A former MLB star, once cheered by thousands, hides in his in-laws’ $3.5M lake house, gun loaded, heart cold. Two shots later, one is d3ad, another fights for life. The kicker? His secret lover, their nanny, was his getaway driver – and his wife knew about the affair.
This is no sports highlight reel. It’s the chilling true story of Daniel Serafini, accused of slaughtering his wife’s parents for a $1.3M grudge and a slice of their millions. What pushed a pitcher to murder? And what family secret still haunts Lake Tahoe?
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In the serene embrace of Lake Tahoe’s Hurricane Bay, where multimillion-dollar estates gleam against the Sierra Nevada, a retired couple’s haven became a house of horrors on June 5, 2021. Robert Gary “Gary” Spohr, a 70-year-old tech mogul turned boating enthusiast, and his wife, Wendy Louise Wood, 68, a former schoolteacher and arts patron, stepped into their $3.5 million home after a day on the water. They never saw the gunfire coming. Two shots left Spohr dead on his kitchen floor; Wood, riddled with bullets to her head and neck, clung to life as their two young grandchildren slept upstairs, unaware of the carnage below.
The killer, prosecutors say, was no random intruder but Daniel Joseph “Danny” Serafini, 51, a former Major League Baseball pitcher whose faded fame masked a brewing storm of greed and betrayal. Married to the Spohrs’ daughter Erin, Serafini allegedly plotted the murders over a $1.3 million loan dispute tied to a failing ranch, with his sights on the family’s $23 million fortune. His accomplice? Samantha Maria Scott, 35, the family’s former nanny and his lover, who drove the getaway car after a three-hour ambush. The July 2025 conviction in Placer County Superior Court – first-degree murder, attempted murder, and burglary – sealed Serafini’s fate: life without parole looms. Yet, as appeals churn and a grieving family fractures, the case lays bare a tale of infidelity, inheritance, and cold calculation that’s gripped true crime circles.
A Pitcher’s Fall from Grace
Daniel Serafini’s story began far from bloodshed, on the gritty sandlots of San Francisco’s Richmond District. Born in 1974 to a dockworker father and stay-at-home mother, he slung fastballs with a left arm that scouts called “electric.” Picked in the 10th round of the 1992 MLB Draft by the Minnesota Twins out of Junípero Serra High School – the same school as Barry Bonds – Serafini debuted in 1996, fanning Cal Ripken Jr. in a moment of rookie glory. His 11-year MLB career spanned the Twins, Cubs, Brewers, Reds, Rockies, and Giants, with a 4.84 ERA across 295 games, mostly as a reliever. A 2004 World Series appearance with Colorado and a 2006 Olympic bronze for Italy marked peaks, but by 2007, at 33, injuries and whispers of performance-enhancing drugs ended his run.
Post-baseball, Serafini’s life unraveled. He coached Little League, tended bar, and worked as a Nevada gold mine supervisor – a far cry from packed stadiums. In 2011, he married Erin Spohr, 42, a horse-loving daughter of Tahoe wealth. Their Reno life included The Oak, a sports bar spotlighted on Spike TV’s Bar Rescue in 2015. The episode captured Serafini’s charm but also his cracks: a failing business, public spats with Erin, and a candid admission of feeling like a “letdown” to her parents, Gary and Wendy, who’d bankrolled the bar’s startup.
The Money Feud That Ignited Murder
The Spohrs were Tahoe royalty. Gary, a retired tech consultant, and Wendy, a beloved arts philanthropist, had built a fortune through savvy investments and real estate, including their Hurricane Bay estate. They adored Erin, their eldest, but tensions with Serafini simmered. Political divides – his vocal conservatism clashed with their liberal leanings – were minor compared to money. In 2018, the Spohrs loaned Erin and Serafini $1.3 million for a Washoe Valley ranch to breed performance horses, Erin’s passion. The project tanked amid cost overruns and accusations of mismanagement. Court filings reveal bitter emails: Serafini branded Gary a “crook,” Wendy a “control freak.” Gary called Serafini “unstable” and “abusive.” A 2020 text from Serafini, later pivotal at trial, read: “I’ll kill them one day” over a $21,000 dispute. Friends testified he’d once floated a $20,000 hitman offer – dismissed as bravado until June 2021.
By then, Serafini and Erin were drowning. The ranch bled cash, The Oak had folded, and debts piled up. Enter Samantha Scott: Hired as nanny for Serafini’s two kids from a prior marriage, the Reno native became Erin’s friend – and Serafini’s mistress. Erin, testifying later, admitted to an open marriage, claiming she “approved” the affair. Prosecutors saw a darker pact. Cell data showed Scott and Serafini scouting the Tahoe home on June 4, 2021. The next evening, as Erin joined her parents and kids boating, Serafini allegedly slipped into the garage with a .22-caliber pistol, waiting three hours in silence.
The Ambush and Aftermath
At 9:30 p.m., the Spohrs returned. Surveillance caught the hooded figure – identified as Serafini via gait analysis and shoe treads – inside. Two muffled shots rang out. Gary Spohr, struck three times in the chest, collapsed dead. Wendy, hit twice in the head and neck, screamed through a 911 call: “Gary’s been shot!” The killer fled to a trailhead, where Scott waited. Paramedics found a blood-soaked scene; Wood, miraculously alive, whispered to detectives, “It was Danny,” despite trauma clouding her memory. She survived two years, battling PTSD and brain damage, before taking her own life in March 2023 – a second loss her family blames on Serafini.
The investigation was meticulous. Placer County Sheriff’s Sgt. David Smith found no forced entry, signaling an inside job. A hiker’s tip about gun parts in a trail culvert, plus Scott’s phone pinging near Tahoe, tightened the net. By October 2023, Serafini was nabbed in Winnemucca, Scott in Las Vegas. Scott’s February 2025 plea to accessory after the fact – up to four years – cracked the case open. She testified Serafini confessed post-murder, saying it was “for the ranch,” and described dumping the gun in the Truckee River as she drove him to safety.
The Trial That Shocked Tahoe
The May-July 2025 trial in Auburn drew crowds and cameras. Prosecutor Rick Miller presented 1,200 exhibits: Shell casings with Serafini’s prints, jail letters to Scott urging silence, and searches for “silenced .22 pistols.” Defense attorney David Dratman countered with gaps: No DNA, no recovered gun, and an FBI height analysis off by an inch (Serafini’s 6-foot-1 vs. the video’s 6-foot-2). Scott’s plea, he argued, bought her freedom to lie. Erin’s testimony stunned: She painted a loving marriage, claiming her parents gifted $90,000 that day. But cross-examination exposed forced postnuptials and texts mirroring Serafini’s rage. Adrienne Spohr, the younger daughter, wore her parents’ ashes in court, glaring as Erin spoke. The jury convicted on all major counts, acquitting only on child endangerment.
A Family Fractured, a Fortune Fought
Post-verdict, the saga continues. Sentencing, delayed to October 28, 2025, after Serafini fired his team, alleging juror misconduct, hangs over Placer County. Erin filed for divorce in August, yet visited Serafini pre-verdict. Adrienne’s wrongful-death suit against both seeks to block estate access. The Spohr trust, worth $11 million plus $12 million in assets, remains a flashpoint. The ranch was foreclosed in 2024.
Experts see narcissism in Serafini’s playbook. Dr. Katherine Ramsland calls him a “failed hero” chasing control through violence. Tahoe locals mourn the Spohrs’ generosity – Gary’s boat rides, Wendy’s art grants – while shunning Serafini’s name. Adrienne pushes for fraud alerts and shelters, telling People: “Dad grilled salmon; Mom danced. They deserved decades, not death.” Media, from Oxygen’s Mound of Madness to Crime Junkie, feasts on the “throuple” twist. The Twins issued a brief condolence; Bonds stayed silent.
In Tahoe’s crisp fall, the Hurricane Bay home sits vacant, a for-sale sign creaking. Grandkids ask about “Grandpa’s boat.” Adrienne awaits sentencing for closure; Erin, divorce papers in hand, wrestles with loyalty. Serafini, 51, pens appeals from his cell, his fastball days a distant memory. From MLB mounds to a murderer’s cell, his arc is a cautionary tale: When greed throws the final pitch, no one wins.
