A former Major League Baseball pitcher has been arrested in connection with a homicide that occurred in 2021.
The Placer’s County Sheriff’s Office reports having arrested Dan Serafini on the back of investigations into the murder of his father-in-law Robert Gary Spohr, who was aged 70, and the attempted murder of 68-year-old Wendy Wood.
Serafini was a former first-round pick by the Minnesota Twins.
“After a lengthy two-year investigation involving Placer County Sheriff’s detectives and the District Attorney’s Office, 49-year-old Danny Serafini and 33-year-old Samantha Scott were arrested this morning in Nevada for the 2021 Homewood murder of 70-year-old Robert Gary Spohr and the attempted murder of 68-year-old Wendy Wood,” the Sheriff’s Office’s report reads.
“PCSO detectives assisted in the apprehension of Serafini in Winnemucca, NV and also assisted in the apprehension of Scott in Las Vegas, NV.
“We thank the U.S. Marshal Service Reno Office, U.S. Marshal’s Nevada Violent Offender Task Force (Las Vegas), Winnemucca Police Department, and the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office with the arrests.”
Police received a 911 call on June 5, 2021, from a residence where Spohr was found dead from a gunshot wound by deputies. Wood was also shot but survived and was taken to a hospital. She died in 2022.
Serafini was the No. 26 pick in the 1992 MLB Draft, coming straight out of high school. However, he struggled in the pros and, over an 11-year span, played for six teams, including the Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds, and Colorado Rockies.
