Dateline NBC
A star defense witness takes the stand. The Zizians' leader in court. And a new scam called pig butchering.
Thu, 20 Mar 2025
Listen to this week's episode of the Dateline: True Crime Weekly podcast with Andrea Canning. Robert Baker, the former lover of Monica Sementilli and admitted killer of her husband, takes the stand in her defense. An alleged vegan cult known as the Zizians will see their leader face trial in Maryland next week. And updates on Karen Read, the University of Pittsburgh student missing in the Dominican Republic, and Lori Vallow Daybell. Plus, everything you need to know about a new scam called pig butchering. Find out more about the cases covered each week here: www.datelinetruecrimeweekly.com. Listen to the full Mommy Doomsday podcast series on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mommy-doomsday/id1540849480Listen to the full episode of “Lori Vallow Daybell: The Jailhouse Interview” on Apple: https://apple.co/3FjWD4dListen to the Talking Dateline episode where Keith discusses the interview on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/be/podcast/talking-dateline-lori-vallow-daybell-the-jailhouse/id1464919521?i=1000698801101
Chapter 1: What updates does Dateline True Crime Weekly provide?
Good morning. You're listening in to Dateline's morning meeting.
How are things on the West Coast?
Early.
Our editorial team is catching up on breaking crime news around the country. We know that we have this person of interest, but we don't know what the connection is at all.
He'll almost certainly be in Alabama in custody. They have 72 hours to arrest him.
He says, I did it. I murdered him. I wanted her.
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Chapter 2: Who is Robert Baker and what is his role in the Monica Sementilli trial?
Welcome to Dateline True Crime Weekly. I'm Andrea Canning. It's March 20th, and here's what's on our docket. The Zizians have surfaced again. According to law enforcement, the group of radical vegans is connected to violent deaths in multiple states. Their leader was in court last month.
I haven't done anything wrong. I shouldn't be here.
In Dateline Roundup this week, we'll tell you all about an important ruling in the Karen Reid case. Lori Vallow Daybell has some decisions to make about her upcoming trial. And we've got a major development from the Dominican Republic on a missing college student.
They've asked the police to declare her dead, even though no body has been found.
Plus, tens of thousands of Americans have fallen for a new scam known as pig butchering. Our NBC News justice and intelligence correspondent Ken Delanian has the details.
It goes on so long that often people think they're making money, but then eventually they find that they don't have access to their funds anymore and they've lost everything.
But before all that, we're heading back to a Los Angeles courtroom and the trial of the woman accused of conspiring to murder her hairstylist husband. The defense's star witness has finally taken the stand. We've heard the name Robert Baker countless times over the course of the Monica Cementilli trial. For six weeks, the prosecution built a case that put him squarely at the center of the murder.
They told the jury Baker was Monica's lover and the person she conspired with to kill her husband Fabio. In 2023, he pleaded no contest to the murder and is serving a sentence of life without parole. But Baker has consistently denied that Monica had anything to do with the crime. Last week, the defense finally called him to the stand.
Did she have anything to do with the planning or the execution of the plan to kill Fabio Cimentilli?
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Chapter 3: What does Robert Baker reveal in his testimony?
And they seem to have believed that basically anything that would stop this threat from becoming real was justified, even violence. And they saw themselves as being potential heroes in the future for being ones who could prevent that.
Why is this group moving around the country and living out of box trucks?
Yeah, the box truck lifestyle, it's really related to how insanely expensive housing is in the Bay Area. These young people moved there to be part of this AI-focused community that But not all of them could get jobs in the field or make enough money. So there's a lot of group houses, there's roommates, some squatting.
And Ziz came up with the idea of living on a boat to try to avoid the high rents. She and some compatriots bought a tugboat in Alaska and piloted it down to the San Francisco Bay. But the plan ultimately fell apart. The tugboat sank and Ziz moved the group to box trucks.
There was a bail hearing for the three Zizians in Maryland. I know you didn't learn a whole lot there from what I understand, but Rich, we did get to hear from Ziz.
Yeah, so Ziz spoke and spoke out of turn quite frequently.
I need the jail to be ordered for me to have a vegan diet. It's more important than whatever this hearing is. All right. I've asked you to please hold on and not speak right now.
And her concern was the diet that the jail had been giving her. She said it wasn't vegan. And so she was starving, essentially.
It's such a small thing to... It's such a small... It's such a small thing to...
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