Man charged with conspiring to murder hairdresser Fabio Sementilla in Woodland Hills in 2017

LOS ANGELES (KABC) — A third suspect who was recently arrested and charged with murder in the 2017 stabbing death of a prominent barber in his Woodland Hills home pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a newly added conspiracy charge.

The conspiracy alleges that Christopher Austin, 38, conspired with Monica Sementilli and Robert Louis Baker to kill Sementilli’s husband, Fabio.

Austin appeared in court on Wednesday and has now been formally charged with conspiracy, in addition to the earlier murder charge. He was free for almost seven years, but earlier this month he was arrested in Washington state and extradited to California.

In 2017, famous hairdresser and beauty executive Fabio Sementilli was stabbed to death on the patio of his Woodland Hills home.

Los Angeles police then arrested Sementilla’s wife, Monica, and her lover, Robert Baker. They were charged with first-degree murder.

Prosecutors maintain that Austin claims he was there on the day of the murder when Baker received a call from Monica that Fabio was home alone and the coast was clear.

The prosecutor says Austin was at the scene of the murder and participated in the stabbing.

Austin says Baker mentioned that Monica Sementilli wanted her husband dead for the insurance money.

All this undermines Monica Sementilla’s claim that she was not involved in the murder and knew nothing.

Baker decided to plead no contest to all murder charges. After Baker’s sentencing, Monica Sementilli’s attorney reiterated that she was not involved.

“We are confident that Robert Baker’s guilty plea and true testimony will definitively establish once and for all that Monica Sementilli had nothing to do with the planning or murder of her husband Fabio Sementilli,” said attorney Leonard Levine.

Monica Sementilli is in prison. Her trial has been delayed due to a number of legal issues, but is scheduled to start later this year.

Austin’s next court date is December 2. The judge will then schedule a preliminary hearing. He will remain in prison for now.

City News Service contributed to this report.