Former MLB pitcher Dan Serafini was convicted on Monday of first-degree murder, attempted murder, and first-degree burglary stemming from the 2021 shooting of his wife’s parents.
Serafini was found to have shot and killed Robert Gary Spohr and wounded Wendy Wood on June 5, 2021 in their home near Lake Tahoe, California. (Wood initially survived but died a year later.)
According to the Sacramento Bee, prosecutors presented the jury with transcripts of emails and text messages that revealed Serafini’s anger with his in-laws concerning a $1.3 million loan the in-laws had given him and his wife for a renovation project. The Bee also reported that Serafini’s wife had received a check worth $90,000 from her parents on the day they were shot. That money was intended to serve as a loan for Serafini to buy his dream car: a GTO.
Additionally, the jury viewed security camera footage that compared video of the perpetrator with video of Serafini at a hotel hours earlier.
“We spent a good 20 minutes pausing video and just staring at shoes,” one of the jurors told reporters after the verdict was announced. “From the hotel video all the way to the garage video. It’s the same exact shoe and the walk, the hitch in the hip nailed it in.”
Serafini, 51, appeared in parts of seven big-league seasons. For his career, he pitched in 104 games and compiled a 6.04 ERA. He suited up for the Minnesota Twins, Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies, and San Diego Padres.
