Daniel Serafini was sentenced after a jury found he killed his father-in-law and tried to kill his mother-in-law in a financially driven attack.

AUBURN, Calif. — Former Major League Baseball pitcher Daniel Serafini was sentenced Feb. 27 to life in prison without parole after a Placer County jury found he murdered his father-in-law in a 2021 Lake Tahoe-area shooting and attempted to kill his mother-in-law during the same attack.

The sentence closed one of Northern California’s highest-profile murder cases, a prosecution built over four years around surveillance video, cellphone evidence, witness testimony and a claim that money sat at the center of the crime. Jurors convicted Serafini in July 2025 of first-degree murder, attempted murder and first-degree burglary, and they also found special-circumstance allegations true. The case drew added attention because Serafini once pitched in the major leagues, later owned a Nevada bar featured on television, and then stood trial for killing members of his own family.

Investigators said the attack happened June 5, 2021, at the victims’ home in Homewood on Lake Tahoe’s west shore. First responders were called to the house and found Robert Gary Spohr, 70, dead and Wendy Wood, 68, badly wounded by gunfire. Prosecutors later told jurors that a hooded intruder entered the home, waited inside for hours and then opened fire after the couple returned from a boating outing. Two very young children were also in the home during the shooting, according to testimony summarized in later news reports. Wood survived the attack that day, but the family later said the trauma never left her.

The trial lasted about six weeks and featured dozens of witnesses, according to the Placer County District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors said digital, cellphone and other forensic evidence tied Serafini to the killing, even though his defense argued there was no DNA, no photograph and no direct video image showing him as the shooter. The state said the evidence showed planning, waiting and a focused effort to attack the couple inside their own house. On July 14, 2025, the jury found Serafini guilty of first-degree murder in Spohr’s death, attempted murder of Wood and burglary. It also found lying-in-wait and felony-murder special circumstances true, along with firearm allegations, sharply raising the stakes before sentencing.

Prosecutors said the motive was financial. Trial reporting described a family dispute over money, including a renovation project and broader conflict over access to family wealth. Law&Crime later reported that prosecutors described the shooting as an attempt to get money from an $11 million trust. Other coverage pointed to messages introduced at trial in which Serafini expressed hostility toward his in-laws and complained about money. The defense pushed back, telling jurors the state had built a case around dislike of Serafini rather than hard physical proof. That argument resurfaced after conviction, when Serafini complained in court that the case had become a “popularity contest,” insisting jurors convicted him because they did not like him. The jury’s verdict, however, showed it accepted the prosecution’s broader timeline and motive theory.

The case also widened beyond a single defendant. Samantha Scott, who had been charged alongside Serafini, pleaded guilty in February 2025 to being an accessory after the fact. Prosecutors said little publicly after that plea because Serafini still had to stand trial, but the development narrowed one part of the case before jurors were sworn. By the time Serafini appeared for sentencing in Auburn, he had also filed motions seeking a new trial. The judge rejected those efforts. During the sentencing hearing, Serafini maintained his innocence and did not accept responsibility. The judge rejected his due-process complaints, said he had vigorous representation and told him what the court heard was “not reflection” but “deflection.”

Family pain remained at the center of the hearing. Wendy Wood survived the shooting but later died by suicide, and relatives have publicly tied that death to the trauma of the attack and its aftermath. Prosecutors said the damage from the crime spread far beyond the two immediate victims, leaving a family shattered and a community stunned years after the shooting. District Attorney Morgan Gire said in a statement that the case’s human toll extended well beyond the courtroom. In the end, the judge ordered Serafini to spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole, sending him into the California prison system after the closely watched trial ended.

The case now stands at the post-sentencing stage. Serafini has been convicted, sentenced and denied a new trial, and his attorney said an appeal is expected. Restitution issues remained to be addressed after sentencing, making that one of the next formal milestones in a case that began with a shooting on June 5, 2021, and reached final judgment on Feb. 27, 2026.

Author note: Last updated March 26, 2026.