A former Major League Baseball player and a woman were arrested in connection to a 2021 murder case in Lake Tahoe, authorities said on Friday. Pete Suratos reports.
Police arrested two people, including a former professional baseball player, Friday in Nevada in connection to a Lake Tahoe-area attack that left a man dead and his wife in critical condition.
After a two-year investigation, Danny Serafini, 49, and Samantha Scott, 33, were arrested separately, hundreds of miles apart in Las Vegas and northwest of Reno. Authorities say they knew each other and the victims — Robert Gary Spohr and his wife, Wendy Wood.
Robert Spohr, 70, was killed and Wood survived the shooting at their home in an unincorporated community in California off the shore of Lake Tahoe, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office said.
The two victims are Serafini’s father and mother in-law, Sgt. David Smith, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, confirmed to NBC News Friday night.
The two will be extradited to California, officials said.
“Today, justice was served,” Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo said in a statement. “The apprehension of those responsible for the tragic events that unfolded in Homewood, North Lake Tahoe in 2021 stands as a testament to the unwavering dedication of our detectives, law enforcement partners, and the persistence of our pursuit of truth.”
California
The couple's daughter and Serafini's sister-in-law, Adrienne Spohr, provided NBC Bay Area a statement on Sunday. She wrote, in part: "The call I received on October 20, 2023 will be forever etched in my mind - a moment of profound relief and gratitude after two years of fear and uncertainty. ... I have held onto my parents' ashes as I never felt right scattering them without the justice they deserved. Now that justice has been served, my parents can finally rest in peace."
Serafini’s attorney, David Fischer, didn’t immediately respond to a phone call and an email Friday from The Associated Press seeking comment about the arrest. Serafini was an MLB pitcher who was drafted in 1992 and whose career spanned 11 years with multiple teams, according to the Sacramento Bee.
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Serafini also went to high school in the Bay Area. He attended Junipero Serra High School in San Mateo.
The Clark County Public Defender’s Office didn’t immediately return a call from the AP about whether Scott had an attorney who could speak on her behalf. Police records don’t list an attorney, and a spokesperson with the Placer County Sheriff’s Office said the department has no information on her representation.
Video surveillance from the Spohr and Wood home showed a man wearing a gray hoodie, face covering and backpack approaching it hours before the attack, police said. Another video shows the same man walking up the driveway.
Deputies responded to the home after receiving a 911 call. They discovered Robert Spohr had been shot once, and Wood was shot at least twice. Wood recovered from the injuries but died a year later.
