Accused black widow Monica Sementilli was allegedly the “mastermind” behind the brutal stabbing death of her husband, famed Toronto hair stylist Fabio Sementilli, a court has heard.
A Los Angeles prosecutor laid out the case against the 53-year-old raven-haired widow in the long-delayed first-degree murder trial.
Fabio, 49, was slain as he sipped on a glass of wine and enjoyed a cigar on the patio of his Woodlands Hills, Calif., home.
Deputy district attorney Beth Silverman said in her opening address that Monica was the only person who knew the “narrow” time frame her husband would be home alone.
“Lust, greed, betrayal, that’s what this case is about,” Silverman told the court, adding the murder was the “senseless slaughter of a thoroughly innocent and decent human being.”
Jurors, Silverman said, would learn about Monica’s “lies and her deception, her manipulation.”
Monica had for 18 months been engaged in a raunchy affair with former porn star and registered sex offender Robert Louis Baker, 62. He pleaded no contest in July 2023 to first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
As Monica and Fabio’s 20th wedding anniversary approached, the beloved stylist was oblivious as to what was allegedly happening under his nose.
“He had no idea what’s going on behind his back … He never saw what was coming,” Silverman said, adding that one of Fabio’s two daughters discovered Baker sleeping in the marital bed.
Silverman said:
— Monica sent hundreds of naked photos of herself to Baker during their affair and the pair were “also swinging with other people.”
— She was living a double life. Devoted wife by day, sex-crazed vixen by night.
— Monica came from an Italian Catholic family and “liked to live well” as the wife of high-flying style executive Fabio.
“She and Baker decided Fabio was getting in the way,” the prosecutor said, adding a $1.6-million life insurance policy was allegedly the carrot for murder.
Silverman added that Monica wrote in lipstick on a mirror “Mrs. Baker.” She signed jailhouse letters to her co-accused the same way.
It is expected that Baker will be the star witness for Monica’s legal team, but Silverman added that the other man has told at least a “dozen different versions” of what happened. She said jurors will hear a jailhouse conversation between the two where Baker allegedly said he would lie and take the fall.
The third defendant in the murder conspiracy, Christopher Austin, 39, pleaded guilty earlier this month to second-degree murder. He is expected to testify for the prosecution.
Monica’s lawyers are expected to give their opening statement on Tuesday after the prosecution wraps up Monday.
In addition to the lurid facts of the case, Silverman also laid out the alleged murder plot itself. The kinky couple used an encrypted app to communicate and she could monitor the home remotely.
Calling Monica “the mastermind,” Silverman said without her the murder of Fabio Sementilli would not have happened.
Austin had allegedly been flown in from Alaska to do the vile deed, Silverman said. Monica sent Fabio out to pick up dinner.
“They decide that Austin is going to murder Fabio at this location,” the prosecutor said, adding that Monica and Baker exchanged 69 encrypted messages during a 2 1/2-hour period and that Austin subsequently got nervous “because he’s not a criminal.”
Instead, Baker told him that Monica wanted the deed done quickly. They would allegedly murder Fabio the next day.
“Fabio tried to yell, but Baker covered his mouth,” Silverman said.
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From there, Silverman said, Baker allegedly tried to make the murder look like a robbery gone awry by ransacking the master bedroom. He left Fabio’s pricey Rolex on his wrist.
Next, Monica allegedly allowed her teen daughter to find the famed stylist’s lifeless, bloody body. Silverman said Monica then “set out to play the grieving widow.”
Silverman added that allegedly on the forefront of Monica’s mind was her dead husband’s whopping insurance policy. And she began trying to throw homicide detectives off the trail.
Shockingly, Baker showed up at Fabio’s wake a week later — just feet from where he was murdered.
Monica has never claimed the insurance policy but if Baker testifies she had nothing to do with it and Monica is acquitted, she’ll get the money.
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