Episode 4: The Blue Bootie

After Cook County’s State’s Attorney chose not to prosecute, Michael Gargiulo is once again a free man. He moves into an apartment in El Monte, California with his girlfriend, where a 32-year-old woman named Maria Bruno moves in across the complex. Less than two weeks after she moves in, Maria Bruno is killed. Her estranged husband, Irving, finds her stabbed, mutilated, and left for dead in her own bed, just hours after the two had been out the night prior. In a chilling 911 call, Irving describes the scene to police. Mark Lillienfeld, a detective with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, is assigned to the case. We speak to Det. Lillienfeld about the crime scene, witness statements from people who lived in the apartment, and a crucial piece of evidence left at the crime scene: a blue medical bootie with drops of blood on it.