PLACER COUNTY, Calif. — A former Cincinnati Reds pitcher was arrested Friday morning in Nevada in connection with a 2021 murder in California, the Placer County Sheriff's Office said.
Danny Serafini, 49, was arrested alongside 33-year-old Samantha Scott for the 2021 murder of 70-year-old Robert Gary Spohr and attempted murder of 68-year-old Wendy Wood.
On June 5, 2021, the Placer County sheriff's deputies found Spohr shot to death inside a North Lake Tahoe home. Wood, who was Spohr's wife, had also been shot. Wood survived the shooting, but the sheriff's office said she died a year later.
The sheriff's office said surveillance footage captured a hooded male wearing a face-covering walking into the home hours prior to the murder. Over the past two years, detectives have gathered information and evidence that led them to Serafini and Scott, the sheriff's office said.
The sheriff's office said Serafini and Scott know each other. Serafini was Spohr and Wood's son-in-law, according to a report from ABC-affiliate KXTV.
The two are currently waiting to be extradited from Nevada to Placer County.
Serafini's contract was purchased from the Mexican League by the Reds in 2003. In his four starts with Cincinnati, he went 1-3 with a 5.40 ERA, and then he was put in the bullpen the remainder of the season. He was then granted free agency and was picked up by the Chiba Lotte Marines, who play in Japan's Pacific League, in 2004.
Outside of his time with the Reds, he also played for the Minnesota Twins, San Diego Padres, Pittsburgh Pirates and more.
