Dateline NBC
Verdict watch in hairstylist murder trial. "Mommy Doomsday" represents herself. And Sean Combs latest.
Thu, 10 Apr 2025
Listen to this week's episode of the Dateline: True Crime Weekly podcast with Andrea Canning. In Los Angeles, the trial of Monica Sementilli, who is accused of plotting with her lover to murder her husband, winds down. In Arizona, Lori Vallow Daybell defends herself against charges she conspired to murder her fourth husband. Updates in the Karen Read retrial and Sean Combs' case. Plus, a look at defendants who represent themselves. Find out more about the cases each week here: www.datelinetruecrimeweekly.com. Listen to Andrea’s episode “Deadly Obsession” about the Dana Chandler case here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deadly-obsession/id1464919521?i=1000702589964Vote on the Webby Awards: https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2025/podcasts/shows/crime-justice
Chapter 1: What is the verdict watch in the hairstylist murder trial?
Plus, other stories we're watching this week. Karen Reid's defense team tries to stop her retrial in its tracks. And new criminal charges are filed against music mogul Sean Diddy Combs.
These new charges relate to a woman referred to as Victim 2.
But before all that, we're headed back to a California courtroom for the final chapter in the trial of the woman accused of plotting to murder her celebrity hairstylist husband. Yesterday, after nearly 40 days of testimony that included two convicted killers taking the stand, the jury finally began deliberations in the murder trial of Monica Semantilli.
She's the woman accused of conspiring with her lover, Robert Baker, to kill her husband, Fabio. In her closing statement, Los Angeles County Deputy D.A. Beth Silverman told the jury that the evidence spoke for itself.
We're not here because she's a horrible person. We're not here because she's a cheater or a liar or any of the other words that you could use. We're here because she's a killer.
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Chapter 2: How did the prosecution and defense present their closing arguments in the Monica Sementilli trial?
But the defense told the jury the state had not proven its case against Monica. They said she had nothing to do with the crime. Robert Baker, who admitted to killing Fabio, even testified to that. The defense argued in closings that the evidence proved the only thing Monica was guilty of was having an affair.
If you presume she is innocent as the law requires, everything she did was to protect the affair, not to cover up the murder. You know what? Everything falls into place.
Dateline producer Jessica Devera has been following the case throughout the trial and joins us now to tell us what's been happening in the courtroom. Jess, thanks for joining us.
Thank you so much for having me.
There's been so much leading up to this. How did prosecutor Beth Silverman begin her closing arguments?
She basically took them back to what she said in opening statements, right? She reminded the jurors that this would be a case about betrayal. You know, because jurors can't look things up during deliberations, she actually read them a dictionary definition of what betrayal means.
Deception. Disloyalty. Treachery. Duplicity. Devious. cheat, trickery, fraud, cunning. Each of those words perfectly describe this defendant who was the mastermind behind her own adoring husband's gruesome murder.
She talked about Monica and Fabio's marriage and how she betrayed his trust as well as her own family, friends, and children. And she described the love affair between Monica and Robert Baker as not just, you know, a regular affair. She said it was obsessive and all-consuming.
And this affair, this really goes to what the prosecution says was Monica's motive to kill Fabio.
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Chapter 3: Who is Lori Vallow Daybell and why is she representing herself in court?
Did you watch your children die?
That's a really sad question.
It's a terrible question. And it's one I hate to have to ask.
Back in 2023, an Idaho jury convicted Lori of murdering two of her children, as well as conspiring to murder Tammy Daybell, the wife of Chad Daybell, a man who called himself a doomsday prophet and who went on to become Lori's fifth husband. This week, Lori is on trial again, but not in Idaho.
She's in Arizona, accused of conspiring to murder the man she was married to before Chad, her fourth husband, Charles Vallow. She's pleaded not guilty. And unlike her trial in Idaho, this time around, Lori has made a bold decision to represent herself.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I have been charged with a crime, a serious crime. And the only question here is, did I commit this crime?
Here to tell us how she's doing is Nate Eaton, the news director at East Idaho News, who's been following this case since the beginning and even worked with Dateline as a consultant. He's calling us from outside the courthouse in Phoenix while the court is on break. Thank you for joining us, Nate. Thanks for having me. Good to be back, Andrea.
You have been in Arizona, Nate, this whole week for the trial. Members of the public have been lining up outside the courtroom as early as 5 a.m. And some have come as far as Australia.
What is the draw here? I think one of the big draws about this is that Lori Daybell is representing herself. People want to see how she acts in court, what type of questions she asks, and if she will be able to present a strong enough defense to let the jury find her not guilty.
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Chapter 4: What are the details of Lori Vallow Daybell's current trial in Arizona?
Yeah, I would actually say there's probably a few reasons. One of the main ones being that she wants this trial to happen now. If her defense attorneys are on her case, they need more time. They probably wouldn't even get to a trial this year. She also feels like she's able to represent herself better than somebody else.
She does have a couple of advisory attorneys who do assist her, but Lori Daybell is leading the charge in this case on behalf of the defense.
Last time we saw Lori, she was with Keith in an orange jumpsuit. Now she's back in regular clothes, which is, you know, kind of a bit jarring.
Right. And it's definitely different. She's been wearing business suits. And the interesting thing, though, Andrea, there's no handcuffs. There's no ankle shackles. But underneath her clothes, she's wearing what's called a rack belt. And that is like a taser belt that the deputy near her has a button. Oh.
Yeah, if she tries to run or misbehaves or tries to lunge after the judge, which, you know, she has shown no sign of that. But if she does, the deputy will hit this button and that will kind of shock her and make her freeze.
So how is Lori representing herself affecting her? courtroom proceedings. Is she getting it? Is she not getting it?
I'd say a little bit of both. I'd say she definitely has studied the law or learned from her old attorneys, but there's also moments where, you know, she'll start to ask a question and there'll be an objection.
I just didn't see it in your report, but I saw it on the body cam, so I wondered if you knew. I'm going to object to the defendant testifying.
All right. Please only ask questions. Sure. When you make statements about what you saw or heard, that's testimony.
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Chapter 5: What challenges does Lori Vallow face representing herself in court?
But she had everything written out and prepared. She is questioning the witnesses. And I guess it will be seen if it really goes off the rails. So far, it has not.
Opening statements started Monday of this week. Let's start with the prosecution. What do they say happened to Charles Vallow? We know he was Lori's fourth husband and that she was actually estranged from him when he died.
It was July of 2019 when he showed up to pick up his son to take him to school when Lori's brother, Alex, shot and killed him in the front room of the home. The prosecutor said that this was a murder that was preplanned, and the motive was that Lori wanted $1 million in life insurance and that she wanted to be with a new man, her new lover, Chad Daybell.
After the prosecution, Lori made her opening statement saying, What did she want the jury to know right out of the gate?
Lori and her brother Alex, who's now dead, say that this was a self-defense action. Lori said that Charles tried to attack her, go after her, and that he hit her brother with a baseball bat in the back of the head.
The evidence will show that after this struggle on the ground between Charles and Alex, that Charles prevailed with the bat and began to come towards me with the bat as I ran away from him into the kitchen. The evidence will show that at some point while I was running away from Charles, who is chasing me with a bat, that Alex apparently retrieved his gun.
The evidence will show that I ran outside to the children and that Alex shot Charles in self-defense.
She's saying Alex intervened to defend them. Right. You saw her get emotional telling this story in her opening statements?
Yeah, she took off her glasses, was wiping away the tears.
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Chapter 6: What is the background and motive alleged in the murder of Charles Vallow?
Yes.
And then she ended with, this was a family tragedy.
Spouses having insurance policies is not a crime. Collecting social security is not a crime. Self-defense is not a crime. A family tragedy is not a crime.
It's a tragedy. The prosecution has already questioned a number of witnesses. Who and what did we learn from them?
We've heard from the firefighters and the police officers who arrived at the scene. They have evidence that Charles was shot once by Alex Cox, and then when he fell to the ground, it appears he was shot again. You could argue if it was self-defense, why the need to shoot a wounded man who was on the ground and a bullet was lodged in the wooden floor.
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Chapter 7: How has the trial of Lori Vallow Daybell unfolded so far?
So we're expected to hear the medical examiner testify about that. One of the interesting things they've said, all of them have said, is just how calm Alex Cox was and how unusual Lori Daybell's behavior was. She was laughing. She was calm. She did not show the normal signs that a spouse would had their husband just been shot.
How has Lori been when it's her turn to cross-examine these witnesses?
Lori has prepared herself with questions for these witnesses. She asks questions that a juror might assume any defense attorney might ask.
Can you tell me what the weapon was that you found?
It was a handgun.
Was it a .45?
Don't recall.
Now, where she might be missing things is an objection to the prosecutor, things like that. We haven't heard her object once.
What can we expect for the rest of the trial?
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