Dan Serafini enlisted the help of his lover so he could gun down his wife’s parents for their money. Ex-baseball star hid in a cupboard for hours to shot his wealthy in-laws
Former Major League Baseball pitcher Dan Serafini played for six teams over his successful 22-year career. At 47, Serafini was retired and was building a second career as a businessman. Serafini founded a baseball academy in Sparks, Nevada, and he owned a bar with his wife. He was also working at a local gold mine.
Serafini was married to Erin Spohr, and they shared two sons, aged three years and eight months. They’d met when Erin was hired by Serafini’s first wife to train their horses. After Serafini was a divorced dad of two, he’d reached out to Erin, and they started dating before getting married on a beach in Hawaii. They would both allege they had an open marriage and that sex with other people was acceptable.
Despite earning over $14 million during his career, Serafini’s divorce and a series of bad investments and had left him with debts of over $300,000. Serafini had been financially dependent on Erin’s wealthy retired parents Robert Gary Spohr and Wendy Wood. The couple had been married 45 years and were worth an estimated $23million after a successful career as real estate investors. They lived in a $3.5million home they’d built on Lake Tahoe in California.
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Over the years, Robert, 70, and Wendy, 68, had generously given Serafini money to fund their home, cars, childcare and even a horse ranch business. But it had started to cause tension. There were disputes over a $1.3million loan that hadn’t been paid back, and Serafini alleged that his in-laws had become reluctant to continue writing cheques.
On June 5, 2021, Robert and Wendy took Erin, her children and their other daughter Adrienne out boating on the lake. After a day on the water, they went back to the house until 7.45pm when everyone left. Robert and Wendy settled in front of the TV for the evening.
About an hour later a 911 call was made from the house. The operator could only make out gasps as the caller struggled to speak. They tracked the location and sent out an emergency response. At the house, they found Robert dead in the living room. He had been shot at point blank range in the back of the head. Wendy had been shot twice in the head and once in the hand – remarkably she was alive and had managed to call 911. It’s believed the family dog had licked her awake, enabling her crawl to the phone. Wendy was rushed to hospital.
The house became a crime scene and the first murder investigation in the quiet community in 20 years. A $150,000 reward was offered for information. The surveillance footage captured a hooded figure, entering the house through the garage, hours before their return from the lake. The attacker had lay in wait before opening fire on Robert and Wendy.
Investigators didn’t believe the attack was a burglary. Nothing had been taken from the home – Robert was still wearing a Rolex and Wendy’s diamond bracelet had been in plain sight. There was no sign of a break in, suggesting they knew the house.
Officers turned their attention to Serafini. They had witnesses who said that Serafini resented his in-laws and had been heard offering $20,000 for someone to kill them. There was also a $23million inheritance that would have gone to Erin – and consequently him. The hooded figure entering the home had a distinctive walk and gait, that matched Serafini’s natural movements. But police needed time to build a case.
Wendy survived her injuries but suffered a debilitating brain damage and had to relearn how to walk, read and write. She couldn’t remember who pulled the trigger and suffered with depression and anxiety. Wendy had lost her beloved husband and the life they had shared that was full of adventure and travel. A year after the shooting, she died by suicide at an assisted living facility. She was 70.
Later that year, there was a break in the case. Police discovered that Serafini was in a sexual relationship with Samantha Scott who was a close friend of Erin and Serafini and had even been a nanny to their children. Serafini’s phone had been off on the night of the attack, but Scott had left her phone on, and it placed her a mile away from the crime scene.
In October 2023, Serafini and Scott were both arrested. Scott quickly made a plea deal. She admitted that on the night of the shooting, she has driven Serafini to the scene but alleged she didn’t know what he was planning and thought it was to do with buying drugs. Scott said she’d seen a gun and a silencer made from a PVC pipe in his backpack, and after she’d picked him up hours later, she’d watched him throw away those items after crossing the Nevada state line.
Scott said that later he’d confessed to shooting Wendy, not Robert, and had threatened to hurt her if she told anyone. Scott had continued her relationship with him right up to her arrest. Police determined that Serafini had lay in wait in a closet under the stairs for between three and five hours for his in-laws to come home. Once Erin and his children had left, he’d crept out and gunned down his victims.
Scott took a deal and pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact and agreed to testify against Serafini. Serafini pleaded not guilty. At the trial in 2025, the prosecution said that Serafini’s hatred of his in-laws was clear and so was his need for their money. Scott testified that she had driven Serafini to Lake Tahoe and had waited five hours before picking him back up. The night before, they had shared a hotel room in Nevada which proved that Serafini had lied about where he really was.
Serafini’s wife Erin took the stand and said that he was innocent. She said that her parents hadn’t cut them off financially and that day before she’d left, her parents gave her a $90,000 cheque for an indoor horse arena. Erin said that she had seen the footage of the hooded man entering the home and it wasn’t her husband. In contrast, Serafini’s brother testified that he recognised the distinctive walk, which would be dubbed the ‘Serafini swagger.’
The defence said there was no DNA to connect him to the scene, and that Robert and Wendy were still giving Serafini money, even paying for a new car, so the motive was flawed. In July 2025, Serafini was convicted of first-degree murder and attempted murder. He made two appeals, and requested a new trial, which was all denied. Erin filed for divorce. In March this year, Serafini, 51, was sentenced. ‘I’m far from perfect, but I am no murderer,’ he said.
Robert and Wendy’s daughter Adrienne said that Serafini showed no remorse after the shootings and even more greed, as revealed that he had cashed a $200,000 cheque written by Wendy just weeks after he’d shot her in the head.
‘He is a monster who knows no moral boundaries and has zero reservations about taking the lives of others to benefit himself,’ she said. ‘Daniel is true evil. I’m left with the lasting image of my dad shot in the back of the head and my mum lying on her back bleeding out.’
The judge told Serafini, 52, that he was a ‘liar, manipulator, arrogant and someone who has a loose relationship with the truth’ before sentencing the former sporting star to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Scott is facing up to three years in prison as part of her deal. Serafini’s greed took him from the baseball field to prison. The man who made millions of dollars winning, turned into a killer and ended up losing everything.
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