Mon Jun 23 20:10:00 UTC 2025: **Headline: Monica Sementilli Sentenced to Life Without Parole in Hairdresser Husband’s Murder**
**Woodland Hills, CA (KCAL News) -** Monica Sementilli, 53, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Monday for orchestrating the 2017 murder of her husband, famed hairdresser Fabio Sementilli. A Los Angeles jury found her guilty in April of first-degree murder and conspiracy, citing special circumstances of murder for financial gain and lying in wait.
Fabio Sementilli, 49 at the time of his death, was found stabbed to death in the couple’s Woodland Hills home. He and Monica were married for nearly 20 years and had two daughters together.
The case involved a love triangle and a $1.6 million life insurance policy. Monica Sementilli and her lover, Robert Baker, 63, were arrested five months after the murder. Baker pleaded no contest to first-degree murder and conspiracy in July 2023 and has already been sentenced to life without parole. During Sementilli’s trial, Baker testified that he committed the murder “because I wanted her,” but surprisingly claimed Sementilli had no involvement in the plan.
A third defendant, Christopher Austin, 39, pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and faces 16 years to life in prison for his role in the crime. Austin testified that Baker told him Sementilli wanted her husband dead and that he and Baker went to the Sementilli home after receiving a text indicating the door would be left unlocked. Austin admitted to helping Baker stab Fabio Sementilli.
Prosecutors presented evidence of the ongoing affair between Sementilli and Baker, even while incarcerated, including recordings made during police sting operations. A judge rejected the defense’s request for a lesser sentence of 25 years to life. Sementilli has been in jail since her arrest in June 2017.
First Piper 