Former MLB player convicted of murder in California home invasion

Former Major League Baseball pitcher Daniel Serafini, 51, has been convicted of first-degree murder in the 2021 shooting death of his father-in-law, Robert Gary Spohr, 70. The jury also found him guilty of the attempted murder of Spohr's wife, Wendy Wood, and first-degree burglary.

Prosecutors stated Serafini entered the Spohrs' home on June 5, 2021, where security footage captured a hooded figure arriving three hours before the 911 call. Evidence presented at trial indicated Serafini hid inside the house with a .22 caliber gun for those three hours before attacking. Two young children, aged 3 years and 8 months, were present in the home during the shooting.

Wendy Wood survived the initial attack but died by suicide in 2023, with her family attributing her death to the trauma of the shooting.

The prosecution centered the case on a financially motivated attack, specifically a $1.3 million dispute over a ranch renovation project. Text messages presented as evidence showed Serafini had written "I'm gonna kill them one day" in a message mentioning $21,000. On the day of the shootings, the victims had given $90,000 to Serafini's wife.

Serafini, drafted in the first round by the Minnesota Twins in 1992, played for six MLB teams before his career ended in 2007, the same year he received a 50-game suspension for performance-enhancing drug use. A second defendant, Samantha Scott, 33, described as a close friend of Serafini's wife and his lover, pleaded guilty to being an accessory in February 2025.

Adrienne Spohr, one of the victims' daughters, called the crime "heinous and calculated," stating her parents had been "incredibly generous" to Serafini and his wife. Serafini remains in custody without bail and faces a potential life sentence at his scheduled sentencing on August 18.