Vanished

Harold Dow Reports On The Disappearance Of A New York Banker

(CBS)  As Maria's disappearance was making front-page headlines in April 2003, Bach, along with neighbor Mark Ritchie, was helping Faiello to get his Newark mansion ready for sale.

"There were a number of things needed to be fixed. Sidewalks, cracks in the foundation of the house. We were at Home Depot a lot," recalls Ritchie, who says Faiello asked him to pick up extra bags of cement for a job he said he needed to do in the garage. "I bought maybe 25 or 30 bags, not having any idea of what it was going to be used for."

Bach says he found it very odd that Faiello was mixing cement in the garage the night before the house closing. So he came down a little pathway behind him to see what he was doing. "He had a huge reaction to me coming up behind him, like startled, and yelled at me, 'Get the hell out of here. Go do something else.'"

Bach had no idea what he just witnessed, but he never forgot Faiello's mysterious cement project. After the house closed in May, he never saw Faiello again. Then, in September, he learned that Faiello had left the country, still owing Bach a lot of money.

But as detectives told Bach about Maria's disappearance, pieces of an unsettling puzzle started coming together. At that moment, it finally dawned on Bach that the love of his life might have taken a life. That's when Bach called police back.

On Feb. 18, 2004, 10 months after Maria's disappearance, the search for her remains was finally over.

Detectives found her body in a suitcase, buried in cement in the garage at Faiello's former home in New Jersey. Faiello was charged with the murder.

"What we think happened is he may have given her an injection, and she had a bad reaction, maybe a seizure, and expired from that injection," says Della Rocca.

Detectives believed that Faiello gave Maria lidocaine, an anesthetic that only can be bought and administered by a licensed physician. But what's more outrageous, detectives say, is that as Maria lay dying in Faiello's office, he made at least two phone calls – one to a real doctor – asking for advice. But he ignored their advice to save his own skin.

Detectives theorize that Faiello, who was already awaiting sentencing for practicing without a license, was afraid of being caught again and getting a tougher term. So after letting Maria die, he stuffed her body in a suitcase, carried it out of the building and hid it at his home.

"You can't just allow somebody to die, and then throw her out like a piece of garbage," says Maria's sister, Tess. "She must have had a family. Did he not even think at least of that family?"

Police now intensified their search for Faiello, who miscalculated in a big way after leaving town. He made the mistake of using his own credit cards. The paper trail led authorities to Costa Rica.

48 Hours went to Costa Rica to retrace Faiello's steps, and discovered that for months, he cruised the underbelly of the San Jose party scene before making his way to the more exclusive resorts along Costa Rica's Pacific Coast.

Faiello was flush with cash since he had sold his Newark mansion for more than $400,000. U.S. authorities working with the Costa Rican police put out an APB on Faiello, and 11 months after Maria went missing, Faiello was finally under arrest.

The Cruz family hopes Faiello will answer to murder charges in a New York court. But months have gone by, and Faiello has been fiercely fighting extradition back to the United States.

For six months, 48 Hours tried to meet with Faiello. Finally, 48 Hours was allowed to talk to him at a Costa Rican jail.

For the past eight months, the cramped and crumbling jail had been Faiello's home. He shares a cell with 35 others, and it's a far cry from the lavish lifestyle he once led.

What Faiello wanted to talk about first to 48 Hours, was himself: "I'm very unhappy with my physical health at this point. It's no secret I'm HIV-positive. I've been here for six months without any medical treatment of my HIV condition. I think I've lost … about 22 pounds."

Even so, Faiello says he'd rather be in Costa Rica than anywhere else. "I like this country, and I'm doing everything that I can with my attorney and in my legal powers to stay here in this country," he says. "I wish to spend the rest of my life here in Costa Rica."

But with his lawyer nearby, Faiello was less than forthcoming when whe was asked about what happened to Maria. "I have no comment. I am innocent of the charges presented against me," he says. "I have been falsely accused by the United States."

What about the discovery of Maria's body in his garage? "I have no statement about anything that's happened in my house," says Faiello.

Faiello also refused to comment about pretending to be a doctor in New York. Then, after 20 minutes, the interview was abruptly declared over.

The U.S. Department of Justice won't speak specifically about the Faiello case , but they do say extradition from Costa Rica usually takes six to 12 months.

"He should pay for what he did," says Maria's sister, Tess. "I want him to embrace this. I want him to know that this is what you did, it's a terrible thing and you have to pay for what you did."

The two people who were once closest to Faiello – Bach and Ritchie – will be lined up to testify against him.

"I gave him my life vest on his sinking, burning ship, and he left me to drown," says Bach. "He's completely screwed up his life. All he has to look forward to, I think, is going to be incarceration in the United States."

Ritchie will also provide one more piece of evidence – something he says he found in luggage Faiello stored in Ritchie's garage. It was a woman's purse, with a wallet, credit cards and a driver's license. The name on the credit card and driver's license was Maria Cruz.

Today, Bach has little sympathy for Faiello, but his thoughts are with Maria's family.

"All the terror they were put through, which was incredibly unfair and selfish," says Bach. "The anger and the heartbreak that they must be experiencing must be immeasurable. If there is anyone to care about, it's them."

Almost two years after going on the run, Faiello was finally brought back to New York in May to face a second-degree murder charge for the death of Maria Cruz.

As part of the agreement to extradite Faiello -- if convicted, the maximum sentence he could get is 50 years in prison.

Faiello is being held without bail in a New York City jail. His trial is expected to begin before the end of the year.