Robert Gary Spohr, better known as Gary and his wife Wendy Wood, were the epitome of the American dream. Gary was from Imperial, California. Wendy was raised in the East Bay. They met in college, sparking a 50-year connection that was equal parts romance and partnership. For 44 of those years, they built a life defined by ambition, and it paid off. Over two decades, they built a massive real estate portfolio across the Lake Tahoe region, accruing a fortune worth roughly $23 million. They settled into a stunning home in Homewood, complete with a balcony overlooking the water, that reflected everything [music] they'd earned. They raised two daughters, Adrienne and her older sister Erin, and it was through Erin that the family connected [music] to the world of professional sports. She was married to former Major League Baseball pitcher Daniel [music] Serafini. I started playing professional baseball when I was 18. I played with about 13 teams in the United States, and then I played 4 years in Japan. Pretty much a kid's dream. Back in the day, Daniel Serafini was the real deal. He was a blue-chip prospect out of Junipero Serra High School, a private Catholic school famous for turning out legends like Barry Bonds and Tom [music] Brady. Daniel left his mark early, throwing the school's first and only playoff no-hitter. Drafted in the first round at 1992, he was once ranked the 76th best prospect in the minors by Baseball America. He had a fastball that reached 94 mph, but he had poor control. In the end, he lost more games than he won, and finished with an earned run average above six. After bouncing around the majors for seven seasons, he finished his career internationally. Eventually, Daniel hung up the cleats. He and Erin settled down, had two children, and tried to transition to an everyday life. For Gary and Wendy, those grandkids were everything. With a massive estate, tight-knit family, [music] and a view of Hurricane Bay, the Spohrs were ready to enjoy their golden years. But it all came to a violent halt on June 5th, 2021. The day everything changed. Family just sharing with me these photos of 70-year-old Robert Gary Spohr, who was found dead on Saturday after being shot once. They're next to him, his wife Wendy. Tony Up just learned from a source close to the family that the victim's wife was also shot and has been unresponsive since that shooting. Family just sharing with me these photos of 70-year-old Robert Gary Spohr, who was found dead on Saturday after being shot once. They're next to him, his wife Wendy. Deputies are working to identify a person of interest who was caught on surveillance video outside Spohr's home. The video shows a person in a hoodie wearing gray sweatpants, a neck gaiter face mask, carrying a backpack running across the driveway. Deputies say there were no signs of forced entry and the home had not been burglarized. A mystery surrounding why anyone would shoot the couple, especially with investigators still searching for a key piece of evidence. We know that he died of at least one gunshot wound. Uh a search of the house did not reveal a gun. So, any weapon that was used is uh still outstanding, which is very suspicious. At 10:00 p.m. that night, Placer County dispatch picked up a terrifying 911 call. The caller couldn't speak. She could only gasp for air. When paramedics rushed into the Spohr residence, they walked into a bloodbath. Gary was dead, killed instantly by a single gunshot to the head. Wendy had been shot twice, once at the base of the skull, but miraculously, she regained consciousness just long enough to dial the phone. She was airlifted to a trauma center in Reno and spent a month in the ICU fighting for her life. Sheriff's deputies secured the scene and found shell casings and blood on the living room couch cushions. It looked like the couple had been ambushed while they were relaxing. Curiously, there were no signs of forced entry, no broken glass, no kicked-in doors, and nothing was stolen. Surveillance footage confirmed the worst. A figure in a hoodie, mask, and backpack was seen walking up the driveway hours before the shooting. This wasn't a robbery, it was an execution. So, investigators started looking for a motive. They followed the money, digging through the couple's business records for a deal gone wrong or a disgruntled partner, but came up empty. Detectives pivoted to the couple's inner circle, taking a hard look at their daughters Adrienne and Erin. But with their only witness suffering from memory loss and few physical clues to follow, the investigation stalled out. The case went ice cold. For eight months, silence. Then, in early 2022, the younger daughter Adrienne stepped up to try and shake things loose. Adrienne Spohr still remembers getting the call on that first Saturday in June. I remember being on the phone and I just collapsed on the floor. Both her parents had been shot by an intruder. I don't think I've ever cried so hard in my life and been so hopeless. Her dad, Gary Spohr, died in their Tahoe area home. He was just kind and caring, and he loved his family. Her mom, Wendy Wood, still recovering with two bullets lodged in her head even now, 8 months after the crime. She's had to relearn how to walk. She had to relearn how to eat. To relearn how to to think, um and there are certain deficits that she has that just will never come back. Now, the week of what would have been her dad's 71st birthday, we want desperately to figure out who this person is. The family announcing they're putting up a $150,000 reward to help find her dad's killer. Maybe it's somebody who um you know knows something and and this is enough to push them over the hump to come forward with information. Sadly, the renewed push came too late for Wendy. Overwhelmed by the trauma and the brain injury, she took her own life just 1 month later. She passed without ever being able to recall who shot her. From the outside, it looked like the case had stalled once again, but behind the scenes, a war was breaking out between the Spohr sisters. On June 5th, 2023, exactly 2 years after the murder, Adrienne filed a civil lawsuit full of shocking accusations. On the 2-year anniversary of the 2021 crime, Adrienne Spohr filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of her and her parents' estate, claiming her sister Erin Spohr and her husband Dan Serafini were behind the plot to kill. As many questions linger about Gary Spohr's murder, daughter Erin Spohr is also calling into question the role her sister Adrienne played leading up to their mother's death. In an August lawsuit, she accuses Adrienne of elder abuse, saying she manipulated Wendy Wood when she was vulnerable. Adrienne isolated Wendy to facilitate her plan to exploit Wendy to divert all family assets for her own selfish benefit, the suit says, using undue influence to cut Erin out of the parents' estates and take control of the parents' estates valued at more than $10 million. Adrienne didn't mince words. She alleged that her sister Erin and brother-in-law Daniel conspired to kill their parents for the inheritance. The lawsuit claimed the Serafinis were drowning in debt, and that Erin had lured her parents out of the house that day to clear a path for Daniel to kill them. Erin fired back with a countersuit, accusing Adrienne of elder abuse and claiming her little sister manipulated their dying mother in order to cut Erin out of the will. While the sisters fought in civil court, homicide detectives were quietly closing the net. Four months after that lawsuit was filed, police announced they'd arrested two individuals for the murder of Gary Spohr and the attempted murder of Wendy Wood. A former Major League Baseball player is under arrest, accused of shooting and killing his father-in-law. It all happened at the family house in Homewood, on the West Shore of Lake Tahoe. The Sheriff's Office now says they have identified that person as the couple's son-in-law and former Major League Baseball pitcher Danny Serafini. To explain Daniel Serafini's trajectory from the Major League diamond to a local jail cell, you have to look at how far he had fallen. His baseball career didn't end with a parade, it ended with a whimper. In 2007, his time in the majors was cut short after he tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance. Daniel denied it to the bitter end. "I got completely hosed by Major League Baseball," he said. "My kids read stuff in the paper. It was BS. I've been kind of blackballed." After baseball, he tried business. He opened a baseball academy, a horse ranch that Erin managed, and a bar in Sparks, Nevada. But Daniel was better at pitching than spreadsheets. Bad investments and a messy divorce from his first marriage wiped them out. By 2015, he was $300,000 in the hole. The situation became so dire that he turned to reality television for a lifeline, appearing on Bar Rescue in a desperate bid to save his failing business. Ultimately, the Serafinis sold the bar less than 1 year later, but the debt swallowed the profit. To survive, the couple leaned on Erin's parents. Court records show Gary and Wendy were bankrolling their entire lives, paying for the house in Reno, daycare, schools, vacations, and even a $55,000 car for Daniel. But the checks couldn't fix the reality of Daniel's situation. After burning through millions, the former pro athlete was reduced to working as a laborer at a gold mine in Nevada. He wasn't living in a mansion. He was staying in an RV on the job site. According to detectives, the humiliation festered, and he was seething with resentment toward the in-laws he had to depend on. Police believe that pressure cooker finally exploded, and just as Adrienne Spohr had alleged in her court filings, Daniel was now in police custody charged with murder. But he hadn't fallen alone. Moments later, authorities announced they had a second suspect in custody. county in connection to a murder in Lake Tahoe 2 years ago. Samantha Scott arrived in Placer County this afternoon, seen here being escorted from a sheriff's plane to the back of a sheriff's car. Scott, along with former MLB player Daniel Serafini, are now in custody in connection to the death of Robert Spohr and the attempted murder of Spohr's wife, Wendy Wood. For his part, Serafini is set to appear in court on November 27th. Scott, in the meantime, has been booked into the Auburn jail and is set to be arraigned on Monday, November 6th. 34-year-old Samantha Scott wasn't just a random accomplice. She met the Serafinis through Erin's horse ranch, starting as a client taking riding lessons. But the friendship moved fast. Soon, she was going on family vacations, and eventually moved into their house as the live-in nanny. It turns out she was also the reason they got caught. While the case looked cold to the public, detectives had cracked it by finding a massive mistake. Daniel had been clever enough to turn off his phone during the murder window, which was suspicious enough for a guy who typically sent hundreds of texts a day. But Samantha Scott, she kept hers on. Police tracked her phone pinging off towers all the way from Nevada to a rendezvous point near the Spohr home in Lake Tahoe at the exact time of the murder. These digital breadcrumbs broke the case wide open. Surveillance footage captured the hooded man walking from the crime scene to the rendezvous point, where cameras captured the vehicle picking him up for their escape back to Nevada. When police first questioned Samantha, she admitted she was in the car, but claimed she had no idea a murder was planned. She told investigators she believed Daniel was going to Lake Tahoe to buy a large quantity of cocaine, and that she was just going along for the ride. Daniel and Samantha entered pleas of not guilty, and the judge ordered them both held without bail. Following the arraignment, Adrienne Spohr took questions from reporters. First off, your reaction to the no guilty not guilty um plea plea, and the judge's for no bail? The judge made the right decision. Samantha Scott should not be in the community, and I think that the truth will come out. I believe that Samantha Scott is guilty. Why did you feel it was important to come today and make a statement? To honor my parents. I was concerned that Samantha Scott could be granted bail, and I felt it was important to address her directly. Um and, you know, she has played a horrific role, and I I wanted to be able to look her in the eyes and address her for that. Can you speak on what you said in the victim impact statement? You said you talked about a vacation that you all took, and that Samantha was there after that. Can you speak on that, please? Yeah, Samantha Scott is is a twisted person. Um you know, she has long been my sister's best friend, and she, even after the shooting, continued to make herself present around our family, spending time around my mom while my mom was going through rehab. I I mean, the how sick of a person you have to be to want to look at your victim and see them struggling is beyond comprehension. Uh it's just awful. Um and, she stayed around, and she and my sister would come and visit my mom and watch her struggling, and it was horrible. It was horrible. What was going through your mind in there today seeing her for the first time since the arrest? That justice has been served. I I cannot thank this county enough. I mean, Placer County Sheriff's and the District Attorney's Office have followed through. It's been 2 years, and they have done an incredible amount of work. This was not easy. And to look her in the eyes and know that she's going to be held responsible, that means the world to me. That means I can I I felt my mom and my dad, you know, just like, are you getting nervous and you're about to speak, and then they're just like, you know what? Look her in the eye, and she will be held accountable for this. Why do you think they did this? Hm. I um I think that will come out in time. I can't speculate on that. Um I certainly have my suspicions, uh but I do think that it will come out in time. What was your reaction when you learned of Dan Serafini's arrest? And like, what was your relationship with him? Um I've never particularly liked Dan. Um you know, as the lawsuits will show, I I wasn't entirely surprised. Um I think that he is a bad person. Um I wish he had never met my sister. I wish they still weren't married. And I think he is violent. Um and I think he is greedy. And I am just so thankful that Placer County has taken him into custody, cuz that's where he should be. In her civil suit, Adrienne alleged that Daniel was financially motivated to kill her parents. She further claimed that Erin lured the couple out of the home that day, so Daniel could enter the house undetected. However, investigators found no evidence to support the claim that Erin intentionally left a door open. Police investigated Erin Serafini and never criminally charged her. Instead, the prosecution focused its case squarely on the two people they could place at the scene, Daniel Serafini and Samantha Scott. With the circle of suspects narrowed down to just two, investigators simply had to wait for one of them to break. They didn't have to wait long. For 15 months following their arrest, Samantha Scott sat in a cell. As the reality of a potential life sentence set in, loyalty to Daniel eventually gave way to survival. By January 2025, she was ready to cut a deal. In an interview with prosecutors, she sat down for a queen for a day proffer. Basically, it's a protected interview where she can speak freely without fear of her words being used against her in court. With that safety net in place, she dropped the bombshell that explained her loyalty. She and Daniel were having an intense emotional and sexual affair. She admitted that the relationship was the driving force behind years of lies. Weeks later, Samantha pled guilty to being an accessory after the fact, and in exchange, the state dropped the more serious murder and burglary charges against her. She now faces a sentence of 16 months to 3 years. Following the hearing, she was released with an ankle monitor, leaving Daniel to face the jury alone. As of the date of this upload, her sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled. The trial of California versus Daniel Serafini began on May 19th, 2025. The courtroom was packed, reflecting the high-profile nature of a case involving a former Major League Baseball player accused of executing his wealthy in-laws. Prosecutors painted a picture of a man humiliated by his own failure, living in a trailer, and hating the man who paid his bills. They argued this wasn't a crime of passion. It was a transaction. To Daniel, Gary Spohr was worth more dead than alive. The prosecution zeroed in on a nasty fight over a renovation project, pointing to it as the main source of the bad blood between the two men. They argued that while Gary was writing the checks, he controlled every dime, and that dynamic, Daniel needing the cash but hating the oversight, is what finally pushed him over the edge. To support this theory, prosecutors presented a series of explosive messages authored by Daniel that highlighted his growing resentment toward Gary. But the fighting never stops for 10 years. Approximately 1 year into the marriage, I'll pay $20,000 to have him killed. Set it up with him once. 2016, I hate them. They're wealthy pieces of [ __ ] Aaron bought her March of 2021, 3 months before Gary and Wendy were shot. I'm going to kill the [ __ ] one day. This was way more than just keyboard warriors. The emotions were taken and he would just talk about it and tell other people. And actually use the words kill. Do people say that? Yeah, they do. But in the context of this case, at some point words have to matter. In addition to the messages, evidence was introduced showing that less than an hour before being shot, Wendy Wood had handed Aaron a check for $90,000. Prosecutors highlighted the disturbing reality that Daniel shot his in-laws less than 60 minutes after they had performed a grand gesture of generosity for his family. With no DNA and no gun, the prosecution relied on forensic video analysis. An expert testified that the masked killer on the video walked with a specific limp, a biomechanical match to Daniel's gait caused by his old pitching injuries. As for the murder weapon, while the gun was never found, ballistics from the scene matched the type of weapon Daniel was known to have access to. Samantha Scott's testimony was devastating. She admitted to driving the getaway car and described a chilling scene on the ride home. Daniel in the passenger seat methodically taking the gun apart. She heard clicking noises she recognized from TV, then watched as he threw the components, a PVC pipe, and his clothing out the window onto the highway. She also revealed that Daniel wasn't guessing about the entry point. He told her the back door would be unlocked. But the prosecution wasn't finished with the women in Daniel's life. When his wife Erin took the stand, she delivered a few bombshells of her own. Michelle, you're in the courtroom for Erin Spohr's testimony today. She testified about her relationship with her husband and his former lover. What What did she say specifically? Well, yeah, Erin Spohr told the jury that she and her husband, Daniel Serafini, have always had an open sexual marriage. And she says she did realize at some point that Serafini was friends first with Samantha Scott, that his former lover and former co-defendant in this case. And then eventually it turned into a sexual relationship, but she says she didn't just She didn't find out recently and that it was an emotional relationship that it eventually turned to that and that they had been in love with each other until after people were sending news articles about Samantha Scott's testimony here in the murder trial talking about being in love with each other. Now, there are no cameras allowed in the video, but take a look. This is video of Erin Spohr arriving at the Auburn courthouse today, and she testified on many subjects from those relationships we just talked about, relationship with her parents. She said she and her parents had many arguments and that her mother, quote, cut her off at least 30 times since she was 18 years old. Now, on the day of the shootings, Spohr testified she had made plans to spend June 5th, 2021 with her parents and their children at their Lake Tahoe home taking the boat out on the lake. She says her husband was always invited to his in-laws' homes, but on this day was not part of the original plans. That was the day of the attack. Now, Spohr says she knew of the plan that he did know of the planned visit, and she also says she didn't see or know if anyone else was in the home after their day on the lake. They went back to hang out and have dinner. Now, prosecutors allege Serafini went into the home while they were all out on the lake and waited to shoot his in-laws until after his wife and his children left the home. Now, Spohr also testified that she has immunity and nothing that she testifies to can be used against her in a criminal case. Again, she is still married to Serafini and she's still going to be on the stand when court resumes on Thursday. She's still under direct examination taking on a lot of information for the jury. Reporting live in Auburn, Michelle Bandur, KCRA 3 News. >> Well, Michelle, prosecutors, they asked her about wanting to divorce Serafini a few years after marriage. And what's this we're hearing about a postnuptial agreement that was signed? Yeah, that's right, Curtis. The prosecutor asked her about wanting to get a divorce in about 2015. They got married in 2011. And she says, yeah, she thought about it and that also, you know, she said, who doesn't think about that after being married to someone for so long? Um, she says her parents did not push her into getting a divorce. And then she also brought up how Wendy Wood, her mother, wanted Serafini to sign this postnuptial agreement saying that he's not entitled to any of their worth of about $23 million. However, the prosecutor showed the jury another document that says Serafini is entitled to about 100,000 shares of a corporation they have in Washington, but that's only if he stays married to Erin Spohr. So, just a lot to unpack here for the jury. During the opening statements, the prosecution stated that family tensions and money served as the motive for the crime, but Erin Spohr says not everything was as bad as some people might think. During the trial, thousands of emails revealed heated exchanges between the family over money, business, and even the care of the children. Erin Spohr testified that the conflicts never turned physical, that the family always made up, and that she did not believe any of this was enough reason for Daniel to commit murder. Spohr testified that she was supportive of Daniel writing a book to cover legal expenses, had contacted some publishers herself, and that the book would cover Daniel's baseball career leading up to the events of 2021. She also testified that she believes Samantha Scott has been deceptive, specifically when telling the court that Daniel confessed to her that he had shot his mother-in-law, Wendy Wood, who died roughly 2 years later. Spohr says Scott was a close friend up until she was arrested and they are no longer in contact. One odd moment in court today was when both sides questioned Erin Spohr about Scott's clothing style and physical appearance after her release from jail. The defense showed a set of media photos in court today pointing out that recent images of Scott's hairstyle and clothing resembled that of Erin Spohr when she was photographed previously at a preliminary hearing. Erin Spohr testified and reportedly told an investigator that she believes Scott is trying to be her, calling the behavior, quote, creepy. The defense's strategy was to rely on reasonable doubt, emphasizing that despite a massive and lengthy investigation, no DNA, fingerprints, or murder weapon ever linked Daniel to the scene. Attorney David Dratman attacked the financial motive with the golden goose defense. He asked the jury, why would a man in debt kill the people paying his bills? It didn't make any sense. The defense further argued that the masked intruder on video appeared smaller than the former pitcher and reminded the jury that Erin testified that it was not her husband in the video. Lastly, they urged the jury to reject Samantha's testimony, characterizing her as a liar who threw Daniel under the bus in order to save her own skin. Closing arguments wrapped up on Thursday, July 10th. One side claimed Daniel Serafini committed a calculated execution, while the other insisted there was insufficient physical proof to find him guilty. Now, it was the bottom of the ninth for Daniel and everything was on the line. Because of the special circumstances attached to his murder charge, specifically lying in wait, he was facing life in prison without parole. For 2 and 1/2 days, the jury was locked away analyzing the surveillance footage frame by frame. Then, on Monday, July 14th, the room went silent as the bailiff handed the verdict form to the judge. All right, verdict as to count one. People State of California, plaintiff, versus Daniel Joseph Serafini, defendant. We, the jury in the above-entitled action, find the defendant, Daniel Joseph Serafini, guilty of a violation California Penal Code Section 187(a), murder, a felony as charged in count one of the third amended information. We further find the degree of murder to be that of murder in the first degree. And that is signed and dated by our foreperson. To our fore- foreperson, first, is that the verdict of the jury? It is. All right. It's been 4 years since my mom and dad were shot. And it's been 4 years of just [snorts] hell. Um, and the Placer County District Attorney's Office and Sheriff's Office never gave up. And today, finally, justice was served. Well, not quite just yet. Although a jury convicted Daniel Serafini in July 2025, this case isn't over. As of the date of this upload, his sentencing has been indefinitely delayed because his defense team filed a motion for a new trial claiming jury misconduct. Specifically, they allege the jury used computers to zoom in and manipulate screenshots of the surveillance video, creating their own side-by-side comparisons of the killer's shoes versus Daniel's. The argument is that by enhancing the footage themselves, the jurors effectively created new evidence that the defense never got a chance to challenge. Until a judge rules on this motion, Serafini's mandatory sentence of life without parole cannot be imposed. As he is not eligible for bail, he remains in custody while the legal process plays out. For Adrian Spohr, this legal limbo is just one last insult. After waiting years for an arrest and enduring a painful trial, she now has to wait for a judge to decide if a few zoomed-in photos are enough to restart the whole process. Let us know what you think in the comments. Did the jury cross the line or is the defense grasping at straws? Thanks for watching and we'll keep you updated as soon as the judge rules on the motion for a new trial. >> [music] [music]