Naman Shrestha
CBS’ ’48 Hours: The Monica Sementilli Affair’ delves deep into the gruesome homicide of popular hairstylist Fabio Sementilli in 2017. When a poolside spot of his residence was found filled with traces of blood by his daughter, his family as well as fellow professionals in the hair care industry were shell-shocked to learn of his passing. The thorough investigation that followed is featured in the episode, alongside the exclusive interviews with Fabio’s loved ones and the officials involved in the investigation of the case.
Fabio Sementilli Was Found Dead in His Backyard
On July 13, 1967, in Toronto in Queens County, Prince Edward Island, Fabio Sementilli entered the world of Luigi and Maria Sementilli as a bundle of joy and energy. Apart from the support of his parents, he also grew up under the umbrella of love and care from his sisters, Loredana or Loretta Picillo and Mirella Sementilli. However, the family soon faced a tragedy with the passing of the patriarch, Luigi. Following his demise, Maria decided to get married again, giving Fabio a stepfather in Davide Verre. This young boy then grew up to be a bright and talented gentleman and decided to pursue a career in the hairstyling industry. Under the mentorship of his sister, Mirella, he embarked on several international trips for work and otherwise.
Over the years, Fabio made a name for himself as a competition hairstylist and ran his own salon. After contributing to the styling department of various movies, he even landed the role of Creative Director at Wella Professionals in 2007. He subsequently went from strength to strength and secured the same position for the company’s North American division in 3 years. By 2013, the award-winning professional was the Vice President of Education at this organization too. He was evidently very dedicated to his craft and made massive strides in his career. In fact, he supervised the company’s departments in Los Angeles, New York, plus Toronto and imparted his teachings to over 500 employees of Coty Professional. However, it was not his career achievements but his kindhearted personality that made him the recipient of everyone’s love and admiration.
Lovingly referred to as “Big Daddy,” Fabio reportedly served as a beam of light in everyone’s lives and knew how to lift even the dullest of spirits. A family man through and through, he made sure to never sideline his loved ones for his work. He was married to Monica, and they proudly shared two kids together — Gessica and Isabella. But alas, the light of this Canadian-born star was unfortunately extinguished forever on the afternoon of January 23, 2017, when his daughter Isabella discovered him lying on the patio of his home in a pool of blood with multiple stab wounds across his body. At around 5 pm, the police were summoned to his residence in the 5000 block of Queen Victoria Road in Woodland Hills in Los Angeles County, California.
As per medical reports, this 49-year-old was stabbed multiple times in the neck, thigh, and chest area. Not just that, there were cuts on his femoral and carotid arteries as well. There was thus no chance of recovery, so he was pronounced dead at the scene, and his cause of death was formally ascertained to be multiple stab wounds. When the police began looking into his brutal demise, they noticed that the paper plates of his black Porsche 911 Carrera were nowhere to be found. They suspected that it was the case of a home-invasion robbery resulting in death. Consequently, an investigation into Fabio Sementilli’s murder was launched.
Fabio Sementilli Was Allegedly Backstabbed By a Loved One For Insurance Money
As the police dived deeper into the case of Fabio Sementilli’s murder, they found out that the celebrity hairstylist was all alone in the backyard area of his Woodland Hills residence on January 23, 2017. He was caught by surprise by two individuals in hoodies who had broken into his property and attacked him from behind while he was watching TV. The attackers then went inside the house, ransacked his and Monica’s bedroom, and got rid of the DVR from their garage in order to eliminate the security footage and any evidence of them being there. After that, they allegedly fled the scene in their victim’s 2008 Porsche 911. A few hours later, around 5 pm in the evening, Fabio’s youngest daughter Isabella got home and was horror-stricken at the sight of her dead father.
Isabella called 911 and the police rushed to the scene of the crime. At first glance, it appeared as if it was a classic case of a home invasion-burglary gone wrong, but they soon realized things were way more complicated. They actually found Fabio’s Porsche abandoned a few miles away from his home a couple of days later, and when all the pieces of evidence were subsequently examined, they found the DNA of a man named Robert Baker in the car. Upon looking into him and his previous unrelated sex conviction of 1993, officials uncovered that he had ties to Fabio’s wife Maria Sementilli, making both of them the prime suspects in the matter. They believed that these assailants had deliberately tried to stage the scene like a happenchance crime so as to not make it look suspicious.
According to official records, Monica had sent Robert an email that carried instructions on the ways he could gain access to her and Fabio’s home video surveillance system. The detectives also suggested that it was she who’d notified Robert when her husband was home alone on January 23, 2017, and left for shopping in order to create a solid alibi for herself. However, once he was connected to the matter through DNA, it quickly came to light that the two had been having an affair for more than a year, which was motivation enough for them to orchestrate the murder of Fabio. On top of that, Monica was set to gain roughly $1.6 million from Fabio’s life insurance policy.
Robert and Monica reportedly “communicated via cell phones and encrypted communication applications regarding their plan to kill victim Fabio Sementilli” and there was an unknown accomplice who assisted Robert throughout the murder. District Attorney Beth Silverman claimed, “Monica fully intended for Fabio to be murdered. She wanted him out of the way because she [wanted] to be with Robert Baker. She’s unhappy in her marriage, even though at the same time she’s acting like the loving, adoring wife.” It was in June 2017, five months after the fact, that the authorities finally had enough evidence against the couple to arrest them for Fabio’s murder, with a special circumstance of murder for financial gain. They were indicted of the same charges a couple of months later.
In July 2023, Robert pleaded no contest to the charges against him: one count each of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. As a result, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. As for Monica, she refused to plead guilty and denied any involvement in the matter, resulting in Fabio’s family and friends to openly express their grief. While Gessica Sementelli, Fabio’s daughter, said that they miss him and think about him every day, Fabio’s son from a prior relationship Luigi Sementilli stated, “For the last 6 years, my family has suffered a tremendously because two people found in their hearts the capacity to brutally murder someone we loved dearly.”
Fabio’s death also resulted in the tragic demise of his mother, as his sister Loretta Picillo claimed. She said that their mother never got over his demise and had been a mess ever since. After several delays, Monica Sementilli will finally face trial in April 2024 for her alleged involvement in the 2017 murder of her husband, Fabio Sementilli.
Read More: Monica Sementilli and Robert Louis Baker: Where Are They Now?
