Dateline NBC - Emotional testimony from a killer. A murder defendant's unusual defense. And travel scam safety tips.

Episode Date: March 6, 2025

Listen to this week's episode of the Dateline: True Crime Weekly podcast with Andrea Canning. A California jury hears chilling details about the murder of hairstylist Fabio Sementilli from the man who admits he helped kill him. In Kansas, the lead detective on a double murder case is called to the witness stand by the woman charged with the murders. She's representing herself. We've got the latest on the investigation into the death of Hollywood actor Gene Hackman. Plus, NBC News' Vicky Nguyen is back with tips on how to avoid travel scams. Find out more about the cases covered each week here:www.datelinetruecrimeweekly.com

Good morning. It's morning here at 30 Rockefeller Center and time for the Dateline story meeting. We've got everybody, so let's go ahead and jump in. Producers are swapping tips about breaking crime news and cases playing out in courtrooms across the country. The investigation into like the chain link and how they've traced that to the lows. Yeah, that's true. The toxicology reports will be most important.

That could take several weeks. She is just saying, you've got to let me out. Prosecutors saying it's not the Four Seasons. Welcome to Dateline True Crime Weekly. I'm Andrea Canning. It's March 6th, and here's what's on our docket. Fireworks in a Kansas courtroom as Dana Chandler, the woman representing herself at her third trial on charges she murdered her ex-husband and his girlfriend, calls the

lead detective as a defense witness. Were there my fingerprints in the house? No. Were there any of my hair in the house? No. In Dateline Roundup, what we know about the investigation into the mysterious death of Hollywood legend Gene Hackman. They're combing through hours of body camera footage from the deputies who responded to the mysterious death of Hollywood legend, Gene Hackman. They're combing through hours of body camera footage

from the deputies who responded to the scene. They may soon release some of that footage. Plus, NBC News chief consumer investigative correspondent, Vicki Nguyen, is back to share her tips on how to avoid being scammed while booking your next vacation. If the price is too good to be true and you are not using your credit card,

which has a lot of fraud protection, be very, very careful. But before all that, we're heading back to Los Angeles and the latest bombshell testimony in the trial of a woman accused of plotting with her lover to murder her hairstylist husband. Six weeks into the prosecution's case against Monica Semantilli, the state has called an array of witnesses. From the paramedic who responded to the murder scene, to a host of LAPD detectives, to Monica's own daughter, Jessica. On Tuesday morning, they called one of their star witnesses. You may call your witness.

Thank you. Do people call Christopher Austin? Prosecutors say Christopher Austin helped Monica's lover Robert Baker kill her husband Fabio. In January, Austin pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for his role in the crime and agreed to testify against Monica, who he says knew about the plot. This week, we finally heard his emotional testimony in court. Dateline producer Chetna Joshi is back to tell us what Christopher Austin had to say. Chetna, thanks for joining us again. Yeah, thanks for having me. So Chetna, the prosecution started by talking a bit about Christopher Austin's relationship with

Robert Baker, which had been a bit of a mystery to you, Chetna, your team, Dateline until now. So what did we find out about their connection? Yeah, so we learned that Christopher Austin was about in middle school when he met Robert Baker and that his dad and Robert Baker were very good friends. Did you have a term that you referred to him as? Yes. What is that? I called him uncle, short for uncle. And is Rob older than you then?

Yes. How much older? Same age as my dad, I guess. Not math guy. 30 plus years older than me. As the years went on, Christopher Austin and Baker developed a friendship. Christopher Austin even worked for him almost as an assistant and, you know, kind of the way he put it,

doing whatever Baker needed him to do. Okay, so the prosecution walked through Christopher Austin's arrest last October. Now, this is more than seven years after the crime. When the detective met with him, Austin said he was shown photos of himself and Baker jogging and inside the black Porsche that they took from the Semantilly house after the murder. This is when Austin testifies that, yeah, he understand,

like, he knows why he's there. And so when detectives finally bring him in for an interview, Christopher Austin admits to them that, yes, he was there, and that, yes, he stabbed Fabio. Oh, my gosh. That's intense. And interestingly, when Austin was arrested, he was taken to a cell where they had planted

an undercover officer. Does he get anything good out of him? Yeah, who knows if it's because now that he's confessed to detectives or for what reason, but Austin now starts opening up more to his cellmate. He tells him that his uncle, who we know is Robert Baker, and the woman that, and these are the words he uses, the woman that he was messing with, were both involved.

And at this point, the prosecutor in court asks him if he sees that woman, does he see her in court? Can you please identify where she's sitting and what she's wearing? To my far right, white blouse, gray suit. Indicating the defendant. Oh, this is huge. And he told the undercover officer something else that had to do with money. That's right. He mentions to the undercover agent that Monica was supposed to be coming into a large sum

of money, which he said was insurance money. What did Baker tell you about it? Baker told me she's loaded. She wants him gone. She's going to get paid. Did the agent say to you, to me, it sounded like it's the bitch who planned everything? Do you remember him saying that to you? Yeah. What'd you say?

She knew about it. She did. Christopher Austin, he was extremely emotional at times on the stand. One of those times in particular, he's describing what happened the day Fabio was killed. Yeah, when he got emotional, and it usually happened during times when there was direct questioning about the murder itself, and he would kind of hang his head low and get quiet

and emotional. And regarding the day of the murder, he testified that they were at Baker's apartment and Baker gets a text. And Baker says the text is from Monica and that she is telling him that there is basically a small window. And so Baker's like, okay, this is the time we got to go now. Does he talk about the actual murder and how it was carried out? Yeah, I would say that this was probably one of the most shocking things. I mean, it's not very often that we get to hear from a killer directly from his own mouth how a murder went down.

And that's exactly what we heard in Christopher Austin's testimony. He described once they got into the house, how Baker sort of took the lead. He said on the count of three, you're going to hold him down. And he opened the door, and he held his mouth, couldn't scream. And he started, he started stabbing him. I'm sorry. And he stabbed him once. Monica's defense has no surprise, maintained that she had nothing to do with this plot to kill Fabio.

This was Robert Baker. This was him reeling in Christopher Austin. How did they get around this very damaging testimony from Christopher Austin, Chetna? A lot of Austin's testimony focused on conversations he had with Baker. And so that's something that the defense really wanted to highlight in their cross-examination is that Christopher Austin never spoke to Monica about a murder plan. He never saw a text that showed that Monica wanted Fabio dead. This is all coming through Robert Baker.

And also the defense tried to poke holes with Christopher Austin as well with inconsistencies, that he wasn't truthful at times with police. Yes. The other thing that they really wanted to highlight for the jury was that Austin did whatever was necessary in order to get himself the best deal that he could. And in his discussions with the prosecutor after the arrest, the defense attorney quoted the transcript and said that Austin is basically telling the prosecutor, hey, I got to get home to my girls, his girls being his wife and his young daughter. Do you recall telling her at the end of the day,

all you care about is seeing my girls? Remember that? I do. And things have to happen, but I mean, do I need to testify? What do you need? What can you do for me? What do you need for me so I can go see my girls? That's all that matters to me.

Did you say that to her? I did. And was that the truth? Yes. And the truth is, now that you have testified to what they need, you're going to go home and see your girls long before you would have had you been found guilty of this murder. What the defense wants the jury to realize is that in exchange for getting the deal that Austin did,

that's why his testimony is coming out the way it's playing out in court now. He ended up pleading guilty to second-degree murder, which carries a sentence of 16 years to life. Now, he won't be sentenced until after this trial is over. And his deal is based on the truthful testimony that he gives in court. And whether it's truthful or not, I think what the defense wants the jury to hear is that, again, Christopher Austin had no direct knowledge that Monica wanted Fabio dead or had any part in this planning. Chetna, thank you for your insight into this. This definitely was a very fascinating week in this trial.

Definitely. Thanks so much for having me. Coming up, we'll take you inside a Kansas courtroom where Dana Chandler is on trial for the third time for a double murder she says she didn't commit. And it's representing herself. This week, she called a surprising defense witness to the stand, the lead detective on the case. For our next story, we're heading back to a Kansas courtroom where Dana Chandler is standing trial for the third time for a double murder that happened 23 years ago.

Prosecutors say Chandler, consumed by hatred for her ex-husband and his girlfriend, drove hundreds of miles from Colorado to Kansas to murder them in their home. Her trial was expected to last three weeks, but has stretched into five, thanks in part to a choice Chandler made on the eve of trial. She fired her attorneys and decided to represent herself. Since then, she has cross-examined her own children. And she has spent multiple days on the witness stand telling the jury her version of events. Then, this week, in another courtroom surprise, Chandler called the lead detective who put her behind bars as one of her main defense witnesses.

Here to tell us how Dana is faring as her own lawyer is Dateline producer Marianne O'Donnell, who's talking to us from the courthouse parking lot. Marianne, thanks for coming on the podcast. Thanks for having me. Okay. So the twists and turns of this trial, it's going what appears to be into overtime. How do the people in the courtroom seem to be taking that? Well, the judge is really exhorting Dana to kind of wrap it up.

Because don't forget, the people on this jury, I mean, they've got their lives to get back to. And this is kind of dragging on. Dana has previously served as her own lawyer in some hearings, but this is the first time she is fully representing herself at trial. What is your impression of her legal skills? Well, you know, she's got a lot of the lingo down. She certainly has read into rules of evidence and procedure, but then she repeats things. She gets emotional at odd moments that you wouldn't expect someone to get emotional.

I'm having a difficult time proceeding. I'm living as quickly and as efficiently as I can. But I do need to report to give me some space and put including putting the undersized in orbit under pressure. On the tape, Marion, you can hear some swooshing noises. And that's actually coming from Dana's court attire. He interrupted her testimony at one point to say she was cold and she needed to get her jacket. So she basically sat the rest of the time on the stand in her winter coat, her puffer jacket. That I just never seen that before. I

think she even uses a composite notebook that like the kind we had in school. So there are some things that are kind of jarring and other things that go, okay, she's doing an okay job. Marianne, what would you say is her clearest argument that she's made on her behalf? I think the clearest argument is that which can't be refuted. It's that they really do not have physical evidence tying her to these murders. They really don't even have any kind of direct evidence. No one says, hey, I saw her there. I saw her in Topeka, Kansas, on this date, at this time, around the time when these murders occurred. And Mary Ann, she really tried to hit home

the lack of evidence in the case when she called the lead detective to the stand, as she was not afraid to go toe-to-toe with him. During your investigation of the crime scene, did you ever learn or get any information that showed that I was in the Harkness residence at any time? Yes. What was that? There were two bodies there that were connected to you, that you were known to dislike one of them and hate the other one.

Were there my fingerprints in the house? No. Were there any of my hair in the house? No. Was there any DNA in the house? No. So as we said, Dana testified over the course of five days. She talked about the marriage going bad and being heartbroken about losing custody

of her kids. But she said she was nowhere near the crime scene that night in 2002. And Mary Ann, she also shared something that we hadn't heard before. She gave an explanation for two gas cans that prosecutors say she bought to fuel up for her drive to Kansas. Yeah, this is something fairly new that's come up, that she went to an AA meeting on the day that basically the prosecution says she left Denver to go commit these murders and she's saying, no, no, listen, this woman was in need of gas. I met her at an AA meeting. I didn't know who she was, she was in need, she didn't have any money, I went to go, goodness of my heart, to get her five gallon cans of fuel. I even brought them back and then I went inside to my AA meeting.

So where is this woman then? Can she call her to the stand? Well here's the thing, we're talking about Alcoholics Anonymous. Yes, so she still hasn't been able to present a witness who can give her a solid alibi. And this week, Dana, she's on the stand being cross-examined by the prosecutor. Has this prosecutor been able to undermine her testimony? Well, you'd have to ask the jury, but let me tell you, just sitting in that courtroom, it did sound damning. Everything he asked her, are you saying your daughter, are you saying your son misspoke or lied when they said you did this back in the day?

Yes, that's not true. Hayley, Dustin, and Tim were mistaken when they testified you showed up at soccer games showing up Mike and Karen. Yes, that's incorrect. So what's coming across is that everyone else is wrong or lying about her. And she's also, you know, the type of witness that doesn't remember a lot of things. That's exactly right. It is a lot of, I don't recall. I'm not sure.

She's like, hmm. Shanna, do you remember where you live? Um, let's see. I don't remember. You know, it does leave him frustrated, but at the same time, I think he's trying to use that to show the jury that this woman is really trying to just confuse them and trying to play with the facts. Yeah, that's giving the jury a lot to think about. So Mary Ann, we will want to hear how this plays out.

Thank you so much for being in court every day for Dateline and for Dateline True Crime Weekly. We appreciate it. My pleasure. Up next, it's Dateline and for Dateline True Crime Weekly. We appreciate it. My pleasure. Up next, it's Dateline Roundup. We've got a big development in the case of Deanne Warner, the Michigan grandmother whose body was found stuffed in a fertilizer tank. The latest from the courtroom in the Karen Reed case

and what investigators are saying about the death of Gene Hackman. Plus, are you booking your next vacation? Tips on how to avoid becoming the victim of a travel scam. ["The Next Day of the Week"] ["The Next Day of the Week"] Welcome back. Joining us for this week's Dateline Roundup is Dateline producer Sue Simpson.

Hey, Sue. Hey, Andrea. All right. For our first story, we are off to Santa Fe where last week actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy were found dead in their home along with one of their dogs. Sue, what have we learned about this tragedy that has some mystery to it? It does, Andrea. It really does.

Let me just go over the background a bit. Last Wednesday, neighborhood security officials found Hackman in a mudroom, his wife in a bathroom along with scattered pills, and their dog, one of them, in a crate in the bathroom closet. Investigators at the time said no foul play, but the deaths appeared suspicious enough to warrant a thorough investigation. Yeah, initially law enforcement kind of assumed that this could be a carbon monoxide poisoning, but they ruled it out, right? That's right. At a press conference,

officials said initial autopsy results were negative for carbon monoxide poisoning. And on Tuesday, the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office shared findings from the gas company's extensive investigation. That investigation showed there was a minuscule gas leak on one of the stove burners, but not a lethal amount. And they also found that Gene Hackman's pacemaker stopped on February 17th. So they, you know, are assuming that they know exactly when he died. That's right.

And if they confirm that to be true, that was more than a week before the bodies were found. So really a lot of outstanding questions at this point. So now I assume we're waiting on toxicology, which can take a while. Yeah, and that could take weeks or even months. But according to the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office, they're combing through hours of body camera footage from the deputies who responded to the scene. And they mentioned that they may soon release some of that footage. For our next story, we are off to Michigan where there's been a big development in the case of murdered Michigan grandmother, Deanne Warner, which Josh covered on his Missing in America podcast. So just to remind people of this one, Deanne was a successful businesswoman

who ran a trucking company with her husband, Dale Warner, until she went missing in 2021. Two years later, before her body was even found, Dale was charged with her murder. Then this past August, her remains were found inside a sealed fertilizer tank on the family farm. And this week, a second person was arrested in the case. Sue, tell us who has been charged now.

It is Dee's stepson, 28-year-old Jaron Dale Warner. He was arrested over the weekend on charges of tampering with evidence and accessory after the fact and the disappearance and murder of his stepmother. He was briefly booked into the Lenawee County Jail before posting bond. That's the same jail where his father, Dale Warner, who is awaiting trial for the murder of Dee Ann Warner, is being held. Jaron entered a not guilty plea when he was in court on Monday.

Okay, so police are saying that Dee's stepson, it looks like, helped his father, according to them. That's right. Okay, so what is next for the stepson? There will be two preliminary hearings. They're set for March 10th and March 17th. But if he's convicted, he could face jail time himself. The tampering with evidence charge alone carries more than a 10-year sentence. Okay, we will be watching.

And for our final story, we are back yet again in Dedham, Massachusetts, for another Karen Reid update. She is the woman accused of drunkenly backing her SUV into her police officer boyfriend, John O'Keefe, back in 2022 and leaving him to die in the snow. She has denied having anything to do with his death. There has been a lot happening in this case, Sue, over the past few weeks, and we're waiting on some answers. Yes.

Reid has been back in court for multiple hearings recently that we've been talking about here. In court on Tuesday, the defense presented their motion to dismiss the case entirely. What was their argument? The defense says the prosecution suppressed video surveillance footage that would prove Karen Reid's innocence. Defense attorneys allege that in Karen Reed's first trial, prosecutors showed the jury a video that had been altered to mislead jurors. The defense has made these motions before, and previous motions to dismiss have been

struck down on both the local and the state levels. We are still waiting for the judges' ruling on that. And last week we talked about how the federal probe was rumored to be over. Now we actually have official confirmation? We do. We do. The special prosecutor, Hank Brennan, delivered the outcome of that federal probe. There is no longer any federal investigation into the investigation of John O'Keefe's death or any related matters.

Brennan then went on to ask for a gag order for all attorneys in the case, but he was pretty pointed about Reed's defense team. The ongoing, deliberate, purposeful poisoning of the potential jury pool is not only wrong and unfair, it needs to be stopped. This comes after prosecutors previously accused the defense of violating a protective order by publicizing a text sent by Michael Proctor to an assistant district attorney. In response to that accusation, the defense attorney said it was an oversight on his part. The defense has not yet responded to this latest allegation that they're trying to influence

the jury pool. So we will continue to keep an eye on these rulings. Thank you so much for these updates, Sue. Thank you, Andrea. For many Americans, winter is a season of bitter cold or staying indoors, as we all know so well. But it's also the perfect time to start dreaming up your next big vacation. So for anyone making plans,

we've got some tips on how to avoid travel scams with NBC News chief consumer investigative correspondent Vicki Nguyen. Hey Vicki. Hey Andrea, love talking about vacations. Okay Vicki, so most of the time if a vacation offer seems too good to be true, you say it probably is, right? That is so true. In fact, there's a brand new scam I want to tell you about Andrea that I just heard about. It was through a friend of a friend who said she was working with what she thought was a legitimate travel agent. This person would say, book your travel through me. I will put it on my quote corporate card and that's how you get the discounts. And this victim told friends,

they told family, and over the course of a year or so, people were booking vacations that were extremely discounted and they were paying via Zelle to this travel agent. And now this woman has up and left and those vacations were never booked. Now this is something I am in the process of investigating. I had never heard of a scam like this before, but I have talked to multiple victims who say they're kind of left holding the bag because what the banks will say is,

you willingly transferred this money to someone. So my first piece of advice is if the price is too good to be true, be very, very careful. It's not just price, it's also how are they asking you to pay? Are they asking you to pay with a gift card, with Venmo or Zelle or Cash App, some kind of peer-to-peer payment system that may not have the kinds of protections as a credit card?

I would be very, very wary. So, if you're browsing, Vicki, potential destinations, you know, hotels, vacation activities, cruise lines, how do you confirm that, you know, what they're telling you is really true? Yes, keep in mind that five-star experience, luxury, these are just marketing words that companies can add to their websites, and they can look for beautiful stock photos

of any destination. So in order to verify if this is real, do your homework. That means entering the name of the company, the name of the hotel property, and the word review. That's how you will find what people are saying. Yes, this is legit, or no, this is not. And I would also recommend booking travel through reputable sources using a travel agent. Usually they only charge a very small fee, and they have actual boots-on-the-ground knowledge

of the destinations that you're curious about. So you have your whole trip laid out. Anything else that we should watch out for before pulling the trigger? Make sure you know what the cancellation policies are. And if there is a 24-hour cancellation period, I like to set a reminder in my phone. That reminder lets you know, cancel before this time, before you get charged.

It's also really important to call, asking some questions to confirm the property. I think especially when you're using a peer-to-peer site like Airbnb or Verbo, this happened to us one time. We thought we were getting a great deal on a hotel room, but as we were getting closer, you know, we weren't getting the details sent to us, so we made a couple of extra calls and it turns out that wasn't really a listing. That place didn't actually exist. And this happened to you?

This literally, my husband booked it, but thankfully, thankfully we started thinking, you know what, maybe this is hinky. And so we canceled it. You're going to train your family very, very well, Vicki. Thank you. And I hope everyone enjoys their vacations wherever they're going. If they're going somewhere in the cold or they're booking for summer, which I know my family is so lots of good stuff in there, Vicki. Thank you so much. You bet. That's it for this episode of Dateline True Crime Weekly. To get ad-free listening for all our podcasts, subscribe to Dateline Premium.

And coming up this Friday, don't miss Keith's exclusive interview with one of the most infamous women in America. One whose story he's been covering for the past five years, convicted murderer Lori Vallow-Daybell. On the eve of trial and in her first television interview ever, what secrets will she reveal?

Watch Lori Vallow-Daybell, The Jailhouse Interview, airing this Friday at 9, 8 Central on NBC, or stream it starting Saturday on Peacock. Thanks for listening. Dateline True Crime Weekly is produced by Frannie Kelly and Katie Ferguson. Our associate producers are Carson Cummins and Caroline Casey.

Our senior producer is Liz Brown-Koroloff. Production and fact-checking help by Sara Kadir. Veronica Mazaka is our digital producer. Rick Kwan is our sound designer. Original music by Jesse McGinty. Bryson Barnes is head of audio production. Paul Ryan is executive producer and Liz Cole is senior executive producer of Dateline.