Dateline: True Crime Weekly
Emotional testimony from a killer. A murder defendant's unusual defense. And travel scam safety tips.
Thu, 6 Mar 2025
A California jury hears chilling details about the murder of hairstylist Fabio Sementilli from the man who admits he helped kill him. In Kansas, the lead detective on a double murder case is called to the witness stand by the woman charged with the murders. She's representing herself. We've got the latest on the investigation into the death of Hollywood actor Gene Hackman. Plus, NBC News' Vicky Nguyen is back with tips on how to avoid travel scams.
Chapter 1: What emotional testimony was heard in the murder trial?
Well, you'd have to ask the jury, but let me tell you, just sitting in that courtroom— It did sound damning. Everything he asked her, are you saying your daughter, are you saying your son, misspoke or lied when they said you did this back in the day? Yes, that's not true.
Haley, Dustin, and Tim were mistaken when they testified you showed up at soccer games yesterday. shouting at Mike and Karen.
Yes, that's incorrect.
So what's coming across is that everyone else is wrong or lying about her.
And she's also, you know, the type of witness that doesn't remember a lot of things.
That's exactly right. It is a lot of, I don't recall. I'm not sure. She's like, hmm.
Shannon, do you remember where you live?
Um,
See, I don't remember.
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Chapter 2: How did Christopher Austin's testimony impact the case?
For our first story, we are off to Santa Fe, where last week actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy were found dead in their home along with one of their dogs. Sue, what have we learned about this tragedy that has some mystery to it?
It does, Andrea. It really does. Let me just go over the background a bit. Last Wednesday, neighborhood security officials found Hackman in a mudroom, his wife in a bathroom along with scattered pills, and their dog, one of them, in a crate in the bathroom closet. Investigators at the time said no foul play, but the deaths appeared suspicious enough to warrant a thorough investigation.
Yeah, initially, law enforcement kind of assumed that this could be a carbon monoxide poisoning, but they ruled it out, right?
That's right. At a press conference, officials said initial autopsy results were negative for carbon monoxide poisoning. And on Tuesday, the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office shared findings from the gas company's extensive investigation. That investigation showed there was a minuscule gas leak on one of the stove burners, but not a lethal amount.
And they also found that Gene Hackman's pacemaker stopped on February 17th. So they, you know, are assuming that they know exactly when he died.
That's right. And if they confirm that to be true, that was more than a week before the bodies were found.
So really a lot of outstanding questions at this point. So now I assume we're waiting on toxicology, which can take a while.
Yeah, and that could take weeks or even months. But according to the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office, they're combing through hours of body camera footage from the deputies who responded to the scene. And they mentioned that they may soon release some of that footage.
For our next story, we are off to Michigan, where there's been a big development in the case of murdered Michigan grandmother Deanne Warner, which Josh covered on his Missing in America podcast. So just to remind people of this one, Deanne was a successful businesswoman who ran a trucking company with her husband Dale Warner until she went missing in 2021.
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Chapter 5: How can travelers avoid scams when booking vacations?
Dana has previously served as her own lawyer in some hearings, but this is the first time she is fully representing herself at trial. What is your impression of her legal skills?
Well, you know, she's got a lot of the lingo down. She certainly has read into rules of evidence and procedure. But then she repeats things. She gets emotional at odd moments that you wouldn't expect someone to get emotional.
I'm living as quickly and as efficiently as I can. But I do need to report.
Well, on the tape, Marianne, you can hear some swooshing noises. And that's actually coming from Dana's court attire.
She interrupted her testimony at one point to say she was cold and she needed to get her jacket. So she... She basically sat the rest of the time on the stand in her winter coat, her puffer jacket. That I just never seen that before. I think she even uses a composite notebook that like the kind we had in school.
So there are some things that are kind of jarring and other things that go, OK, she's she's doing an OK job.
Marianne, what would you say is her clearest argument that she's made on her behalf?
I think the clearest argument is that which can't be refuted. It's that they really do not have physical evidence tying her to these murders. They really don't even have any kind of direct evidence. No one says, hey, I saw her there. I saw her in Topeka, Kansas. on this date, at this time, around the time when these murders occurred.
And Marianne, she really tried to hit home the lack of evidence in the case when she called the lead detective to the stand. And she was not afraid to go toe-to-toe with him.
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Chapter 6: What role did Vicky Nguyen play in sharing consumer tips?
Chapter 7: What are the key details of the Gene Hackman investigation?
And things have to happen, but I mean, do I need to testify? What do you need? What can you do for me? What do you need from me so I can go see my girls? That's all that matters to me. Did you say that to her?
I did.
And was that the truth?
Yes.
And the truth is, now that you have testified to what they need, you're going to go home and see your girls long before you would have had you been found guilty of this murder.
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...
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.
Chetna, thank you for your insight into this. This definitely was a very fascinating week in this trial. Definitely. Thanks so much for having me. Coming up, we'll take you inside a Kansas courtroom where Dana Chandler is on trial for the third time for a double murder she says she didn't commit and is representing herself.
This week, she called a surprising defense witness to the stand, the lead detective on the case. For our next story, we're heading back to a Kansas courtroom where Dana Chandler is standing trial for the third time for a double murder that happened 23 years ago.
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