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Former MLB pitcher Dan Serafini was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Friday. 

In July 2025, Serafini was convicted of first-degree murder in the 2021 killing of his father-in-law, Gary Spohr, and attempted murder of his mother-in-law, Wendy Wood.

Serafini, 52, broke into his in-laws home in Lake Tahoe while they were boating with his wife, Erin Spohr and his and Erin’s children, according to the Los Angeles Times. He hid in a closet until the couple returned and his family had left, then shot both Spohr and Wood in the head. Spohr died, while Wood was seriously injured. She died by suicide in 2022.

The motive for the crimes was apparently financial. He believed his in-laws deaths would allow him to access their $23 million fortune through his wife. 

Originally from San Mateo, California, Serafini was drafted out of high school in 1992 and played professionally for over a decade for teams including the Minnesota Twins, Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds, and Colorado Rockies. In 2007, he was suspended for 50 games after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs.  

After his baseball career ended, Serafini opened a bar in Sparks, Nevada, that was later featured on an episode of Bar Rescue. According to the episode, Serafini had blown throw the millions he’d earned as a professional athlete and had borrowed hundreds of thousands of dollars from his parents. 

Serafini’s crimes have devasted the surviving members of his in-law’s family. 

“He is a monster who knows no moral boundaries and has zero reservations about taking the lives of others to benefit himself,” Serafini’s estranged sister-in-law Adrienne Spohr told the court, per People. 

“Dan showed no remorse. He cashed a $200,000 check made out to him from my mom’s account, just weeks after holding a gun to her head and pulling the trigger,” she added. 

In addition to a sentence of life without the possibility of parole for the murder of his father-in-law, Serafini also received a life sentence for the attempted murder of his mother-in-law and a sentence of 25 years to life on a burglary count. The judge ordered that his sentences be served consecutively.

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