LOS ANGELES () — Prosecutors have wrapped up their closing arguments in the murder conspiracy trial surrounding the death of a celebrity hair stylist in Woodland Hills.
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. Another man, Chris Austin, who helped Baker stab Fabio pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and is serving a 16-year sentence.
Monica Sementilli is charged with murder and conspiracy. Prosecutors say she 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.
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.”
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