Cut, Color, Kill | 6. Betrayal

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together from Chris's perspective. In an interrogation room in Vancouver, Washington,

Christopher Austin is sitting opposite to detectives with his head in his hands. He's just confessed to stabbing Fabio Cementelli. His world had just been turned upside down. He knew that

“going forward he was forever changed. Deputy DA Heather Stegel is in another room in the police station,”

watching the interview on a screen. He'd been living this other life now trying to put this murder behind him. His concern was he had a small daughter and a wife. He repeatedly repeatedly said, "Can I see them? Can I talk to them? Can I talk to my wife? Can I see her? That was high priority in him."

"Do you see? Have you seen them? Have you seen them? Have you seen them? Have you seen them? Have you seen?"

I mean, as you guys are walking freely out the door right now or long-term. Just a gentle. I'll get on this again. I don't see you walking out the door today. The detectives tell him he's not going to be leaving the police station today. He's under arrest. And the DA will most likely charge him. And that's when he started asking to talk to the DA. They detectives came back and told me

that he wants to talk to you. I said, "Okay, sounds good. Let's do this. I was ready to go." Stegel strides down the hall and into the interrogation room. She's polished in a smart suit and black stilettos. Boston is leaning forward in his chair looking defeated. "Hi, I'm the DA. You got to sit up to the door." The prosecutor shakes his hand and takes a seat. She makes it clear that he can ask for an attorney

if he wants one. "Do you want to talk to me now? What I'm returning? Is that accurate?" "That is accurate. I asked to speak to you." "Okay." He seemed like he wanted to get it all off his chest and just tell everything that he could about his involvement in it. "And you do as a DA. For me to see my girls at the end of the day, I'm literally about seeing my girls. What do you need from me so I can go see my girls?"

"We just want to truth because we know we've got one other person to try and that's Monica." Monica Seventilly is going to trial in January. She's being charged with conspiring with Robert Baker to murder her husband, Fabio. Deputy DA, Stegel and her fellow prosecutor Beth Silverman already have a lot of circumstantial evidence against Monica. The lies she told to the detectives and all the sneaking around with Robert Baker their secret whisperings in the

lock-up. But they need it to be iron-clad. If Christopher Austin is willing to testify that Monica was the mastermind coordinating Fabio's death, that would be some of the clearest evidence yet. "Just solidifying that link. Any extra evidence that she's the lead of the conspiracy. Every piece was a great new piece of evidence." But the defense also has a star witness of their own. Robert Baker is going to testify that he's murdered Fabio without Monica's knowledge.

She had nothing to do with it. "We've got two people taking the stand saying I killed Fabio. Two killers, a baker and an Austin, and they're both going to testify."

“So now it comes down to which killer are you going to believe?”

From Sony Music Entertainment and novel, this is Cut Color Kill. I'm Jonathan Hirsch. Episode 6. Betrayal.

Eight years of his loved ones waiting for justice. And in a wood-paneled courtroom and downtown

“Los Angeles, Monica Cementilly's trial is beginning. Cameras are rolling. Journalists from”

outlets including ABC and BCCBS are covering the case and court TV is streaming live courtroom coverage. This case has captured the attention of people around the world, not least because of the family drama playing out here in the courtroom. "We've got family sitting on two sides of the courtroom, not speaking to each other, who used to be, you know, having lunches and barbecues and parties together. They did not acknowledge each other." Prosecutors Beth Silverman and Heather Stegel

have a huge task ahead of them. The trial will last 10 weeks, and there are hundreds of witnesses

prepped, and a huge amount of evidence to cover. I can't take you through every single detail of

the evidence, and some of it, like the secret police recordings, you've already heard. But I do want

“you to hear this one piece of testimony that I think really cuts to the heart of what's at stake”

here in this courtroom. Anna Crescentini is called as a witness on day 28 of the trial. She's Monica's older sister by two and a half years, an eighth grade science and math teacher, and she's phone all the way from Canada to testify. Anna says she spoke to Monica on the phone only a couple of hours before Fabio was killed, and she seemed completely herself. And in the aftermath, she says her sister was devastated by grief. "We found my sister on the couch.

Hugging a great sletter that belonged to Fabio and Rocky tears pouring down her face. She had toilet paper and clean-ups all around her, and when we tried to talk to her, she wasn't even making eye contact with us." For the defense, the point of all this is to try and humanize Monica, to show that her shock and grief at Fabio's death was genuine, because she wasn't involved in planning it.

By the time prosecutor Stegel stands up to cross examin Anna, she's feeling frustrated. "On and on and on, what a great person she is and that she was grieving and I witnessed her grieving so bad." Stegel wants to put to the test how well Anna really knew her sister. "You love her, you trust her. I love her, I trust her. One of my closest friends. Yes. Did you talk about everything?" "I did. Okay. Obviously, you know, you didn't know about the

affair. This entire time cracked." "Correct. I started with the affair, all the text messages, the sneaking out, the leaving her kids, the lies." One time, after Fabio's death, Anna says Monica flew from Canada to LA, because she wanted time alone to grieve with her daughters. "Did you know that when she landed, she immediately went out with Baker, but didn't go home to grieve with her girls?" "I did not know." Another time when the family was in Canada

for Fabio's cremation, Anna says Monica was so emotionally drained, she had to take her home to their mom's house. "Did you know that those three days and we third, fourth and sixth, that she was sending sexually explicit photos of herself naked to her boyfriend?" "No. Obviously, I did not know." The prosecutor hands over a stack of photographs. There are printouts of photos that Monica sent to Robert Baker. Stegel asks Anna to look at them. "I mean, not my proudest moment, but the point

being, you don't know your sister. I don't fault her for taking the stand for her sister. I mean,

“that's what family does. It was not meant to embarrass Anna or anything like that. It was just”

she was digging in so hard about how she knew her sister and her sister would never do this.

So I'm going through all the examples of what you didn't know about your sister and the list was endless." At the end of the cross examination, Stegel asks Anna whether, knowing all of this, she still trusts Monica to tell the truth. "I believe my sister. I know she was lying because she was hiding an affair. Do I trust her?" "Yes." Anna accepts her sister lied about an affair, but she's absolutely clear on this point. "Of course she's going to lie. She wants to cover

the affair. It doesn't mean that she had anything to do with this inverter." That's what I wanted you to hear. Anna's testimony in the courtroom exposes one of the main fault lines, this entire trial. The question of how well we really know the people we love. The narrative, the prosecution is building, is that Monica is a liar and a manipulator.

herself in the hundreds of photos and videos she sent to Robert Baker taken from iCloud and Dropbox accounts in the text messages lying about her whereabouts from before and after the murder. But Anna's view of her sister's marriage is more complicated. "It is possible to love someone and cheat on them at the same time." When Monica's defense attorney stand in front of the jury, they keep coming back to the same point. Yes, Monica had an affair. She lied and deceived her

family and friends. She made choices that hurt people. None of that makes her guilty of murder. The financial motive doesn't make sense, they argue, because Monica wasn't the sole beneficiary

of Fabio's $1.6 million life insurance payout. It was split between her and his children too.

“Their point being, Fabio was worth more to Monica alive than dead. "Why, kill her? Why, kill her?”

She had everything she wanted, moral or not. She had a loving husband making good living, living the good life, two beautiful kids, and whatever Mr. Baker offered. In better otherwise, she had that too." The charge is not whether Monica had an affair, whether she intentionally entered into an agreement to kill her husband. And that, the defense say, depends on the testimony of one person. "Thank you to people called Christopher Austin."

After more than five weeks of laying out the circumstantial evidence against Monica,

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Christopher Austin is sitting in the witness stand. He's wearing a blue shirt and glasses and he looks subdued.

In January, he accepted a deal from the prosecution. He pled guilty to second-degree murder.

He was sentenced to 16 years of life in prison, on the condition that he cooperates with the prosecution and testifies truthfully in Monica's trial. We told him that if we found anything out that he had told us that was not truthful, that all bets were off and we would prosecute him anyway. Deputy DA Stegos as she and her colleague Beth Silverman talked to the cemetery family about the deal they were offering to Austin. Luigi has mixed feelings, knowing that one of the men who killed

his father has agreed to testify. I felt the sense of relief that one of his assailants

sense of feeling grateful that this person was cooperating to the extent that he was and was

going to testify against Monica. The fact that there was anything other than negative feelings to Austin kind of speaks to how badly I wanted there to be justice in the greater trial. Stegos takes her place at the front of the courtroom, ready to examine Austin. She's focused on the task at hand, but she knows her witness also comes with significant baggage. You're putting a man who says I murdered somebody in cold blood which is not a common thing

that people walk around saying and you're asking the jury to now believe everything that he says.

“Have you known Robert Baker a long time? Yes. And is Rob older than you then?”

Yes. How much older? Same as my dad. Not a math guy. 30 plus he was older to me. Austin tells the jury how he got to know Baker as a friend of his fathers in North Carolina. Beth Silverman watches her trial partner fire questions at Austin and weighs up how he's coming across to the jury. He seemed very humble. He came across as not particularly bright, but somebody who trusts people who are older than him like Baker, especially given that Baker was one of his

father's close friends growing up. In July of 2016, the two of them met up in Las Vegas. On that trip, Austin says he heard a conversation between Baker and another friend. They were talking about the woman Baker was he? He started asking me he's like, how much I weigh? He'll Baker. I remember hearing and he could probably do it. I was like, do what? I'll tell you later. It sounds like Baker was already sizing Austin up.

See if he was strong enough to kill someone. Eventually, Austin says Baker stopped being cryptic got more direct. He told Austin his girlfriend wanted her husband out of the way. Baker says she wants him gone. She wants him dead. Monica Seventilly

Austin says the first time he remembers meeting Monica was when Baker paid for him to fly to L.A.

from Vegas later that July. The three of them played racket ball together and had L.A. fitness. Afterwards, they all went back to the Seventilly home in Woodland Hills. Fabio was away. She took me out to the patio. Baker was there. Austin says when they left the house, Baker turned to him.

“He said it's a nice house, and I was like, yeah, I remember that layout. I said okay.”

He said, remember that layout? I remember him saying that. Austin says there were more calls with Baker over the following months where they talked about killing Fabio. Did you ever speak directly with the defendant at any time, directly with her about killing her husband? No. So is your communication with and through Baker? Yes.

You might be thinking that this makes Austin's testimony seem pretty weak. After all, the defense could argue, it's just hearsay. He didn't actually ever hear Monica conspiring to murder Fabio, but prosecutor Beth Silverman isn't phased by this at all. In fact, she thinks it actually makes him look more credible as a witness.

“If he was somebody who was trying to buy himself a deal to get out of what had happened.”

Number one, he would have said he was the lookout. He never would have admitted to being an actual

stabber. And number two, he would have also exaggerated in terms of the conversations he had had with Monica and made her more involved in what was told to him about the plan and the conspiracy to kill her husband. From December onward, Austin says things got more serious. Baker tried to arrange a date for the murder. Austin says he made excuses because he didn't want to go through with it, but his friend was insistent. On January 12, Baker bought Christopher

Austin a plane ticket to Los Angeles. Austin says Baker promised him $30 to $50,000 for the murder. Money that was to come from Monica. He would always say she's loaded, so once she gets this insurance money, we're going to be good. On the 22nd of January, the day before Fabio was killed, Austin flew out to California. They had to move quickly, he said, because Baker had information from Monica.

The Fabio would be out of town again soon. Austin says, "Baker picked him up from the airport, gave him a burner phone. They waited at Baker's apartment all day, then they went to Walmart,

Something it took the investigators on this case eight years to discover.

“As the night fell, he let me know, he said, "She's going to send them to the store.”

So we can catch them then." I want to be really clear. Austin is talking about the evening of the 22nd of January, 2017. The day before Fabio was killed. At 5-11 pm on the 22nd of January, Fabio searched "Fa near me," and sent Monica the address of a restaurant. Monica then Googled the restaurant. It was, of course, a Vietnamese place. She then

texted her daughter Bella to ask if she wanted some fried rice. During the same 30-minute window, when Monica was texting with Fabio about this restaurant, she exchanged 17 messages on the encrypted messaging app Viber with Robert Baker. By the end of the day, she and Baker had messaged each other 180 times. Austin says that Monica told Baker

“where Fabio would be that night. Before we left the apartment, he got to text messages from his”

girlfriend at the time. She was going to send him to the store. So we went directly there. So him and Baker got in the car, went over to this strip mall and waited for Fabio to get there. He walked through this breezeway by these pillars, and he was told what kind of car, Fabio was driving. He saw the car. He saw Fabio coming out, carrying a bag of what was probably food. He started walking towards Fabio and then he said, "I couldn't do it."

I was like, "I'm not doing this. I can't do this." And I went back to the car, he was like, "What happened?" I told him, "I could get him. I can't do it." Austin says Baker texted Monica when they left the strip mall to update her about the failed attempt. The plans offered didn't happen, and Austin was a witness to that.

“The text messages, the restaurant address, it all corroborates the story.”

Christopher Austin has just given them evidence that Monica didn't just try to have Fabio kill once she did it twice. This wasn't a fluke that happened the day of the murder. This was, as pre-meditated, deliberate, and willful as you get. Before Austin was arrested, nobody had a clue that anything remarkable had happened the night before Fabio's death.

Let alone an attempted murder. All of a sudden the room just kind of froze for a second,

were like, "Then what are you talking about?" We had no idea. This was planned or had even happened. I mean, we like to think that we had every corner of this case nailed down. And for the most part, all the blanks filled in, but we did not know that. The original plan was for Fabio to be killed in the car park of the strip mall. Alone, to seemingly random attack by a stranger, not at home, in a location that could easily be linked

to Monica. After the failed murder attempt on the 22nd, Christopher Austin was only in town for two more days. And Fabio was about to leave town. The window of opportunity was closing. And so the next day on the 23rd of January, everything happened in a rush. Around noon, surveillance footage captured Monica and Robert Baker both arriving at Elefittness 10 minutes apart. Later that afternoon, Monica and Baker were both seen in the parking lot

of a target in Woodman Hills. Around 329, surveillance footage captured a grainy figure getting into Monica's truck. The prosecutors say that was Baker, meeting up with Monica to coordinate their plan. When Baker got back to his apartment, Austin says he got a text. He kind of jolted. He said, "Yo, he's home alone." He said, "She's going to go to the store. We have a small window because somebody might come to the house while she's gone."

According to Austin, this is it. The moment Monica gave Baker the green light to murder Fabio. It was rushed like Baker got the call from Monica like now. Go, we got to go, we got to go get in the car. Let's go. She wanted him killed. That planned didn't work. They're still in town. The next day, it's going to happen. It just really puts the nail in the coffin on the level of

Monica's involvement and the pre-meditation and her never-ending desire to get Fabio out of the way.

The prosecution have made their case, but the defense still have their own star witness. Another confessed killer, the zone version, of what went down in January 2017. Robert Baker takes the stand. He's wearing a button down shirt and a suit jacket for the occasion.

confessing to the murder. In the letter, Baker wrote that he went to the cemetery house to deliver

“a gift to Monica, where he ran into Fabio by mistake. He killed Fabio in self-defense. He said,”

"But now, his story has totally changed." He tells the jury, "This was a planned attack." "I murdered him because I wanted her. I wanted to have easier access. I wanted her be around me and with me. More like all the time." He couldn't keep his story straight from years ago, let alone from moment to moment. When it's deputy DA Beth Silverman's turn, the cross-examine baker, she is ready to go to town on all his inconsistencies.

"You agreed last week that everything you wrote in the letter was a lie." "That everything, then." "Which part was true?" "I got to look at the letter." "Prox me how many lies would you say you've told in that letter?" "Give me an estimate." "I don't have, I don't know, given an estimate because I don't know." "And 50?" "I don't know."

“"How about 360?" He was on the stand, I think, for like three days or four days,”

and he couldn't remember what he had said the day before. And so the lies just kept changing and becoming more and more outrageous. "At one point, Silverman starts asking Baker about the security camera systems at the cemetery house. When police arrived at the scene after Fabio's murder, they found the DVR was missing. "Did you stop to take the DVR?" "Yes."

"So where was that?" "That was in the garage." "Okay, and who showed you where that was?" "It's follow the wires." "Okay." "So there were wires that led you there." "Can't miss it." Baker is playing dumb acting like he just happened upon the DVR, but the prosecutor knows he's lying. "You hadn't had a prior conversation with Monica about the DVR had you?"

“"I had an ad conversation with her about it." "Never." "I know that she was getting a new”

system. She said it was getting upgraded. He said that he wanted to get it done." The "He" is Fabio. When detectives asked Monica about the security system after Fabio was killed, she told them didn't know anything about it. Fabio had it installed. Fabio knew all about it. She didn't even know how to access it. So the investigators tracked down the guy who put the camera in the summer of 2016. The guy said it was Monica, not Fabio, who was there.

When the digital forensic team went through all the files, they found another damning piece of evidence. Monica had received an email with the IP address, the password, and the instruction manual for the security system. And on the 28th of June, shortly before Austin first heard Baker talk about the plot to kill Fabio, Monica forwarded the email to you guessed it. Robert Baker. Beth Silverman knows that all of these shifting stories tying himself up and knots

is not helping Baker's case with jury. This was a person who just came across as completely

incredible because he wasn't smart enough to find his way out of a paper bag. She was really the

brains behind the operation. When Leonard Levine, Monica's defense attorney, makes the closing statement, he tries to make it all about this battle between the two killers on the witness stand. Other than Christopher Austin's testimony he argues, the prosecution doesn't really have a case. All they had was circumstantial evidence, meaning she was having an affair. And Christopher Austin isn't to be trusted because he got a plea deal. They can offer Mr. Austin his life

back in exchange for his testimony. Levine strides down the full length of the courtroom and points his finger at the jury. He says he's not asking them to find that Monica was a good wife. He's not even asking them to find that she was a good person, but he does hope. They'll decide one thing. Monica, you're not a murderer and they have not proven you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. But when the prosecutors make their final statements, they take a different approach.

Every detail in this case matters. Every single detail matters. There's never one piece of evidence.

This isn't a case with a single smoking gun, they say. This isn't just one killer's word against another. This is about looking at the pieces of the puzzle and seeing how they fit together. Deputy DA Beth Silverman speaks for two and a half days, until her voice gets horse. She takes the jury back through the entire case, back through all the ways Monica deceived and manipulated her friends and family. The lie she told to the police, like not knowing anything

arrested. The first thing the defendant is telling Baker is, no deals. None. I'm denying everything.

“Except our affair. Well, what else is there if it's only an affair?”

Silverman reminds the jury that in 60 hours of conversation between Monica and Baker in the

courthouse lockup, she never even once asked her lover to explain why his DNA was all over the crime scene.

Never confronts him with the fact that he's the actual killer. Instead what you hear is the two of them acting together to explain it away. When Heather Staggle makes the final rebuttal statement for the prosecution, she asked the jury to use their common sense. What is the only possible explanation for all of this evidence? As her statement comes to an end, it's not the surveillance or the digital forensics or Monica's behavior she reminds the court of.

Instead, she chooses the words of one of Fabio's family members to make a final impression on the jury. His son, Luigi Sementilly. Luigi trusted the defendant and he gave her the benefit of the doubt, much like you started here with the presumption of innocence. But as Luigi said, "Once you go back and start recollecting, it becomes very clear. The puzzle pieces fit together very easily. My co-confrontal I have presented you, those pieces and the puzzle is complete. Thank you."

I hardly watched any of the trial. I just couldn't stand too. Back at home in Canada, Luigi Sementilly hasn't been following all the drama on the courtroom. I don't need any more

“bad news right now. I don't want to be strung along with what does this mean? Could this be bad?”

I don't want to hear it. I really just want to get to the verdict and get the final word, because that's really the final word that matters. After 10 weeks, dozens of witnesses,

and thousands of pieces of evidence, that day finally comes. The moment Luigi has been waiting

over eight years for. The jury is about to deliver their verdict. This is it. It's going to go down. It's time. It's good. Who did I get to look? Madviso Staya. Fabio Sementilly. Big hearts, big voice, big laugh. A rock star hairstyle is who drove a morsha. He was like a wizard behind the chair. The killers came for Fabio and his own backyard.

“"You can't rationalize it. You can't figure it out."”

There was rampant speculation about everything. But every wild theory was wrong. Because the truth was even more unbelievable. "What is anyone hearing what I'm hearing?" And even more heartbreaking. The uncertainty of not knowing is a form of agony. From Sony Music Entertainment and novel, this is Cut Color Kill. I'm Jonathan Hirsch. Cut Color Kill is available now on The Binge. Search for it wherever you get your podcast to start

listening today. Subscribers to The Binge can listen to all episodes, all at once, and free. [Music] On April 11, 2025, in the LA County Court in downtown Los Angeles, the prosecution and defense teams are assembled to hear the verdict in Monica Sementilly's trial. There are TV cameras rolling and journalists with pens poised over their no-pads.

The media have been following every word of this trial. Luigi Sementilly is at home in Niagara Falls. Today, even he is watching online. Constantly refreshing the livestream, watching the livestream, waiting for them to announce that they had come to their verdict. Staring at that seal of California, that's above the judge's desk

for what felt like forever. Finally, the judge takes a seat. Monica is sat with her

defense attorney Leonard Levine. She's wearing a gray blazer. Her expression is neutral, but you can see the tension in her brow. The judge opens the envelope containing the verdicts. He pears down at the papers over his half-moon glasses, then hands it back to one of the court clerks, who begins to read. We, the jury, find the defendant Monica Sementilly,

first degree murder, and conspiracy to commit murder, plus the additional special circumstances

“that make the crime even more serious, lying in wait. And financial gain, guilty on all counts.”

Back in Canada, Luigi is overcome. Just endless tears streaming down my face, that it was over. It was done after over eight years that it was finally finished. Was like closing the book on the hardest chapter of my life, and to get the verdict that I wanted. Was just an unbelievable feeling, an unbelievable rush of emotion. I called my three best friends. I called my mom, of course.

I called my aunt, and my aunt Morella and I on the phone, we were just, we were hysterical.

And we kept saying, "It's done. It's done. It's done."

In June, Luigi returns to Los Angeles for Monica Sementencing. He and some of his family are giving victim impact statements. It's a final opportunity to stand face to face with a woman who murdered the man they all adored. And let the world know how her actions have affected them. You had it all Monica, and you threw it away. There's a darkness living inside of you that no more no can understand your evil treason.

When Fabio Sisteres Loretta and Morella stand before the court, the emotion in the room is palpable. You didn't just kill Fabio, you humiliated him. You betrayed him in the most despicable way. Then you held my grieving mother, and you pretended to mourn Fabio when you were the killer. When it's Luigi's turn to speak, he wants to say something different.

I always thought that when this moment came, I'd have a holster full of the nastiest,

the most vengeful and vitriolic words. I could possibly muster to do my part in speaking truth to power and righteousness to evil. But that's not what I'm going to do here today. I knew I didn't want to go up there and pour my anger out because I didn't want to hold on to it anymore.

“And being that I studied philosophy, one of the books I remember studying and enjoying a lot”

was the spoke zerothroastron by Nietzsche, and there's a great chapter in there on the bite of the ador, where he's bitten by the snake, and he says, "You can't give me your poison," and he forces the snake to lick the poison out of his wound. I have no poison to give back to the ador. Because I've come to believe that you become what you behold. And if I hold on to cruel, hateful and vindictive thoughts, then I too will become a cruel, hateful and vindictive person.

And I refuse to be made worse from this experience. I didn't want the poison of this situation to infect me and infect my life. I wanted to let go of the anger, I wanted to let go of the grief, and now, this moment was the beginning of the rest of my life. Monica Cementilly is sentenced to life without parole, but there are two members of the Cementilly

family who see this verdict very differently, Luigi Cisters, Bella and Jessica. For years, they've stood by their mother, refusing to believe that she was responsible for their father's murder. They spoke of the sentence in hearing too, describing their pain at losing not just one parent, but now too. They're happy memories of time spent with their mom and their dad and their desire to not be defined by this devastating chapter of their lives.

After we got the verdict, I reached out and I said, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for your loss. And since then, we've still been talking more than we have been in many years, but I imagine it's going to take time to navigate the new normal in our relationship. Everyone leaves the courtroom after the sentencing hearing. Bobby will side of the family go out for lunch. They sit around a table at a restaurant,

the two prosecutors come too. One of the cousins said something about like it would have killed us, had the verdict not come back. That way, and I said, no, it really wouldn't have,

“because you know what the truth is. You know what the evidence is, and you guys all still have”

each other. And I think they all have some recognition that from here on, it's their responsibility

now for themselves and their families, but for Favio.

“As of this recording, Monica Sementilly is appealing her conviction. She still maintains her innocence.”

We reached out to her attorney who did not respond. But Luigi and the rest of the Sementilly family are trying to move on. It really feels like after the sentencing, everyone started to allow themselves to heal. It's not as dark as it was. We're starting to reminisce in new ways, in lighter ways, instead of the gravity of the situation infecting every conversation and every utterance of him. I've listened to a lot of people talk about Favio Sementilly while I've been

making the show. And across the board, there has been such an outpouring of love for this guy, whether it's family and friends, colleagues or just people who cross paths with him in the beauty industry at some point. Someone he might have mentored. Someone he inspired. There are hundreds we could have spoken to. Favio was the kind of guy that left an impression on people. And people really wanted to share that. He had a rare quality about him. Lots of people describe the same way.

Who's how he made them feel? Talent is one thing, right? Talent yes, you can be talented and you can do great hair, but a lot of people can do that. How you make people feel and how they

“remember you. It's a warm feeling in your heart and I think that's what his legacy is. He made”

everybody feel as if they were important and then they contributed something because that's all people want. Just be seen, you know. I hope that everybody has a chance to encounter somebody like Favio

and their lives. His ray of light just radiated and affected so many people. He always believed

that people may not remember what you say, but they'll remember how you made them feel. He was in the business of making people feel good and people remembered that. In a story with so much darkness and cruelty, it would be easy to feel that the lesson here. It's about deception, a trail. But for me, what stands out above all is the love that Favio inspired and so many people. And maybe that's because Favio himself was so clear about what he wanted

his legacy to be. You kind of sit in the backyard and ask you to myself, you know, what do I want to be remembered for? In June of 2015, Favio was interviewed by Americans along magazine. He was asked what had mattered most of him over his life. We know Favio was wildly successful. He went awards. He went from rags to riches as the son of immigrants. But as he sits back in his chair and pauses before he speaks, I think you can see on his face that this is what truly matters.

I always say to myself, I want to be remembered for the relationships I built. I want to be

remembered for how maybe I've made people feel in a positive light. And if it wasn't

“negative for any reason, it's because I was honest. I hope that's what I'm remembered for.”

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and hit subscribe at the top of the page. Not on Apple, head to get the binge.com to get access wherever you listen. This is Cut Color Kill, an original production of Sony Music Entertainment and novel, hosted by me, Jonathan Hirsch. Caroline Thornham is our senior producer, Katherine Godfrey is our editor. Muhammad Ahmed is our assistant producer. Mark Piddham is our engineer, additional engineering by Daniel Kempson. For novel, our executive producer is Max O'Brien.

For Sony Music Entertainment, our executive producers are Katherine St. Louis and me, Jonathan Hirsch. Production management from Shari Huston, Joe Savage and Charlotte Wolf. Fact checking by Fendell Fulton, researched by Miron Kaplan. Story development by Nell Gray Andrews. novel's director of development is Selena Meta. Special thanks to Carol and sure Levin at Miller Corznik Raymond. And a big thanks to the whole Sony Music Entertainment team.