Chetna Joshi
Appearances
Dateline NBC
Emotional testimony from a killer. A murder defendant's unusual defense. And travel scam safety tips.
Yeah, so we learned that Christopher Austin was about in middle school when he met Robert Baker and that his dad and Robert Baker were very good friends.
Dateline NBC
Emotional testimony from a killer. A murder defendant's unusual defense. And travel scam safety tips.
As the years went on, Christopher Austin and Baker developed a friendship. Christopher Austin even worked for him almost as an assistant. And, you know, kind of the way he put it, doing whatever Baker needed him to do.
Dateline NBC
Emotional testimony from a killer. A murder defendant's unusual defense. And travel scam safety tips.
This is when Austin testifies that, yeah, he understands, like, he knows why he's there. And so when detectives finally bring him in for an interview, Christopher Austin admits to them that, yes, he was there and that, yes, he stabbed Fabio.
Dateline NBC
Emotional testimony from a killer. A murder defendant's unusual defense. And travel scam safety tips.
Yeah. Who knows if it's because now that he's confessed to detectives or for what reason, but Austin now starts opening up more to his cellmate. He tells him that his unk, his uncle, who we know is Robert Baker, and the woman that, and these are the words he uses, the woman that he was messing with, were both involved.
Dateline NBC
Emotional testimony from a killer. A murder defendant's unusual defense. And travel scam safety tips.
And at this point, the prosecutor in court asks him if he sees that woman, does he see her in court? Yes.
Dateline NBC
Emotional testimony from a killer. A murder defendant's unusual defense. And travel scam safety tips.
That's right. He mentions to the undercover agent that Monica was supposed to be coming into a large sum of money, which he said was insurance money.
Dateline NBC
Emotional testimony from a killer. A murder defendant's unusual defense. And travel scam safety tips.
Yeah, when he got emotional, and it usually happened during times when there was direct questioning about the murder itself, and he would kind of hang his head low and get quiet and emotional. And regarding the day of the murder, he testified that they were at Baker's apartment, and Baker gets a text. And Baker says the text is from Monica.
Dateline NBC
Emotional testimony from a killer. A murder defendant's unusual defense. And travel scam safety tips.
And that she is telling him that there is basically a small window. And so Baker's like, okay, this is the time. We got to go now. Does he talk about the actual murder and how it was carried out? Yeah, I would say that this was probably one of the most... Chalking things. I mean, it's not very often that we get to hear from a killer directly from his own mouth how a murder went down.
Dateline NBC
Emotional testimony from a killer. A murder defendant's unusual defense. And travel scam safety tips.
And that's exactly what we heard in Christopher Austin's testimony. He described once they got into the house how Baker sort of took the lead.
Dateline NBC
Emotional testimony from a killer. A murder defendant's unusual defense. And travel scam safety tips.
A lot of Austin's testimony focused on conversations he had with Baker. And so that's something that the defense really wanted to highlight in their cross-examination is that Christopher Austin never spoke to Monica about a murder plan. He never saw a text that showed that Monica wanted Fabio dead. This is all coming through Robert Baker.
Dateline NBC
Emotional testimony from a killer. A murder defendant's unusual defense. And travel scam safety tips.
The other thing that they really wanted to highlight for the jury was that Austin did whatever was necessary in order to get himself the best deal that he could. And in his discussions with the prosecutor after the arrest—
Dateline NBC
Emotional testimony from a killer. A murder defendant's unusual defense. And travel scam safety tips.
The defense attorney quoted the transcript and said that Austin is basically telling the prosecutor, hey, I got to get home to my girls, his girls being his wife and his young daughter.
Dateline NBC
Emotional testimony from a killer. A murder defendant's unusual defense. And travel scam safety tips.
What the defense wants the jury to realize is that in exchange for getting the deal that Austin did, that's why his testimony is coming out the way it's playing out in court now. He ended up pleading guilty to second-degree murder, which carries a sentence of 16 years to life. Now, he won't be sentenced until after this trial is over, and his deal is...
Dateline NBC
Emotional testimony from a killer. A murder defendant's unusual defense. And travel scam safety tips.
is based on the truthful testimony that he gives in court. And whether it's truthful or not, I think what the defense wants the jury to hear is that, again, Christopher Austin had no direct knowledge that Monica wanted Fabio dead or had any part in this planning.
Dateline NBC
Audio of a jailhouse sting. A woman's third murder trial in three decades. And the latest on a new texting scam.
Right. So what's really interesting is they use this ruse on Monica and Baker. They are in Monica's new Mustang and they get pulled over. And initially the detectives say that they're driving a stolen vehicle and they get them back in the patrol car. Detectives have rigged up this car. They've put microphones in, really sensitive microphones to pick up whispers.
Dateline NBC
Audio of a jailhouse sting. A woman's third murder trial in three decades. And the latest on a new texting scam.
They have a camera in the car so that they can sort of be monitoring from a different area and be watching them live. And so we see them in the car together. So what are they saying to each other? Monica sounds really upset. She's breathing heavy. She sounds very emotional.
Dateline NBC
Audio of a jailhouse sting. A woman's third murder trial in three decades. And the latest on a new texting scam.
Robert Baker starts talking to Monica. He wants to tell her something, and you can kind of hear her. She's aware that they might be being recorded, so she's like, no, shh, you know, don't talk, don't talk. But Robert Baker continues to talk.
Dateline NBC
Audio of a jailhouse sting. A woman's third murder trial in three decades. And the latest on a new texting scam.
Because at some point during this time when they're in the car, they find out they're actually being arrested for murder. One of the things that the prosecutors wanted to highlight in that audio is that it's very faint. But Monica apparently says somebody must have talked.
Dateline NBC
Audio of a jailhouse sting. A woman's third murder trial in three decades. And the latest on a new texting scam.
Yeah, according to the defense, when Monica says that somebody must have talked, that's about the affair. And so, yeah, the defense does not believe that that has any evidence pointing to her guilt.
Dateline NBC
Audio of a jailhouse sting. A woman's third murder trial in three decades. And the latest on a new texting scam.
Yeah, so this was some really interesting audio to listen to. It was quite long, but the detectives here are basically using an investigative strategy by which they come to Monica's cell, they give her a little piece of information, and then they walk away. And inside the cell, her cellmate's another woman that's there, but unbeknownst to Monica, that cellmate is actually an undercover agent.
Dateline NBC
Audio of a jailhouse sting. A woman's third murder trial in three decades. And the latest on a new texting scam.
And so she gets Monica talking, and they seem to be having girl talk at some point. They start talking about her marriage, and Monica's telling her that she was married to the greatest man of all time. At one point, you know, she's asking Monica, is Robert Baker attractive? Is he sexy?
Dateline NBC
Audio of a jailhouse sting. A woman's third murder trial in three decades. And the latest on a new texting scam.
Even to a certain point, there was a lull in the conversation. And then the undercover agent brings up like asking her about rules for racquetball because she mentions that Robert Baker was the racquetball coach. So she's bringing up like, oh, can you, you know, can you do this in racquetball?
Dateline NBC
Audio of a jailhouse sting. A woman's third murder trial in three decades. And the latest on a new texting scam.
And it's sort of interesting to see, you know, how an undercover agent actually works. Yeah. And Monica's just obviously letting her guard down. She is. And, you know, at one point, Monica actually admits her affair with Robert. And she says, he's not just my lover. He's my confidant. He's my everything. Right.
Dateline NBC
Audio of a jailhouse sting. A woman's third murder trial in three decades. And the latest on a new texting scam.
Another interesting moment happens when the detectives, they come back at a later point and they basically tell her that, look, you and Rob were arrested today. We know that there is a third person. There was another guy there with Robert when Fabio was killed and he's not here anymore. So I want you to think about that.
Dateline NBC
Audio of a jailhouse sting. A woman's third murder trial in three decades. And the latest on a new texting scam.
And what it seems to be is that detectives are sort of suggesting to Monica that that third suspect is not here because he's talking to us. He's cooperating. And of course, we know now that that was a ruse.
Dateline NBC
Audio of a jailhouse sting. A woman's third murder trial in three decades. And the latest on a new texting scam.
For a long time, they didn't know who the second man was. But police were later able to identify him as Christopher Austin, and they arrested him in October of last year. But inside the cell, the detectives use this ruse on Monica, and the undercover agent totally picks that up and runs with it.
Dateline NBC
Audio of a jailhouse sting. A woman's third murder trial in three decades. And the latest on a new texting scam.
She's sort of telling Monica, like, look, the first person to talk is usually the one that gets the best deal.
Dateline NBC
Audio of a jailhouse sting. A woman's third murder trial in three decades. And the latest on a new texting scam.
Yes, he is going to testify. We don't know when that is yet, but we are all awaiting for that moment and to see what he's going to say.