48 Hours - The Monica Sementilli Affair

Episode Date: March 11, 2024

When a renowned hairstylist is killed poolside, investigators look at his wife. Was her alleged affair with her racquetball coach a motive for murder? "48 Hours" contributor Michelle Miller reports.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial, and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. It was 1989 in Titusville, Florida. Kim Halleck said she and her ex-boyfriend Chip Flynn were kidnapped and attacked at gunpoint. Kim fled the scene, but Chip didn't make it out alive. Did you kill Chip Flynn? No, ma'am. Crosley Green has lived more than half his life behind bars for a crime he says he didn't commit. I'm Erin Moriarty of 48 Hours, and of all the cases I've covered, this is the one that troubles me most, involving an eyewitness account that doesn't quite make sense. A sister testifying against a brother.

They always say lies. You can't remember lies. A lack of physical evidence and questions about whether Crosley Green was accused, arrested and convicted because he's black. Just because a white female says a black man has committed a crime, we take that as gospel. Listen to Murder in the Orange Grove, The Trouble Case Against Crosley Green, wherever you get your podcasts. She was incredibly charming. She was attractive.

I don't even want to entertain why she did what she did. You had a beautiful home. You didn't work. You had cleaning ladies. You'd pool people. You had cars, money. You had it all. Monica Cementilli. Homicide investigators say she conspired to murder her husband. They said when they talked to her, she lied and lied. I was hearing about break-ins. At the time in that particular area there were a lot of what they call knock-knlaries i was hearing about home invasion it was assumed that it was a couple guys that had jumped the fence and it was a robbery

what happened on the day of the murder that night at about five something i got a text saying, come to my house, I need you. I get the phone and I'm in disbelief saying, what, what, what? Because I can't believe it. And it was Monica. She was crying and distraught and she was saying, they killed Fabio. Fabio Simon Tilly. Fabio was an executive in the beauty business. He was a former hairdresser. My queen, he called her.

He would come home, drop his bags, sweep her off her feet, and dance with her. He was the love of her life. And he loved his kids. It looked like a textbook break-in. A robbery gone wrong. There was immense suspicion as to the explanation of the robbery from my perspective. Didn't sound right. Didn't sound right.

We're here to announce the arrest of two individuals in connection with the murder of Fabio Cimentilli. Over the past several months, investigators have developed information and identified Robert Baker and Monica Simantilli, who is the wife of our homicide victim, as responsible for his murder. Detectives say Monica Simantilli had been having an affair. Her boyfriend was arrested and charged with murder. But so was she. I'm like, you sure? There's no effing way. Now, the boyfriend has been convicted.

He has been sentenced to life without parole. And Monica Samantilli is about to go on trial for murder. According to the prosecutor, she was the one with all the information and intelligence, and she fed it to him, and he was the executioner. The daughters she shared with Fabio are standing by her. We want to clearly state that we will continue to stand by our mother as we have done for the last six years, and we will fight for her innocence. by our mother as we have done for the last six years and we will fight for her innocence the defense is going to say there is no hard evidence but by the way there's no evidence

that monica cementelli conspired to kill her husband Thank you. Michelle Miller reports the Monica Cimentilli had an enviable life, a luxurious house with a pool and a Porsche in the driveway in a posh area of Los Angeles. But after spending almost seven years behind bars, wading through legal delays and COVID, Monica Cimentilli is scheduled to go on trial for the murder of her husband, celebrity hairdresser and beauty executive Fabio Cimentilli. It's a tangled story.

Her defenders say Monica Cimentilli is an innocent victim. But if you believe prosecutors, she's a criminal. Authorities describe a case of lust, greed, and murder, whichever it is. The drama unfolded on January 23, 2017. There were fire tracks outside of her house, and I was like, oh gosh. There was no police, yet it was just the first responders. Elise Blewell was a friend of Monica's cementillies. We spoke with her in 2018.

She says Monica texted her to come over the night Fabio was killed. It was her and her daughters. She just kept saying that he's gone, that I'm not a wife anymore. I just held her. I just held her. It was so painful. Just the weeping, the not being able to breathe. She was beyond devastated. Beyond devastated. Monica's husband, Fabio, was slumped over his chair by the pool. Had you seen the body? Had you seen? Didn't.

I just wanted to be the best possible comfort. I didn't know how to comfort that. She couldn't speak in complete sentences until like the fourth day. Detectives quickly learned the victim, Fabio Cimentilli, had been a superstar in the beauty business. Welcome to Hollywood. You're on. He was a happy man.

We spoke with those who knew him best in 2017, Fabio's sister, Mirella Rota. And he wanted everybody around him happy. All right, and now it'll go backwards, you say? Yeah. The best way to describe my dad... Oh my God, that is... ...really is like a cup of coffee in the morning. ...Luigi Cimentilli, Fabio's son from an earlier marriage.

He gets you going. He lifts your spirits. He gets you determined to charge the mountain of life. Did your friend say, hey, Luigi, is that your dad? Absolutely, yeah. It was kind of a fun thing. You know, it's hard to avoid him when you type in Sementilli on Google. It's very hard. In fact, when you type in my name, Luigi Sementilli, the first thing that comes up is his profile. Fabio and his sister Mirella began cutting hair in Toronto, Canada. Good. That's beautiful. I love it.

That's where Fabio met Monica, a customer and makeup artist he married in 1997. The wedding was incredible. Restaurateur Joe Mercurio grew up with Fabio. He was best man at Fabio's wedding to Monica. We were dancing right to the very end. We saw their relationship as a love story. Fabio was also in love with his career. He and his sister Mirella were getting famous.

Hey, welcome, Fabio. Look at this. In 2008, Fabio was promoted to an executive job at the beauty giant Wella. I'd love to recommend something new. And moved his family to LA. Pete Castellanos was Fabio's colleague. What happened was the opportunity to really allow the things that he wanted for his family to come to life by taking on a bigger role. He and Monica settled into a life most of us can only dream about. Oh, there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas. He drove a Porsche.

Yeah. What man doesn't want a Porsche in Los Angeles? You're absolutely right. They were living the life and raising their two teenage daughters, Jessica and Isabella. My own family unit is the most, most dear to me. Then came that January day. It was late afternoon. As he sat by the pool, Fabio was stabbed to death. As he sat by the pool, Fabio was stabbed to death. His then 16-year-old daughter, Isabella, discovered his body.

To investigators, the Simantilli case started out a mystery. But from early on, they had at least one intriguing clue. From a neighbor's security camera, they could see two figures in hoodies running close to Simantilli's house at the time of the murder. A little while later, Fabio's Porsche being driven away. Back then, investigators didn't suspect Monica had anything to do with Fabio's death. She wasn't even home at the time he was killed. Instead, they looked at those two hooded figures and thought they seemed a lot like these guys. What do you call these guys? Well, we call them the knock-knock burglars. At the time of Fabio's murder in 2017, L.A. was plagued with break-ins from notorious teams of criminals. So this is LAPD footage?

Yeah. They know what they're doing and they know what they want. I mean, they're running wild. Yeah. They were hitting homes of celebrities all over Los Angeles. Police say this may have been a case of him being in the wrong place at the wrong time. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert, to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park.

They have to alert the military, and when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly? Introducing The Best Idea Yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bolder risk takers who brought them to life.

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you're going to dominate your next dinner party. So follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's just the best idea yet. At least seven celebrities had hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry taken.

It was 2017, and for years, the homes of LA celebrities were targeted. High profile victims included $300,000 from former Laker star, Derek Fisher, $175,000 for Nicki Minaj, and $2 million from Alanis Morissette's Brentwood home. They're moving just as quick as they can. In and out in about three minutes. They ransack a bedroom, find some jewelry, and get out.

minutes. They ransack a bedroom, find some jewelry, and get out. William Dunn, a Los Angeles police department detective at the time, had hours of videotape of the knock-knock burglars in action all over wealthy Los Angeles neighborhoods. This one comes from a home just a few miles from Fabio's, months after his murder. They seem to know what to look for. Right. They're looking for jewelry. They're looking for cash. Look at him. Yeah.

See, he's checking clothes. He's feeling the clothes to see if somebody's put jewelry or cash in some of those pockets. See, now he's seeing that safe. Ah. See, and now he gets, he tells his buddy, hey, look at what we found. Now look at how many seconds. And this is a real heavy safe, but they're very determined. They put a lot of effort into it.

And it's so heavy, he can't lift the thing, but look at how he's just going to slide that thing out. So they got the safe. That's pay dirt. And off they go. You see, they're gone. You see, they're gone. To detectives, those two hooded figures recorded on a neighbor's surveillance camera near Fabio's house right around the time of his murder looked a lot like the knock-knock burglars. And the Simontilli home had its own cameras.

Detectives hoped they would find even more video of those hooded figures on those tapes. There were four cameras outside the Cementilli house, but when police came to look for the video, it was gone. A DVR like this was in the garage. It stored all the surveillance. Whoever broke in must have taken it. Strangely, besides taking Fabio's Porsche, that black box was one of the only things stolen from the house, say investigators. Monica told them she thought some inexpensive jewelry and $11,000 in cash was possibly missing. But she wasn't sure, detectives say. The home safe hadn't been touched. The only thing I thought that was unusual is why didn't they take more? Why didn't they take his

watch? The suspected burglars left behind an $8,000 Rolex on Simantilli's wrist. But within months, the knock-knock burglars began to fade as police suspects because the police were hanging on to a big secret. Nobody except investigators knew it at the time, but they discovered blood at the crime scene that did not belong to Fabio Cimentilli. That meant detectives had DNA to work with. DNA that eventually led to a suspect. We were able to develop forensic evidence. Some of that was DNA which identified Robert Baker. Robert Baker. He had been a racquetball league director at a Los Angeles gym,

not far from Fabio's house. And Monica's friend, Elise, knew him. We spoke to her about him in 2018. How would you describe Rob Baker? He was cool. We all really liked him. He was one of those gym guys, you know. Elise played in his league. He was very alpha.

He was a very alpha male. There was also kind of a sexually thing about him. There was something sexual about him. You know how some guys just have this sexual kind of, I don't know, he's very manly. He was in shape and he was kind of, you know, kept everything. He was in charge. He was also tangled up in the porn industry, even doing some acting. Elise didn't know much about Baker's background, but she did hear about his movie career from a friend who happened to spot him in an adult film. That's like the kind of gossip you just need to tell someone. Who did you tell? I told Monica. Monica was also in Robert Baker's racquetball league. What was her reaction? Well, it was pretty anticlimactic, I'll tell you. Really?

Yeah, because a lot of times when we would have girl talk, she'd get a little prudy, like a little prude. What Elise didn't know was that Robert Baker was also a registered sex offender. Robert Baker has a 1993 conviction out of a Long Beach case. It's for lewd and lascivious acts with a minor. Police say Baker served time for that offense against a teenage girl. For months, police watched Baker, and they discovered two things. First, he was definitely not one of the knock-knock burglars. And second, he made thousands of calls and texts to, of all people, Monica Cimentilli.

of calls and texts to of all people, Monica Cimentilli. In fact, just days after Fabio's death, Monica held a wake in her backyard and Robert Baker actually showed up. You did meet him. I did. Morella says she saw Monica hanging out with Baker. I saw her back outside again, the drink, smoking, and talking to this guy. I found out that that was his name, Rob, and she introduced me to him. Luigi noticed him too. Robert and Monica were in the corner talking to each other, sort of away from the party. And there was something else Luigi noticed about Baker. He had bandages on his hands. One guest even snapped these pictures of Monica and Robert Baker together. If you look closely, you can just make out a bandage on Baker's finger. Police would later conclude Baker cut that finger when he killed Fabio, and that's how his

blood was at the scene. Detectives visited Monica at home using what they called a ruse, telling her they were investigating the knock-knock burglars, when in fact they were investigating her and secretly following Monica and Robert Baker. And according to authorities, it paid off. They say they found evidence that Monica and Baker were having an affair and conspired to kill Fabio. Over the past several months, investigators have developed information and identified Robert Baker, 55 years old, of Canoga Park, and Monica Cimentilli, 45 years old, of Woodland Hills,

who is the wife of our homicide victim, is responsible for his murder. He said, we arrested Monica for the murder of your brother and Robert Baker for the murder of your brother. And I was in shock. I'm like, you sure? You know, I was in shock. I'm like, you sure? You know, I was in shock. According to the prosecution, these two were plotting and planning to kill Fabio

so they could live their life together. Mary Fulginiti is a former federal prosecutor and a 48 Hours consultant. It was a very complicated investigation. As authorities hustled Robert Baker and Monica Simantilli into court, they each pleaded not guilty. But almost six years later, Robert Baker changed everything. When he came to court that day, people were stunned. Monica Simontilli was being accused

of cheating on Fabio with that racquetball coach, Robert Baker, and then along with Baker, planning Fabio's murder. My instant and thorough and complete reaction was, there's no effing way. I was there. She was decimated. After months of crying and grieving alongside Monica, Fabio's family couldn't believe it either. 20-some years in my life, she was like a sister. She was a cool aunt to my kids. She was lovable.

The whole family felt that way about her. Then in 2023, Baker skipped trial altogether and pleaded no contest. Robert Baker pleaded no contest. Robert Baker pleads no contest, and that's in essence accepting responsibility for the murders. He's ultimately sentenced to life without parole. The maximum sentence in this case is life in prison without the possibility of parole plus one year. Do you understand this?

Yes, sir. But while Baker was accepting responsibility for Fabio's death, Monica wasn't. What he and Monica did to my brother, Fabio, is unforgivable. But Monica's own daughters, Isabella and Jessica, supported their mom. We will continue to stand by our mother as we have done for the last six years and we will fight for her innocence. As Monica prepared to go to trial, her defense attorney, Leonard Levine, made a statement.

We are confident that Robert Baker's guilty pleas and his truthful testimony will finally establish once and for all that Monica Cimentelli had nothing to do with the planning or the murder of Fabio Cimentelli, her husband. Monica's defense team wasn't answering questions before trial. So we asked New York-based defense attorney Julie Rendelman to review Monica's defense team's pretrial motions. There's no witnesses that we know of so far that are going to come forward and testify that she planned this murder.

She says Monica's relationship with Baker doesn't prove anything. It seems to strengthen the DA's case that not only did she have an affair, but the person she was having the affair with is the killer. I hear you, but the problem is, is that simply because an individual is having an affair, you cannot take the leap to get to an individual being responsible for the death of their loved one. Certainly not beyond a reasonable doubt.

But the prosecution says the affair is key to establishing a conspiracy between Monica and Robert Baker. An alleged conspiracy detectives spent months tracking. How long was that investigation? Five months, five to six months. While the DA also declined an interview before going to trial, former prosecutor Mary Fulginiti reviewed the case against Monica. So this is the scene of the crime. Yeah.

You know, this is where the two joggers, you know, came, according to the video from a neighbor, running up here toward the house. Prosecutors say that first hooded figure in the green sweatshirt is Robert Baker. So what about that accomplice? We don't know who that person is. It's a mystery. What does this indictment say about Monica Cementilli? This indictment is a very detailed outline and timeline of the plot to kill Fabio Cementilli. The motive here is simple. I mean, this is love and money.

This is one of the oldest crimes in the book, where two lovers desperately wanting to be together, and they try to get rid of one of the spouses so they can be together for what? For financial benefit. And that would mean the three quarters of a million life insurance policy, the house, 401ks. Police say the plan was to stage the scene to make it look like the work of the knock-knock burglars and throw police off their trail. And they believe Monica was deeply involved. They believed she was the one that coordinated everything,

the one that showed him where the house was, where the DVR was, so that he knew where to go to rip it out of the walls, how to get into the house. And that's not all. The prosecutor says six months before the murder, Monica forwarded this email sharing details of her home security system with Baker. She provided the password, the username,

the login credentials, as well as the user manual to Robert Baker the same day that she received it from the surveillance company. And then there's the day of the murder. Prosecutors say Monica's behavior that day is a key element of her role in the conspiracy to kill Fabio. According to prosecutors, this surveillance video shows Monica left home at 3.26 p.m., driving the family's black Ford F-150 pickup.

This is where she came, according to prosecutors, to establish her alibi. So a lot happens in this parking lot. She pulls in here in her Ford F-150 pickup truck, right in front of this store, stops for just a few minutes. Prosecutors say they have video where it appears an individual gets into Monica's truck. They say that person was Robert Baker. Monica then goes alone into the Target store and begins shopping. Monica then goes alone into the Target store and begins shopping.

But as she leaves, prosecutors say this surveillance photo shows her fixated on her phone. They would tell a grand jury it appears she was streaming video from her home. A lot of it. But what was Monica watching? How do you think Robert Baker's plea will affect Monica Simontilli's trial? For a look at a timeline of the case, go to 48hours.com. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. The scary cult classic was set in the

Chicago housing project. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. Candyman. Candyman? Now we all know chanting a name won't make a killer magically appear, but did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. We're going to talk to the people who were there, and we're also going to uncover the larger story. My architect was shocked when he saw how this was created. Literally shocked. And we'll look at what the story tells us about injustice in America.

literally shocked. And we'll look at what the story tells us about injustice in America. If you really believed in tough on crime, then you wouldn't make it easy to crawl into medicine cabinets and kill our women. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, wherever you get your podcasts.

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Listen to Informants Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. So what was Monica Simantilli watching on her phone that afternoon? At about the time her husband was being murdered. The phone records and data show that she's connecting to a unique IP address. It happens to be the IP address of the house. And there's a large amount of data that's being consumed.

And that large amount of data is consistent with video streaming, i.e., the surveillance video of the house. Surveillance video? According to the DA, it might have been video from her home security cameras. But could Monica have been watching the actual murder? No. The surveillance cameras on the house are facing outside, but they're not facing in the pool area, which was where Fabio was located at the time,

so they didn't actually capture the murder. But they would capture, obviously, who was coming and going. Monica could have been watching everything else, prosecutors say. They're going to argue. She's watching the scene, the scene of the crime, to see the comings and goings, like when Baker and the accomplice are going into the house,

when are they leaving the house, so that she knows when she can leave here and go home. Prosecutors say while she's watching the feed, Baker and his accomplice were on the Cimentilli property, stalking Fabio. According to the prosecution, quote, it was a very targeted attack that was done with the intent to kill. They also go on to say that, quote, he was stabbed in the neck. It cut his jugular vein, cut the carotid artery.

And there's more evidence of the plot to kill Fabio. Prosecutors say Baker was planning a future with Monica. The DA says that about two months before the murder, Baker told a friend that he'd been dating this woman for about a year and that he sent a picture of that woman and that woman was Monica. And then two months later, Fabio was killed. Authorities also say Monica's behavior after the murder is suspect. She did't move her teenage daughters out of the house or have her security system repaired. And the prosecutors argue that the reason why she had

no concern, because she knew who the killer was and she was with him. This is a woman who is pretending to be a grieving widow and making all these posts on social media. Who at the same time is carrying on a toward love affair with a man who actually killed her husband. Prosecutors made explicit photos public in court filings. Some we can't show you. They say it's evidence the secretive romance continued after Fabio's death. I mean, that's a double life. The DA presented a photograph of Monica and Baker to the grand jury,

and it was a photograph of Monica actually grabbing his crotch. And this was one that was taken in Vegas. There was also this photo of a mirror. Right, and it was a photo of the back of Monica with Mrs. Baker written in lipstick on the mirror. The lipstick on the mirror, what does that tell them? Again, this all goes to motive. I mean, Mrs. Baker, she wanted to be Mrs. Baker.

But when detectives asked Monica about Robert Baker, prosecutors say she told them she wasn't even sure of his last name. They say she also told them she wasn't sure how to work the home security cameras. To quote the prosecution here, they say, quote, she's a liar, she's a manipulator, she's a cheater, and everything that comes out of her mouth has to be taken with a large grain of salt, large enough so that you could choke on it. If they can show that Monica lied about her lifestyle, about the affair, about a variety of other things, that they'll convince the jury that she's also lying about her involvement in this conspiracy to kill Fabio.

And they say when she was later confronted about why Baker's blood was found in her house, she continued to lie. She comes up with some cockamamie story about, you know, playing racquetball with Baker and hitting him in the finger and that it was bleeding and there was a bloody towel and she had to bring it home and that's why his blood was at the house. But Fulgeniti says one of the biggest pieces of evidence against Monica is what happened when police came up with a plan to secretly record the couple. It began when they pulled them over as they were driving. It's a ruse by the police. They say that they think the car that they're in is stolen and they wanted to, you know, just check it out and, you know, probably isn't. And they handcuff them per protocol, put them into the police vehicle. But what they don't know is that vehicle's wired and that there's a van up the street with police in it

listening to their every word. And it's at that point, Monica says, and I'm going to quote here, somebody must have talked. Somebody is doing this to us. And then she said, they must have something. They must have something. They must have something. That's pretty damning evidence. As a former prosecutor, that is close to an omission

to being involved in this conspiracy. According to detectives, Monica was also recorded telling her cellmate, he's not just my lover, he's my confidant, he's my everything. Detectives also intercepted letters Monica wrote to Baker from behind bars, saying, I'm always amazed how we both know what the other is thinking. Destined. And, I miss you so much, my love. When you look at these pieces in the totality, it's going to put together a pretty perfect puzzle here. And the puzzle will paint this picture that Monica conspired with Baker, that he did not do it alone, that they did it together.

But Monica's defenders say the case against her is flimsy, and they say Baker did it without her. Robert Baker may have killed him because he wanted him out of the way. Maybe he did it because he hoped that by killing him, he would get Monica to himself. That in and of itself does not establish that Monica was in on the murder. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory

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Listen to the Pitink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Monica Simantilli's defense is adamant. She had absolutely nothing to do with Fabio's murder. The defense's position is that there is no hard evidence, actually no evidence that establishes Monica Cementelli participated in a conspiracy. And if you can't prove a conspiracy, you can't prove Monica's guilt, says Rendelman. The sheer number of circumstances that seem to weave together,

the parking lot meeting, the walking into the store and watching video that is streamed live from the home, the password being given to the killer. All of those things, the sum of them, wouldn't a jury believe is just too much of a coincidence? Obviously, I can't answer for what a jury is going to say. The defense, I can promise you, is going to attempt to poke holes in every single piece of evidence you just spoke about. So let's go step by step.

The sharing of that password for the surveillance video. So there is no question that she shared the password. Let me start by saying- But Rendelman says there's no connection between sharing that password and a murder plot. There's absolutely no evidence between the six months that she shared it and the day he was killed

that establishes there was any plan in place between them whatsoever to have her husband killed. Not a text, not an email, not a conversation with her best friend saying she's over her relationship. The second issue is there's absolutely no evidence that Robert Baker downloaded the app or ever even used the app. Let's talk about the actions in the parking lot the day of the murder.

Someone appears to be getting into the car. Keep a couple things in mind. One is, from the defense's perspective, the video footage is so grainy that you can't make out who, if anybody, is getting into Monica Cimentelli's car. And what about the allegation that she was watching video of the house as the murder took place? Once she went inside the Target, there was a point in time where she seemed fascinated, fixated on her phone. Well, I'll tell you one thing.

The prosecution doesn't know what she was watching on her phone. They cannot articulate, nor will they ever be able to articulate what was going on in that phone. Well, I'll tell you one thing. The prosecution doesn't know what she was watching on her phone. They cannot articulate, nor will they ever be able to articulate what was going on in that phone. But it was being streamed from her home. She could be watching a show just like any one of us watches a show while we're walking along.

The prosecution really digs in on Monica's character, the fact that she's having an affair. Well, let me quote what the defense says in regards to that. Quote, the prosecutor's evidence of Ms. Simantelli's affair, and specifically the sexist and lured manner in which it was presented, was irrelevant, improper, and unfairly prejudicial to Ms. Cimentelli. They go on and say the sexual and romantic details of their affair were simply irrelevant to the question whether they conspired to murder Fabio Cimentelli. But then, why lie to investigators, allegedly saying she was unsure of Robert Baker's last name.

The question becomes, why is she lying? Is she lying because she committed a murder? Or is she lying because she has been in a tryst with someone for quite a while and doesn't want the world to know, particularly law enforcement? Prosecutors did find it suspicious that on the night Fabio died, Monica was already inquiring about his life insurance. But Rendleman says it's not odd. I understand how it could look insensitive to start asking about a life insurance policy so soon after. But if you're an individual that is not financially sound, you have two girls at home,

you have potentially a mortgage to pay, you have bills to pay, you are going to be worried about the financial security of your family. And come trial, says Rendleman, what may really help Monica is that she won't be tried with Baker. The jury will not see the man who committed the actual murder at the defense table next to Monica. And that could make the case harder for prosecutors, says Mary Fulgeniti.

The fact that he's her lover and the killer, the one that the DNA is around the house. I mean, there is a spillover effect, and that all would have potentially impacted, I think, the jury in this case, and he's no longer there. Would you say it was his last gift to Monica? Yeah, I would, because there's absolutely no other reason for him actually to plead straight up without any real plea bargain, to life without the possibility of parole, except, I guess, his last murderous, chivalrous act. But it seems Baker may have an even bigger impact on Monica's case. 48 hours went to see him in jail, and he told us Monica had nothing to do with the murder of Fabio, and she never knew that he was Fabio's killer. Baker also told us that he's no longer in touch

with Monica, and he has not decided if he will testify. Another factor that could help Monica, says Rendleman, the daughters Monica shared with Fabio are standing behind their mother. And so there's an argument to be made that the jury's looking at the daughter saying, if they believe her after all this, shouldn't we? As for Monica herself, she's never spoken publicly, except at a memorial for her deceased husband. How lucky am I to have lived the greatest love story of all time. The story that people only read about. The story that movies are made of. Thank you so much.

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