The wife of a celebrity hairstylist sobbed as she was found guilty of plotting her husband’s “particularly vicious murder” with her porn star lover to cash in on his million-dollar life insurance policy.
Monica Sementilli was convicted of murdering her husband Fabio Sementilli at their posh Woodland Hills, Calif. home for financial gain and one count of conspiracy to commit murder after three days of deliberations on Friday.
“This was a cold and calculated crime motivated by greed and betrayal,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman wrote in a statement released on Friday.
“Today’s verdict ensures that those responsible for this ruthless act will be held accountable. 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 is the third person to be convicted in the case.
Her lover, porn star Robert Louis Baker, confessed to his crime of passion in March while former Oregon parole officer, Christopher Austin, was convicted of second-degree murder.
Baker, a sex offender, met Monica Sementilli while he was a racquetball coach at West Hills LA Fitness and they eventually entered into a romantic affair, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Baker fatally stabbed Fabio in his neck and torso on his back patio on Jan. 23, 2017 as Austin held him down.
After the slashing, Baker took off in Fabio Sementilli’s black 2008 Porsche 911 Carrera which was found abandoned miles away from the luxury home.
Monica Sementilli and the couple’s daughter, Isabella, found his body minutes later.
Austin said Sementilli didn’t take part in the killing but claimed that she left the door unlocked for them.
Baker insisted Sementilli “had nothing to do with it.”
Prosecutors said Sementilli “was the mastermind” behind the murder plot and she wanted to score $1.6 million in his life insurance funds while also avoiding the process of a divorce, The Los Angeles Times reported.
“These experienced prosecutors and detectives investigated and prosecuted this case over eight years, painstakingly putting together each piece of this murder puzzle to overcome the lies and deception of Monica Sementilli and her lover who thought they had made a clean getaway,” Hochman said.
Austin was slapped with a 16-year sentence as Baker and Sementilli face life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Fabio’s work was featured on networks like TLC, and he was the vice president of education for Wella, the Salon Professional Division of P&G, before he died.
Sementilli will be sentenced on June 23 at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles, Calif.
The beloved hairstylist’s client list included Jennifer Lopez, Russell Crowe, Jackie Chan and Jennifer Love Hewitt among other Hollywood’s finest, according to ABC.
Fabio Sementilli’s sisters, Mirella Sementilli and Lori Picillo, said “justice was served.”
“She’s an embarrassment to our family,” the sisters told reporters after the guilty verdict, according to CourtTV. “We could never forgive what she’s done.
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