‘Go for the neck….got to make it quick, as painless as possible and get out of there.’
This was the chilling command convicted killer Robert Louis Baker says he gave to a co-conspirator, the son of his best friend, during a failed attempt to kill Fabio Sementilli, a famous hair stylist and popular executive with German hair care company Wella.
The 49-year-old was slaughtered the following day on January 23, 2017, stabbed seven times, on the patio of his tony Woodland Hills ranch-style property.
Sementilli’s wife of 20 years, Monica, 53, is accused of plotting his brutal murder with her lover Baker, a convicted child sex offender, adult entertainer in the porn film industry – and former army staff sergeant.
Star witness Baker, 62, denies prosecution claims the victim’s widow conspired with him to kill the successful businessman for insurance policies totaling $2.2 million.
Speaking Monday on the witness stand under cross-examination in Dept. 101 on the 9th floor of the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Center in downtown Los Angeles, Baker attempted to deflect intense questioning from Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman.
Wearing a grey jacket with raven hair falling down her back, Sementilli sat between her high-priced defense attorneys, Leonard Levine and Blair Berk. During an earlier court hearing she was seen smirking in court.
Baker was previously sentenced to life behind bars for the murder after pleading no contest. Wearing a blue jacket and gingham-check shirt without a tie, he was left flustered during the tense showdown with Silverman.
Monica Sementilli, 53, is accused of masterminding the 2017 murder of her celebrity hairstylist husband Fabio Sementilli
Monica has pleaded not guilty, and her attorney, has claimed that she was falsely accused
He said didn’t know how many lies he told during murder investigation, Silverman shot back, ‘How about 360?’
At times he appeared defeated by the grilling and accused his opponent of ‘trying to feed the jury some crap.’
Gravelly-voiced Baker described being ‘nervous as hell’ as he and Christopher Austin, 38, snuck into the Sementilli home while their victim was alone outside.
‘He turned around real fast and he yelled and he grabbed my chest and my hand at the same time,’ Baker told the court. ‘My right hand went straight up and I just tried to cut anything I could.
‘Eventually his grip let go. I just kept on trying to cut until I felt him let go of me.
Baker added his ‘heart was racing’ during the frenzied attack and that at some point he ‘blacked out.’
Sementilli suffered deep wounds to his heart and thigh. Silverman called the savage attack a ‘premeditated planned out murder.’
She added, ‘Your plan was to take him by surprise while he was minding his own business on his patio.’
Star witness Robert Louis Baker, 62, denies prosecution claims the victim’s widow conspired with him to kill the successful businessman for insurance policies totaling $2.2 million
Sementilli’s wife of 20 years, Monica, 53, is accused of plotting his brutal murder with her lover Baker
Baker has admitted to stabbing the hairstylist several times with an eight-inch hunting knife in his patio, seen above
Baker said Austin was ‘in a panic’ and that he was the only one who stabbed Sementilli – although the court previously heard testimony from Austin who said he had also taken part in the attack.
Baker said that afterward he tried to make the scene look like a home invasion.
Austin, who was convicted of second-degree murder in the killing of Sementill previously told jurors that Monica Sementilli had left unlocked a door to the couple’s home.
During his latest testimony, Baker often showed lapses of memory.
He portrayed his former lover as having been completely unaware of his plan to kill her husband. ‘I murdered him because I wanted her,’ he had previously told the court. ‘She had nothing to do with it.’
Monica Sementilli has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder with special circumstances and conspiracy.
Baker said he used burner phones to communicate via messaging app Viber.
At 5:12pm on January 22 – the day before her husband was slain in cold blood – Silverman referred to data records which showed that Semintelli had googled ‘pho near me’ looking for a Vietnamese restaurant to direct her husband to so he could pick up a take-out meal for them.
But it was allegedly a ploy.
Silverman said the accused had passed on the restaurant address to Baker who followed his prey to the location.
Blake said he gave Austin a knife to kill Sementilli when he parked outside the restaurant in his black Porsche 2008 black Porsche Carrerra 911 located in a strip mall on Ventura Boulevard.
He said the weapon was a small hunting knife, eight inches long, purchased from ‘either Target or Walmart.’
Baker also revealed that in 2016 he had attached GPS tracking devices to the sports car and blue Ford F150 pick up truck which the family owned so he could trace the businessman’s movements which were purchased online.
Monica Sementilli’s former lover Robert Baker, 62, is a convicted child sex offender, adult entertainer in the porn film industry – and former army staff sergeant
Prosecutors say the two alleged killers continued their relationship from behind bars after the murder. Monica and Fabio Sementelli are pictured. The couple were married for 20 years
Baker and and his alleged his ex-lover exchanged on the day of the attempted hit on Sementelli.
Silverman said a geo-locator showed Baker had been at the restaurant for three hours waiting for his victim and that he exchanged 60 messages with Monica while in that period.
‘How did you know where Fabio was going before Fabio even knew he was going there,’ she asked Baker who responded that he ‘picked up the information’ on his own using the GPS tracker on the Porsche.
‘So, you just happened to be waiting in a car on Ventura Blvd, with co-conspirator Chris Austin with a knife?’
Monica Sementilli has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder with special circumstances and conspiracy
Famous hair stylist Fabio Sementilli had celebrated his 30th anniversary in the business shortly before this photo was taken
Sementilli, pictured here with wife Monica, claimed she discovered him stabbed and beaten to death on their patio
‘Yeah,’ said Baker.
After the failed murder attempt, Baker said rushed plans were made to kill Sementill the following day.
Silverman said to Baker, ‘Would it surprise you that Fabio Sementill was actually driving a blue F150 truck when he went to the restaurant?’
Baker responded. ‘I definitely saw a Porsche.’
Later he said ‘My memory is so screwed up. I don’t remember nuthin’…’
The case continues.
