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[Music] she was incredibly Charming she was attractive I don't even want to entertain why she did what she
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did you had a beautiful home you didn't work you had cleaning ladies you pool people you had cars money you had it all
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Monica Sean Tilly homicide investigators say she conspired to murder her husband they said when they talked to
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her she lied and lied I was hearing about break-ins at the time in that particular area there
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were a lot of what they call knock knck burglaries I was hearing about home invasion it was assumed that it was a
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couple guys that had jumped to the fence and it was a robbery what happened on the day of the
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murder at night at about 5 something I got a text saying come to my house I need you I get the phone and and I'm in
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disbelief saying what what what cuz I can't believe it and it was uh Monica she was crying and distro brought
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and she was saying they killed Fabio Fabio's F Tilly Fabio was an executive in the
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beauty business was a former hairdresser my queen he called her he would come home drop his bags sweep her
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off her feet and dance with her he was the love of her life and he loved his kids it looked like a textbook
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breaking a robbery gone wrong there was immense suspicion as to the explanation of a robbery from my
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perspective didn't sound right didn't sound right we're here to announce the arrest
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of two individuals in connection with the murder of Fab centi over the past several months
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investigators have developed information and identified Robert Baker and Monica cimenti who is the wife of our homicide
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victim as responsible for his murder detectives say Monica simonelli had been having an affair her boyfriend
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was arrested and charged with murder but so was she I'm like you sure there's no effing
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way now the boyfriend has been convicted he has been sentenced to life without parole and Monica seanell is about to go
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on trial for murder according to the prosecutor she was the one with all the information and intelligence and she fed
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it to him and he was the Executioner the daughters she shared with Fabio are standing by her we want
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to clearly state that we will continue to stand by our mother as we have done for the last 6 years and we will fight
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for her innocence the defense is going to say there is no hard evidence by by the way
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there's no evidence that Monica sementelli conspired to kill her husband [Music]
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[Music] in 2017 Monica simonelli had an enviable life a luxurious house with a pool and a
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Porsche in the driveway in a posh area of Los Angeles but after spending almost 7
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years behind bars waiting through legal delays and Co Monica cimenti is scheduled to go on
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trial for the murder of her husband celebrity hairdresser and Beauty executive Fabio
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simeni it's a tangled story her Defenders say Monica simeni is an innocent victim but if you believe
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prosecutors she's a criminal authorities describe a case of lust greed and murder
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whichever it is the drama unfolded on January 23rd 2017 [Music] there were fire tracks outside of her
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house and I was like oh gosh there was no police yet it was just the First Responders Elise bluel was a friend of
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Monica simen Tilly's we spoke with her in 2018 she says Monica texted her to come over the night Fabio was killed it
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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
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her it was so painful just the Weeping the not being able to breathe she was beyond
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devastated Beyond devastated Monica's husband Fabio was slumped over his chair by the pool had
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you seen the body had you seen didn't I just wanted to be the best possible comfort
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I didn't know how to comfort that she couldn't speak in complete sentences until like the fourth day
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detectives quickly learned the victim Fabio cimenti had been a superstar in the beauty business Welcome to
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Hollywood you're on he was a happy man who we spoke with those who knew him best in
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2017 Bobo's sister aota and he wanted everybody around him happy all right and now it'll go backwards you say the best
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way to describe my dad oh my god really is like a cup of coffee in the morning Luigi cimenti Bobo's son from an earlier
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marriage he gets you going he lifts your spirits he gets you determined to charge
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the mountain of Life did your friends say hey Luigi is that your dad absolutely yeah it was kind of a fun
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thing you know uh it's hard to to avoid him when you type in seilly on on Google
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it's very hard in fact when you type in my name Luigi SEI the first thing that comes up is his profile yeah Fabio and
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his sister Morella began cutting hair in Toronto Canada good that's beautiful I love it that's where Fabio met Monica a
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customer and makeup artist he married in 1997 the wedding was incredible restaurant tour Joe Mercurio grew up
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with Fabio he was best man at Fabio's wedding to Monica we were dancing right to the very end we saw their
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relationship as a love story Fabio was also in love with his career he and his sister Mela were
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getting famous hey welcome FB look at this in 2008 Fabio was promoted to an executive job at the beauty giant Wella
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I'd love to recommend something new and moved his family to La Pete casos was Fabio's colleague what happened was this
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was the opportunity to really allow the things that he wanted for his family to come to life by taking in a bigger role
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he and Monica settled into a life most of us can only dream about well there won't be snow in Africa this
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Christmas he's r a Porsche yeah what man doesn't want a Porsche in Los Angeles you're absolutely right they were living
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the life and raising their two teenage daughters Jessica and Isabella my own family unit is uh the most most dear to
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me then came that January day it was late afternoon as he sat by the pool Fabio was stabbed to death his then
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16-year-old daughter Isabella discovered his body to investigators the Simmon Tilly
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case started out a mystery but from early on they had at least one intriguing clue from a neighbor's security camera
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they could see two figures and hoodies running close to Simon Tilly's House at the time of the murder a little while
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later Fabio's porch being driven away back then investigators didn't suspect Monica had anything to do with Fabio's
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death she wasn't even home at the time he was killed instead they looked at those two hooded figures and thought
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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
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Fabio's murder in 2017 La was plagued with break-ins from notorious teams of criminals so this is
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LAPD footage yeah they know what they're doing and they know what they want I mean they're running wild yeah they were
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hitting homes of celebrities all over Los Angeles police say this may have been a case of him being in the
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wrong place at the wrong [Music] time at least seven celebrities had hundreds of thousands of dollars worth
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of jewelry taken it was 27 17 and for years the homes of La celebrities were targeted high-profile victims include
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$300,000 from former Laker star Derek fiser $175,000 for Nicki Minaj and 2 million
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from Alanis Mor sets Brentwood home they're moving just as quick as they can in and out in about 3 minutes
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they ransack a bedroom find some jewelry and get out William Dunn a Los Angeles Police
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Department detective at the time had hours of videotape of the knocknock burglars in action all over wealthy Los
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Angeles neighborhoods this one comes from a home just a few miles from Fabio's months after his murder they
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seem to know what to look for right they're looking for jewelry they're looking for cash look at him yeah he's
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checking clothes he's feeling the clothes to see if somebody's put jewelry or cash in some of the pockets see now
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he's seeing that safe ah see and now he gets he tells his buddy hey look at what
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we found now look at how many seconds and this is a a real heavy safe but they're very determined they put a lot
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of effort into it and it's so heavy he can't he can't lift the thing but look at how he's just going to slide that
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thing out so they got the safe that's Pay Dirt they go g yep you see they're gone
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to detectives those two hooded figures recorded on a neighbor surveillance camera near Fabio's house right around
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the time of his murder looked a lot like the knocknock burglars and the Simon Tilly home had
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its own cameras detectives hoped they would find even more video of those hooded figures on those tapes there were
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four cameras outside the Simmon Tilly house but when police came to look for the video it was gone a DVR like this
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was in the garage it stored all the surveillance whoever broke in must have taken it strangely besides taking
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Fabio's Porsche that black box was one of the only things stolen from the house say investigators Monica told them she
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thought some inexpensive jewelry and $11,000 in cash was possibly missing but she wasn't sure detectives say the home
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safe hadn't been touched the only thing I thought that was unusual is why didn't
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they take more why didn't they take his watch the suspected burglars left behind
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an $88,000 Rolex on Simon Tilly's [Music] wrist but within months the knock knock
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burglars began to fade as police suspects because the police were hanging on to a big secret nobody
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except investigators knew it at the time but they discovered blood at the crime scene that did not belong to Fabio cimen
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Tilly that meant detectives had DNA to work with DNA that eventually led to a suspect we were able to develop forensic
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evidence some of that was DNA which identified Robert Baker Robert Baker he had been a
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racketball League director at a Los Angeles gym not far from Fabio's house and Monica's friend Elise knew him we
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spoke to her about him in 2018 how would you describe Rob Baker he was cool we all really liked him he was
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one of those gy guys you know Elise played in his League he was very Alpha he was a very alpha male there was also
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kind of a sexually thing about him there was something sexual about him you know how
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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
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you know kept everything he was in charge he was also Tangled Up in the porn industry even doing some acting
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Elise didn't know much about Baker's background but she did hear about his movie career from a friend who happened
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to spot him in an adult film that's like the kind of Gossip you just need to tell
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someone who did you tell I told Monica Monica was also in Robert Baker's racket ball league what was her reaction
00:15:43
well it was pretty anticlimactic I'll tell you really yeah cuz a lot of times when we would have girl talk she'd get a
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little prudy like a little prude what Elise didn't know was that Robert Baker was also a registered sex offender
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Robert Baker has a 1993 conviction out of a Long Beach case it's for luden lascivious acts with a minor police say
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baker serve time for that offense against a teenage girl for months police watched Baker and
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they discovered two things first he was definitely not one of the knock knock burglers and second he made thousands of
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calls and texts to of all people people Monica cimenti in fact just days after Fabio's
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death Monica held a wake in her backyard and Robert Baker actually showed up you
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did meet him I did morela says she saw Monica hanging out with Baker I saw her back outside again the drink smoking and
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talking to this guy I found out that that was his name Rob and um she introduced me to him Luigi noticed him
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too Robert and Monica were in the corner talking to each other sort of away from
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the party and there was something else Luigi noticed about Baker he had uh bandages on his hands one guest even
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snapped these pictures of Monica and Robert Baker together if you look closely you can just make out a bandage
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on Baker's finger police would later conclude Baker cut that finger when he killed Fabio and that's how his blood
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was at the scene detectives visited Monica at home using what they called aruse telling her they
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were investigating the knock knock burglar when in fact they were investigating her and secretly following
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Monica and Robert Baker and according to authorities it paid off they say they found evidence that Monica and Baker
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were having an affair and conspired to kill Fabio over the past several months months investigators have developed
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information and identified Robert Baker 55 years old of Koga Park and Monica cimenti 45 years old of
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Woodland Hills who was the wife of our homicide victim as responsible for his murder he said uh we arrested Monica for
00:18:21
the murder of your brother and Robert Baker for the murder of your brother and I was in shock I'm like they
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you sure you know I I was in shock according to the prosecution these two were plotting and planning to kill Fabio so
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they could live their life together Mary fulan is a former Federal prosecutor and a 48 Hours consultant it
00:18:53
was a very complicated investigation as author hustled Robert Baker and Monica simonelli into court
00:19:03
they each pleaded not guilty people versus Robert Baker but almost 6 years later Robert Baker
00:19:12
changed everything when he came to court that day people were stunned [Music] Monica simonelli was being accused of
00:19:42
cheating on Fabio with that racket ball coach Robert Baker and then along with Baker planning fao's murder my instant
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and thorough and complete reaction was there's no effing way I was there she was
00:20:01
decimated after months of crying and grieving alongside Monica Bobo's family couldn't believe it either 20 some years
00:20:10
in my life she like a sister she was a cool aunt to my kids she was lovable whole family felt that way about her
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then in 2023 Baker skipped trial all together and pleaded no contest Robert Baker pleads no contest and that's in
00:20:30
essence accepting responsibility for the murders he's ultimately sentenced to life without
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Paro the maximum sentence in this case is life in prison without the possibility of parole plus one year you
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understand this yes sir but while Baker was accepting responsibility for Fabio's
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death Monica wasn't what he and Monica did to my brother Fabio is unfor forgivable but Monica's own daughters
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Isabella and Jessica supported their mom we will continue to stand by our mother
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as we have done for the last 6 years and we will fight for her innocence as Monica prepared to go to
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tribe her defense attorney Leonard Lavine made a statement we are confident that Robert Baker's guilty pleas and his
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truthful testimony will finally establish once and for all that Monica simonelli had nothing to do with the
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planning or the murder of Fabio simentelli her husband Monica's defense team wasn't
00:21:40
answering questions before trial so we asked New York based defense attorney Julie rendelman to review Monica's
00:21:48
defense team's pre-trial motions there's no witnesses that we know of so far that
00:21:54
are going to come forward and testify that she planned this Murder She says Monica's relationship with Baker doesn't
00:22:03
prove anything it seems to strengthen the DA's case that not only did she have an affair but the person she was having
00:22:09
the affair with is the killer I hear you but the problem is is that simply because an individual is having an
00:22:17
affair the you cannot take the leap to get to um an individual being responsible um for the death of their
00:22:27
loved one certainly not Beyond Reasonable Doubt but the prosecution says the affair is key to establishing a
00:22:34
conspiracy between Monica and Robert Baker an alleged conspiracy detective spent months
00:22:45
tracking how long was that investigation 5 months 5 to 6 months while the da also declined an interview
00:22:52
before going to trial former prosecutor Mary fulan reviewed the case against Monica so this is the scene of the crime
00:23:02
yeah you this is where the two joggers you know came according to the video from a neighbor uh running up here
00:23:12
toward the house prosecutors say that first hooded figure in the green sweatshirt is Robert Baker so what about
00:23:20
that accomplice we don't know who that person is it's a mystery what does this indictment say about Monica centilli
00:23:30
yeah this indictment is a very detailed outline and timeline of the plot to kill
00:23:36
fabios selli the motive here is simple I mean this is love and money this is one of
00:23:41
the oldest crimes in the book where you know two lovers desperately wanting to be together and they try to get rid of
00:23:48
one of the spouses so they can be together for what for financial benefit and that would mean the 3/4 of a million
00:23:54
life insurance policy the house 401ks police say the plan was to Stage the scene to make it look like the work of
00:24:03
the knocknock burglars and throw police off their Trail and they believe Monica was deeply involved they believe she was
00:24:13
one the coordinated everything the one that showed him you know where the house was where the DVR was so that he knew
00:24:20
where to go to rip it out of the walls how to get into the house and that's not all the prosecutor says 6 months before
00:24:28
before the murder Monica forwarded this email sharing details of her home security system with Baker she provided
00:24:37
the password the username the logging credentials as well as the user manual to Robert Baker the same day that she
00:24:45
received it from the surveillance company and then there's the day of the murder prosecutors say Monica's behavior
00:24:54
that day is a key element of her role in The Conspiracy to kill faia according to
00:25:01
prosecutors this surveillance video shows Monica left home at 326 p.m. driving the family's black Ford F-150
00:25:14
pickup this is where she came according to prosecutors to establish her Alibi so that happens in
00:25:23
this parking lot she pulls in here in her Ford 150 pickup truck right in front of this store stops for just a few
00:25:30
minutes prosecutors say they have video where it appears an individual gets into
00:25:35
Monica's truck they say that person was Robert Baker Monica then goes alone into the
00:25:44
Target store and begins shopping but as she leaves prosecutors say this surveillance photo shows her fixated on
00:25:54
her phone they would tell a grand jury it appear years she was streaming video from her home a lot of it but what was
00:26:04
Monica watching how do you think Robert Baker's plea will affect Monica cen's trial for
00:26:13
a look at a timeline of the case go to 48 hours.com [Music] so what was Monica simonelli watching on
00:26:35
her phone that afternoon at about the time her husband was being murdered the phone records and data show
00:26:43
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
00:26:49
of data that's being consumed and that large amount of data is consistent with video streaming I.E the surveillance
00:26:59
video that surveillance video according to the DA it might have been video from her
00:27:06
home security cameras but could Monica have been watching the actual murder no the surveillance cameras on
00:27:16
the house are are facing outside but they're not facing in the pool area which was where Fabio was located at the
00:27:22
time so they didn't actually capture the murder but they would capture obviously
00:27:26
who was coming and going Monica could have been watching everything else prosecutors say they're
00:27:34
going to argue she's watching the scene the scene of the crime to see the comings and going of when Baker and the
00:27:40
accomplice are going into the house when are they leaving the house so that she knows when she can leave here and go
00:27:47
home prosecutors say while she's watching the feed Baker and his accomplice were on the simen Tilly
00:27:54
property stalking Fabio according to the prosecution quote it was a very targeted attack that was
00:28:02
done with the intent to kill they also go on to say that quote he was stabbed in the
00:28:08
neck it cut his jugular vein cut the carded artery and there's more evidence of the
00:28:19
plot to kill Fabio prosecutors say baker was planning a future with Monica the da said say that about 2
00:28:28
months before the murder uh Baker told a friend that he'd been dating this woman
00:28:33
for about a year uh and that he sent a picture of that woman and that woman was Monica and then two months later Fabio
00:28:40
was killed authorities also say Monica's Behavior after the murder is suspect she
00:28:51
didn't move her teenage daughters out of the [Music] house or have her security system
00:28:58
repair and the prosecutors argue that the reason why she had no concern because she knew who the killer was and
00:29:04
she was with them this is a woman who is pretending to be a grieving Widow and making all
00:29:10
these posts on social [Music] media who at the same time is carrying on a Tor love affair with the man who
00:29:24
actually killed her husband prosecutors made explicit photos public in court filings some we can't show you
00:29:34
they say it's evidence the secretive romance continued after Fabio's death I mean that's a double life the da
00:29:43
presented a photograph of Monica and and Baker to the grand jury and it was a photograph of Monica actually grabbing
00:29:50
his crotch and this was one uh that was taken in Vegas there was also this this photo of
00:29:58
a mirror right and it was a photo of the back of Monica with Mrs Baker uh written
00:30:04
a lipstick on the mirror the lipstick and the mirror what does that tell them again this all goes
00:30:12
to motive I mean Mrs Baker she wanted to be Mrs Baker but when detectives asked Monica
00:30:20
about Robert Baker prosecutors say she told them she wasn't even sure of his last name they say she also told them
00:30:29
she wasn't sure how to work the home security cameras to quote the prosecution here they say quote she's a
00:30:36
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
00:30:42
of salt large enough so that you could choke on it if they can show that Monica lied about her lifestyle about the
00:30:49
affair about a variety of other things that they'll convince the jury that she's also lying about her involvement
00:30:54
in this conspiracy to kill Fabio and they say when she was later confronted about why Baker's blood was
00:31:02
found in her house she continued to lot she comes up with some cockin story about you know playing rocketball with
00:31:12
Baker and hitting him in the finger and that it was bleeding and there was a bloody towel and she had to bring it
00:31:18
home and and that's why his blood was at the house but full genan says one of the
00:31:27
biggest his pieces of evidence against Monica is what happened when police came up with a plan to secretly record the
00:31:34
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
00:31:42
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
00:31:49
handcuff them per protocol put them into the police vehicle but what they don't know is that vehicle's wired and that
00:31:54
there's a van up the street with police in it listening to the every word and it's at that point Monica says and I'm
00:32:02
going to quote here somebody must have talked somebody is doing this to us and then she said they must have something
00:32:10
they must have something that's pretty damning evidence as a former prosecutor that is close to
00:32:21
an Omission to being involved in this conspiracy according to detectives Monica was also recorded telling her
00:32:28
cellmate he's not just my lover he's my Confidant he's my everything detectives also intercepted
00:32:37
letters Monica wrote to Baker from behind bars saying I'm always amazed how we both know what the other is thinking
00:32:47
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
00:32:55
pretty perfect puzzle here and the puzzle will paint this picture that Monica conspired with Baker that he did
00:33:02
not do it alone that they did it together but Monica's Defenders say the case against her is flimsy and they say
00:33:13
baker did it without her Robert Baker may have killed him because he wanted him out of the way
00:33:21
maybe he did it because he hoped that by killing him he would get Monica Tim himself himself that in and of itself
00:33:29
does not establish that Monica was in on the [Music] murder Monica simen Till's defense is
00:33:55
adamant she had absolutely nothing to do with Fabio's murder the defense's position is that there is no hard
00:34:02
evidence actually no evidence that establishes Monica citelli participated in a conspiracy and if you can't prove a
00:34:11
conspiracy you can't prove Monica's guilt says rendleman the sheer number of circumstances that seem to weave
00:34:21
together the parking lot meeting the walking into the store and watching video that is streamed live from the
00:34:30
home the password being given to the killer all of those things the sum of them wouldn't a jury believe is just too
00:34:41
much of a coincidence obviously I can't answer for what a jury is going to say um the defense I can promise you is
00:34:48
going to attempt to poke hes holes in every single piece of evidence you just spoke about so let's go step by step the
00:34:56
sharing of that password for the surveillance video so there is no question that she shared the password
00:35:04
let me says there's no connection between sharing that password and a murder plot there's absolutely no
00:35:13
evidence between the 6 months that she shared it and the day he was killed that establishes there was any plan in place
00:35:20
between them whatsoever to have her husband killed not a text not an email not a conversation with her best friend
00:35:27
saying she's over her relationship the second issue is there's absolutely no evidence that Robert Baker downloaded
00:35:37
the app or ever even used the app let's talk about the actions in the parking lot the day of the markers
00:35:49
someone appears to be getting into the car keep a couple things in mind one is from the defenses perspective the video
00:35:55
footage is so grainy that you can't make out who if anybody is getting into Monica santelli's car and what about the
00:36:04
allegation that she was watching video of the house as the murder took place once she went inside the target
00:36:15
there was a point in time where she seemed fascinated fixated on her phone well I'll tell you one thing the
00:36:21
prosecution doesn't know what she was watching on her phone they cannot articulate nor will they ever be able to
00:36:25
articulate what was going on on in that phone but it was being streamed from her
00:36:30
home she could be watching a show just like any one of us watched a show while we're walking
00:36:37
along the prosecution really digs in on Monica's character fact that she's having an affair well let me quote what
00:36:46
the defense says in regards to that quote the prosecutor's evidence of M Simon tell's Affair and specifically the
00:36:55
sexist and Lord manner in which it was presented was irrelevant improper and unfairly prejudicial to M simonelli they
00:37:04
go on and say the sexual and romantic details of their Affair were simply irrelevant to the question whether they
00:37:12
conspired to murder Fabio Celli but then why lie to investigators allegedly saying she was unsure of
00:37:22
Robert Baker's last name the question becomes why is she lying is she lying because she committed a murder or is she
00:37:30
lying because she has been in a trist with someone for quite a while and doesn't want the world to know
00:37:37
particularly law enforcement prosecutors did find it suspicious that on the night Fabio died
00:37:45
Monica was already inquiring about his life insurance but rendelman says it's not odd I understand um how it could
00:37:55
look insensitive to start asking about a life insurance policy so soon after but if you're uh an
00:38:04
individual that is not financially sound you have two girls at home you have potentially a mortgage to pay you have
00:38:12
bills to pay you are going to be worried about the Financial Security of your family and come trial says rendelman
00:38:22
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
00:38:30
murder at the defense table next to Monica and that could make the case harder for prosecutors says Mary fan and
00:38:39
the fact that he's her lover and the killer the one that the DNA is around the house I mean that there is a
00:38:45
spillover effect and that all would have you know potentially impacted I think the jury in this case and he's no longer
00:38:51
there would you say it was his last gift to Monica yeah I would cuz there's absolutely no other reason for him
00:38:57
actually to plead straight up without any real plea bargain here to life without the possibility of parole except
00:39:06
I guess his last murderous chivalrous act but it seems Baker may have an even bigger impact on Monica's case 48 Hours
00:39:18
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
00:39:27
Fabio's killer Baker also told us that he's no longer in touch with Monica and he has not decided if he will
00:39:37
testify another factor that could help Monica says rendleman the daughters Monica shared with Fabio are standing
00:39:45
behind their mother and so there's an argument to be made that the jury's looking at the daughter saying if they
00:39:51
believe her after all this shouldn't we as for Monica herself she's never spoken publicly except at a
00:40:01
memorial for her deceased husband how lucky am I to have lived the greatest love story of all
00:40:07
time the story that people only read about the story that movies are made of thank you so much
00:40:18
[Music] [Music] need more time with 48 Hours go deep behind every True Crime episode with
00:40:33
firsthand accounts from 48 Hours investigations were you at all prepared for what happened in this case shock is
00:40:40
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00:40:46
now available wherever you get your podcasts [Music] this is postmortem and I'm your host
00:41:08
anarie green the murder of beloved celebrity hair stylist and Beauty executive Fabio centilli sent shock WS
00:41:16
across Los Angeles for Fabio's friends and family learning who could have been involved and why shock them most of all
00:41:24
so with me to discuss the latest updates and some big new news for the case our CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller
00:41:30
and producer Greg fiser welcome guys hi there hey great to be here so 48 Hours has covered this story from the very
00:41:38
beginning 48 did a broadcast in an hour in 2018 how did you first learn about this case there was this open case of uh
00:41:46
this guy who'd been murdered and I live in Los Angeles and it seemed like a pretty
00:41:52
high-profile case to just be lingering around with no resolution and I started asking around some of my sources at LAPD
00:42:01
and I think it was more what they didn't say that made me wonder wow something's
00:42:06
going on with this there's some layers here yeah they don't want to tell me what's happening and I actually called
00:42:12
Monica because I wanted to just talk to her and find out hey why is your case open do you have any leads as to who
00:42:18
killed your husband what did she say I had a brief conversation with her on the phone she but she just said oh you know
00:42:25
I'm really busy I'm on a plane I'm taxiing on the runway I'll call you back later and she never called me back and
00:42:31
then a few weeks later she got arrested and I said oh wow this is a story for us
00:42:36
okay so Michelle I want you to sort of take us through how this whole thing unfolded so on January 23rd 2017 Fabio
00:42:44
was brutally murdered by his pool at home and at the time investigators were stumped they just couldn't fathom why
00:42:52
anybody would want to kill this man he was a celebrity hairdresser he had come from Canada uh having been doing all
00:43:01
kinds of hair shows he was well known in his industry and everyone we spoke to his friends his co-workers his family
00:43:10
they just say he was this beloved person no one could figure out why somebody would not just kill him but kill him so
00:43:17
brutally and his daughter discovered his body which was really you know I can't even imagine that happening he had no
00:43:25
known enemies and and at first police believed he was yet another victim of the notorious knock knock burglars who
00:43:32
had been robbing the homes of Los Angeles celebrities for years uh some of some of their victims have been uh
00:43:38
basketball star Derek fiser and singer Nicki Minaj but the thieves typically just stole cash they stole jewelry but
00:43:47
no one would would end up being killed in these things what was surprising whoever killed Fabio left an $8,000
00:43:56
watch a on his wrist what we learn later on is that the people that killed Fabio wanted
00:44:02
to set it up to look like a botched burglary knock knock burglary who knock on the door to make sure nobody's home
00:44:11
and then they break in I remember the knocknock burglars because it made sort of national news and in watching the
00:44:16
video uh the surveillance video as well as a knocknock video I thought yeah they
00:44:21
do look a lot like them but I thought it would be quite a leap to kill someone because that's not these guys were up to
00:44:28
and then we find out that there's DNA from another man at the scene his name is Robert Baker yeah Robert Baker they
00:44:36
put his DNA in the system and it pained and that's because inside the police database he's a registered sex offender
00:44:45
yeah so they get that first hit and they start looking at his phone records and they see that he's got thousands of
00:44:52
phone calls back and forth with Monica Simon Tilly the wife of the victim the way the police describe it is they did a
00:45:01
ruse so they don't tell anybody about the evidence they have against Robert Baker so then they start uh following
00:45:10
them around and they catch Monica and Robert Baker who obviously in a relationship hanging out at these
00:45:18
different bars and restaurants um you know hugging and kissing outside and they start taking photographs and it
00:45:26
takes a while almost 5 months after Fabio's death Monica and Robert Baker they're arrested for his murder one big
00:45:33
question Still Remains how involved was Monica in her husband's death I mean is it really just
00:45:40
the love affair between the two that prosecutors think was the motive for her involvement well prosecutors say that's
00:45:46
one angle but the other is $1.7 Million worth of life insurance that's their theory that it was love and money you
00:45:54
think why why murder someone that you want loved and and you know you talk to family and friends uh her close friends
00:46:01
and they just see them as the picture of a love affair yeah and the the family was devastated so they had been married
00:46:08
for 20 years and and by all accounts their relationship pre Robert Baker was a loving one so the idea that you would
00:46:16
have your husband murdered so aggressively uh defense attorneys are arguing it just doesn't add up right I
00:46:25
imagine friends and family are sort sort of racking their brain looking back were
00:46:29
there any signs you know and you guys actually spoke to one of her friends Michelle you spoke to Elise yes we
00:46:37
interviewed Elise in 2018 she described how Monica reacted to her husband's Murder She said she was inconsolable she
00:46:46
was called over in fact by Monica the night that that FAO was murdered she said she couldn't complete full
00:46:53
sentences she was crying profusely and for Elise it just didn't seem fathomable just it was the last thing on her mind
00:47:01
that you know Monica could be involved in this way because she exhibited such love for her husband during the times
00:47:08
that she saw them together yeah and Michelle your interview was so great with Elise because there there was that
00:47:15
point where she was so emotional talking about trying to console Monica she'd never been in a situation before where
00:47:23
somebody's loved one was murdered that afternoon and she talks about just holding her and you can see the emotion
00:47:31
in her eyes when you were talking to her and you you wondered about the feeling of betrayal when Monica's then arrested
00:47:38
while family and friends are watching Monica after the murder of her husband investigators are watching her and there
00:47:45
are a few things that stand out in terms of the behavior one of them doesn't seem
00:47:49
like a big deal to me but she doesn't leave the house she doesn't move out of the house I could I thought to myself I
00:47:54
could understand this is where your husband was maybe you don't want to leave that but then she doesn't repair
00:47:59
the security system which does seem odd yeah and she's her prosecutors arguing she was too comfortable leaving her
00:48:07
children home alone she would stay out she went away for the weekend with Robert Baker Rob Baker and the
00:48:14
prosecutors argue that she felt well I know there isn't a killer on the loose because I'm with him the defense argues
00:48:22
that's not true but that's that's part of their rationale for the case so can we talk a little bit about Robert Baker
00:48:29
because before I watched your hour the first picture I saw was the last court appearance that he made and I just
00:48:35
thought this guy former porn star uh Uber masculine had something about him I I just didn't get it um but Greg you
00:48:45
actually met with him yeah I I went to the jail and I met with him and and right at first I was um struck he looked
00:48:54
well he always seemed kind of like this draggled character when I saw him in the
00:48:58
courtroom but when he he uh showed up to talk to me in jail through the glass you
00:49:03
know he looked like a you know the guy from the gym he looked like a racketball instructor he was fit like he lifted
00:49:09
weights and he was disarmingly Charming you know we really talked for 30 minutes
00:49:15
and he was asking me questions he was working it I realized afterwards did he work you uh just in trying to get his
00:49:22
message across what was the message you know I well he and I acknowledged like I
00:49:28
always do in those kinds of jail house interviews that the phone call is being recorded the police are listening to
00:49:34
every word he says to use it against him or Monica and so he knows that so I think he was trying to send a direct
00:49:42
message that Monica was not involved in the crime in any way shape or form so the assertion that you brought up from
00:49:50
prosecutors is that Monica is the brains behind the operation that he's the muscle but she's the brain
00:49:57
what do they mean by that well they mean that one that she knew the timing of when her husband would be at home she
00:50:06
knew where the surveillance cameras were outside the home she knew the security system passwords she's the one with the
00:50:14
access to the financial reward if they're in on it together I mean the prosecutors have 56 overt acts which
00:50:24
they claim constitute the conspir and those are the things that Michelle is listing and they say that she tried to
00:50:30
establish an alibi as well so I want to go through the timeline Monica centilli left her home around 3:26 p.m. just less
00:50:40
than an hour later about 4 18 there were two hooded figures that rounded the corner surveillance camera
00:50:49
from a neighbor's home picked them up and police believe that between that time and 453 was when the murder
00:50:58
actually happened because at 4:53 they see the black Porsche leaving the home Fabio santi's black Porsche so Monica
00:51:09
before the actual murder goes to Target um and she drives into the parking lot and the car door opens and a figure gets
00:51:21
into her car and then she drives to the far end of the par parking lot and the person gets out of the car she
00:51:32
drives to another location in the parking lot Parks the car and walks into the Target store the prosecution
00:51:39
believes this person who got into her car is Robert Baker that's how the prosecutor describes that tape but the
00:51:47
defense describes that very same Target surveillance video of the parking lot saying you can't see anybody get into
00:51:55
her car you don't even know if the door opens the prosecutor is making this brainy it's you know but the behavior of
00:52:04
the car like why would you stop it's odd why would you park over on the other side right stay there and then come back
00:52:11
and park in a different location those are questions prosecutors are hoping that all 12 members of the jury will
00:52:19
Define as as suspicious prosecutors describe her behavior in the store is that she is fixated and fascinated on
00:52:28
the screen of her phone and they check the data and it seems that the prosecutors alleg that she's watching
00:52:36
the home security system and that she must be doing that because of the amount of data that's being used by her phone
00:52:43
connected to the home IP address and of course you know the defense attorneys will argue that you don't know well
00:52:51
maybe that app was connected but she was looking at an email on her phone and she
00:52:55
didn't know the app was was connected you know and prosecutors will say that she was watching the period of time that
00:53:02
her husband was murdered so what I loved about this hour is the inclusion of that
00:53:08
attorney that defense attorney it's not Monica's defense attorney but another defense attorney that really goes after
00:53:14
the case you got a window into how they are going to tackle this case Point by Point by Point CU everything seems so
00:53:23
clear until you talk to a defense attorney and in many cases case yes learned they
00:53:30
break everything apart I think of all the great cases that we have watched that have riveted America over the last
00:53:37
20 years and that's how in large part many people are found not guilty as a result of the breaking apart of the
00:53:46
evidence so one of the most heartbreaking details of this case is of course that their daughter Isabella is
00:53:53
the one who comes home and discovers her father's body and it would seem unusually cruel for Monica a mother to
00:54:01
allegedly allow her daughter to walk into the crime scene like that but what may be even more shocking is her
00:54:08
daughters are standing by her are they the only family members still standing by her yeah they are the uh you know her
00:54:16
daughters are standing by her but all of Fabio's siblings the son from his first
00:54:23
marriage uh that end of the family uh feel convinced that Monica was involved it's very sad how there's this
00:54:32
split now between the daughters and Fabio's siblings who used to all be such a close-knit
00:54:48
family so Michelle you interviewed so many people from Fabio's life his friends his family I could feel his
00:54:56
energy through the screen even in sort of shaky Family Video you could see he was a big personality Fabio was a
00:55:04
self-made man you know he and a sister they were so incredibly talented that they created opportunity after
00:55:12
opportunity for themselves and ultimately being excellent at what he did the world came looking for him they
00:55:21
traveled all over the world the lifestyle the the circumstances he spent a lot of time away from home traveling
00:55:29
perhaps that was really the root of an opportunity for for Monica to have this affair uh with Robert Baker but all of
00:55:41
the success in the career ultimately led to this moment Monica simeni made a choice and put her family In Harm's Way
00:55:52
by being in a relationship with someone who had had a sex offender background who had uh we didn't even really get
00:56:00
into this he was a pornographic film star right uh yeah by some by some estimations I can't speak to that but
00:56:10
Greg has a number of details that he can illuminate GRE do you tell well so you know that was one of the funny things
00:56:17
Baker asked me well have you done a background check are you aware of my background and so the first thing I
00:56:25
talked about well you know I'm aware that you worked in the industry in the in the industry he looked kind of happy
00:56:32
that I I brought that up and he was very proud yeah I had this sense that he was
00:56:39
saying like a lot of people in Hollywood want to say to you you know I'm an actor
00:56:44
I had the sense that he wasn't talking about well you know how badly it's going to play out in court that I have this
00:56:50
history in pornography no he was kind of saying well you know I'm an actor right
00:56:56
that that was strange and then you know he has this sex offense that involved his stepdaughter wow who after he got
00:57:05
out of prison for the charge married him and then they went into the business together and she
00:57:14
became pornography and she became kind of somewhat of a small level uh porn star that didn't make it into the hour
00:57:23
that didn't did not wow so then it makes it even more remarkable that after Monica and Rob are arrested for Fabio
00:57:31
seti's murder they're in custody they're in a Los Angeles jail awaiting trial they continue their relationship they do
00:57:39
can I just add something on the back end of what because you wonder if yeah not so fast we're leaving my
00:57:51
favorite part of the story well it's interesting because it it's now part of the evidence uh has been introduced by
00:58:01
prosecutors of his pornographic ped and so why don't you lead into it just this past
00:58:08
week there was a remarkable filing yesterday I think what's happening is um you know this is very common in a trial
00:58:17
situation that as it comes down to the wire because the trial is going to start very soon in April they start um both
00:58:25
sides prosecutor and the defense start arguing what should be allowed in and what shouldn't and so there's a flurry
00:58:31
of motions which is common um but the defense keeps trying to limit the amount of photos that are allowed in and so
00:58:41
yesterday the prosecutor did this remarkable filing with I don't know 20 or 30 I would call them pornographic
00:58:51
photos of Monica that were found on Rob Baker's phone there's screen grabs from video taken by ostensibly Rob Baker of
00:59:01
he and Monica engaged in different acts I mean it was really a a remarkable filing to find in the court record and
00:59:11
at the same time the prosecutors arguing that all of Monica's uh social media post about
00:59:17
being a grieving Widow with all these different pictures of Fabio should be allowed in because the judge listened to
00:59:23
the defense and said well we'll only have a few pictures of Fabio allowed so we don't Prejudice the jury and so this
00:59:31
seemed like a really aggressive move by the prosecutor yesterday to file all these offensive photos of the defendant
00:59:41
along with these media posts I think it was her way of saying to the defense hey
00:59:46
stop trying to limit things don't forget how much out there well shocking I said
00:59:53
to you earlier that when I watched the hour I thought it doesn't seem like there's a lot of proof of this affair
00:59:57
clearly there's a lot more that didn't come to light how are they able to keep their relationship going after they've
01:00:04
been arrested so there there's obviously an intermediary out there a friend of theirs who when they call the friend
01:00:11
each calls at the same time and they connect them via the phone yeah so the friend is merging the phone calls
01:00:19
because the jail prevents you from talking to other inmates just for their own security reasons in 2021 there was a
01:00:26
filing that for four years there had been numerous maybe hundreds of three-way phone calls that the they were
01:00:35
really complaining in the motion that they didn't even have the resources to record them all but they clearly had
01:00:41
recorded a lot and they recorded them they put them uh early on in uh cells not far away from one another and so
01:00:51
conversations between the two of them were actually recorded and they had their own love life anguage so to speak
01:00:56
oh yeah it was quite remarkable so we found in the filings two intercepted love letters that Monica had written to
01:01:04
Baker we assume they actually maybe even have more but those were the two that were in the filings and she would sign
01:01:10
them like saying l m l love of my life they refer to one another as their ride or die or she call herself your wifey
01:01:20
yes Monica Baker till death r or D ride or die wow and they had this according to the prosecutor which I'm sure is
01:01:31
going to be disputed by the defense they had this ride or die packed between the
01:01:38
two of them and they you know there are these mentions of r or and there was a ride or die cartoon of Two Lovers on
01:01:46
Baker's phone and that you know they claimed that the ride or die means we're together forever and committed to not
01:01:54
talk and keep the SEC but the defense is going to say that's a big leap for the uh prosecutor to make
01:02:00
but the prosecutor is making it but you also said that Robert Baker claims they are no longer in contact with one
01:02:08
another right so all these letters and overhears which they call them the recordings of the two of them talking in
01:02:14
jail happened during the first year so it's it's not clear if they're still in contact Baker claims they no longer are
01:02:22
and that the last time he passed Monica and spoke to her in a uh you know a random coincidence between jails she
01:02:32
cursed him uh as a murderer H so ultimately what we know is that in 2023 Robert Baker pleads no contest meaning
01:02:43
that he essentially accepts responsibility for Fabio's murder he sentenced to life without
01:02:48
parole what impact can his admission possibly have on the outcome of Monica's trial was this a gift I mean you you
01:02:56
sort of asked that in the hour yeah it's a win for Monica in that she's no longer
01:03:02
sitting beside the person that admitted to killing her husband so he's no longer in
01:03:10
line of sight so to speak yeah and you've got to realize that the Monica's defense attorneys tried time and again
01:03:18
with the judge to get the cases seever so they'd have separate trials and the judge denied that request so Baker and
01:03:29
one Fell Swoop by pleaing he just said I'm done I'm not g to fight it I'm gonna go down for life and he didn't get a
01:03:39
deal he gave her that severed trial that her lawyers were unable to get through legal means until he made it happen and
01:03:48
Greg when you talk to Rob Baker you know you said that he made it clear to you that Monica had nothing to do with this
01:03:55
but he said something else too about if Monica had known yeah he it was a interesting statement he said if she had
01:04:04
known I would have been in here in jail a lot sooner his meaning was that if she
01:04:10
had known I did it she would have turned me in and the prosecutor says no I have
01:04:15
56 overt acts that you know tell you're lying about that you asked him directly if this was one more gift one last gift
01:04:26
to his ride or die what did he say oh he got offended he said it's not a gift and
01:04:31
and actually there I kind of understood where he was coming from he's sitting there behind glass in a jumpsuit at the
01:04:39
becking call of Corrections Officers and he you know he's just kind of looking at
01:04:44
me like you think this is a gift stay in here for life and and and I said to him
01:04:50
well you know as well as I do that Monica's lawyers wanted to get the cases severed you were sitting there in court
01:04:56
while they argued it before the judge and uh they were unsuccessful until you made it happen sounds like a gift to me
01:05:05
and why not fight for your freedom why didn't he plead not guilty well that was another question I asked him I said
01:05:10
listen it's only a one a million shot because your blood and your DNA is at the crime scene in the car you know you
01:05:18
it's a slam dunk case against you but I said to him most people take that one in
01:05:22
a million shot cuz it's all they got instead of being in here here he hasn't technically confessed yet you know he
01:05:29
made it clear that he was the Killer and he acted without her what he said was you think there's due process and he was
01:05:37
kind of saying to me like you naive person sitting out there you haven't faced the system there's no no due
01:05:43
process for people like me once we get inside here and I said to him well there kind of is due process I mean you know
01:05:50
you got a lawyer he was paid for by the state he's got a good reputation he argued these things out in open court on
01:05:57
your behalf he even tried to stop you from pleading guilty and talk you out of it the judge makes his decisions they're
01:06:04
on the open record that's due process and he just looked at me like I was so naive like that's not due process so he
01:06:12
so basically there was no point in fight you can't fight the system yeah that was
01:06:16
his argument well I got to tell you I thought I could predict the outcome of this throughout almost the whole hour
01:06:23
and now I have no idea you just can't make some of this stuff up it's also fascinating to have a woman as the
01:06:31
defendant I've definitely seen cases where it's harder for a prosecutor to make the case and the jury's looking
01:06:39
over at a housewife and a mother and you know why would she go to this extent but
01:06:45
then of course at the same time I've seen a lot of cases where they kind of create that black widow Aura it will be
01:06:53
an interesting case to watch the trial well I will be watching cuz this is really a riveting fascinating case and
01:07:00
of course Fabio from my hometown of Toronto so I have a particular interest um thank you so much Michelle and Greg
01:07:08
this has been fantastic thank you great to be here so join us next Tuesday everyone
01:07:15
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