Robert Gary Spohr and Wendy Louise Wood were the parents of Erin Spohr Serafini, who lost their lives to violence.
Daniel Joseph Serafini had a long and successful career in professional baseball that lasted more than ten years.
The Minnesota Twins picked him as the 26th overall pick in the 1992 MLB Draft, and he made his major league debut on January 25, 1974.
On June 25, 1996, he played his first game in the major leagues against the New York Yankees.
He played for a number of MLB teams during his career, including the Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds, and Colorado Rockies.
He also played in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league with the Chiba Lotte Marines and Orix Buffaloes, and in Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League with the Chinatrust Whales.
He is said to have made more than $14 million during his time as a player.
But on July 14, 2025, a Placer County jury found him guilty of first-degree murder and attempted murder, which changed his life for the worse.
A judge sentenced him to life in prison without the chance of parole on February 27, 2026, for attacking his in-laws, Erin Spohr Serafini’s parents, in 2021.
Everything To Know About Erin Serafini’s Parents, Robert Gary Spohr and Wendy Wood
Erin Spohr Serafini and her sister, Adrienne Spohr, were born to Robert Gary Spohr and Wendy Louise Wood.
The couple lived in the beautiful Lake Tahoe area of California, where they built a life of community service, financial success, and dedication to their family.
But their story sadly became linked to violence, grief, and one of the most shocking criminal cases in the history of the area.
Robert Gary Spohr was born in 1951 and died in June 2021, making him about 70 years old at the time.
He became a very successful real estate investor and developer, making a lot of money over the course of his career.
He and Wendy owned a $3.5 million home in Homewood, California, and their estate was worth about $23 million.
Robert was well-known for being generous, especially to his daughter Erin and her husband Dan Serafini.
Robert and Wendy helped Erin and Dan a lot with money after they got married in 2010.
They gave the couple over $1 million to buy a horse farm in Reno, Nevada, pay for a nanny, pay off credit card debts, and give their two young sons a home, cars, vacations, and daycare.
Even though they were generous, money problems got worse over time. Later, prosecutors said that Dan was very angry, resentful, and frustrated with his in-laws, and that these feelings led him to plan the deadly attack.
While Robert and Wendy were out boating on Lake Tahoe with family members on June 5, 2021, an intruder broke into the Spohr family home.
The intruder attacked them when they got back. Robert was shot once in the style of an execution and died right there.
His death ended a life full of hard work, giving, and being involved in the community.
Wendy Louise Wood was born around 1952 or 1953, so she was about 68 or 69 years old when the attack happened in 2021.
She was very involved in the Lake Tahoe community, just like her husband.
For example, she was a member of the Humane Society. Robert and she both loved boating on Lake Tahoe, and they gave their daughters real estate in Placer County as a gift.
Wendy was shot twice in the head and once in the shoulder during the attack in June 2021.
Even though her injuries were very bad, she lived. She spent a month in intensive care and then weeks in rehab, where she slowly relearned how to walk, talk, and eat. She never remembered what happened during the attack.
Afterward, Wendy showed amazing strength and mental clarity. She changed her will to leave out both Erin and Dan Serafini.
This choice showed how much pain the attack had caused in the family.
Sadly, the long-lasting physical and emotional effects of her injuries were too much for her to handle.
Wendy killed herself about two years after the shooting, in 2023. Adrienne, her daughter, said that she had fought back against terrible odds after surviving a brutal attack.
