Then Melissa shouts, “I did not do something.” 

Almost half-hour after they first pulled into the driveway, Melissa instructed Bruno that he needed to depart due to one thing he’d beforehand executed, “tons of of occasions,” mentioned Melissa.

A bit later, Melissa might be heard speaking. Then, it is feels like issues are being thrown. Simply seconds later, the gun goes off.

Cpl. Dan Nilon: It was not an accident. They had been preventing the whole time. After which a gunshot goes off.

Joanne says she hasn’t been in a position to hearken to the recording however has learn the transcript.

Joanne Swinney:  I used to be horrified, after all I cried. … and I can image my sister yelling at him and screaming and — and people very previous couple of moments realizing that that is it.

Additionally horrifying is the sound of Chelsea screaming after her father known as her over — and she or he first found her mom.

CHELSEA CICIO (house safety audio): Mommy! Mommy! (Crying)

She says she does not keep in mind questioning her father that night time, however she did.

And Bruno’s reply gave police yet one more model of his story.

CHELSEA CICIO (house safety audio): Dad, why did this occur?

BRUNO ROCUBA: We got here house and she or he needed to take the gun out and play, and I instructed her no, we’re not doing that.

He implied that Melissa had been the one holding the gun.

BRUNO ROCUBA (house safety audio): She needed to go shoot.

CHELSEA CICIO: No, no, this is not —

BRUNO ROCUBA: She’s alright. I do know —

CHELSEA CICIO: This is not actual.

BRUNO ROCUBA: I do know.

A bit of over two weeks later, Powell says forensic skilled Dr. Wayne Ross confirmed what Allen and Nilon had suspected about how all of the blood received on the wall behind Bruno.

Mark Powell: It’s extremely clear that he was on high of his spouse, that he was utilizing his hand to carry her and threaten her with a gun.

Anne Marie Inexperienced: And so the place do you say Bruno was at the moment?

Cpl. Dan Nilon: Virtually in the midst of the mattress.

Cpl. Greg Allen: Circled.

Cpl. Dan Nilon: Circled, dealing with the headboard.

The idea is that Melissa tried to flee Bruno’s grip and there was a battle.

Mark Powell: And thru … a battle … His hand will get unfastened. He fires the gun on the similar time.

Cpl. Dan Nilon (Watching video of Bruno Rocuba’s walkthrough with detectives): There’s blood proof that begins right here and travels in a proper to left sample … and that’s … Bruno’s blood. … And the one method that that could possibly be defined is that if Bruno did a movement like this (demonstrates sweeping movement) together with his hand after the bullet struck it.

Mark Powell: I do not know the way you may have an unintentional capturing once you’re standing over your spouse with a gun threatening to shoot her and also you discharge a bullet by pulling the set off. So, I — in my world, that is not unintentional. That is homicide with malice.

Anne-Marie Inexperienced: What do you suppose your sister would say about all of this?

Joanne Swinney: Oh, um … If she was right here, she would say lock his ass up and get away from my youngsters and my grandkids.

On June 2, 2022, a warrant was issued for Bruno Rocuba’s arrest. Chelsea says her father was nicely conscious and nicely ready.

Chelsea Cicio: He had weapons throughout … his nightstand was all photos of my mother. They had been by no means there.

JUSTICE FOR MELISSA ROCUBA

On the morning of June 3, 2022, two Pennsylvania State Police troopers adopted Bruno Rocuba on his approach to work. Corporal Greg Allen says they weren’t taking any probabilities with Bruno’s arrest.

Anne-Marie Inexperienced: Chelsea mentioned he had numerous weapons. Had been you involved one thing … may go mistaken?

Cpl. Greg Allen: Each time … you may have an arrest warrant in your hand … you attempt to take each precaution that you could.

In the long run, they pulled Bruno Rocuba over in a site visitors cease on his approach to work.

TROOPER (sprint cam video): Who received your license plate out right here?

BRUNO ROCUBA: The place? What?

TROOPER: Yeah.

TROOPER: Alright, maintain up, proper right here. Hey, you may have a gun, or any weapons on you?

BRUNO ROCUBA: No, no, no.

TROOPER: Alright, put your arms behind your again.

BRUNO ROCUBA: OK.

It was June 3, 2022, practically 9 years after Melissa’s loss of life, and Bruno Rocuba was charged along with her homicide. There was additionally a cost of theft, for the cash prosecutors say he took from his daughters.

Cpl. Dan Nilon: And he — he lawyered up.

Anne-Marie Inexperienced: Lawyered up immediately?

Cpl. Dan Nilon: Inside … Couple minutes –

Cpl. Greg Allen: — inside a couple of minutes.

Chelsea, who was nonetheless feeling conflicted, determined to assist her father pay his authorized payments.

Chelsea Cicio: I beloved him. I nonetheless, I – I did not need it to be worse.

Bruno Rocuba as soon as once more employed Joe D’Andrea and pleaded not responsible.

Anne-Marie Inexperienced: Is Bruno nonetheless telling you an identical story?

Joe D’Andrea: He by no means wavered from his story … that it was an accident.

However D’Andrea says he was now seeing and listening to the proof for the primary time — and says there was lots to elucidate to a jury. Like the varied variations of Rocuba’s all captured on tape.

TROOPER (police walkthrough video): Any discussions, or any arguments, or something?

BRUNO ROCUBA: No.

TROOPER: Earlier than that occurred?

BRUNO ROCUBA: No.

Probably the most difficult, says D’Andrea, was that police walkthrough.

Joe D’Andrea: If Bruno did not make a press release — he most likely would by no means have gotten charged.

Additionally regarding to D’Andrea was how a jury would really feel about Bruno Rocuba’s relationship with Tonia Wilczewski, and the query of when it started.

Anne-Marie Inexperienced: Doable motive?

Joe D’Andrea: Oh, clearly. … if not a motive … the jury positive wasn’t going to love him for doing it.

Tonia Wilczewski declined “48 Hours”‘ requests for an interview, however despatched a textual content saying, “there was by no means an affair.”  Bruno Rocuba by no means responded to our requests for an interview.

However D’Andrea says he was most involved about how a jury would react to Melissa’s last moments.

Joe D’Andrea: Whenever you hear screaming and … any individual’s shot, the jury may conclude you shot her on function. … I did not need … to … take any probability of being, uh, discovered responsible of first-degree homicide and spend the remainder of his life in jail.

D’Andrea says he spent the subsequent two years constructing his case round his finest proof: that bloody wound to his shopper’s hand.

Joe D’Andrea: Who would … put a bullet by means of their hand to — to kill any individual?

However in Might 2024 — two years after his arrest — as Bruno Rocuba’s trial approached, either side agreed to a plea deal: third-degree homicide and no cost of theft.

Joe D’Andrea: It wasn’t that he deliberately killed Melissa … his actions had been reckless.

Anne-Marie Inexperienced: Having a gun, consuming, bullet within the chamber, safeties off, in a fairly passionate argument?

Joe D’Andrea: That is a prescription for some dangerous stuff to occur, which it did.

MELISSA ROCUBA (house safety video): What’s mistaken with you?

Anne-Marie Inexperienced: It might very nicely be your sister’s personal voice that finally put him behind bars.

Joanne Swinney: I by no means actually considered it like that. Yeah.

On Jan. 8, 2025, Joanne attended Bruno’s sentencing listening to and skim him her sufferer influence assertion.

Joanne Swinney: I checked out him first and made him take a look at me, trigger I do know it is like seeing a ghost, as a result of I appear to be my sister.

Cameras weren’t allowed within the courtroom, so Joanne shared her assertion throughout our interview.

Joanne Swinney (studying): Via all of this you may have by no means proven an oz. of regret. … So far as what you probably did to your daughters, Bruno, you killed their mom. … You tried to erase her existence, however you can not erase her reminiscences.

Anne Marie Inexperienced: If there was a trial, would you may have testified towards him?

Chelsea Cicio: Sure.

Anne Marie Inexperienced: You mentioned that shortly.

Chelsea Cicio: Yeah, I might’ve. … , my mother deserves justice. And my mother — she must be right here.

Bruno Rocuba was sentenced to 12 to 40 years behind bars. With time served, he will likely be up for parole beginning in 2035.

Joanne Swinney: Now that he is gone, we will breathe just a little bit higher … but it surely does not change the harm or the ache, or what we have now to work by means of as a household. … And we’ll revisit this in 10 extra years as a result of … each single time he comes up for parole, I will likely be there to protest it.

Chelsea and Sabrina each say they’ve very blended emotions about their father — and what justice seems to be like. 

Sabrina Rocuba: He took somebody’s life … And it wasn’t an accident. He does not need to get out. … I would like him to get out on the similar time as a result of I really like him and miss him.

Chelsea Cicio: Everyone’s like, oh, we lastly get justice. Good for you. … I received justice for my mother, however now I simply misplaced my father, my son misplaced his grandfather. … and it is arduous on my son. That is who I’ve to guard.

Anne-Marie Inexperienced: How are you holding your mother’s reminiscence alive?

Sabrina Rocuba: I’ve all of her photos throughout my fridge. … And I inform my daughter how fantastic her grandmother was and … how a lot — how a lot my mother beloved being a grandmother.

Chelsea Cicio: She cared about my son greater than something. She beloved that little boy.

Chelsea Cicio: And I believe she would not need my son to harm the best way this has harm him.

Simply weeks after “48 Hours”‘ interview, on March 10, 2025, Chelsea says her son Greg was out driving his All-Terrain Automobile, when he collided with an SUV and died. He was simply 13 years outdated. One other tragic loss for a household that had already misplaced a lot.

Joanne Swinney: It is one thing that you simply learn in a e-book or see on TV, not your individual life … it simply does not really feel like this must be our story as a household.

Produced by Judy Rybak. Emily Wichick Hourihane is the sphere producer. Michelle Sigona is the event producer. Michelle Harris, Diana Modica, Michael Baluzy and Jake Day are the editors. Anthony Batson is the senior broadcast producer. Nancy Kramer is the manager story editor. Judy Tygard is the manager producer.