Friday, April 11, 2025 5:57PM
The wife of a prominent L.A. hairdresser was found guilty of murder and conspiracy for masterminding the killing of her husband at the home they shared with their two daughters in Woodland Hills.
LOS ANGELES (KABC) — A jury found a 53-year-old woman guilty of murder and conspiracy in the plot to kill her husband — a celebrity hairstylist — at the home they shared with their two daughters in Woodland Hills in 2017.
Jurors also found true the special circumstance allegations of murder for financial gain and murder while lying in wait. The 10-man, two-woman jury deliberated about eight hours and 45 minutes over three days before reaching its verdict on Friday.
Fabio Sementilli was stabbed to death in the backyard of his Woodland Hills home in 2017.
The killing initially was thought to be a home invasion gone wrong, but investigators soon zeroed in on Fabio’s wife, Monica Sementilli, and her lover, Robert Baker, a convicted sex offender and former porn star.
Baker pleaded no contest and was convicted of killing Fabio. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole — the same sentence Sementilli now faces. Sentencing was set for June 23.
Sementilli cried as the verdicts were read.
Another man, Chris Austin, who helped Baker stab Fabio, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and is serving a 16-year sentence.
Prosecutors say Monica was the mastermind behind the plot to kill her husband.
“She’s the one who destroyed so many lives and their entire family. No one else did that, there’s no one else to blame,” Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman said.
SEE ALSO: Murder trial nears end for woman accused of plotting to kill prominent LA hairstylist
Prosecutors have wrapped up their closing arguments in the murder conspiracy trial surrounding the death of a celebrity hair stylist in Woodland Hills.
Silverman made the case that Monica wanted Fabio dead so she could inherit his estate and be with Baker.
“They destroyed evidence, they deleted evidence, they tried to hide the planning behavior… so that they could have this new future together,” she said in closing arguments Monday.
Both Baker and Austin testified earlier in this trial. Austin testified that Monica was in on the murder plot and left doors at her Woodland Hills home open so he and Baker could get in easily.
But Baker told jurors Monica had no clue that he was going to kill Fabio, that he committed the crime because he wanted Monica for himself.
Monica’s defense attorney pounded home that Monica is guilty only of having an affair.
“For that she is responsible and will live with that for the rest of her life,” said Leonard Levine, Monica’s attorney. “But adultery is not murder.”
Levine has painted Monica as a loving wife and mother who had no reason to want her husband dead. Her use of encrypted apps to communicate with Baker, Levine said, was simply to hide the affair she was having with Baker and not involvement in the killing.
“Everything she did was to protect the affair, not to cover up the murder,” Levine said. “She was obsessed with her family not finding out, with anybody not finding out.”
Sementilli has remained behind bars since her arrest in June 2017, when she and Baker were charged with murdering her husband. A conspiracy charge was subsequently added against the pair. The two were indicted just over two months later on the same charges.
Austin has also remained behind bars since his arrest.
CNS contributed to this report.
