Not all porn stars leave the industry and go on to live a good life and Rob Baker is one of those people. The former male performer will spend the rest of his life behind bars, and now it seems his girlfriend Monica Sementilli will as well.

Monica Sementilli, the woman convicted of plotting the brutal 2017 murder of her husband, celebrity hairstylist Fabio Sementilli, was sentenced Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, bringing a close to a case that shocked the Los Angeles community and rocked the beauty industry.

The sentence, handed down by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen, came after a jury in April found Sementilli, 53, guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. The panel also found true special circumstance allegations that the crime was committed for financial gain and while lying in wait.

“In listening to the evidence in this matter, I do find that defendant was the mastermind in this conspiracy to commit murder,” Judge Coen stated from the bench. “Defendant was the prime mover in this execution of a human being.”

Fabio Sementilli, 49, was found stabbed to death in the backyard of the couple’s Woodland Hills home on January 23, 2017, just days before he and his wife were to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary. The killing occurred while the couple’s daughter was away; she later discovered her father’s body.

The judge rejected the defense’s request for a lesser sentence of 25 years to life, declaring that Sementilli’s actions merited the maximum penalty.

Prosecutors argued throughout the 10-week trial that Monica Sementilli conspired with her then-lover, Robert Baker, a convicted sex offender and former adult film actor, to murder her husband in order to collect life insurance proceeds. Baker, now 63, pleaded no contest in 2023 to murder and conspiracy charges and is serving a life sentence without parole.

According to testimony, Monica Sementilli left the front door unlocked for Baker and a third accomplice, Christopher Austin, who entered the home and carried out the attack. Fabio was ambushed and stabbed multiple times on the back patio. Prosecutors said Sementilli’s motivations included both financial greed and her relationship with Baker.

Austin, a former parole officer, was arrested in 2023 and later pleaded no contest to second-degree murder. He was sentenced in May to 16 years to life in prison. During his testimony, Austin said Baker had told him that Monica “wanted him gone” and would receive a large insurance payout following her husband’s death.

In delivering her closing arguments, Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman described the killing as a “senseless murder driven by greed and lust,” and said Monica Sementilli showed “no mercy” in plotting her husband’s death.

“This is the ultimate act of betrayal,” Silverman said. “Without her and her plotting, Fabio would be alive today.”

Despite Baker’s testimony at trial in which he insisted that Monica had no knowledge of or involvement in the murder, the jury sided with the prosecution. Judge Coen dismissed Baker’s version of events, stating, “Baker did not have the intelligence to plan such a brutal, well-thought-out slaughter.”

Family members of Fabio Sementilli, including two of his sisters and his son from a previous marriage, delivered emotional victim impact statements during sentencing.

Loretta Picillo called Monica’s actions “an unimaginable betrayal,” describing how the murder was orchestrated to coincide with their daughter’s return home, leaving her to discover her father’s body “lying in a pool of blood.”

Mirella Sementilli, another sister, described Monica as a “demon,” and demanded she stop using the family name.

“She traded lust for love, family for filth,” she said.

Despite the verdict, Sementilli’s two daughters continued to support their mother, expressing sadness over their father’s death while maintaining her innocence. The youngest daughter, Isabella, who found her father’s body, said she is grieving the loss of both parents.

Defense attorney Leonard Levine argued that while Monica Sementilli made poor choices in engaging in an extramarital affair, she did not conspire to kill her husband. “She’s guilty of stupidity, duplicity, lying, adultery—but not murder,” Levine told the jury.

Following the sentencing, the defense reiterated their intention to appeal the verdict. “She continues to maintain that she did not commit this crime and is innocent,” a statement from her attorneys read.

Monica Sementilli has remained in custody since her June 2017 arrest. The murder investigation spanned several years and culminated in indictments based on cellphone records, witness testimony, and jailhouse recordings that revealed intimate and incriminating conversations between Sementilli and Baker.

In a press release following the sentencing, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said, “Monica Sementilli betrayed the person who loved and trusted her most. Her calculated scheme cost a kind and talented man his life and devastated a family. Today’s sentence ensures that she will spend the rest of her life behind bars, where she can no longer deceive or destroy lives.”

With all three defendants now convicted and sentenced, prosecutors consider the case resolved. But for Fabio Sementilli’s family, the sentence offers only a measure of closure for a murder that robbed them of a beloved father, brother, and friend.

“This was a completely senseless murder,” said Silverman. “She destroyed so many lives—and for what?”

This case has been dragging on for 8 years. It’s good to see the guilty parties have finally been brought to justice, even if it did take a while.