Former MLB pitcher Dan Serafini was convicted of murder and attempted murder in 2021 for shooting his in-laws at his home in Homewood, California.
Prosecutors said Serafini, 51, had been hiding for more than three hours before shooting and death Robert Spool and his wife Wendy Wood on June 5, 2021, on the west coast of Lake Tahoe. Wood, 68, survived the shooting, but died in suicide in 2023.
A ju judge in Placer County, California read the verdict after nearly three days of deliberation on Monday, July 14th – Coda to a dramatic trial that spans part of a six-week period.
Serafini is scheduled to receive a sentence on August 18th. Prosecutors say they don’t seek the death penalty.
Serafini’s lawyer David Dratman did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the verdict.
Authorities spent about two years investigating the fatal shooting before identifying Serafini, who proposed six different MLB teams as shooters. They obtained surveillance footage of a hooded man similar to Serafini entering the house in the evening of the shooting while his wife, Erin Spole, was on the boat with his parents and children. (Serafini also faced charges of robbery and child danger. He was found guilty of the former and not the latter.)
Investigators discover a threatening email exchange between Serafini and his in-laws and learn that he had previously spoken about his willingness to pay $20,000 to kill them.
At the trial, the prosecutor also suggested possible financial motivation. Erin Spohr testified that his parents’ trust was valued at around $11 million in 2021, while other assets were $12 million.
The trial ultimately relied in part on the testimony of Samantha Scott, the former nanny to which Serafini was involved. Scott was arrested along with Serafini, but faces a decline in accessory charges for felony as part of a judicial agreement with prosecutors. She testified that she was going back and forth to the scene on the day of the fatal shooting, and then lied to the police in her first interview to protect her one-time lover.
“He was one of the few people I felt I could open up about. I trusted him a lot,” she testified.
Doratman attempted to cast doubt on Scott’s testimony by portraying her as an unreliable source of information. He also bothered that he said it was a 1-inch height inconsistency between Serafini and expert testimony about the height of the man on surveillance video.
Meanwhile, Placer County Assistant District Attorney Rick Miller asked the ju judge to consider all the evidence together – including Scott’s testimony about Serafini’s in-laws and the day of the shooting.
“There’s a murderer in this room,” Miller told the ju decree before gestured to Serafini. “He’s sitting right there.”
Serafini pitched in the major leagues for parts of seven seasons between 1997 and 2007, mainly working as a middle-aged bailout. He was drafted from high school by Minnesota twins in 1992, and although most of his appearances appeared in the Chicago Cubs during the 1999 season, he made his big league debut with the club. The left-handers also had a stint alongside the San Diego Padres, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds and Colorado Rockies, before a drug-enhancing performance-enhancing suspension effectively ended his career.
After resigning, Serafini embarked on a second career as a businessman. He featured a 2015 episode of reality television show Barrescue after he took out a loan to help his parents buy a bar called the “Bullpen” in Sparks, Nevada. The bar was rebranded as “Oak Taburn” but was later closed.
(This story has been updated to add a gallery.)
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Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or social media @tomschad.bsky.social.
