Fabio Sementilli killer pleads guilty and will testify against widow

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One of the plotters in the 2017 murder of popular Toronto hairstylist Fabio Sementilli at his Los Angeles home pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Friday.

Now, Christopher Austin, 38, is expected to point the finger at Sementilli’s merry widow Monica, who is scheduled to go on trial for first-degree murder on Tuesday.

Austin will be sentenced on April 30. He faces 16 years to life in prison.

Prosecutors allege Austin conspired with Monica and her paramour Robert Louis Baker to murder Fabio Sementilli while he sipped a glass of wine and smoked a cigar on his patio on Jan. 23, 2017.

Cops claim the motive was a toxic combination of love, sex and a fat insurance policy.

According to the criminal complaint, Monica Sementilli tipped off Baker — a former porn star — that Fabio was alone at their home the afternoon of the murder. Baker and Austin then viciously attacked him as he sat on the back patio.

Austin held Fabio down and covered his eyes while Baker stabbed him. Austin admitted he stabbed the Wella vice-president in the neck with a knife.

Baker flew Austin from Anchorage to Los Angeles the month of the murder. He later received a roll of gold coins for his role in the murder.

Monica Sementilli, 52, is awaiting trial for murder and conspiracy. Jury selection in her case is scheduled to begin Tuesday.

Baker pleaded no contest in July 2023 to one count each of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. He also admitted the special circumstance allegations of murder for financial gain and murder while lying in wait.

Monica and Baker were arrested by LAPD homicide detectives in June 2017 and charged with murder and conspiracy.

Initially, it appeared that Baker would keep it zipped, even telling cops that his gal pal “had nothing to do with it.” Now, as he faces possibly decades in prison, that stance may have changed.

But in the indictment, cops allege Monica forwarded an email to Baker providing instructions on how to access her home video surveillance system, notified him that her husband would be alone on the afternoon of Jan. 23, then left to go shopping to establish her own alibi.

During the attack, Baker cut himself leaving behind his DNA.

Monica allegedly waited for her youngest daughter to find her father’s dead body before she returned home. In addition, she reportedly pestered an LAPD detective asking why Fabio’s insurance proceedings were being withheld.

Detectives believed Baker and Monica Sementilli were engaged in a torrid sexual affair for the previous 18 months, and she stood to gain a sizeable benefit — about $2.3 million— from a life insurance policy on her husband.

bhunter@postmedia.com

@HunterTOSun