Ex-MLB Player Daniel Serafini Gunned Down In-Laws for $23M Fortune — with Babysitter’s Help

After enduring a long, isolating winter in 2021 under COVID restrictions, real estate investors Gary Spohr and Wendy Wood were finally able to enjoy a cherished day on Lake Tahoe with their grandsons. The $3.5 million retirement home they’d built in Homewood, California, had remained largely empty during the pandemic — no guests, no travel. But on June 5, the couple hosted their daughter Erin Spohr and her two young sons for a brief but joyful boating trip.

Though Erin, 39, arrived later than expected, cutting short the outing, it didn’t dampen the moment for Wendy, 68, who strolled hand-in-hand with her toddler grandson back to the house while Gary, 70, made dinner. Before Erin departed with the boys for the drive home to Reno at 7:45 p.m., Wendy handed her a $90,000 check to help build an indoor horse-riding ring — a longtime dream. Then, as the couple settled in for the evening, they were unaware that a masked intruder had earlier entered their garage and was waiting inside the home.

Roughly an hour later, the gunman emerged. Gary was shot in the back of the head and died instantly. Wendy, struck twice in the head and once in the hand, managed to dial 911. Although she couldn’t speak, the call triggered a rapid police response. She was rushed to the hospital and miraculously survived.

“She relearned how to walk and write and even went hiking,” recalled their younger daughter, Adrienne Spohr, 35. “She was amazing.” But Wendy struggled with severe emotional trauma in the aftermath. In 2023, she died by suicide at an assisted-living facility. “The heartbreak of losing my dad — and knowing who was responsible — became too much,” Adrienne said. “She said it felt like she had lost her right arm.”

Though Wendy suffered brain damage and couldn’t recall the night of the shooting, she firmly believed the masked intruder was her son-in-law, former Major League Baseball pitcher Daniel Serafini, 51. The couple had a long history of tension with Serafini, clashing over finances and politics. It took law enforcement more than two years to build a case, but on October 20, 2023, Serafini and Samantha Scott — a 35-year-old friend of Erin’s and Serafini’s lover — were arrested and later charged in the murder of Gary and attempted murder of Wendy.

Serafini’s murder trial began on May 19, 2025, in Placer County, California. Prosecutors argued that Serafini, who had squandered the $14 million he earned in the MLB, was financially reliant on his in-laws — whom he once referred to as “wealthy pieces of s—” — and sought to kill them to access his wife’s share of their $23 million estate.

Samantha Scott struck a plea deal, testifying that she drove Serafini to and from Lake Tahoe on the day of the shooting and watched him test a homemade silencer. On July 14, 2025, Serafini was convicted of murder, attempted murder, and first-degree burglary. His sentencing is scheduled for August 18. “There can never truly be closure for Gary and Wendy’s family and friends,” said Placer County D.A. Morgan Gire. “We hope this verdict provides some semblance of resolve as they move forward.”

Erin met Serafini in 2006 when she was hired by his then-wife to train the family’s horses. She was 19, he was 31, married with two children. They married in Hawaii four years later, after he divorced. From the start, their relationship was unconventional and open. “It was kind of ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell,’” Erin testified. “My father cheated on my mom throughout my upbringing. So for me, sexual things were a little more fluid.”

Relations with Erin’s parents were rocky. When she dropped out of dental school in San Jose to move to Reno with Serafini, her parents threatened to sue him for tuition. Wendy later demanded that Serafini sign a postnuptial agreement that would block him from accessing the daughters’ trust if they divorced — which he did.

Erin said in court she wasn’t involved in drafting the agreement but wasn’t surprised. “I have probably been cut off by my mom about 30 times in my life,” she testified. “From stopping college payments, to cutting off my phone, my car insurance, or just communication entirely.” Wendy even threatened to disinherit her at times.

Though Wendy and Gary were financially generous — paying for IVF, homes, cars, vacations, and club memberships — their support came with strings. When they gave Erin and Serafini $1.3 million in 2016 to buy property, tensions escalated. Serafini once wrote in an email to his father-in-law: “Take the f—ing house. But if Gary ever says f— you to me again I will knock him the f— out.” In another message, he threatened: “I’m going to kill the motherf—ers one day.” Weeks before the shooting, Wendy gave him $70,000 to buy his “dream car,” prosecutors said.

The quiet Lake Tahoe community was stunned by the violence. Police had no suspects, no forced entry, no theft — just a blurry video of a masked figure approaching the home. Detectives suspected someone familiar with the property and the victims. The case eventually went cold.

Behind the scenes, Adrienne worked closely with authorities and offered a $150,000 reward for information. She publicly named her sister and brother-in-law in a wrongful-death lawsuit on the second anniversary of the murders.

A break came when investigators traced cellphone data placing Scott at the Red Lion hotel in Elko, Nevada, with Serafini the night before the killings. Surveillance video captured Scott checking into a room with a hot tub, which she shared with Serafini.

Scott initially lied about her involvement and her romantic relationship with Serafini, but after being granted immunity, she confessed. On the witness stand, she said she met Serafini after becoming close with Erin through horseback riding. By 2021, she was babysitting their children and helping with daily chores. She testified that Serafini asked her to meet in Elko, and they drove to Lake Tahoe together. She waited in the car while he snuck into the house and later confessed to the shooting. She said Serafini told her he had shot Wendy and implied he had killed Gary — even threatening to kill her if she told anyone.

Despite this, Scott continued her friendship with Erin, even babysitting her children after the murders and traveling with her to Mexico in 2022 for cosmetic surgery funded by Serafini.

Erin has denied involvement and has not been charged. She testified in her husband’s defense, claiming the masked figure in the surveillance footage did not resemble the man she’d spent 13 years with. “He’s an amazing father, great provider. He’s my best friend,” she told the jury.

Her loyalty to Serafini has fractured her relationship with Adrienne. Beyond the wrongful-death suit, the sisters are now battling over ownership of the Lake Tahoe home held in their parents’ trust.

“My parents were forces of nature,” Adrienne said. “They were strong, adventurous, generous, and they loved deeply. That’s how I want people to remember them — not as victims but as the incredible people they were.”