Erin Spohr painted Daniel Serafini as a loving husband and father when she testified at his trial for shooting her parents
Credit: Courtesy Adrienne Spohr
NEED TO KNOW
- In June 2021, Daniel Serafini shot his in-laws, killing his father-in-law and injuring his mother-in-law, who died by suicide in March 2023
- The ex-MLB player’s wife and the victims’ daughter, Erin Spohr, testified in his defense during the trial
- He was convicted in July 2025, and Spohr filed for divorce from Serafini nearly one week later
Ex-MLB player Daniel Serafini shot his wife Erin Spohr's parents with the help of his mistress. When he got put on trial, Spohr continued to stand by his side.
On June 5, 2021, Serafini — who was picked by the Minnesota Twins in the 1992 MLB draft — shot Spohr's parents, with his mistress-turned-accomplice Samantha Scott driving him to his in-laws' $3.5 million home in Lake Tahoe, Calif. It wasn't until over two years later, in October 2023, that Serafini and Scott were arrested in connection to the case.
In the aftermath of the shooting, Serafini told Scott that he had shot his mother-in-law twice in the head, but she kept that confession and her role in the killings a secret until after they were arrested. When prosecutors charged her with murder, she struck a deal with prosecutors, agreeing to plead guilty to accessory and testify against Serafini at his murder trial. In return, Scott — who maintains that she thought she was driving Serafini to Lake Tahoe to purchase cocaine — managed to avoid jail time but received two years probation.
Meanwhile, when Serafini went on trial, his wife — whom he welcomed two young sons with — testified on his behalf, arguing that he did not have a role in the shooting that killed her father and severely injured her mother, who died by suicide nearly two years later.
Still, Serafini was found guilty of murdering his father-in-law and attempting to murder his mother-in-law in July 2025, and one week later, Spohr filed for divorce. In the filing viewed by PEOPLE, there appeared to be discrepancies in Spohr's accounts: though she testified during trial that they wed in 2011, she wrote in the divorce complaint that they got married in 2010.
Serafini eventually received multiple life sentences without the possibility of parole, and is now giving his first sit-down interview from prison which airs in an episode of NBC's Dateline, premiering April 17.
So, where is Erin Spohr now? Here's everything to know about Daniel Serafini's ex-wife's life after he killed her father and attempted to murder her mother.
Serafini shot Spohr's parents in June 2021
Credit: Placer County Sheriff’s Office
On June 5, 2021, Spohr and her young sons visited her parents — wealthy real estate investors Gary Spohr and Wendy Wood — in Lake Tahoe.
While they were out for a day of boating, Serafini and Scott — who was once their children's babysitter and also a close friend of Spohr's — drove to the California town. Then, Serafini snuck into the garage and, according to prosecutors, hid inside the residence for approximately five hours before emerging to attack his wife's parents.
Gary was shot in the back of the head and died on the spot, while Wendy survived several gunshot wounds but had to relearn daily tasks, like walking and writing.
In March 2023, Wendy died by suicide while in an assisted-living facility, with her daughter Adrienne Spohr telling PEOPLE in August 2025 that the "heartbreak" of losing Gary "became too much."
"She said it felt like she had lost her right arm," Adrienne added.
Serafini was arrested in November 2023 and Spohr testified on his behalf during trial
Credit: Paul Kitagaki Jr/TNS via ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
Nearly two years after the shooting, Serafini was arrested in October 2023 in connection with his in-laws' deaths.
When the trial began, prosecutors argued that Serafini, who lost the $14 million he had earned in the major leagues on bad investments, was financially dependent on Spohr's parents, whom he once called “wealthy pieces of s–t."
Prosecutors alleged he wanted them dead so that he could share his wife's inheritance of their $23 million estate.
Spohr testified on his behalf during trial, denying that Serafini played any role in the shooting that killed her father and severely injured her mother.
Spohr said she and Serafini had an open marriage
Credit: KCRA 3
During Serafini's trial, Spohr described him as a devoted father and loving husband. Spohr also said that she and the former professional athlete had an open marriage and trusted him, per CBS News.
While on the stand, Spohr depicted Scott as an obsessive woman whose sartorial and beauty choices grew increasingly similar to her own throughout her affair with Serafini.
According to Fox40 News, she also testified that Scott was "deceptive," specifically when telling the court that Serafini had confessed about shooting Gary and Wendy.
Spohr filed for divorce in August 2025, just after Serafini was convicted
Credit: Hector Amezcua/Sacramento Bee/ZUMA Press/Shutterstock
In July 2025, Serafini was found guilty of first-degree murder and attempted murder of his in-laws, the Placer County District Attorney's Office announced in a press release on Facebook.
The release noted that the former pitcher was also found guilty of "first-degree burglary and found the special circumstance allegations of lying-in-wait and felony murder, as well as related firearm allegations, to be true."
Nearly one week later, Spohr filed for divorce from Serafini, writing in her filing that she was seeking sole custody of their young sons.
In a copy of the divorce complaint previously viewed by PEOPLE, Spohr said that she and Serafini have an "amicable" relationship.
Where is Spohr now?
Credit: KCRA 3
In February 2026, Spohr was the only person to write a letter on behalf of Serafini at his sentencing hearing. She asked the judge in her ex-husband's case to be lenient in his sentencing.
Ultimately, Serafini received two life sentences without the possibility of parole, as well as 25 years to life, all of which the judge ordered to be served consecutively.
His sister-in-law Adrienne spoke at the sentencing hearing, saying, "He is a monster who knows no moral boundaries and has zero reservations about taking the lives of others to benefit himself."
After his sentencing, Adrienne spoke to reporters outside the courthouse and said that prior to her mother's death, Wendy changed her will to remove Spohr and Serafini, per CBS News.
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