Former Twins pitcher convicted of murdering his father-in-law over $11M estate

Daniel Serafini, a former first-round draft pick by the Twins and journeyman professional baseball player, was found guilty Monday of first-degree murder and attempted murder for an attack on his in-laws in 2021.

The California jury verdict came after a six-week trial.

Placer County prosecutors alleged that Serafini carried out the murder of Gary Spohr and the attempted murder of Wendy Wood at their Lake Tahoe home in 2021 because Serafini and his wife, Erin Spohr, were dealing with financial troubles. Spohr’s parents had a trust worth $11 million and millions more in assets.

Video of closing arguments taken by KCRA3 out of Sacramento showed Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Rick Miller arguing that Serafini despised his in-laws and had motives to carry out the killing.

“It’s a person with a decades-long history of fights over money, fights over children,” Miller said. “The person who makes threats, the person who began talking almost a decade before about wanting them dead.”

It took more than two years after the killing for Serafini to be arrested.

The Placer County Sheriff’s Office had sought public help in identifying a suspect, posting photos and videos of a person wearing a backpack, a hooded sweatshirt and a mask over most of his face entering the Lake Tahoe home hours before the killing. After the killing, the same person was seen leaving the home.

In 2022, Adrienne Spohr, daughter of Gary Spohr and Wendy Wood and Erin’s sister, offered a $150,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

In 2023, Adrienne filed a wrongful death civil lawsuit against Erin Spohr and Serafini, alleging they had conspired to kill Gary Spohr and Wood. Several months later, Serafini was charged with murder, attempted murder, burglary and child abuse.

Erin Spohr and Serafini remain married, and she was never charged in connection with the case.

The criminal complaint shows that Serafini used a .22 caliber handgun and that his children had been inside the home with their grandparents while Serafini hid inside the house before carrying out the attack.

After recovering from her physical injuries, Wood later died by suicide. Adrienne said the suicide was a direct result of the attack.

“She couldn’t handle it,” Adrienne Spohr told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2023. “She missed my dad like crazy.”

The trial included testimony that Serafini and Erin Spohr received extensive financial support from Erin’s parents, including a $90,000 check on the day of the murder. The couple were also in an open sexual relationship. Serafini’s girlfriend was initially charged with murder but agreed to a plea deal for lesser charges in exchange for testimony against Serafini. She testified that she drove Serafini into Nevada after the killing and that he dismantled a gun and threw it out the window of the car.

Erin Spohr testified that she did not believe her husband carried out the crime.

Adrienne Spohr said at a news conference after the guilty verdict that “it has been four years since my mom and dad were shot and it’s been four years of just hell. ... Today, finally, justice was served.”

A juror who spoke to the media after the trial said the conviction stemmed from a lack of any other credible suspect. The jury deliberated for three days.

“If it wasn’t Mr. Serafini, who else could it have been?” said the juror, Gracee Butrick. “For us it was, would it be better if we had him, the person we think it is, go away? Or letting him go and the chance of anything like this happening again?”

Serafini’s attorney, David Dratman, argued at closing that “Mr. Serafini does not fit into the video of the person, any of the videos, of that person who is depicted going into or coming out of that house. That is a significant, significant fact.”

Butrick said the jury compared videos showing how Serafini walks to the surveillance footage of the suspect going in and out of the house.

“It was frame by frame going through each video, pausing, comparing body types and comparing shoes, even, was a topic of discussion,” she said.

Serafini will be sentenced Aug. 18.

Serafini was drafted by the Twins in the first round of the 1992 MLB Draft as a high schooler out of San Mateo, Calif.

He spent part of five seasons in the Twins minor league system before being called up to the big leagues in 1996. Over three seasons with the Twins, he pitched in 35 games, starting 14 before moving primarily to the bullpen. He posted a 5.88 ERA while going 9-6 overall before being sent to the Chicago Cubs in 1999 after the team ran out of options for sending him to the minors.

“Ideally, you’d like to get a player in return, but I didn’t have time,” Twins General Manager Terry Ryan said about the move.

Serafini then began a nomadic baseball career. He spent part of four seasons in the majors with the Cubs, Padres, Pirates, Venezuela and Reds between 1999 and 2007, when he was suspended for 50 games by MLB for failing a drug test. He also pitched in China, Japan, Mexico and the Caribbean before leaving baseball for good in 2013 after pitching for Venezuela.

Requests for comment were left with the Placer County Attorney’s Office, Serafini’s attorney and the Minnesota Twins.