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A fake skin doctor who left a woman to die on his operating table and hid her body under his garage has revealed he was drunk and high at the time.
In a new interview with ABC 20/20 to air Friday, Dean Faiello has finally apologized for killing 35-year-old investment banker Maria Cruz in April 2003.
He said that when he realized she was dead, he put her body in a suitcase and took it to his home in New Jersey, where he buried it under his garage.
In clips seen by DailyMail.com, Faiello says: “Deep down, I was afraid something was going to go wrong.”
Cruz was there to have a black mark removed from her tongue, a condition caused by antibiotics.
In a new interview with ABC 20/20 to air Friday, Dean Faiello reveals he was high and drunk when he performed a procedure on 35-year-old investment banker Maria Cruz in April 2003.
Maria Cruz, a devout Catholic and Filipino immigrant, graduated from Fordham University.
Faiello attributes Cruz’s death to an overdose of lidocaine that caused the Filipino native to collapse into convulsions.
He goes on to say that he had more than a dozen appointments with Cruz, whom he describes as “quiet and shy,” at his clinic in Manhattan.
During the article, Faiello says that he lied to clients and never told them that he was not a licensed doctor, despite performing many procedures that required a license.
On his official website, Faiello stated that he had a Master of Science and that he was a Certified Professional Electrologist.
Speaking about the moment when Cruz began to convulse, Faiello says, “I used too many vials of lidocaine.” He also says, “I know he was high and drunk during his final treatment.”
The fake doctor said: ‘[Maria] she was completely limp at that point. I rested my head on her chest and checked to see if she was breathing and had no vital signs.
After realizing that Cruz was deceased, Faiello took her body to his home in Newark, New Jersey, in a suitcase and buried it under a concrete slab in his garage.
He describes it in the interview saying: ‘In the garage, there was a slab that needed to be repaired. And I came up with the idea of making Maria part of that slab. So, I just can’t believe that she did it, but that’s what I did.
Faiello added: “I can’t give you a logical explanation, because there is no explanation.”
He then obtained a 90-day travel visa that allowed him to travel and stay in Costa Rica. Ultimately, Faiello was arrested shortly after Cruz’s body was found in February 2004.
During his time in Costa Rica, Faiello lived in a luxurious villa and spent his days by the pool while bragging about his medical career in New York City.
In the 20/20 interview, Faiello details a bizarre attempt he made to remain in the Central American nation by being adopted.
In the 20/20 interview, Faiello details a bizarre attempt he made to remain in the Central American nation by being adopted.
In 2005, Faiello pleaded guilty to first-degree assault against Cruz and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He ended up serving 17 years at the Attica Correctional Center and was paroled in early 2022.
While in prison, Faiello sobered up and spent time writing and reading. He previously told the New York Times that prison guards prevented him from receiving his HIV medication.
He says in the interview: ‘Not a day goes by that I don’t think about Maria or her family and why I acted like a coward. I hope I’m no longer the person who took such a risk with Maria’s life.
Cruz was born in the Philippines and moved to the United States to attend college. She had an MBA from Fordham University and was a devout Catholic. At the time of her death, Cruz worked for Barclays Bank.
The fake doctor continued: ‘I am inspired by Maria. She was forgiving and supportive. And I like to think that she helped me transform myself and atone for what I did, for what I did to her family, and she helped me become a better person, one day at a time.’
Aiello was first revealed to be a fraud in a New York Post report titled ‘He’ll make your skin crawl’. In October 2002, he was charged with three counts of practicing without a license.
Among the services Faiello provided were blood vessel removal, electrolysis, laser hair removal, laser skin treatment, tattoo removal, and facials.
In a statement to ABC, Cruz’s family said: “We’ve wanted to know what really happened on that fateful day for so long.” This has shed light. I ended up crying a lot while reading this. The pain doesn’t really go away.
Before Cruz’s death, Faiello’s Skin Ovations had been in business for seven years. Before that, he worked in construction. His location moved from Park Avenue, the Upper East Side and Grammercy Park.
Among the services Faiello provided were blood vessel removal, electrolysis, laser hair removal, laser skin treatment, tattoo removal, and facials.
It was revealed in a 2005 New York Times Feature that Faiello was voted “Most Likely to Succeed” by his high school peers at Madison High School in Madison, New Jersey.
The Times report went on to say that during his stay in Costa Rica, he lived in a luxurious villa and spent his days by the pool while bragging about his medical career in New York City.
Three years earlier, Faiello was first revealed to be a fraud in a New York Post report headlined ‘He’ll make your skin crawl’. In October 2002, he was charged with three counts of practicing without a license.
While out on bail, Faiello took his practice underground and began operating out of an apartment on West 16th Street. For his original crime, he faced six months in prison.
Police reporter Pat Lalama told ABC: “He played the part, the part was seen, the part was played.”
The two-hour special also includes interviews with investigative journalists Jeane MacIntosh and Barbara Nevins Taylor, whose undercover investigations first exposed that Faiello was practicing medicine without a license; her former romantic partner Greg Bach, who gave authorities a critical piece of information; investigator Brian Ford, who played a key role in solving the case; other former friends and colleagues of Faiello, who shed light on his drug use and state of mind; and friends of the victim María Cruz.