It's been more than eight years since a popular Hollywood hairstylist was stabbed on his patio at his home in the wealthy San Fernando Valley suburbs of Los Angeles, California.
A famous murder trial has now been held. And it revealed secrets, desires, and desires for payday on massive life insurance.
“Don't deny everything and don't talk.”
Fabio Cementiri, a 49-year-old celebrity hairstylist, was found bleeding on the patio of her Woodland Hills home on January 23, 2017. His 16-year-old daughter, Isabella, called 911 while trying to save her father.
Sementilli suffered seven sharp force wounds on his face, jaw, chest, neck, arms and thighs. His wounds turned out to be fatal.
Initially, police believed the stab wounds led to a robbery who committed a series of household thefts in the San Fernando Valley. Cementuri's bedroom was plundered and his Porsche was stolen. It turns out that the vehicle was abandoned two days after his murder, about five miles from the crime scene.
However, detectives pointed out that the suspicious robber did not steal a Hollywood hairstylist's $8,000 Rolex watch. It was still on his wrist.
The neighbor's security camera also captured a video of two hooded figures running near Cementuri's house around the time of the murder.
Additionally, on the day Fabio Semenriri was murdered, a neighbor's security camera caught his 52-year-old wife, Monica Semenriri, driving her black Ford F-150 pickup truck. Prosecutors say she drove to Target's retail store, and the video appears to be shown by an individual in a car park truck.
Prosecutors accused Monica Semenrili of traveling to Target to establish her alibi. CBS News.
Another man appears
The detective discovers that Monica Cementilli has a close relationship with Robert Lewis Baker. Robert Lewis Baker is a former porn star and convicted sex offender.
The pair reportedly met at West Hills La Fitness, where Baker was a racquetball coach.
Police said Monica Semenlili and Baker were seen together on two trips to cars, bars, comedy clubs, and on a field trip to Las Vegas and on Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
LAPD detectives hatched plans to secretly listen to Monica and Baker from a van parked near the house she previously shared with her late husband.
So, on June 14, 2017, when Baker was driving Monica's Blackford Mustang GT, police pulled the pair while driving Monica's Blackford Mustang GT within six months of the murder. Officials reportedly told the couple that the car they were in might have been stolen. Monica and Baker were handcuffed and placed in the back seat of a police cruiser.
However, the pair had little knowledge of officers wiring police vehicles to record conversations.
Monica was recorded to Baker saying, “Someone must have told us. Someone is doing this to us.”
She also reportedly told him, “Deny everything and don't talk.”
“The prosecutor claimed he was the “mastermind” of a conspiracy to kill her husband, the executive of German hair care giant Wella.
The pair were arrested and taken to LAPD Van Nuis station for questions.
On the day of her arrest, detectives told Monica that Baker's blood had been found inside her house.
She was allegedly told her that she “cracked” the bakery with her fingers with a racket, and he bleed throughout the racketball court. Monica gave him a towel and then added that she brought the bloody towel with her.
Investigators allegedly discovered Baker's DNA at the crime scene. Additionally, his DNA was already in the police database as he was a registered sex offender after being convicted of perverted behaviour with a minor in 1993.
According to prosecutors, Baker cut his left index finger when he killed Fabio.
Los Angeles Times “In a trial that lasted more than 50 days, the prosecutor claimed that the prosecutor was the mastermind of the plot killing the Canadian hairstylist and executive husband of Wella, the German hair care giant.
Prosecutors also pointed out that Monica Semenrilli upgraded her security camera system at home six months before Fabio's brutal murder, but the upgrade allegedly allowed her to access surveillance cameras remotely from her cell phone.
Prosecutors accused Baker of transferring the security camera system login credentials and user manuals on the same day of the upgrade.
When Fabio Sementilli was killed, phone records reportedly showed that Monica Sementilli's iPhone was connected to his home IP address and that the phone was consuming a large amount of data that matches the live video streaming.
Prosecutors claim she is watching live video from home security cameras.
According to the indictment, the detectives discovered thousands of calls and text messages exchanged between Monica and the former porn star.
At a grand ju judge hearing in August 2017, Friends of Monica Sementilli and Baker testified that they had appeared on a double date and saw loving behavior between the pair.
Baker is also said to have allowed the purchase of a Burner phone. One of them was in Monica's wallet when she was arrested for the Ford Mustang GT.
Assistant District Attorney Beth Silverman has highlighted Monica Semenrilli's actual use of a burner phone during the funeral process for her late husband, her hometown of Toronto, Canada.
Baker is also allegedly admitted that Monica Semenrilli sent him a naked photo of herself with her ring just after her husband's murder.
“Everyone is different and sad,” Baker declared.
At the end of the hearing of the Great Jury, Monica Sementi and Baker were both charged with murder and conspiracy, and both pleaded not guilty to the murder of Fabio Sementi.
However, on July 7, 2023, Baker changed the plea from innocence to a fight in connection with the murder of a hairstylist.
Baker was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Suspicious accomplices are on the surface
Police have determined that Oregon parole officer Christopher Austin is Baker's accomplice to kill Fabio.
Detectives say Baker has handed over the money to two of his bank accounts for Austin. According to police, Baker also purchased airline tickets to travel to Los Angeles from Anchorage, Alaska, Austin.
Austin was arrested in October 2024 and was later convicted of second-degree murder in connection with his role in the murder.
He is scheduled to sentence next month and faces up to 16 years in prison.
Austin said he and Baker had been to Cemerli's house before and knew the layout. And Austin also informed the ju decree that Baker had revealed important information to him.
He said Baker said, “I told me… She's going to unlock the door,” and Austin allegedly testified that he opened the patio door and grabbed Fabio. Sementilli with a squealing mouth whirring while Baker stabs him repeatedly.
Additionally, Austin told the ju umpire that the hairstylist widow “wanted him to die,” so he could collect life insurance payments to avoid a troublesome divorce.
However, Baker testified at Monica Semenrilli's trial last week that she had nothing to do with her husband's murder.
“I killed him because I wanted her,” Baker told the ju judge in a courtroom in Los Angeles. “She had nothing to do with that.”
You can view the video here He explained to Baker's court why he killed Fabio Semenri.
Monica Semenrilli's attorney, Blair Burke, said in an opening statement that there was no evidence that her client tried to kill Fabio Semenrilli.
“There are no statements, no texts or recorded calls,” Burke said, adding that Monica Semenlili “Robert Baker believed it.”
Despite Baker being in prison, the pair reportedly continued to communicate using a three-way call using a third-party number.
“Baker admitted that in a secret message sent to him in prison, Monica Semenrilli asked him to send him something personal,” the Los Angeles Times reported. “Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies later seized a tube of toothpaste containing Baker's semen, and prosecutors say he intended to deliver it to the defendant.”
Monica Semenrilli maintains her claim that she is not involved in her husband's death through her lawyer.
Like Blaze News? Bypass censorship, sign up for our newsletter and get stories like these directly into your inbox. Sign up here!
