Convicted killer Robert Baker says his ex-lover Monica Sementilli had no phase within the homicide of her husband Fabio via NewsFlicks

It is a clumsy second sitting down with a assassin particularly while you arrive unannounced.  

Robert Baker, 61, who pleaded no contest final summer time to the 2017 Los Angeles homicide of famed hairstylist and attractiveness trade govt Fabio Sementilli, 49, approached the glass that separated us with a “who’re you?” glance on his face.

As a manufacturer for “48 Hours” who has adopted the case since 2017, I made the go back and forth to Los Angeles’ North County Correctional Facility on March 2 to look if Baker could be keen to percentage details about the brutal crime and, most likely, his alleged partner Monica Sementilli, 52. Monica used to be the spouse of sufferer Fabio Sementilli, and he or she used to be Baker’s lover ahead of they each landed in prison, just about 5 months after the crime, accused of conspiracy to dedicate homicide. Their case is profiled via “48 Hours” contributor Michelle Miller in “The Monica Sementilli Affair,” now streaming on Paramount+.

Baker gave the impression wholesome and more youthful taking a look than the bedraggled determine I remembered from court docket. He had the have compatibility and muscular look one may be expecting from a racquetball trainer on the LA Health the place he met Monica Sementilli, a mom of 2 teenage daughters residing in a close-by, upscale L.A. community. 

After I presented myself, it used to be Baker who introduced the preliminary icebreaker to our dialog, expressing marvel on the effort I had taken to seek out him in that far off prison within the mountain the city of Castaic. Getting there could be a one-hour power from L.A., and guests are most effective approved on Saturdays and Sundays. There are two separate consumption spaces to cross via, which comes to a bus trip – to not point out safety, the place a reporter will have to depart pens, recorders and telephones in the back of.

So, the trouble had paid off, it were given the dialog began, and earned me credibility for locating him. Those conferences can also be tough. The primary factor is we’re being recorded and the law enforcement officials and prosecutors who put Baker away and feature plans to position his former lover away concentrate, and probably can and can use anything else he says in opposition to him – or her – if conceivable. 

However, our dialog moved alongside.  Baker had a very simple broad smile with an opening between his entrance enamel. The telephone receivers we each and every used had quick cords in order that stored us head to head, staring directly into each and every different’s eyes, from about 20 inches aside via protection glass.  

In spite of his reluctance to handle maximum problems, deferring solutions to “when that is far and wide” (that means the top of Monica’s upcoming trial which begins April 2), he used to be resolute about one level: Monica used to be no longer concerned within the homicide, as she is charged.  

“Monica didn’t know.  She did not know s***.  If she did to find out, I’d had been in right here (prison) so much faster,” he mentioned. His declare used to be a bombshell.  Monica, who has already spent just about six years in prison, didn’t conspire with him to kill her husband Fabio, he mentioned. 

In spite of what the prosecutor characterizes as overwhelming circumstantial proof in opposition to Monica, there’s no smoking gun connecting her to the conspiracy.  A reality her legal professionals are banking on for a no longer responsible verdict at trial.

Why did Robert Baker plead responsible and not using a deal?

I requested about his choice to plead no contest in spite of no longer getting a deal and accepting the sentence of existence with out parole. Along with his blood and DNA on the crime scene, having minimize his finger stabbing Fabio to demise, Baker had little likelihood to overcome the costs. However although his probabilities at trial had been one in one million, the general public take that shot. “Why no longer you?” I requested him.

He gave the impression resigned to his destiny however defined “due procedure” used to be the rationale. A lot of our dialog shifted to facial expressions, as he used to be obviously reluctant to be recorded pronouncing positive issues. I discovered myself unconsciously following his lead — and at that second, I gave him an exaggerated “What does that imply?” face.

“You suppose there may be due procedure?” he spoke back to my glance, as though I used to be the naivest individual on earth to think about the legal justice device that snared him.  The word due procedure would function his unsatisfying default solution for lots of substantive questions. 

I requested if his plea used to be “a present” for Monica, which he straight away scoffed at, reputedly taking offense, as though happening for existence generally is a reward.  

I identified, what he knew neatly, that for greater than 5 years Monica’s legal professionals had attempted time and again to sever the instances in opposition to the lovebirds into separate trials, however the pass judgement on denied them at each and every flip.  So, I famous when Baker pleaded no contest, voilà, due to his choice, Monica were given what she have been inquiring for, to face trial on my own.  He remained dismissive.

I requested if he had met Monica in a Goal automobile parking space two miles from the Sementilli house within the hours ahead of the homicide, because the prosecutor alleged, probably to get the ‘coast is obvious’ message from Monica to assault and kill Fabio.

That allegation brought about an eyes broad open, lips pursed, “no manner” expression as he shook his head backward and forward. It by no means took place, in step with him.

He complained about that and different prosecution proof. The truth that he and Monica used the encrypted apps WhatsApp and Viber to keep in touch between themselves, or that Monica shared her circle of relatives’s house safety device’s non-public log-in credentials with him. So what? he requested.

I identified that whilst tens of millions of American citizens did use encrypted apps and accessed house safety techniques remotely, an purpose individual, say, a juror, may neatly to find it suspicious that the enthusiasts shared the ones previous to Fabio’s homicide. Baker remained angry that the ones information may well be used in opposition to him or Monica.

What about his Fb messages with a chum the place Baker mentioned, “No no longer but residing together with her [Monica] however it is coming quickly.”  As soon as once more, Baker shrugged that off, “only a dialog between buddies.” That rationalization put the incredulous “Huh?” glance on my face. 

“Only a dialog between buddies,” he repeated with a shrug and a “that is all” expression. He simply didn’t appear to get the prosecutor’s level {that a} dialog between buddies is strictly what used to be so revealing, and doubtlessly incriminating  in particular as a result of he murdered Fabio quickly after.

Robert Baker’s sentence: Lifestyles with out parole

I became the dialog to his sentencing listening to the place a lot of members of the family assailed him for putting off Fabio, a person so beloved via two daughters, a son, two sisters and an immense circle of relatives and circle of buddies.  

“Heartbreaking,” he repeated a couple of occasions, “heartbreaking.” Baker had cried all the way through the listening to, most likely when Monica’s daughters testified. What they will have noticed as crocodile tears decidedly didn’t make an affect at the devastated members of the family and buddies.

I requested if that emotion on the listening to intended he sought after to say sorry to Fabio’s circle of relatives. He introduced not anything in answer simply repeating, “heartbreaking.”  “I am not the monster,” he mentioned, his voice trailing off ahead of I may pay attention a completed concept. 

At that time, I needed to interject, explaining that I had noticed the post-mortem document. Fabio have been viciously stabbed seven occasions, 3 separate wounds each and every deemed deadly as necessary arteries had been focused. A cherished father, brother, son, buddy, ambushed and slaughtered with out an opportunity to protect himself.

“I do know, I do know,” he mentioned, shedding his head with out assembly my eyes. He mentioned most effective very just lately had he noticed the crime scene pictures of Fabio – the gore and violence of the homicide juxtaposed with the backdrop: Fabio’s chair, the place his circle of relatives recalls him smoking cigars, “Large Daddy” baseball cap on his head, undertaking industry, and taking part in existence in his favourite area – the again patio.  

It used to be Fabio’s then 16-year-old daughter who would to find his frame – too heavy as deadweight for her to even flip him over.  

Will Robert Baker testify?     

Previous in our dialog, Baker conceded that he had just lately been assembly with Monica’s protection legal professionals. Ostensibly, they’re sizing Baker up for the chance that he may testify at Monica’s trial and drop that aforementioned bombshell at the jurors: that Monica used to be no longer concerned, that she had no wisdom, that she by no means suspected her lover because the killer.

Baker informed me he does no longer know whether or not he’s going to testify or no longer.

I requested if he sought after to testify “for her?” For the second one time, he took offense. “I’d no longer do it for her,” he mentioned. “It could be to inform the reality.”

The concept he may testify used to be heralded via her protection attorneys as a case nearer.

“We’re assured that Robert Baker’s responsible plea and his honest testimony will after all identify as soon as and for all that Monica Sementilli had not anything to do with the making plans or the homicide of Fabio Sementilli, her husband,” mentioned veteran L.A. legal protection legal professional Leonard Levine after Baker’s sentencing.

Felony mavens that “48 Hours” spoke to had been extra circumspect. They said the ability of that doable testimony. In addition they identified a jury may well be skeptical after a withering cross-examination and an exploration of Baker’s background. Baker’s testimony represented a dangerous proposition, they reasoned — most likely too dangerous. 

Background used to be a query Baker raised. I spoke back that I used to be acutely aware of his appearing enjoy within the trade — the porn trade. Baker nodded his approval at my analysis. It gave the impression bizarre, as though — like such a lot of people who journalists handle in Hollywood — Baker used to be saying, ‘I used to be an actor you realize,’ quite than exhibiting unease with the court docket optics of pornography.

Our time used to be restricted, so I selected to not elevate his legal background, a conviction for having intercourse with a minor, his teenage stepdaughter, who would marry him after his unencumber from jail within the Nineteen Nineties and input the pornography international, doing motion pictures with Baker. It appeared to be a tangent.

Relatively, I sought after to speak about the prosecution’s declare that Monica used to be main a double existence after Fabio’s homicide.  Prosecutors alleged she used to be expressing an outward look via social media that she used to be deeply in grief over the lack of her husband, whilst police concurrently, surreptitiously documented a secretive, fun-filled romance with Baker — the killer.  

Baker selected to not shrug off this accusation, insisting that Monica’s grief over Fabio’s homicide used to be intense and honest. As validation, he introduced that the 2 had been not in touch and that she cursed him together with her parting phrases, “Assassin motherf*****,” yelled throughout a hallway in lock up. He used to be alleging that when Monica realized Baker used to be the killer, she dropped him, however he didn’t say when.

Some other bombshell, the declare that their dating used to be now over, as court docket paperwork had published 2017 love letters signed “your wifey… Monica Baker ’til demise,” despatched in prison. When a sheriff’s deputy gave the impression, Baker became and left, finishing our interview rapidly.   

Outdoor I waited for my bus subsequent to an indication that learn “Watch out for Mountain Lions, Do Now not Go away Youngsters Unattended.”  Relishing the recent, crisp, mountain air, I mirrored on a full of life, but guarded, dialog that yielded glimpses of candor whether or not intentional or inadvertent from a assassin.  

On April 11, 2025, a jury discovered Monica Sementilli, 53, responsible of homicide and conspiracy for masterminding the homicide of her husband Fabio, with particular instances of homicide for monetary achieve and homicide whilst mendacity in wait. On June 23, 2025, Monica Sementilli used to be sentenced to existence in jail with out the potential of parole. She plans to attraction.