Background: Daniel Serafini attending his six-week trial in Placer County, California (KTXL/YouTube). Left inset: Daniel Serafini (Humboldt County). Right inset: Robert Spohr and Wendy Wood (KXTL/YouTube).
A former Nevada bar owner, known for his career in Major League Baseball as a pitcher and his appearances on the renowned show “Bar Rescue,” has been convicted of murdering his father-in-law and attempting to murder his mother-in-law in an effort to claim their $11 million trust fund, according to prosecutors.
Daniel “Danny” Serafini, 51, was found guilty on Monday after a six-week trial in Placer County, California. He was convicted for the shooting deaths of Robert Gary Spohr, 70, and his wife Wendy Wood in June 2021, as reported by a press release from the Placer County District Attorney’s Office. Serafini was found guilty of first-degree murder, attempted murder, and burglary.
The attack was carried out in Tahoe City, a quiet unincorporated resort town on the western shore of Lake Tahoe, where Spohr and his wife lived at the time. First responders found the pair shot inside their home after receiving a call from Wood, who was “gravely wounded,” according to prosecutors. She died by suicide a year later.
“During the investigation, detectives determined that Serafini was responsible for the horrific attack on his in-laws,” the DA’s office said.
After the shooting incident, Law&Crime reported that the Placer County Sheriff’s Office shared two videos of a “hooded male wearing a face-covering and a backpack walking to the residence several hours before the homicide occurred.” One of the videos showed a man with a backpack outside the victims’ residence, and the second added footage of the suspect walking on a sidewalk by water.
The information and evidence that police gathered led them to identify Serafini and Samantha Scott — a friend of Serafini’s wife, Erin Spohr — as the suspects. Scott, who was once a nanny for the Serafini and Spohr family, pleaded guilty on Feb. 6 to a charge of being an accessory to a felony in the shootings.
Adrienne Spohr, Erin Spohr’s sister and the daughter of Robert Gary Spohr and Wood, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in June 2023 against Scott and Serafini, as well as Erin. In the lawsuit, Adrienne Spohr accused them of “malicious, despicable, cruel, and unjust conduct” making them liable for damages after the “senseless murder” of Robert Gary Spohr and the eventual death of Wood.
“It’s been four years of just hell,” Adrienne Spohr told reporters on Monday after Serafini’s conviction. “The Placer County District Attorney’s Office and sheriff’s office never gave up, and today finally justice was served. And I will never forget how they never gave up on this case. They never gave up on my mom and dad despite how many people were trying to lie and manipulate.”
Serafini made a name for himself pitching for the Minnesota Twins and Chicago Cubs in the 1990s, but after his professional career ended apparent financial woes began. Prosecutors said during his trial that it was money that ultimately motivated him to target his in-laws, citing their $11 million trust and wife’s connection to them, according to SFGate.
The former bar owner appeared with his wife on an episode of “Bar Rescue” — titled, “Take Me Out to the Bar Game” — which aired in 2015 and began with the story of how Serafini’s $14 million earnings from his playing career dwindled after a series of failed investments and a “bitter divorce.” On the episode, Erin Spohr is heard commenting about how she noticed a change in Serafini’s personality as the failing bar left him $300,000 in debt and in danger of losing his parents’ home.
“My parents were so proud of me at one time for being a successful baseball player and now I’m thinking what a disappointment I am to everybody,” Serafini said in the episode.
His sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 18.
