The wife of celebrity hairstylist Fabio Sementilli dissolved into sobs as she was declared guilty of orchestrating his murder with help from her porn star paramour back in 2017.
Monica Sementilli was convicted of one count of murder with special circumstance allegations involving financial gain and one count of murder while lying in wait in connection with Sementilli’s slaying, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced.
The jury, made up of 10 men and two women, returned the verdict on Friday, after nearly nine hours of deliberation spread out over the course of three days.
“This was a cold and calculated crime motivated by greed and betrayal,” Hochman said in a statement.
“Today’s verdict ensures that those responsible for this ruthless act will be held accountable,” she continued. “Our office remains steadfast in the pursuit of justice for victims and their families. We extend our deepest sympathies to Fabio Sementilli’s loved ones as they continue to mourn his tragic loss.”
Sementilli was found dead in a pool of blood on the patio of the ritzy Woodland Hills home he shared with Monica and his family. Police said he was attacked from behind and suffered seven stab wounds to the neck, chest and thigh. His femoral and carotid arteries were also cut.
Investigators initially thought Sementilli, known as “Big Daddy” to friends and family, was the victim of a robbery, but further probing uncovered something significantly more nefarious. In reality, Monica — engaged in an affair at the time with porn star Robert Baker — “masterminded” a plot to kill her hairstylist husband so she could cash in on his his million-dollar life insurance policy, prosecutors contended.
Baker, a convicted sex offender, admitted last year to killing Sementilli, but denied Monica was involved.
Prosecutors said Baker and an accomplice, Oregon probation officer Christopher Austin, snuck up on Sementilli while he watched TV in his backyard on Jan. 23, 2017.
Austin testified during the 10-week trial, outlining in precise detail what occurred in the leadup to Sementilli’s slaying. He said Monica left a door unlocked for them and then left her husband alone at the home, the L.A. Times reported.
“On the count of three, you are going to hold him down,” he recalled Baker telling him, saying that Sementilli never saw them coming. The hairstylist didn’t even have time to scream, Austin added.
Baker “opened the door, and he held his mouth so he couldn’t scream,” he said through sobs. “And he started stabbing him.”
The men then fled the scene in Sementilli’s Porsche, prosecutors said.
Austin was arrested in connection with the slaying in October. Before that, investigators suspected both Monica and her boyfriend, but were unable to prove her involvement. Baker told jurors Monica had no knowledge of his violent plan, and that he carried it out because he wanted her for himself.
The lovers were arrested in June 2017. In 2023, Baker pleaded “no contest” to all charges while they awaited trial. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Austin, meanwhile, was convicted of second-degree murder and personal use of a knife in Sementelli’s killing. He faces 16 years in prison.
