Dateline: True Crime Weekly
The 911 call in the Hollywood hairdresser murder. And investigators explore links between six violent deaths and a group called the Zizians.
Thu, 6 Feb 2025
In a Los Angeles courtroom, prosecutors play police interviews with a woman accused of conspiring to kill her celebrity hairstylist husband. NBC News investigative reporter Rich Schapiro shares his reporting on a Bay Area-based group that investigators believe may be tied to deaths starting back in 2022. And JonBenét Ramsey's father talks to the new Boulder police chief. Find out more about the cases covered each week here: www.datelinetruecrimeweekly.comRead Rich Schapiro's NBC News article How did a German math genius get drawn into a 'cult' accused in coast-to-coast killings?
Chapter 1: What murder case is discussed in this episode?
Now, on cross-examination, that detective said it wasn't something that he had documented in his police report at the time. And so I think the defense was trying to point out that perhaps Monica was in such shock, so upset. So maybe she didn't cry and, you know, and people grieve differently.
They also played in court several of the follow-up calls Monica made to investigators. What did those recordings reveal?
You'll recall that after the murder, the killers drive away in Fabio's Porsche, Christopher Austin and Robert Baker. Those are the two murderers involved in this case. And the Porsche is found a couple days later, and detectives find blood in the Porsche. And the DNA comes back to Robert Baker. They have this information probably a couple weeks into their investigation, but they don't tell Monica.
But meanwhile, they're having these phone calls with Monica, and she is asking about the DNA results.
Well, again, that's evidence, so I can't discuss that. Okay.
If you're looking at it through the prosecution lens, that could be suspicious that, you know, does she seem overly concerned about these results? But if you look at it through the defense lens, of course, Monica would want to know because she wanted investigators to catch the killer. Right. But it was a very interesting point that the calls highlighted.
There were even more recordings, Chetna, where Monica spoke with the detective about Fabio's life insurance claim being held up. And this is, of course, significant because it cuts right to the heart of, you know, what the prosecutors say was the motive.
Yeah, you can hear Monica raising to investigators that there's issues with her being able to get this insurance, life insurance payout.
Is there anything we can do to speed this up? Because I don't know what's happening up in the next week to week here, day to day. So is there anything we can do, please?
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Chapter 4: What evidence is presented against Monica Cimentilli?
But then the public started to turn on them a little bit because word got out that they were not talking to the police, but they were talking to the media.
That is correct. According to the police, the parents were no longer speaking directly to them.
The family was officially cleared in 2008, but John Ramsey told NBC's Stephanie Gosk last week that he thinks the only way to restore his family's reputation is to find JonBenet's killer.
Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, the family has been through a lot, right? And even though the district attorneys publicly announced that they were no longer under this cloud of suspicion, I think that they feel like unless DNA points to the killer, then their name will not be completely restored.
So John Ramsey, as you said, Jessica, wants DNA evidence tested. What specifically is he talking about?
So unknown DNA was found on several items from the crime scene, but a match has never been made. So he wants to have that further tested because there has been so much advancement in DNA technology, specifically genetic genealogy.
The police chief said... A cold case review board met in 2023 to go over the case. What happened with that?
So the police chief had an independent group of investigators meet, and they made several recommendations. They don't go into specifics because it is an open investigation still, but they have been telling the media and the public that they are following up on those recommendations.
We will be keeping an eye on any developments. Absolutely. Thank you, Jessica. Thank you so much for having me. One more thing before we go. Monday was National Missing Persons Day. For more than 10 years now, our digital team has covered more than 500 cases in its Missing in America series. You might have heard some of them on our Missing in America podcast.
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