Serafini reportedly hated his wife\u2019s wealthy parents, Placer prosecutors said, telling friends that he would offer $20,000 to whoever would carry out their killings.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, Serafini took the task into his own hands<\/a>.<\/p>\n Spohr died from a single shot to the head from Serafini during the June 5, 2021, burglary at the home on Lake Tahoe\u2019s west shore. Wood survived the shooting, but needed extensive rehabilitation in its aftermath and died a year later.<\/p>\n \u201cDan Serafini executed my dad and left my mom to die,\u201d daughter Adrienne Spohr told reporters outside the Historic Auburn Courthouse following Serafini\u2019s sentencing Friday afternoon. \u201cMy mom fought with everything she could and did not let Dan Serafini win. Dan Serafini is finally being held accountable and will spend the rest of his life behind bars.\u201d<\/p>\n Friends of Wendy and Gary Spohr filed one after another before Judge Garen Horst to describe a loving couple who thrived on adventure and travel, whether skiing their beloved Sierra or diving in the waters of the South Pacific, but whose lives were cut down out of Serafini\u2019s greed.<\/p>\n The couple\u2019s generosity was exploited, their trust repaid with murder, one friend said, by a man whose evil hid in plain sight. Gary Spohr\u2019s killing and the attempt on his wife\u2019s life, said another, was \u201ca senseless act of violence and hate.\u201d<\/p>\n For that, another family friend said. \u201cDaniel\u2019s evilness deserves no sympathy.\u201d<\/p>\n Serafini, in Placer jail orange, offered a lengthy rebuttal of his own. He said he was unfairly painted as a greedy manipulator and wrongfully convicted of the brutal crimes that killed his children\u2019s grandparents. Serafini earlier this month lost a bid for a new trial<\/a>. He had argued he was denied due process<\/a>, a charge Horst rejected.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was no DNA, no photos, no video, to link me to this crime, but because you don\u2019t like me, you found me guilty. This trial was a popularity contest,\u201d Serafini said before offering \u201ccondolences to the victims of this heinous crime.\u201d<\/p>\n But Adrienne Spohr \u2014 before Horst and her parents\u2019 other survivors, with the exception of Serafini\u2019s wife, Erin<\/a> \u2014 delivered what amounted to a closing argument in calling for Serafini to die in prison.<\/p>\n She painted a grotesquerie of violence<\/a> and greed from Serafini\u2019s repeated requests for more money from her mom and dad to the moment Serafini fired the point-blank shots in the family\u2019s living room to mother Wendy\u2019s final, agonizing months before taking her own life.<\/p>\n \u201cDaniel is true evil. I\u2019m left with the lasting image of my dad shot in the back of the head and my mom lying on her back bleeding out,\u201d she said. \u201cDan destroyed the lives of my parents and all four of their children.<\/p>\n \u201cDanny Serafini should never see the outside of a prison ever again.\u201d<\/p>\n This story was originally published February 27, 2026 at 5:12 PM.<\/p>\n Gary Spohr and Wendy Wood pose in an undated photo. Former Major League Baseball pitcher Daniel Serafini was sentenced Friday, Feb. 27, 2026, in Placer Superior Court to life without parole for murdering Spohr and attempting to kill Wood during a June 5, 2021, burglary at their Homewood residence. Spohr Family <\/p>\n
Former MLB pitcher Daniel Serafini wipes away tears in Placer Superior Court in Auburn on Friday after he is sentenced for murdering his father-in-law Greg Spohr and shooting his mother-in-law Wendy Spohr. HECTOR AMEZCUA hamezcua@sacbee.com <\/p>\n
Adrienne Spohr, daughter of the shooting victims of former MLB pitcher Daniel Serafini, looks at him as she gives her victim statement during his sentencing for murder in Placer Superior Court in Auburn on Friday. HECTOR AMEZCUA hamezcua@sacbee.com <\/p>\n
Adrienne Spohr, daughter of the victims of former MLB baseball player Daniel Serafini, looks at him as she gives her victim statement during his sentencing for murder in Placer Superior Court in Auburn on Friday. HECTOR AMEZCUA hamezcua@sacbee.com
Former MLB pitcher Daniel Serafini looks up as he is sentenced for murdering his father-in-law and shooting his mother-in-law, in Placer Superior Court in Auburn on Friday. HECTOR AMEZCUA hamezcua@sacbee.com
Adrienne Spohr, daughter of the shooting victims of former MLB pitcher Daniel Serafini, speaks about his sentencing in Placer Superior Court in Auburn on Friday. Spohr said in her victim statement that she feared that Serafini would come after her, so she would sleep with a gun for safety. HECTOR AMEZCUA hamezcua@sacbee.com <\/p>\n