Robert Gary Spohr, Wendy Spohr (Image via KXTL/screengrab), Danny Serafini and his wife Erin Serafini, the Spohrs’ daughter, pictured on a 2015 episode of Bar Rescue (Image via YouTube/Paramount screengrab)
A former Nevada bar owner who appeared on the popular show Bar Rescue with his wife is under arrest and charged with the 2021 murder and attempted murder of his spouse’s parents in North Lake Tahoe, California.
Daniel “Danny” Joseph Serafini, now 49, made a name for himself pitching in Major League Baseball, but after his professional career ended apparent financial woes began. Several years later, both Serafini and 33-year-old Samantha Scott face serious charges in the 2021 Homewood, California, shootings of 70-year-old Robert Gary Spohr and 68-year-old Wendy Wood — Serafini’s in-laws.
According to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office in California, the two-year investigation into the shooting ended with the suspects’ Nevada arrests in the alleged murder of Robert Gary Spohr and the alleged attempted murder of 68-year-old Wendy Wood, who died a year after the shooting.
“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,” authorities said.
According to investigators, deputies first learned of the North Lake Tahoe shooting on June 5, 2021, after receiving a phone 911 call.
“Deputies arrived at the home and found Robert Gary Spohr deceased as a result of a single gunshot wound. Robert’s wife, Wendy, had also been shot but was taken to a nearby hospital where she recovered from her injuries,” officials said. “Unfortunately, Wendy passed away a year later.”
At the time, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office shared two videos of a “hooded male wearing a face-covering and a backpack walking to the residence several hours before the homicide occurred.”
June 5th, deputies responded to a 911 call from a home in Homewood. They arrived and located 70 yo Robert Gary Spohr, who was found deceased as a result of a single gun shot wound. Info on this homicide/any surveillance systems along W Lake Boulevard, call tip line (530) 889-7853 pic.twitter.com/MlsBgvOi3G
— Placer Sheriff (@PlacerSheriff) June 10, 2021
One of the videos showed a man with a backpack outside of the Spohrs’ residence and the second added footage of the suspect walking on a sidewalk by water.
Please see updated video below. pic.twitter.com/VyKzmwanek
— Placer Sheriff (@PlacerSheriff) June 10, 2021
“The information and evidence detectives gathered led them to identify Serafini and Scott as the suspects; both suspects are known to each other and to the victims,” authorities said.
According to the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office in Nevada, Serafini was booked into jail in the murder, attempted murder, and child abuse/endangerment case to await his extradition to Nevada. Samantha Scott was arrested in Las Vegas and was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on a fugitive warrant, records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
Danny Serafini (left in a Humboldt County, Nevada, mug shot); Serafini (center) and Samantha Scott (right) in arrest photos provided by the Placer County Sheriff’s Office in California.
The Bar Rescue episode “Take Me Out to the Bar Game,” which aired in 2015, began with the story of how Danny Serafini’s $14 million earnings from his playing career dwindled after a series of failed investments and a “bitter divorce,” a situation only made worse by the nosedive in the success of what was then known as the Bullpen Bar at Aspen Glen.
Serafini’s wife Erin, the daughter of the victims and a friend of Samantha Scott’s, remarked on the episode about how she noticed a change in his personality and missed her old husband, as the failing bar left him $300,000 in debt and in danger of losing his parents’ home.
“My parents were so proud of me at one time for being a successful baseball player and now I’m thinking what a disappointment I am to everybody,” Danny Serafini said, his voice quivering.
After the bar’s makeover, the establishment was renamed Oak Tavern but it has since closed. A 2016 tweeted from the Oak Tavern’s account on X claimed the show “screwed the pooch big time lol.”
Five years later, Serafini allegedly murdered his father-in-law and attempted to murder his mother-in-law with the alleged involvement of his wife’s friend.
The Spohrs’ daughter Adrienne Spohr, who identified Samantha Scott as her sister Erin’s friend, previously offered a reward for the capture of the person or people responsible for the deadly shooting.
“Tough to put a price on anything like this because this is my father,” Adrienne reportedly said in 2022. This is the man I loved, and my mother’s life has been shattered by this. We wanted to put a reward out from the minute it happened, but in talking with the Placer County sheriff, we also wanted to give them the opportunity to go through all the evidence that they had before announcing a reward.”
After the news of the suspects’ arrests, Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo credited his investigators for never giving up on solving the case.
“Today, justice was served. 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,” the sheriff said. “Understand that my team’s commitment to unraveling the most complex of cases prevails, and those who inflict harm upon our community will be held accountable every time.”
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