Did Monica Sementilli conspire with the person she was having an affair with to homicide her husband?

Fabio Sementilli was a celebrity within the magnificence enterprise. He started slicing hair in Toronto, Canada, and ultimately moved to Los Angeles when he was promoted to an government place at Wella. He settled in a house in Woodland Hills together with his spouse Monica and their two teenage daughters.

On Jan. 23, 2017, Fabio was in his yard by the pool when two individuals broke into the house and stabbed him to dying. In accordance with prosecutors, the suspects staged the scene to appear like a theft gone incorrect. However when Los Angeles Police Division detectives started investigating the homicide, they mentioned they discovered blood on the scene that did not belong to Fabio. They usually mentioned additionally they discovered proof that his spouse was having an affair on the time.

Jan. 23, 2017 | 3:26 p.m.: Monica Sementilli’s alibi  

On the day Fabio was killed, prosecutors mentioned a neighbor’s safety digital camera captured Monica Sementilli leaving dwelling in her black Ford F-150 pickup truck. She was headed to Goal the place prosecutors mentioned she was establishing her alibi. Earlier than Monica entered the shop, in accordance with prosecutors, there may be video the place it seems a person bought into Monica’s truck. Prosecutors mentioned that particular person was Robert Baker, a neighborhood racquetball coach who Monica had been having an affair with for a couple of yr previous to Fabio’s homicide. Monica’s protection attorneys have disputed the prosecution’s interpretation of the video from the parking zone. In accordance with the district lawyer, Monica then went alone into the Goal retailer and started procuring.  

Jan. 23, 2017 | 4:18 p.m: Suspects caught on digital camera

A neighbor’s safety digital camera captured two hooded figures jogging close to Fabio’s home proper across the time of the homicide. In accordance with prosecutors, the particular person within the inexperienced hoodie was Baker. And prosecutors mentioned that Baker and the unknown co-conspirator entered the Sementilli dwelling and attacked Fabio from behind. They then staged the scene to appear like theft.

Jan. 23, 2017 | 4:32 p.m.: Monica Sementilli pictured at Goal the day of her husband’s homicide 

At 4:32 p.m. on the day of Fabio’s homicide, Monica Sementilli was seen on surveillance video strolling out of the Goal retailer and, in accordance with prosecutors, she was fixated on her telephone and certain monitoring her dwelling surveillance cameras remotely. Prosecutors additionally mentioned that across the time of Fabio’s homicide, telephone information confirmed that Monica’s iPhone was related to her dwelling’s IP handle and her telephone was consuming a considerable amount of information in step with streaming stay video.

The prosecution acknowledged in pre-trial motions that Monica was monitoring the comings and goings at her dwelling in order that Baker and the unknown confederate may enter and kill Fabio “with none interruption.” However in accordance with Monica’s protection crew, there isn’t a proof that may show what precisely she was watching on her telephone at the moment. In courtroom paperwork, the protection raised the chance that Monica may have been remotely streaming a TV present.   

Jan. 23, 2017 | 4:53 p.m.: The getaway automobile  

About 35 minutes after the hooded joggers had been seen close to the Sementilli dwelling, at 4:53 p.m., Fabio’s black Porsche was seen on the identical neighbor’s safety digital camera being pushed away. Prosecutors mentioned this was Baker and his unknown co-conspirator leaving the crime scene. In accordance with detectives, the Porsche was found two days after the homicide parked about 5 miles away from the Sementilli dwelling. Prosecutors additionally mentioned Baker’s blood was discovered contained in the Porsche.

Jan. 23, 2017 | 4:54 p.m.: A daughter’s heartbreaking discovery

Only one minute after the black Porsche is captured, Monica and Fabio’s daughter Isabella’s car was captured on a safety digital camera as she is returning dwelling. Isabella, who was 16 years outdated on the time, found her father’s physique and known as 911. A couple of minutes later, Monica arrived again dwelling.      

February – June 2017: The investigation into Fabio Sementilli’s homicide

As detectives started investigating Fabio’s homicide, they mentioned they found DNA on the crime scene that belonged to Baker. His DNA was within the database as a result of he was a registered intercourse offender. In accordance with prosecutors, Baker lower his left index finger when he killed Fabio and that is why his blood was on the scene.   

In accordance with the indictment, Investigators additionally discovered that within the yr main as much as Fabio’s homicide, Baker made 1000’s of calls and texts to Monica.  

In February 2017, an LAPD detective went to go to Monica at her dwelling. Prosecutors mentioned that when the investigator requested Monica about Baker, she instructed them she wasn’t positive of his final identify.   

For the following few months, investigators mentioned they surveilled Monica and Baker’s secretive romance and mentioned the connection continued after Fabio’s homicide. In accordance with the district lawyer, the couple took two journeys to Las Vegas and a visit to Myrtle Seaside collectively. 

June 14, 2017: Monica Sementilli and her then-boyfriend Robert Baker arrested

LAPD detectives mentioned they got here up with a plan to secretly report Monica and Baker whereas they had been collectively. On June 14, 2017, Monica and Baker had been pulled over in her Mustang below the guise of a visitors cease and had been instructed that the automobile they had been driving may need been stolen. In accordance with the prosecution, the officers then handcuffed Monica and Baker and put them within the again seat of a police automobile, which was wired for sound in order that they could possibly be recorded.

The detectives who had been investigating Monica and Baker for months mentioned they had been listening to them from a van parked close by. And that is when investigators mentioned Monica was recorded telling Baker, “Any individual will need to have talked. Any individual is doing this to us.” The couple was then taken to the LAPD Van Nuys Station the place they had been positioned in separate cells and questioned by detectives in regards to the homicide of Fabio.  

Later that day, investigators mentioned they instructed Monica that Baker’s blood was discovered on the crime scene. In accordance with detectives, Monica defined why Baker’s blood could be inside her dwelling. She instructed them that she “cracked” Baker on the finger with a racquet and he bled all around the racquetball courtroom, so she gave him a towel after which introduced that bloody towel dwelling together with her. 

Aug. 14-18, 2017: The grand jury listening to  

The prosecution introduced its case to a grand jury in August 2017. They described Monica’s actions on the day her husband was killed intimately and mentioned she was establishing her alibi for the time of the homicide.   

The prosecutors additionally introduced proof that six months earlier than Fabio’s homicide, Monica communicated with a safety digital camera firm to improve the system at her dwelling. The improve allowed her to remotely entry her surveillance cameras from her cellphone. In accordance with the prosecution, Monica forwarded the log in credentials and consumer guide for her safety system to Robert Baker on the identical day it was upgraded.   

Within the months following Fabio’s homicide, prosecutors mentioned that whereas Monica was posting on social media that she was grieving her husband’s dying, she was additionally secretly spending time with Baker. Buddies of Monica and Baker’s testified that they went out on double dates and noticed affectionate conduct between the 2. On the conclusion of the listening to, Monica and Baker had been indicted by the grand jury for homicide and conspiracy.  

Aug. 31, 2017: Defendants plead “not responsible” 

On Aug. 31, 2017, each Monica Sementilli and Robert Baker pleaded “not responsible” to the homicide of Fabio Sementilli.   

Monica Sementilli’s protection presents its case  

On Jan. 3, 2018, Monica’s protection crew filed a movement to put aside the indictment in opposition to her. Amongst their arguments, they acknowledged that through the grand jury listening to, the prosecution introduced proof of Monica’s character that was irrelevant.

The protection mentioned, “the proof introduced in opposition to Ms. Sementilli establishes that she was a girl having an affair that she wished to maintain secret. Any further allegation that she wished to have her husband murdered, or stood to learn from his homicide, or orchestrated his homicide with Mr. Baker, was primarily based on pure hypothesis.”   

The protection additionally acknowledged that the prosecution introduced no communication between Baker and Monica that was proof of an settlement to homicide Fabio. The protection additionally took difficulty with the surveillance footage within the parking zone that the prosecutors claimed to see Baker entering into Monica’s truck. They acknowledged of their movement that “… the video high quality is so grainy, and the point of interest so distant, in order to be borderline unwatchable,” and you can’t see a person go away Monica’s truck.

July 7, 2023: Robert Baker’s dramatic plea change  

On July 7, 2023, Baker modified his plea from “not responsible” to “no contest.” At his sentencing listening to, the decide defined to him {that a} “no contest” plea is actually the identical as a “responsible” plea and requested if he understood to which Baker replied, “Sure, sir.” Baker was sentenced to life in jail with out the potential of parole. Monica’s attorneys had beforehand tried to have her case severed from Baker’s, which the decide denied. By pleading “no contest,” Baker created a major change in courtroom proceedings going ahead. Now, Monica will likely be tried individually, with out Baker, for the homicide of her husband, Fabio. 

Feb. 24, 2024: “48 Hours” talks to Robert Baker  

“48 Hours” went to see Robert Baker in jail, and mentioned Monica had nothing to do with the homicide of Fabio and she or he by no means knew that he was Fabio’s killer. Baker additionally instructed “48 Hours”  that he is now not in contact with Monica and he has not determined if he’ll testify at her trial.  

Monica Sementilli faces trial  

Monica’s trial is scheduled to start on April 2, 2024. Gessica and Isabella, the daughters she shared with Fabio, are standing by their mom. Gessica spoke at Robert Baker’s sentencing and mentioned, “we are going to proceed to face by our mom as we now have finished for the final six years, and we are going to combat for her innocence.”