Kriti Mehrotra
When Melissa Marie Rocuba passed away on August 10, 2013, following an unexpected shooting in her own bedroom, it left a huge impact on the residents of Simpson, Pennsylvania. CBS’ ’48 Hours: Melissa Rocuba’s Final Moments’ explores the case in detail and also sheds light on the fact that the 44-year-old was killed at the hands of her husband of nearly 25 years, Bruno Rocuba. However, he always claimed it was an accident. As time passed, their daughters, Sabrina Rocuba and Chelsea Rocuba Cicio, came to believe that their father might not have been completely honest, which led to complicated feelings.
After Melissa’s Passing, Sabrina Rocuba and Chelsea Cicio Prioritized their Father
It was in the 1980s when Melissa White first met Bruno Rocuba by pure chance, just for them to fall head over heels in love, have a whirlwind courtship, and then tie the knot in a cozy ceremony. The couple subsequently settled in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, where they joyously welcomed two adorable daughters: Sabrina Rocuba and Chelsea Rocuba. According to records, their household was so kind, loving, as well as supportive that they developed a very tight-knit bond, which remained even after the girls had moved out to start their own lives.
In fact, Chelsea eventually settled into the house right next door to her affectionate parents, whereas her elder sister Sabrina found herself building a name for herself in Cascade, Wisconsin. Therefore, on the evening of August 6, 2013, Bruno first called the former in a panic, claiming there had been a terrible accident in which her mother had been gravely injured. The 22-year-old rushed to their place, finding Melissa lying on the bed with blood streaming from her head while her husband claimed his gun had accidentally gone off while he was cleaning it. “The blood was just all over the floor, the side of the bed,” Chelsea still vividly remembers, adding that her father also told her that he had already dialed 911, so the ambulance was on its way.
The mother of two was transported to the Geisinger Community Medical Center, where she was in the intensive care unit for three days before her family heartbreakingly took her off life support. She was pronounced dead a day later, by which point Bruno had gotten surgery for the bullet wound on his left hand, spoken to officials, and done a walk-through of the scene. He vehemently maintained it was all an accident, so his daughters subsequently focused on comforting him because they couldn’t even begin to imagine how they would feel after such an ordeal. As per Sabrina, they were even worried about him getting arrested for negligent homicide owing to the fact that he was indeed the one holding the gun when it went off, but nothing came of it.
Sabrina Rocuba and Chelsea Cicio’s Opinions About Their Mother’s Case Wavered Over Time
While Sabrina and Chelsea’s priority was their father’s well-being in the immediate aftermath of their mother’s demise, they began having second thoughts regarding what transpired over time. That’s because, in retrospect, they realized his behavior was rather strange while Melissa was still on life support – he never visited her for more than an hour and had even asked his girls to clean their home. According to their account, he wanted them to remove the mattress on which his wife was shot because he didn’t want to deal with the blood, forgetting they were just in their early 20s. Moreover, they have since claimed he had even asked for their help in getting rid of all her belongings before she was even buried, following which he also got rid of her beloved dog.
“My mom loved that dog,” Sabrina stated on the show, describing him as a 10-year-old Rottweiler named Zeus. “And my dad got rid of him right after my mom died.” As if that’s not enough, per her and Chelsea, he even removed all photographs of their mother from the family home and donated her entire wardrobe to a thrift store in the name of grief. However, what complicated the situation for them the most was that he started steadily dating a woman named Tonia Wilczewski within months without informing either daughter.
Chelsea asserted, “I remember looking out my window (into my parents’ house), and she was cooking Christmas dinner in my mom’s kitchen. I wasn’t invited.” All of this combined reportedly led her and Sabrina to think there might be more to the story than their father revealed, but it wasn’t until 2022 that things changed. Melissa’s case had been reopened around two years prior, with investigations uncovering inconsistencies in Bruno’s statements and their home security system’s footage of the victim’s last words. It turned out the couple had been arguing before the gun went off.
Related
Sabrina Rocuba and Chelsea Cicio Are Focused on Their Respective Families Today
It was on June 3, 2022, when Bruno was arrested and charged with murder in connection with Melissa’s death, but he pleaded guilty to the lesser count of third-degree murder in May 2024. As a result, he was sentenced to 12-40 years behind bars, which means he remains incarcerated in a state correctional facility as of writing, yet he will become eligible for parole as early as 2035. From what we can tell, it appears as if both his daughters, Sabrina and Chelsea, as well as Melissa’s family, stand by his conviction.
Coming to Sabrina’s current standing, she resides in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, as of writing, where she is surrounded by loved ones in the form of her husband Robert Zurn, their children, and their friends. As for her career, the former Aviation Maintenance Administrator in the United States Navy is now seemingly working in the corporate world and is a rising professional. She is backed by her business studies from Thomas Nelson Community College and her Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from Marian University of Wisconsin. On the other hand, Chelsea still resides in Pennsylvania, where she is blissfully building a life alongside her husband of nearly a decade, Chris Cicio – they tied the knot on September 23, 2016 – and her two young children. We should mention that Chelsea was previously married to a man named Gregory Perri, who sadly passed away on March 10, 2025.
