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Fabio Sementilli was a superstar in the beauty business. He began cutting
hair in Toronto, Canada, and eventually moved to Los Angeles when he was promoted to an executive position at Wella. He settled in a home in
Woodland Hills with his wife Monica and their two teenage daughters.

On Jan. 23, 2017, Fabio was in his backyard by the pool when two people
broke into the home and stabbed him to death. According to prosecutors,
the suspects staged the scene to look like a robbery gone wrong. But when
Los Angeles Police Department detectives began investigating the murder,
they said they found blood at the scene that didn't belong to Fabio. And
they said they also found evidence that his wife was having an affair at
the time.

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

On the day Fabio was killed, prosecutors said a neighbor's security camera captured Monica Sementilli leaving home in her�black Ford F-150 pickup
truck. She was headed to Target where prosecutors said she was
establishing her alibi. Before Monica entered the store, according to prosecutors, there is video where it appears an individual got into
Monica's truck. Prosecutors said that person was Robert Baker, a local racquetball coach who Monica had been having an affair with for about a
year prior to Fabio's murder. Monica's defense attorneys have disputed the prosecution's interpretation of the video from the parking lot. According
to the district attorney, Monica then went alone into the Target store and began shopping.�

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

A neighbor's security camera captured two hooded figures jogging�near
Fabio's house right around the time of the murder. According to
prosecutors, the person in the green hoodie was Baker. And prosecutors
said that Baker and the unknown co-conspirator entered the Sementilli home
and attacked Fabio from behind. They then staged the scene to look like robbery.

Jan. 23, 2017 | 4:32 p.m.: Monica Sementilli pictured at Target the day of
her husband's murder�

At 4:32 p.m. on the day of Fabio's murder, Monica Sementilli was seen on�surveillance video walking out of the Target store and, according to prosecutors, she was fixated on her phone and likely monitoring her home surveillance cameras remotely. Prosecutors also said that around the time
of Fabio's murder, phone records showed that Monica's iPhone was connected
to her home's IP address and her phone was consuming a large amount of
data consistent with streaming live video.

The prosecution�stated in pre-trial motions that Monica was monitoring�the comings and goings at her home so that Baker and the unknown accomplice
could enter and kill Fabio "without any interruption." But according to Monica's defense team, there is no evidence that can prove what exactly
she was watching on her phone at that time. In court documents, the
defense raised the possibility that Monica could have been remotely
streaming a TV show.

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

About 35 minutes after the hooded joggers were seen near the Sementilli
home, at 4:53 p.m., Fabio's black Porsche was seen on the same neighbor's security camera being driven away. Prosecutors said this was Baker and his unknown co-conspirator leaving the crime scene. According to detectives,
the Porsche was discovered two days after the murder parked about five
miles away from the Sementilli home. Prosecutors also said Baker's blood
was found inside the Porsche.

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

Just one minute after the black Porsche is captured, Monica and Fabio's daughter Isabella's vehicle was captured on a security camera as she is returning home. Isabella, who was 16 years old at the time, discovered her father's body and called 911. A few minutes later, Monica arrived back
home.�

February � June 2017: The investigation into Fabio Sementilli's murder

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Monica Sementilli and Robert Baker in Las Vegas. in March 2017.
LOS ANGELES COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT

As detectives began investigating Fabio's murder, they said
they�discovered DNA at the crime scene that belonged to Baker. His DNA was
in the database because he was a registered sex offender. According to prosecutors, Baker cut his left index finger when he killed Fabio and
that's why his blood was at the scene. �

According to the indictment, Investigators also learned that in the year leading up to Fabio's murder, Baker made thousands of calls and texts to Monica.�

In February 2017, an LAPD detective went to visit Monica at her home. Prosecutors said that when the investigator asked Monica about Baker, she
told them�she wasn't sure of his last name. �

For the next few months, investigators said they surveilled Monica and
Baker's secretive romance and said the relationship continued after
Fabio's murder. According to the district attorney, the couple took two
trips to Las Vegas and a trip to Myrtle Beach together.

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

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Monica Sementilli and Robert Baker booking photos.
LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT
LAPD detectives said they came up with a plan to secretly record Monica
and Baker while they were together. On June 14, 2017, Monica and Baker
were pulled over in her Mustang under the guise of a traffic stop and were told�that the car they were driving might have been stolen. According to
the prosecution, the officers�then handcuffed Monica and Baker and put
them in the back seat of a police car, which was wired for sound so that
they could be recorded.

The detectives who had been investigating Monica and Baker for months said
they were listening to them from a van parked nearby. And that's when investigators said Monica was recorded telling Baker, "Somebody must have talked. Somebody is doing this to us." The couple was then taken�to the
LAPD Van Nuys Station where they were placed in separate cells and
questioned by detectives about the murder of Fabio.�

Wife of slain hairdresser Fabio Sementilli arrested for murder
Later that day, investigators said they told Monica that Baker's blood was found at the crime scene. According to detectives, Monica explained why
Baker's blood would be inside her home. She told them that she "cracked"
Baker on the finger with a racquet and he bled all over the racquetball
court, so she gave him a towel and then brought that bloody towel home
with her.�

Aug. 14-18, 2017: The grand jury hearing�
The prosecution presented its case to a grand jury in August 2017. They described Monica's actions on the day her husband was killed in detail and
said she was establishing her alibi for the time of the murder. �

The prosecutors also presented evidence that six months before Fabio's
murder, Monica communicated with a security camera company to upgrade the system at her home. The upgrade allowed her to remotely access her
surveillance cameras from her cellphone. According to the prosecution,
Monica forwarded the log in credentials and user manual for her security
system to Robert Baker on the same day it was upgraded. �

In the months following Fabio's murder, prosecutors said that while Monica
was posting on social media that she was grieving her husband's death, she
was also secretly spending time with Baker. Friends of Monica and Baker's testified that they went out on double dates and saw affectionate behavior between the two. At the conclusion of the hearing, Monica and Baker were indicted by the grand jury for murder and conspiracy.�

Aug. 31, 2017: Defendants plead "not guilty"

On Aug. 31, 2017, both Monica Sementilli and Robert Baker pleaded "not
guilty" to the murder of Fabio Sementilli. �

Monica Sementilli's defense presents its case�
On Jan. 3, 2018, Monica's defense team filed a motion to set aside the indictment against her. Among their arguments, they stated that during the grand jury hearing, the prosecution presented evidence of Monica's
character that was irrelevant.

The defense said, "the evidence presented against Ms. Sementilli
establishes that she was a woman having an affair that she wished to keep secret. Any additional allegation that she wanted to have her husband
murdered, or stood to benefit from his murder, or orchestrated his murder
with Mr. Baker, was based on pure speculation." �

The defense also stated that the prosecution presented no communication
between Baker and Monica that was evidence of an agreement to murder
Fabio. The defense also took issue with the surveillance footage in the
parking lot that�the prosecutors claimed to see Baker getting into
Monica's truck. They stated in their motion that "... the video quality is
so grainy, and the focal point so distant, so as to be borderline
unwatchable," and you cannot see an individual leave Monica's truck.

July 7, 2023: Robert Baker's dramatic plea change�
On July 7, 2023, Baker changed his plea from "not guilty" to "no contest."
At his sentencing hearing, the judge explained to him that a "no contest"
plea is essentially the same as a "guilty" plea and asked if he understood
to which Baker replied, "Yes, sir." Baker was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Monica's attorneys had previously
attempted to have her case severed from Baker's, which the judge denied.
By pleading "no contest," Baker created a significant change in court proceedings going forward. Now, Monica will be tried separately, without
Baker, for the murder of her husband, Fabio.

Feb. 24, 2024: "48 Hours" talks to Robert Baker�
"48 Hours" went to see Robert Baker in jail, and said Monica had nothing
to do with the murder of Fabio and she never knew that he was Fabio's
killer. Baker also told "48 Hours" that he's no longer in touch with
Monica and he has not decided if he will testify at her trial.�

Monica Sementilli faces trial�
Monica's trial is scheduled to begin on April 2, 2024. Gessica and
Isabella, the daughters she shared with Fabio, are standing by their
mother. Gessica spoke at Robert Baker's sentencing and said, "we will
continue to stand by our mother as we have done for the last six years,
and we will fight for her innocence."�

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/monica-sementilli-robert-baker-affair-fabio- sementilli-murder/

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