Dan Serafini sentenced to life in prison for Lake Tahoe murder
Former Major League Baseball pitcher Dan Serafini was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole Friday for the 2021 first-degree murder of his father-in-law and the attempted murder of his mother-in-law in Lake Tahoe.
How the attack unfolded
Prosecutors say Serafini broke into the Spohr family home on the west shore of Lake Tahoe while Gary Spohr, 70, and his wife were out boating with their grandsons and their daughter Erin Spohr. Serafini waited in a closet and, upon the couple’s return, shot both victims in the head, prosecutors said; Gary Spohr died and Wendy Wood was seriously injured.
Wendy Wood later took her own life in 2022 at age 69 after a year of rehabilitation that included relearning to read and write and regaining abilities such as hiking and riding a bicycle, Adrienne Spohr said in court. Adrienne Spohr called Serafini "a monster who knows no moral boundaries and has zero reservations about taking the lives of others to benefit himself" during the sentencing hearing.
Dan Serafini's conviction and sentence
The jury found Serafini guilty in July after a six-week trial of first-degree murder and related counts, including first-degree burglary, lying-in-wait and felony murder; special circumstance and firearm allegations were found true. Serafini, 52, made two unsuccessful appeals and a request for a new trial was denied only a week before sentencing, Placer County Superior Court Judge Garen J. Horst said at the hearing.
At sentencing, Judge Horst described Serafini as "a liar, manipulator, arrogant and someone who has a loose relationship with the truth, " underscoring the court’s finding that Serafini was culpable on the aggravated charges. Samantha Scott, a nanny employed by Serafini and Erin Spohr, pleaded guilty to being an accessory and testified in 2025 that she drove Serafini to the crime scene believing it was for a drug deal, that she saw him with a gun and a PVC-pipe silencer, and that she dropped him off near the Spohr home before witnessing him discard items after crossing into Nevada.
Career and later developments
Serafini spent 22 seasons playing professionally, including time with six MLB teams before his career ended in 2013. He was the Minnesota Twins’ first-round draft pick in 1992 out of Junipero Serra High in San Mateo and made his big-league debut in 1996 with the Twins, later pitching for the Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds and Colorado Rockies. He also pitched in Japan from 2004 to 2007, where he received a 50-game suspension in 2007 for performance-enhancing drugs that he said were tied to medication he took while playing overseas. Serafini also pitched for Italy in the 2013 World Baseball Classic; a bar he owned in Sparks, Nevada, was featured on an episode of "Bar Rescue" in 2025.
Samantha Scott’s guilty plea to being an accessory and her testimony in 2025 were part of the prosecution’s case that led to the conviction and the finding of aggravating circumstances by the jury. Adrienne Spohr told the court the shooting was "a heinous, calculated crime" and that her parents had been generous to Serafini and his wife Erin throughout their marriage.
With the jury’s verdict, the judge’s findings and the denial of a new trial only days before sentencing, Serafini will serve life in prison without the possibility of parole under the court’s judgment.
