Transcript of Emotional testimony from a killer. A murder defendant's unusual defense. And travel scam safety tips.

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Good morning. It's morning here at 30 Rockefeller Center, and time for the Dateland Story meeting. We've got everybody, so let's go ahead and jump in. Producers are swapping tips about breaking crime news and cases playing out in courtrooms across the country.

The investigation into the chain link and how they trace that to the Lowe's store. The toxicology report will be most important.

That could take several weeks. She is just saying, You've got to let me out.

Prosecutor saying, It's not the Four Seasons. Welcome to Dateline True Crime Weekly. I'm Andrea Canning. It's March sixth, and here's what's on our docket. Fireworks in a Kansas courtroom as Dana Chandler, the woman representing herself at her third trial on charges she murdered her ex-husband and his girlfriend, calls the lead detective as a defense witness.

Were there my fingerprints in the house? No. Were there any of my hair in the house? No.

In Dateline Roundup, what we know about the investigation into the mysterious death of Hollywood legend Jean Hackman.

They're calming through hours of body camera footage from the deputies who responded to the scene. They may soon release some of that footage.

Plus, NBC News' Chief Consumer Investigative Correspondent, Vicky Wyn, is back to share her tips on how to avoid being scammed while booking your next vacation.

If the price is too good to be true and you are not using your credit card, which has a lot of fraud protection, be very, very careful.

But before all that, we're heading back to Los Angeles and the latest bombshell testimony in the trial of a woman accused of plotting with her lover to murder her hair stylist husband. Six weeks into the prosecution's case against Monica Sementilli, the state has called an array of witnesses, from the paramedic who responded to the murder scene, to a host of LAPD detectives, to Monica's own daughter, Jessica. On Tuesday morning, they called one of their star witnesses.

You may call your witness. Thank you. Do people call Christopher Austin?

Prosecutors say Christopher Austin helped Monica's lover, Robert Baker, kill her husband, Fabio. In January, Austin pleaded guilty to second agree murder for his role in the crime and agreed to testify against Monica, who he says knew about the plot. This week, we finally heard his emotional testimony in court. Dateline producer Chetna Joshy is back to tell us what Christopher Austin had to say. Chetna, thanks for joining us again.

Yeah, thanks for having me.

So, Chetna, the prosecution started by talking a bit about Christopher Austin's relationship with Robert Baker, which had been a bit of a mystery to you, Chetna, your team, Dateland, until now. So what did we find out about their connection?

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.

Did you have a term that you referred to him as? Yes. What is that?

I called him Uncle, short for uncle.

And is Rob older than you then?

Yes.

How much older?

Same age as my dad. I guess I'm not a math guy, 30 plus years older than me.

As the years went on, Christopher Austin and Baker developed a friendship. Christopher Austin even worked for him almost as an assistant, and the way he put it, doing whatever Baker needed him to do.

Okay, so the prosecution walked through Christopher Austin's arrest last October. Now, this is more than seven years after the crime. When the detective met with him, Austin said he was shown photos of himself and Baker jogging and inside the Black Porsche that they took from the Seman tilly house after the murder.

This is when Austin testifies that, yeah, he understand, he knows why he's there. So 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.

Oh, my gosh. That's intense. Interestingly, when Austin was arrested, he was taken to a cell where they had planted an undercover officer. Does he get anything good out of him?

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 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. At this point, the prosecutor in court asks him if he sees that woman. Does he see her in court?

Can you please identify where she's sitting and what she's wearing?

To my far right, white blouse, gray suit. Indicating the defendant.

Oh, this is huge. He told the undercover officer something else that had to do with money.

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. What did Baker tell you about it?

Baker told me she's loaded, she wants them gone, she's going to get paid.

Did the agent say to you, to me, it sounded like it's the bitch who planned everything. Do you remember him saying that to you?

Yeah. What did you say?

She knew about it.

She did. Christopher Austin, he was extremely emotional at times on the stand. One One of those times in particular, he's describing what happened the day Fabio was killed.

Yeah, when he got emotional, and it usually happened during times when there was direct questioning about the murder itself, and he would 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, 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 shocking 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, and that's exactly what we heard in Christopher Austin's testimony. He described once they got into the house, how Baker took the lead.

He said, From the count of three, he's going to hold him down. He opened the door and he held his mouth, couldn't scream. He started stabbing him. I'm sorry. He started stabbing him once.

Monica's defense has, no surprise, maintained that she had nothing to do with this plot to kill Fabio. This was Robert Baker. This was him reeling in Christopher Austin. How did they get around this very damaging testimony from Christopher Austin, Chetna?

A lot of Austin's testimony focused on conversations he had with Baker. 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 Monica wanted Fabio dead. This is all coming through Robert Baker.

Also, the defense tried to poke holes with Christopher Austin as well with inconsistencies, that he wasn't truthful at times with police.

Yes. 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. In his discussions with the prosecutor after the arrest, 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.

Do you recall telling her at the end of the day, all you care about is seeing my girls. Remember that? I do. Things have to happen, but I mean, do I need to testify? What do you need? What can you do What do you need for me? What do you need for 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. His deal is based on the truthful testimony that he gives in court. Whether it's truthful or not, I think what the defense wants the jury to hear is that, again, 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.

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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. Prosecutors say Chandler, consumed by hatred for her ex-husband and his girlfriend, drove hundreds of miles from Colorado to Kansas to murder them in their home. Her trial was expected to last three weeks, but has stretched into five. Thanks in part to a choice Chandler made on Eve of trial. She fired her attorneys and decided to represent herself.

Start by saying your name. My name is Dana Chandler. I, as everyone know, have been accused of a double homicide, and I am innocent.

Since then, she has cross-examined her own children.

If you please reintroduce yourself to the jury. My name is Justin Zisker, your son.

Thank you. She has spent multiple days on the witness stand telling the jury her version of events. Then this week in another courtroom surprise, Chandler called the lead detective who put her behind bars as one of her main defense witnesses. Here to tell us how Dana is faring as her own lawyer is Dateland producer Maryanne O'Donnell. Who's talking to us from the courthouse parking lot. Maryanne, thanks for coming on the podcast.

Thanks for having me.

Okay, so the twists and turns of this trial, it's going what appears to be into overtime. How do the people in the courtroom seem to be taking that?

Well, the judge is really exhorting Dana to wrap it up because don't forget, the people on this jury, they've got their lives to get back to, and this is dragging on.

Dana has previously She has not 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, 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 remember so much of that, Jan, and I'm having a difficult time for she. I'm living as quickly and as efficiently as I can. But I do need to report to give me some space and put me under such an orbit of that pressure.

On the tape, Marion, you can hear some swooshing noises.

We have two witnesses.

We can't proceed- That's actually coming from Dana's court attire. Yes, it is.

She interrupted her testimony at one point to say she was cold and she needed to get her jacket. 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, the time we had in school. There are some things that are jarring and other things that go, Okay, she's doing an okay job.

Marion, 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 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.

Maryanne, she really tried to hit home the lack of evidence in the case when she called the lead detective to the stand. She was not afraid to go to tow with him.

During your investigation of the crime scene, did you ever learn or get any information that showed that I was in the Hartness residence at any time? Yes. What was that? There was two bodies there that were connected to you that you were known to dislike one of them, hate the other one. Were there my fingerprints in the house? No. Were there any of my hair in the house? No. Was there any DNA in the house? No.

As we said, Dana testified over the course of five days. She talked about the marriage going bad and being heartbroken about losing custody of her kids. But she said she was nowhere near the crime scene that night in 2002. Maryanne, she also shared something that we hadn't heard before. She gave an explanation for two gas cans that prosecutors say she bought to fuel up for her drive to Kansas.

Yeah, this is something fairly new that's come up, that she went to an AA meeting on the day that basically the prosecution says she left Denver to go commit these murders. She's saying, No, listen, This woman was in need of gas. I met her at an AA meeting. I didn't know who she was. She was in need. She didn't have any money. I went to go, goodness of my heart, to get her five-gallon cans of fuel. I even brought I'm back, and then I went inside to my AA meeting.

Where is this woman then? Can she call her to the stand? Well, here's the thing.

We're talking about alcoholics anonymous. Anonymous.

Yes. She still hasn't been able to present a witness who can give her a A solid alibi. This week, Dana, she's on the stand being cross-examined by the prosecutor. Has this prosecutor been able to undermine her testimony?

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, shouting at Mike and Karen. Yes, that's incorrect.

What's coming across is that everyone else is wrong or lying about her.

She's also 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.

Michelle, do you remember where you live? Let's see. I don't remember.

It does leave him frustrated. But at the same time, I think he's trying to use that to show as a jury that this woman is really trying to just confuse them and trying to play with the facts.

Yeah, that's giving the jury a lot to think about. So, Maryanne, we will want to hear how this plays out. Thank you so much for being in court every day for Dateline and for Dateline True Crime Weekly. We appreciate it.

My pleasure.

Up next, it's Dateline Roundup. We've got a big development in the case of Deanne Warner, the Michigan grandmother, whose body was found stuffed in a fertilizer tank. The latest from the courtroom in the Karen Reid case, and what investigators are saying about the death of Jean Hackman. Plus, are you booking your next vacation? Tips on how to avoid becoming the victim of a travel scam.

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Hello, Dateland listeners. Are you thinking, Oh, no, it's an ad. Honestly, that's what most people think at this point. So to spare us all, I'm here with a special offer. Ad-free listening to all of Dateline's True Crime Library. Subscribe to Dateline Premium now and get 25% off the annual subscription price. This is a limited time offer. Terms and conditions apply. Find all the details at datelinepremium. Com and kiss your ads goodbye. Go ahead. I'll be okay, and so will you. Subscribe and save now. Hey, guys. Willy Geist here, reminding you to check out the Sunday Sit Down podcast. On this week's episode, I get together with Emmy and Golden Globe winner, the legend Angela Bassett, to talk about playing the President of the United States in the buzzed about new Robert De Niro series, Zero Day, and starring as the Queen in the blockbuster Black Panther Movies. You can hear our conversation now for free wherever you download your podcasts.

Welcome back. Joining us for this week's Dateline Roundup is Dateline producer, Sue Simpson. Hey, Sue.

Hey, Andrea.

All right. For our first story, we are off to Santa Fe, where last week, actor Jean Hackman and his wife, Betsey, 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 final play, but the deaths appeared suspicious enough to warrant a thorough investigation.

Initially, law enforcement assumed that this could be a carbon monoxide poisoning, but they rolled it out, right?

That's right. At a press conference, officials said initial autopsy The results were negative for carbon monoxide poisoning. 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.

They also found that Jean Hackman's pacemaker stopped on February 17th, so they are assuming that they know exactly when he died.

That's right. If they confirm that to be true, So 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. 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. 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. Two years later, before her body was even found, Dale was charged with her murder. Then this past August, her remains were found inside a sealed fertilizer tank on the family farm. This week, a second person was arrested in the case. Su, tell us who has been charged now?

It is Dee's stepson, 28-year-old Jaron Dale Warner. He was arrested over the weekend on charges of tampering with evidence and accessory after the fact in the disappearance and murder of his stepmother. He was briefly booked into the Lenaoui County Jail before posting bond. That's the same jail where his father, Dale Warner, who is awaiting trial for the murder of Dee Ann Warner, is being held. Jaron entered a not guilty plea when he was in court on Monday.

Okay, so police are saying that D's stepson, it looks like, helped his father, according to them. That's right. Okay, so what is next for the stepson?

There will be two preliminary hearings. They're set for March 10th and March 17th. But if he's convicted, he could face jail time himself. The tampering with evidence charge alone carries more than a 10-year sentence.

Okay, we will be watching. For our final story, we are back yet again in Dedham, Massachusetts, for another Karen Reid update. She is the woman accused of drunkenly backing her SUV into her police officer boyfriend, John O'Keefe, back in 2022 and leaving him to die in the snow. She has denied having anything to do with his death. There has been a lot happening in this case, Sue, over the past few weeks, and we're waiting on some answers.

Yes, Reid has been back in court for multiple hearings recently. We've been talking about here.

In court on Tuesday, the defense presented their motion to dismiss the case in entirely. What was their argument?

The defense says the prosecution suppressed video surveillance footage that would prove Karen Reid's innocence. Defense attorneys allege that in Karen Reid's first trial, prosecutors showed the jury a video that had been altered to mislead jurors. The defense has made these motions before, and previous motions to dismiss have been struck down on both the local and the state levels. We are still waiting for the judge's ruling on that.

Last week, we talked about how the federal probe was rumored to be over. Now, we actually have official confirmation.

We do. The special prosecutor, Hank Brennan, delivered the outcome of that federal probe.

There is no longer any federal investigation into the investigation of John Oakey's death or any related matters.

Brenan then went on to ask for a gag order for all attorneys in the case, but he was pretty pointed about Reid's defense team.

The ongoing, deliberate, purposeful poisoning of the potential jury pool is not only wrong and unfair, it needs to be stopped.

This comes after prosecutors previously accused the defense of violating a protective order by publicizing a text sent by Michael Proctor to an assistant district attorney. In response to that accusation, the defense attorney said it was an oversight on his part. The defense has not yet responded to this latest allegation that they're trying to influence the jury pool. We will continue to keep an eye on these rulings. Thank you so much for these updates, Sue.

Thank you, Andrea.

For many Americans, winter is a season of bitter cold or staying indoors, as we all know so well. But it's also the perfect time to start dreaming up your next big vacation. For anyone making plans, we've got some tips on how to avoid travel scams with NBC News' Chief Consumer Investigative Correspondent, Vicky Wyn. Hey, Vicky.

Hey, Andrea. Love talking about vacations.

Okay, Vicky. Most of the time, if a vacation offer seems It's too good to be true, you say it probably is, right?

That is so true. In fact, there's a brand new scam I want to tell you about, Andrea, that I just heard about. It was through a friend of a friend who said she was working with what she thought was a legitimate travel agent. This person would say, Book your travel through me. I will put it on my, quote, corporate card, and that's how you get the discounts. This victim told friends, they told family, Over the course of a year or so, people were booking vacations that were extremely discounted, and they were paying via Zelle to this travel agent. Now this woman has up and left Those vacations were never booked. Now, this is something I am in the process of investigating. I had never heard of a scam like this before, but I have talked to multiple victims who say they're left holding the bag because what the banks will is you willingly transfer this money to someone. My first piece of advice is if the price is too good to be true, be very, very careful. It's not just price, it's also how are they asking you to pay? Are they asking you to pay with a gift card with Venmo or Zelle or Cash app, some peer-to-peer payment system that may not have the kinds of protections as a credit card.

I would be very, very wary.

If you're browsing, Vicky, potential destinations, hotels, vacation activities, cruise lines, how do you confirm that what they're telling you is really true?

Yes. Keep in mind that five-star experience, luxury. These are just marketing words that companies can add to their websites, and they can look for beautiful stock photos of any destination. In order to verify if this is real, do your homework. That means entering the name of the company, the name of the hotel property, and the word review. That's how you will find what people are saying, Yes, this is legit or no, this is not. I would also recommend booking travel through reputable sources using a travel agent. Usually, they only charge a very small fee, and they have actual boots on the ground knowledge of the destinations that you're curious about.

You have your whole trip laid out. Anything else that we should watch out for before pulling the trigger?

Make sure you know what the cancelation policies are. If there There is a 24-hour cancelation period, I like to set a reminder in my phone. That reminder lets you know cancel before this time before you get charged. It's also really important to call, asking some questions to confirm the property. I think especially when you're using a peer-to-peer site like Airbnb or Verbo. This happened to us one time. We thought we were getting a great deal on a hotel room, but as we were getting closer, we weren't getting the details sent to us. We made a couple of extra calls, and it turns out that wasn't really a listing. That place didn't actually exist.

This happened to you?

My husband booked it, but thankfully, we started thinking, You know what? Maybe this is hinky, and so we canceled it.

You're going to train your family very, very well, Vicky. Thank you. I hope everyone enjoys their vacations wherever they're going, if they're going somewhere in the cold or they're booking for summer, which I know my family is. So lots of good stuff in there, Vicky. Thank you so much. You bet. That's it for this episode of Dateline True Crime Weekly. To get ad-free listening for all our podcasts, subscribe to Dateline Premium. Coming up this Friday, don't miss Keith's exclusive interview with one of the most infamous women in America, one whose story he's been covering for the past five years, convicted murderer, Laurie Vallaudabel. On the Eve of Trial and in her first television interview ever. Did you watch your children die? That's a really sad question.

It's a terrible question, and it's one I hate to have to ask.

What secrets will she reveal? You've heard a lot of stuff, Keith. What I tell you will be the truth. Watch Laurie Vallaudabel, The Jailhouse Interview, airing this Friday at 9: 8 Central on NBC, or stream it starting Saturday on Peacock. Thanks for listening. Dateline True Crime Weekly is produced by Frannie Kelly and Katie Ferguson. Our associate producers are Carson Cummins and Caroline Casey. Our senior producer is Liz Brown-Korolowf. Production and fact-checking helpchecking help by Sara Kader. Veronica Mzezeca is our digital producer. Rick Kwan is our sound designer. Original music by Jessie McGinty. Bryson Barnes is head of audio production. Paul Ryan is executive producer, and Liz Cole is Senior Executive Producer of Dateline. All right. Thanks, everybody.