Healthy 'N Fit Owner Robert Sepe Sr. Takes The Stand In His Own Murder Trial Defense

A Cortlandt businessman who beat his fiancee to death with a baseball bat last year told a jury this afternoon that he had put a deposit down on $18,000 engagement ring just a few months before she was killed.

"We should have gotten married sooner; That was my fault, again," said Robert Sepe Sr., who is on trial for murder in the death of 41-year-old Janette Carlucci.

Sepe, 54, claims he was under an "extreme emotional disturbance" when he bludgeoned Carlucci inside the home their shared on Quaker Hill Road. Her body was discovered March 22, 2008 - the day before Easter.

Soon after the slaying, Sepe fled upstate to Binghamton, where he held state police at bay for five hours, threatening to jump off an overpass.

If the jury believes Sepe was emotionally disturbed when he killed Carlucci, it could acquit him of intentional murder and convict him of manslaughter, which carries a lesser prison sentence.

Prosecutors say Sepe intentionally killed Carlucci because he wanted to reunite with his ex-wife and because Carlucci wouldn't cancel their plans to host Easter dinner. He faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder.

Sepe, who owns the a bodybuilding supplements company called Healthy 'N Fit International, talked about how he became interested in weightlifting and bodybuilding at an early age while growing up in the Bronx. He said he married young to escape his parents' harsh treatment, and entered therapy in 1993 to end his lifelong battle with anxiety.

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Admitted Cortlandt killer takes stand in his own defense

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