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National Post
9 hours ago
- Sport
- National Post
HUNTER: Ex-MLB hurler's murder trial hears of lover, money feud with in-laws
Article content Dan Serafini never really got much beyond the backhanded sobriquet of 'journeyman.' Article content Still, ask any kid in the ballyard if seven years toiling around the MLB would be worth it, and it would be 100% in the affirmative. Article content Article content But sometimes, dreams go sideways even with multimillion-dollar contracts, the women, the cars, and the glamour. Some guys struggle when the cheering ends. Article content Article content Like Lenny Dykstra, Mel Hall, the tragic Pete Rose, O.J. Simpson, and former Maple Leaf Brian 'Spinner' Spencer, who was accused of murder and was eventually a homicide victim. Article content The graveyards and prisons are packed with former jocks who flew too close to the sun, who believed the things they were told when they were 12. Article content Former pitcher Serafini is just the latest in a long line of woe. He is likely to be reassigned to San Quentin. Article content Article content Serafini is charged with first-degree murder in the ambush murder of his father-in-law, Gary Spohr, 70, at his home in Lake Tahoe, California, in June 2021. Cops say Serafini also allegedly parked two bullets into the head of his mother-in-law, Wendy Wood. Article content She survived the bullets but not the heartache and took her life two years later, still despairing over the murder of her husband. Article content Now, Serafini, who toiled for the Minnesota Twins, the Pirates, Cubs, Reds, Padres and Rockies from 1996 to 2007, is on trial. The death penalty was taken off the table in October. Article content His gal pal and the family's nanny, Samantha Scott, has already pleaded guilty to being an accessory and is testifying against Serafini. Scratch beneath the surface, and there are more twists and turns than a screwball. Article content Among the bon mots: — According to prosecutors, the murder and attempted murder were part of a long-time family feud tied to money (isn't it always?). Like a lot of other former jocks, Serafini blew all his MLB dough on a watering hold called The Bullpen. — Just before the murder, Wood gave her daughter Erin a cheque for $90,000. Erin testified that her parents paid for the pair's Reno home and financially supported them. She and her sister, Adrienne Spohr, have been engaged in a legal war over the family will.
Daily Mail
21-05-2025
- Daily Mail
'Murderer' ex-MLB star's 'four evil words about in-laws he shot while having affair with nanny'
A former Major League Baseball pitcher called his in-laws 'wealthy pieces of s***' before he allegedly shot them inside their home. Dan Serafini, 51, who played for six MLB teams including the Minnesota Twins and the Chicago Cubs, is accused of shooting dead his wealthy father-in-law Gary Spohr, 70, and attempting to kill his mother-in-law Wendy Wood, then 69, in 2021. When his lengthy murder trial kicked off on Monday, jurors heard how he spoke about how much he hated his wealthy in-laws and even told others that he wanted them dead, as he continued his affair with the nanny, Samantha Scott, 35. "'I'll pay $20,000 to have them killed. They're wealthy pieces of s***.' That's what he said about his in-laws,' Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Miller told jurors on Monday, according to the Sacramento Bee. Serafini allegedly made the comment in 2012, the same year he married their daughter, Erin, now 36. Then, just three months before the murder, Serafini was also allegedly overheard by a mine foreman saying he wanted to kill them in a furious phone call. Prosecutors now say Serafini's relationship with his in-laws had been fraught from the beginning - and tensions only grew worse as the former pitcher and his wife found themselves partially reliant on handouts from her wealthy parents. But in a shocking twist, Erin is expected to speak out in defense of her husband - and argue that he could not have killed her parents. Erin and Serafini's two young children had visited her parents at their Lake Tahoe compound the day of the grisly murder, when Wood handed Erin a check for $90,000. As the family spent the day boating on the lake, a masked man was caught on camera sneaking into Spohr's Tahoe City shortly after 5pm. Just over an hour later, five gunshots were heard in rapid succession from inside the property with the masked killer caught leaving the home a few minutes before 9pm. Prosecutors now assert that the man captured on camera was Serafini, who had been driven to Tahoe City by his lover Scott - who was arrested alongside the former baseball star in October 2023 but is now set to testify against him. They allege the former professional pitcher was in desperate need of cash following an acrimonious divorce and a failed bar venture for which he lost $14 million in earnings from his baseball career. He then allegedly snuck into the home when he knew his wife and children and waited with a .22-caliber gun for his wife and children to return to their Reno home. Then as Spohr and Wood were watching television shortly before 9am, Miller said Serafini opened fire. The prosecutor claimed Spohr was 'executed' with a bullet to the back of his head, while Wood was struck by gunfire, vomited and bled on the couch before she crawled to a bathroom where she managed to call 911. She was so badly injured that she could only gasp for air. Emergency responders rushed to the scene, where they found Spohr's body along with bullet shell casings and bloodstains splattered around the luxury home. Medics found Wood in the bathroom, and flew her to the hospital in Reno, where she spent the next month in intensive care. She ultimately hanged herself in 2023 and her will is now the subject of a contentious legal battle between Erin and her other daughter, Adrienne, 39, who are fighting to get custody of the couple's estate - which they estimate to be worth $10 million. Following the homicide, Scott claimed she was in Elko on the day of the murder and said Serafini had spent the previous night with her there at the Red Lion Casino before leaving to return to his Crescent Valley trailer. But her tale changed when police confronted her with cellphone pings that placed her first in Crescent Valley, then Reno and next crossing into California where her phone pinged near Truckee – a border town close to Tahoe City. In Tahoe City, her tan Subaru was captured on home surveillance footage parking close to the Spohr residence at 6:42pm that night. The car was repeatedly seen moving from parking spot to parking spot before driving off at 9:22pm that night allegedly with Serafini also inside. In a lengthy interview with authorities in January, Scott told how she drove the former big-leaguer to Tahoe City that day but insisted she had left him by the Fat Cat Bar and Grill after he said he needed 'to pick up a package. She said she collected him a few hours later for the drive back to Crescent Valley. During that drive, Scott allegedly claimed Serafini disassembled the gun and threw it out of the moving vehicle's window along with his clothes and a backpack - which prosecutors admitted on Friday that investigators never recovered. Serafini's defense therefore say there is no physical evidence linking the former baseballer to the scene. His attorney, David Dratman, also argued that the masked figure in the security footage appeared to be younger and with a smaller frame than his client. 'Danny Serafini is not the person in the video. He did not shoot his wife's parents,' the attorney told jurors in his opening statement. 'These are the facts of the case.' At that point, Dratman turned his attention to discrediting Scott. He claimed that she combed through the prosecution's evidence during a hearing over the summer and then decided to provide an account 'designed to fill-in the weaknesses' of the prosecution's case against Serafini. Dratman also noted that Scott had been facing 25 years to life in prison before she pleaded guilty in February to being an accessory after the fact - and argued that prosecutors promised her that the felony charge would be dropped to a misdemeanor if she were to testify against his client. Scott would then be released after she testified with credit for time already served, Dratman claimed. As Serafini's trial continues, the defense is also expected to argue that there were plenty of other people with reason to want to kill Spohr and Wood - who had been nightmare neighbors and the subject of restraining orders at the time of the attack. Court papers seen by bear that out. Wood was convicted of attacking a man with a paddle board paddle for fishing outside her home in 2018 while Spohr had been involved in a laundry list of court cases dating back to 2011. Dratman and Serafini's other lawyer, David Fischer, also say the Spohrs' other daughter Adrienne benefitted financially from her parents' deaths. She is currently dating a convicted bank robber named in court papers as 'T.H'. previously revealed that 'T.H' is Taylor Hatton, 39, who was convicted of robbing the First Community Bank in Taos, New Mexico, in 2008 and brandishing a firearm during the heist. He was eventually arrested in Albuquerque, convicted and released from jail in 2014 according to Bureau of Prisons records. They say the man caught on camera could have been Hatton, although Richard Miller – who is leading the prosecution – noted in court last week that Hatton is just 5ft 9 while the masked man is closer to Serafini's 6ft 1 height. Serafini is now facing charges of murder, attempted murder, lying in wait and child endangerment because his two children were in the home shortly before the shooting. His trial is expected to continue through July 25, with jury deliberations tentatively scheduled for July 18.
National Post
14-05-2025
- National Post
Trial set for ex-MLB pitcher accused of gunning down father-in-law
Article content Article content Prosecutors allege Dan Serafini, who pitched in parts of seven seasons between 1996 and 2007, snuck into and hid inside his in-laws' California house at Lake Tahoe where he shot and killed Gary Spohr and fired two bullets into Wendy Woods' head in June 2021. Article content Woods spent a month in hospital recuperating and didn't have any memory of the shootings. She died by suicide in March 2023, heartbroken over the loss of her husband. Article content Placer County Superior Court officials said jury selection began Tuesday, reports NBC Sacramento affiliate KCRA. The trial is expected to begin next week. Article content Investigators assigned to the case reviewed video surveillance footage from the couple's Homewood home days later and saw a man walking up to the property wearing a black hoodie and a white mask covering his face while carrying a backpack. Article content Spohr, 70, and Wood, 68, were not at home at the time the suspect entered the property, reports SFGate. Article content The couple were with their eldest daughter, Erin Spohr, and her two children enjoying a Saturday afternoon by the lake. Article content They returned home around 7:45 p.m. Before their daughter left, Wood handed her a $90,000 cheque. She later testified that her parents financially supported her and Serafini by paying for their home in Reno, Nev., while also helping cover the cost of day care, baby supplies, schools, vacations and a $55,000 car. Article content It wasn't until later that evening a 911 call came from the home, but the dispatcher could only hear a person gasping for air. Article content The North Tahoe Fire Department arrived first at the home and discovered Spohr dead from one shot to the head and Wood in the upstairs bathroom suffering from gunshots to her head but still alive. Article content After the family told detectives to stop contacting their mother while she recuperated, the case grew cold until the couple's youngest daughter, Adrienne Spohr, held a press conference in February 2022. She offered a $150,000 reward for information that led to the arrest and conviction of the shooter. Article content
Daily Mail
13-05-2025
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Ex-MLB pitcher Dan Serafini was having an affair with nanny Samantha Scott when he 'murdered his father-in-law'
Disgraced former MLB pitcher Dan Serafini was having an affair with his family nanny who is set to testify against him as he faces charges of murdering of his wealthy father-in-law, can exclusively reveal. The 51-year-old is on trial in Auburn, California, accused of the 2021 slaying of retired businessman Gary Spohr, 70, and the attempted killing of his wife Wendy Wood, then 69. Samantha Scott, 35, admitted to what is coyly described as 'a flirtatious, romantic relationship' with Serafini in court papers obtained by – with cops saying she spent the night before the murder with him at a seedy casino hotel in Elko, Nevada, where the pair enjoyed a lengthy boozing session. But while Scott, admitted the fling and to driving Serafini to the scene of the slaying in Tahoe City, California, prosecutors say the real reason for the brutal murder was a family feud over money that had dragged on for more than a decade. Along with flirty texts exchanged by Serafini and Scott, jurors will also see the string of furious emails - characterized by Judge Garen Horst as 'intense, verbally violent interactions' during a motions hearing last week – he barraged his in-law with. Serafini played for six Major League teams most notably the Minnesota Twins and Chicago Cubs in a journeyman 12-year career between 1996 and 2007. The trial will see his wife Erin, 36, come face-to-face with the former nanny testifying for the prosecution following a February plea deal. Erin, an equestrian, will speak in defense of her husband. And while it has previously been reported that Wood had no memory of the attack, can reveal that she had in fact recovered her memory – a twist revealed during a hearing last week when the prosecution and defense made arguments over whether to put that information to the jury. Former MLB pitcher Dan Serafini, 51, was having an affair with family nanny Samantha Scott who is now set to testify against him as he faces charges of murdering of his wealthy father-in-law That led to her dramatically cutting Erin and Serafini out of her will in favor of her other daughter Adrienne, 39. Wood hanged herself in 2023 and her revised will is now the subject of a separate legal battle between her daughters. The trial marks a steep fall from grace for Serafini who is now residing in South Placer County Jail's cell 176. Even before his October 2023 arrest he had fallen to the point where he was living part time in a trailer and working as a miner in Nevada's remote Crescent Valley. Most of the money he had earned during his MLB career had been sunk into a bar in Sparks, Nevada, named the Bullpen – later the Oak Tavern – that struggled and saw him appear on a 2015 episode of Paramount's Bar Rescue. When it failed, the former pitcher and his wife found themselves partly reliant on handouts from her wealthy parents, with Wood handing Erin a check for $90,000 shortly before she and her husband were shot. Despite the financial largesse, prosecutors say Serafini's relationship with his in-laws had been fractious from the moment he met Erin in 2010. Nonetheless, the pair went on to marry in 2012 and set up home in a sprawling $1.1million five-bedroom property in Reno, Nevada, that they share with their two children aged four and seven. Spohr died instantly of a bullet to the brain. Wood survived two gunshots to the head and dialed 911, but she took her own life one year later while still in recovery According to prosecution documents, Serafini was heard offering to pony up $20,000 to have his in-laws murdered the same year he and Erin married, while in 2016, he was heard describing them as 'wealthy pieces of s***'. And, just three months before the murder in June 2021, he was overheard by mine foreman Eric Bunner saying he wanted to kill them following a furious phone call. That bad blood, says the prosecution, came to a head when a masked man was caught on camera sneaking into Spohr's Tahoe City home on June 5 2021 at shortly after 5pm. Erin had been visiting her parents that day with their children and was seen saying goodbye to them outside at 7:45pm that night. It was the last time her father would be seen alive. Just over an hour later, five gunshots were heard in rapid succession from inside the property with the masked killer caught leaving the home a few minutes before 9pm. When police arrived an hour later, they found Spohr dying on the couch from a gunshot wound to the head while his wife was found in an upstairs bathroom, shot twice in the head but miraculously still alive. Police and the prosecution say the man captured on camera was Serafini who had been driven to Tahoe City by his lover Scott. In initial interviews, Scott claimed to have been in Elko on the day of the murder and said Serafini had spent the previous night with her there at the Red Lion Casino before leaving to return to his Crescent Valley trailer. But Scott's tale changed when police confronted her with cellphone pings that placed her first in Crescent Valley, then Reno and next crossing into California where her phone pinged near Truckee – a border town close to Tahoe City. In Tahoe City, her tan Subaru was captured on home surveillance footage parking close to the Spohr residence at 6:42pm that night. The car was repeatedly seen moving from parking spot to parking spot before driving off at 9:22pm that night allegedly with Serafini also inside. According to court papers, Scott admitted to driving the former big-leaguer to Tahoe City that day but insisted she had left him there by the Fat Cat Bar and Grill after he said he needed 'to pick up a package' before collecting him a few hours later for the drive back to Crescent Valley. Police say it was during that time that Serafini snuck into the house and attacked his in-laws, emerging from a hiding spot after his wife and children left. Despite Scott turning witness for the prosecution, Serafini's defense lawyers David Dratman and David Fischer will argue that there were plenty of other people with reason to want to kill Spohr and Wood who had been nightmare neighbors and the subject of restraining orders at the time of the attack. Court papers seen by bear that out. Wood was convicted of attacking a man with a paddle board paddle for fishing outside her home in 2018 while Spohr had been involved in a laundry list of court cases dating back to 2011. Dratman and Fischer also say the Spohrs' other daughter Adrienne benefitted financially from her parents' deaths. She is currently dating a convicted bank robber named in court papers as 'T.H'. can reveal 'T.H' is Taylor Hatton, 39, who was convicted of robbing the First Community Bank in Taos, New Mexico, in 2008 and brandishing a firearm during the heist. He was eventually arrested in Albuquerque, convicted and released from jail in 2014 according to Bureau of Prisons records. They say the man caught on camera could have been Hatton, although Richard Miller – who is leading the prosecution – noted in court last week that Hatton is just 5ft 9 while the masked man is closer to Serafini's 6ft 1 height. The trial is due to run for at least two weeks and will see Serafini face life in prison if he is convicted. Scott will be sentenced at a later date.
