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00:00:00Tonight on Dateline.
00:00:01She was this tall, beautiful, blonde.
00:00:05They were always joyful together as a couple.
00:00:09They were worth quite a bit of money.
00:00:11A multi-million dollar fortune that they made.
00:00:15The news is on and I heard murder in Lake Tahoe.
00:00:18There was blood on all the mirrors, on all the vanities, on the bathtub.
00:00:22This was a very personal, targeted attack.
00:00:25It wasn't shocking to me that they had a list of enemies.
00:00:28She was in 22 lawsuits.
00:00:31Good lord.
00:00:32Who would gain from this?
00:00:34Well, clearly the two daughters.
00:00:36Samantha was a big part of their life.
00:00:38We always joke around that we're in trouble.
00:00:41Reading all about it, I was like, whoa.
00:00:44It was middle of summer and I watched a male run up the street wearing full sweats with a hood
00:00:51on.
00:00:51He was hiding in the house for about three hours.
00:00:55I see these people who look like they have it all.
00:00:59But you never know what your fate is going to be.
00:01:02A charismatic couple living a life of luxury.
00:01:05Turns out, they were also rich in enemies.
00:01:08I'm Lester Holt and this is Dateline.
00:01:19Here's Keith Morrison with Deadly Swagger.
00:01:29Lake Tahoe.
00:01:31It's one of those bucket list destinations for people around the world.
00:01:37A setting so sublime.
00:01:40Mark Twain wrote,
00:01:41To breathe the same air as the angels, you must go to Tahoe.
00:01:46He knew whereof he wrote,
00:01:48If any place can be equated with heaven on earth, then surely it is Tahoe.
00:01:52Snow-capped mountains above, crystal clear waters below.
00:01:57It is where people go to find peace.
00:01:59The lucky ones call this home.
00:02:02Never want to leave.
00:02:07Though, once upon a time,
00:02:10He was waiting inside that house.
00:02:12In the very heart of this paradise.
00:02:15Then, multiple gunshots, firing.
00:02:21The question of leaving wasn't a choice.
00:02:32It was June the 5th, 2021.
00:02:36The 911 call was recorded at 9.26 p.m.
00:02:409-1-1-1, what's the address of the emergency?
00:02:44Hello, 9-1-1.
00:02:48All the dispatchers could hear was moaning in the background,
00:02:52or they could hear someone gasping for air.
00:02:55But there was no words.
00:02:56What was that?
00:02:58Who was that?
00:03:00The 9-1-1 operator just couldn't tell.
00:03:03But it didn't sound good.
00:03:05So they dispatched the fire department.
00:03:07Gary Nelson was a captain and paramedic.
00:03:10All we know is there's a possible medical or some type of situation happening,
00:03:14but we don't know what it is.
00:03:16We pull in front of the house, you see behind me with lights on.
00:03:19Here, the home of a retired couple named Gary Spohr and Wendy Wood.
00:03:25The front door was unlocked.
00:03:28The first responders walked upstairs to the living area.
00:03:31The dogs are moving back and forth.
00:03:33They're just wound up.
00:03:34So we yell, fire department, we get no response.
00:03:36And there's a gentleman laying on the couch.
00:03:39It looked like he was sleeping.
00:03:40His arms were crossed, his legs were crossed,
00:03:42his feet were up on the table or ottoman.
00:03:45And the TV was on like he was watching the news.
00:03:49And we come over behind him, not to startle him.
00:03:51And we're like, tap him on the shoulder.
00:03:53It was, sir.
00:03:53And yell it loudly.
00:03:55Fire department, sir.
00:03:56No response.
00:03:57And that time we look over and my partner looks at him and goes,
00:04:00I don't think he's breathing.
00:04:02At that point, we check a pulse.
00:04:03We don't get a pulse.
00:04:04We look across at another section of the couch.
00:04:07And we notice there's blood.
00:04:10And there on the floor, behind the couch, shell casings.
00:04:15And?
00:04:15We notice a blood trail leading around the back of the couch.
00:04:19And the dogs that were very agitated,
00:04:21they kept combing between us and back into a master bedroom.
00:04:24They'd go back and forth and back and forth.
00:04:25So we're like, OK, this doesn't seem right.
00:04:27We work into the master bedroom.
00:04:29In the master bedroom, we turn on the lights in there.
00:04:33Nothing obvious.
00:04:33So we go around the corner and we turn on the light in the master bathroom.
00:04:37And that's where we find a female patient.
00:04:41It was Wendy, Gary's wife, covered in blood.
00:04:45As were the mirrors, the vanity, the bathtub.
00:04:48An iPhone speckled in blood was by the sink.
00:04:52Wendy had held on to it long enough to call 911.
00:04:55She was alive.
00:04:57But barely.
00:04:59She would only give one word answers.
00:05:01She would say yes, no.
00:05:02And she was, I believe, the paramedic, when he asked her name, she was able to give her name.
00:05:07And that was it.
00:05:08He was asking, were you assaulted?
00:05:09Were you shot?
00:05:10You know, does she have, you know, obviously bleeding from the head, obviously bleeding from the arms?
00:05:16They called in a helicopter, flew her to a trauma center in Reno, 50 miles away, did all they could
00:05:22to keep her breathing.
00:05:24And, still middle of the night, Placer County Detective Daniel Meyer got the call.
00:05:29It was going to be his day off.
00:05:32Not anymore.
00:05:34What's it like for you and for the family when, I mean, presumably you make plans for when you're off.
00:05:40And then, sorry, I have to wait, I got to go.
00:05:43So, it's really hard.
00:05:46My kids are older, a little bit older now.
00:05:48They're teenagers, so now they understand it.
00:05:50My wife's really good with it.
00:05:52She knows the, kind of, when it happens, it's something we have to go do.
00:05:56Well, the thing like that, all day's off and all bets are off, right?
00:06:00All day's off, all sleep is off, and we go pretty much all in on it until we're finished.
00:06:07Investigators at the scene filled him in when he arrived.
00:06:10We had a male that had been shot in the head, and we had another victim, the wife, the female
00:06:17that was found, also shot.
00:06:18We still didn't know the status, if she was going to make it through the surgery, or if we were
00:06:24going to have a double homicide at the time.
00:06:27And then Detective Meyer tried to work out what must have happened.
00:06:32It appeared that after her husband was shot and killed where he was sleeping, that she was most likely woken
00:06:38up during the shots.
00:06:40Yeah.
00:06:40And had put her arms up in a kind of a defensive kind of posture, try and then try to
00:06:46get herself into safety.
00:06:49No surprise, a search of the house and property turned up no suspect.
00:06:55Long gone, of course, but whoever it was clearly had one purpose in mind.
00:07:00There was no sign of forced entry.
00:07:03There was no sign that a fight or anything ended sued.
00:07:06It looked eerily normal, minus, obviously, the personal destruction to Gary and Wendy.
00:07:14Now, who in this paradise on earth would want to do a thing like that?
00:07:20You knew the whole damn crime, and yet you knew nothing.
00:07:23Exactly.
00:07:24Strange.
00:07:24Strange.
00:07:25We had absolutely no idea who this individual could be.
00:07:29So she must have had a reputation around town.
00:07:32And not a very good one.
00:07:34We're like a freckle, because he always complains that he has two eyes.
00:07:39I've got to be challenging, because we don't have much time, I have to tell you.
00:07:45The fear spread at the speed of news, neighbor to neighbor, around the wealth-encrusted shores of Lake Tahoe.
00:07:53So, murder, execution style.
00:07:58That Wendy survived, the neighbors heard, was something of a miracle.
00:08:02Though, as the doctors told investigators, continued survival is no sure thing.
00:08:08Did you think maybe she can tell us what happened?
00:08:10We were praying she would.
00:08:12We had all of the nurses waiting to give us a phone call the moment she woke up.
00:08:16And we were praying, but not hopeful.
00:08:19We knew the severity of her injuries, the likelihood that she would be able to, was probably not very high.
00:08:28Everything about this seemed against the odds.
00:08:31Starting with the location of the shooting.
00:08:33A multi-million dollar lakefront home in one of the safest neighborhoods in Lake Tahoe.
00:08:38Michelle Bandour covered the case for KCRA, the local NBC affiliate.
00:08:43You don't hear about murder at Lake Tahoe.
00:08:46You know, you maybe hear of someone falling to their death while hiking, you know, or a boating accident.
00:08:52But a crime where someone kills another person, it's just unheard of in Tahoe.
00:08:58I was standing in my kitchen, making dinner, and the news is on.
00:09:02Detectives identifying the victim.
00:09:03And then the next word they said was Gary's score.
00:09:06Stopped me dead in my tracks.
00:09:08I just couldn't believe it.
00:09:09Just shock is all I can remember of just, what, you know?
00:09:12These people meant a lot to me.
00:09:14Judy Muir and Lisa Fernandez once worked for Gary and Wendy.
00:09:19Were with them almost a decade, years and years ago.
00:09:22Gary and Wendy were my favorite owners of that place ever.
00:09:25The place was the coffee house at Print Shop in Sacramento.
00:09:30Gary and Wendy bought it in the 1990s.
00:09:33And Gary and Wendy were more than just bosses.
00:09:37They were better.
00:09:39Wendy was such a presence.
00:09:41She made such an impression on me as a female.
00:09:43She was Wendy Wood.
00:09:45She was not Wendy Spore.
00:09:47And at that time in the 90s, that made an impression on me of like, wow, she's so independent.
00:09:52There's an attitude for you.
00:09:53And she was this tall, beautiful, blonde.
00:09:57And she was so confident.
00:09:58And Gary, absolutely dashing.
00:10:02Oh, yes.
00:10:03He drove a cool little Porsche, which, again, in my 20s, I thought that was so neat.
00:10:07He was very friendly.
00:10:09He was a very good-looking man.
00:10:11Yes, he was.
00:10:14Here they were, brimming with charisma.
00:10:17And yet...
00:10:19I never felt like she looked down on us or treated us like the hill.
00:10:24I always felt like they just treated us like we were part of their family.
00:10:27Gave them presents, perfumes, steak dinners, free weekends at their ski house.
00:10:34They would do things like that for all of us.
00:10:36For all of us.
00:10:37They were so generous.
00:10:39With their employees, and especially their daughters, Erin and Adrienne.
00:10:44Are you having fun yet, Gary?
00:10:45There was horse lessons and the different things the girls like to do.
00:10:50But Gary and Wendy could afford to be generous because they were rich.
00:10:54Which, as John Ward, who acted as their local attorney a few times, knew well.
00:11:00Wendy and Gary had real estate holdings in California and, I believe, in Washington.
00:11:06By 2021, their time was their own.
00:11:09And they loved skiing and boating and spending time with grandchildren.
00:11:13In fact, the very day Gary was shot, they had gone boating with the grandkids and their daughter, Erin.
00:11:19She lived in nearby Reno with her husband, a former Major League Baseball player.
00:11:24Erin was an equestrian and had a stable in the Reno area.
00:11:29Younger daughter, Adrienne, and her boyfriend lived about three hours away from Tahoe.
00:11:34Life had been good to Gary and Wendy.
00:11:37But picture perfect?
00:11:39Well, maybe not.
00:11:40The family didn't always get along.
00:11:43There was tension between the sisters.
00:11:45And Wendy, with her strong personality, often fought with her daughters.
00:11:51Around the lake, Wendy also butted heads with neighbors.
00:11:55So much so that local prosecutor Christopher Catran was already familiar with Wendy.
00:12:01She was either named as the plaintiff or the defendant in 22 lawsuits.
00:12:06Good Lord!
00:12:08So she must have had a reputation around town.
00:12:10And not a very good one.
00:12:13Gary often backed up his wife in these disputes.
00:12:17Had the couple's neighborhood battles made them a target?
00:12:20Or their money?
00:12:22Or was there something in their past?
00:12:24Because this certainly wasn't some random violent thief, as Detective Meyer could plainly tell.
00:12:31One of the first things that they say is, was it a burglary?
00:12:34Did somebody, you know, go in to steal something and encounter the owners and shoot them and then flee?
00:12:41That was our first, one of at least my first thoughts.
00:12:44But there was no signs of any burglary.
00:12:47The normal things that we'll see in burglaries, with the drawers being pulled or things being disheveled inside of bedrooms,
00:12:56none of that was present during this.
00:12:58And the fact nothing was taken.
00:13:00Nothing of any significance you could figure out anyway.
00:13:02Nothing was...
00:13:03Or the first responders could.
00:13:04There was even a very high-priced tennis bracelet that was not taken.
00:13:09That was left, right, where Wendy was shot.
00:13:13Burglary wasn't the motive.
00:13:15They'd piss somebody off and that was that.
00:13:17They got killed.
00:13:17It was a very, very personal and very intentional act.
00:13:23Detective Meyer was about to get some help with his investigation.
00:13:28There were security cameras inside and outside of the house.
00:13:32And when he rolled that tape...
00:13:34I knew that at that point, that was going to be our shooter.
00:13:39What a difference a bit of tech can make.
00:13:42Those little front door cameras, common as clover now, like a gift for a detective in need of a break.
00:13:50You must have thought, hey, this will get our guy.
00:13:54Pure excitement.
00:13:56Especially when they spotted one with the perfect angle.
00:13:59Kind of up above the garage, pointing towards their vehicles and kind of their driveway area.
00:14:05So, if the shooter came in that way, they might be able to see him or her.
00:14:12They started watching the video from that morning and nothing happened for hours.
00:14:19Things picked up when daughter Erin arrived with her two boys at 2.24 p.m.
00:14:24That's Wendy in the driveway, as Erin backed in.
00:14:27A bit later, Gary pulled in.
00:14:29Looked like an Audi.
00:14:30Blue.
00:14:32There was a pause for almost an hour.
00:14:34And then Gary headed out, followed by the rest of the family, down to the lake, by the look of
00:14:39it.
00:14:41But then...
00:14:42Then something very peculiar showed up on that surveillance tape.
00:14:46It was middle of summer.
00:14:48So, it was obviously warm up there, even for Tahoe.
00:14:52And I watched a male run up the street, wearing full sweats, with a hood on, a mask on, and
00:15:00a backpack.
00:15:01I would think you'd think, looking at that video, uh-oh, there's our shooter.
00:15:05I was very hopeful.
00:15:07Yeah.
00:15:07That it was.
00:15:09Especially when the masked man turned into the driveway.
00:15:12I knew that at that point, that was going to be our shooter.
00:15:15Did you happen to think at that moment,
00:15:17All right, this is not going to be so hard after all.
00:15:22I did for a little bit, until you saw how close he got.
00:15:27And then saw we couldn't see his face.
00:15:29He covered every aspect of his skin, of his face.
00:15:33But surely there were more cameras around the neighborhood.
00:15:37They went hunting.
00:15:39We were out here canvassing the full area for several days.
00:15:42We were looking up and down the road from the Spores residence all the way up to the, uh, what
00:15:50we call the Y, up here up in Tahoe City.
00:15:53Did it show you anything more about where the shooter came from or where he went after?
00:15:58It did.
00:15:59Thankfully, we were able to find several cameras along the pathway.
00:16:04It was enough to start piecing together some kind of timeline, anyway.
00:16:08Which the detectives laid out for the prosecutor, Christopher Katrine.
00:16:12The first sighting of the apparent shooter was at 5.02 p.m., almost half a mile from Gary and
00:16:18Wendy's house, walking along the main road towards them.
00:16:22By then, Gary, Wendy, Aaron, and the kids were out on the boat.
00:16:27Last person left the house at 3.56 p.m.
00:16:31They walk out the driveway and down the street.
00:16:34And you can see out on the lake. We're fairly close to the lake here.
00:16:38Then, 5.06 p.m., a neighbor's security camera recorded the probable shooter walking along the lake.
00:16:45On the other side of the roadway, there's a bike path, which is used for bikes and pedestrians and things
00:16:50like that.
00:16:50So, he's approaching.
00:16:52Minutes later, the masked man jogged into the view of the outside camera.
00:16:57He comes up this hill. You can see the driveway right here.
00:17:02And, like he knew just where to go, he turned towards the house.
00:17:07And then, no mistaking what that was, the sound of the garage door opening.
00:17:15After which, a pause.
00:17:17And then, around 30 minutes later, the family returned.
00:17:23At 7.45 p.m., Aaron left the house with the kids and drove away.
00:17:30An hour and six minutes later, at 8.51 p.m.
00:17:38No mistaking that sound, either.
00:17:42Gunshots. Five of them.
00:17:45Silence. Five minutes passed.
00:17:48And out he came, same way he went in.
00:17:51Through the garage and away.
00:17:53At 9.02, another glimpse, faintly, in the gathering dark.
00:18:00It's like you're seeing the whole play from these security cameras.
00:18:04Fortunately, we were able to watch the entire thing, knowing that he was inside the house.
00:18:08Well, the whole family was in there, and they had no idea.
00:18:14Well, and this guy hid in the house for three or four hours.
00:18:18Well, the family was out on the lake, and he waited all that time.
00:18:23He waited almost a time enough to let them kind of get comfortable.
00:18:27Were you able to find a place inside the house where the shooter hid for a period of time?
00:18:31We found a place where we believed that he was hiding.
00:18:34They had a very large closet on the bottom floor, and in the back of it, almost a little hidden
00:18:41room that was off there,
00:18:44that somebody could stand up, move around in, lay down.
00:18:47I mean, you knew a whole lot.
00:18:50You knew the whole damn crime, and yet you knew nothing.
00:18:53Exactly.
00:18:54Strange.
00:18:55We saw everything.
00:18:56We heard everything.
00:18:58But yet we had absolutely no idea who this individual could be.
00:19:03Who was this masked intruder?
00:19:06Was he a hired gun?
00:19:07An enemy from around the lake?
00:19:09Or was the shooter's motive one of the oldest of them all?
00:19:13They're worth a lot of money.
00:19:14And as the old adage goes, follow the money, right?
00:19:20Days passed, and the masked shooter who took Gary's life with a single bullet and left Wendy for dead was
00:19:26still out there somewhere.
00:19:28Desperate for leads, the Placer County Sheriff's Office posted a video of the gunman on social media.
00:19:34Placer County Sheriff's Detectives releasing this video from home surveillance cameras.
00:19:39What made you decide to appeal to the public for help?
00:19:42Because we needed all the help at that point we could get.
00:19:45Tips came in, flooded the phone lines.
00:19:48Reporter Michelle Bandour.
00:19:50They continued to ask for help, even asking people in the area within a so-many-mile radius of checking
00:19:57their security video.
00:19:58Do you see a figure like this?
00:20:00Or what do you see on, you know, June 5th between these hours?
00:20:04Did it help much?
00:20:05Unfortunately, it didn't.
00:20:07Might scare the hell out of them, though.
00:20:08I mean, this is an affluent community.
00:20:11And they hear that some guy is sneaking into houses and shooting people.
00:20:14And, I mean, that's pretty scary stuff.
00:20:16The community was terrified.
00:20:17But the way that it was done, it let us feel a little safer to let the Tahoe community know
00:20:24we don't believe that somebody's out there.
00:20:27We really felt that this was a very personal, targeted attack.
00:20:30And as the old adage goes, follow the money, right?
00:20:34Yeah, sure.
00:20:34Who would gain from this?
00:20:37Well, clearly the two daughters.
00:20:41Adrian and Aaron were the beneficiaries of their parents' estate worth $25 million.
00:20:47They would split the inheritance equally.
00:20:50And both agreed to talk to detectives.
00:20:53How were they taking it?
00:20:54They were very, very stoic, very composed.
00:20:57They were obviously upset, like any child's going to be.
00:21:01But they were very much into trying to figure out what had happened.
00:21:05You showed them the video, I'm assuming, right?
00:21:08Absolutely.
00:21:08Could they identify him at all?
00:21:10Neither of them were able to identify him.
00:21:13Of course, they had to check the daughters' alibis anyway, even though they were sure the shooter was a man.
00:21:18When you talk to Aaron, what could she tell you?
00:21:21She was unaware of what could have happened.
00:21:23And she was there with the kids and in genuine shock that that person could have been inside the house
00:21:29with her while her kids and her were present.
00:21:32She was very, very upset at that time.
00:21:34Remember, the shooter came in at 5 o'clock while she, Aaron, and the boys are on the boat with
00:21:41mom and dad.
00:21:43The driveway security camera also showed her leaving her parents' home before the shots were fired.
00:21:49So she's clearly has a good alibi.
00:21:53And what about her husband?
00:21:56Aaron told detectives he was out of town when the shooting occurred.
00:21:59Dan Serafini was his name, ex-Major League Baseball player, Minnesota Twins, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, etc., etc.
00:22:09He was an ex-bar owner, too, and now a miner.
00:22:13I believe he was a heavy equipment operator in a mine about three and a half hours east of the
00:22:22Reno-Sparks area.
00:22:24They went to see him, and he had alibis, too.
00:22:27Day before the shooting, he said he attended a training class at the gold mine where he worked, then met
00:22:33up with co-workers.
00:22:34He was going to have a couple drinks with some friends that night from work.
00:22:38He spent the next day in Crescent Valley, Nevada, where he had a trailer he used when working away from
00:22:45his family.
00:22:46Never left.
00:22:47Phone records showed him in Crescent Valley when Gary and Wendy were shot, just as Dan told them he was.
00:22:53So his alibi looked pretty good.
00:22:55His alibi was looking really good.
00:22:56Did Adrienne have an alibi?
00:22:58She did.
00:22:58She was at work, and we were able to verify that she was working during the time of the murder.
00:23:05But detectives did wonder about Adrienne's boyfriend, a guy named Taylor Hatton.
00:23:10Didn't he have a record, that guy?
00:23:12He did.
00:23:13Taylor was a convicted felon, confessed to robbing a bank, then ultimately pleaded guilty to a weapons charge.
00:23:21He was one of the first individuals that detectives were very interested in.
00:23:27During the commission of that armed robbery, Taylor was covered from head to toe, wore a ski mask, sunglasses, and
00:23:35had a backpack on a hot summer day.
00:23:38Just like the guy who shot Gary and Wendy.
00:23:43Again, maybe solving this murder wouldn't be so hard after all.
00:23:48Was that Taylor on the surveillance video?
00:23:51We did look into him extensively, and we were able to determine he was actually in Petaluma, California, during the
00:23:59time of the homicide.
00:24:00He was working out there as a contractor, constantly working on his cell phones, and he's significantly smaller than the
00:24:08shooter was.
00:24:08It couldn't have been him.
00:24:12So, there were other possibilities, remember?
00:24:16Angry neighbors, potential enemies.
00:24:20And just about then, less than two weeks after the shooting, Wendy woke up and started talking.
00:24:28It was a genuine excitement throughout the entire unit that we might finally have that huge break we're looking for.
00:24:39Around Lake Tahoe, lots of people knew Wendy Wood, and perhaps for all the wrong reasons.
00:24:46After the murder, there were a number of people who said that the suspect list was going to be at
00:24:54least four or five pages.
00:24:55Family attorney John Ward figured Wendy was the killer's target.
00:25:00I think my knee-jerk reaction was that Wendy had pissed off somebody.
00:25:06So, how would she have done that?
00:25:09There were two ways to do things.
00:25:11Wendy's way and Wendy's way.
00:25:15Yeah.
00:25:15She had a mind and will of her own.
00:25:18And that she did.
00:25:20Less than two weeks after she was left for dead, the detectives got a call.
00:25:24She was awake and talking.
00:25:27It was a genuine excitement throughout the entire unit that we might finally have that huge break we're looking for.
00:25:35Yeah.
00:25:36But?
00:25:37She was struggling coming in and out of consciousness.
00:25:40She made a quick statement of it was Rick, the water guy, and she passed back out again.
00:25:48The nurses had told us that she had said it was Rick.
00:25:51Well, that was something, because Rick, the water guy, was certainly a person of interest.
00:25:58Wendy and Rick had had a lot of easement issues, because Rick would access his water, um, access from her
00:26:05property.
00:26:06Rick owned a water well that sat on Wendy and Gary's property, and Wendy had issues with that.
00:26:12But, things escalated.
00:26:14And then Gary sent Rick an email to let him know that Wendy had a permit to use a gun
00:26:19and would, if needed.
00:26:20So, did Rick use a gun on them?
00:26:24We were able to look at him and compare him to the camera, and we knew at that point he
00:26:29was definitely not our shooter.
00:26:31And then, weeks later, more good news.
00:26:36Wendy has made a surprisingly miraculous recovery.
00:26:40Amazing.
00:26:41The detectives hear that she's made this miraculous recovery, and of course, now they want to get a statement from
00:26:46her.
00:26:47Of course, yeah.
00:26:48So?
00:26:48Eyewitness to the murder comes back from the dead to tell the story, right?
00:26:52You can't, can't have it any better than that, I would think.
00:26:56Wendy struggled, but remembered that she and Gary had gone to the lake with Aaron and their grandkids.
00:27:01And at the end of the boating trip, she recalled covering up the boat.
00:27:06That's the last thing she remembers of that day, was putting the tarp on.
00:27:11And then, the next thing she remembers is waking up in the hospital.
00:27:15Ward sat in on this.
00:27:17Did they ask her who she thought it might have been?
00:27:19They did, and she was quite certain that it involved the incident with the paddleboard.
00:27:24Different guy now.
00:27:26Dave the fisherman.
00:27:27So one day she was out paddleboarding, and there was a gentleman who was a caretaker of one of the
00:27:33lakefront properties, and he was an avid fisherman.
00:27:36So one day he had his minnow trap out.
00:27:41As Dave watched from shore, he saw Wendy yanking his traps out of the water.
00:27:46So while she's on her paddleboard, she starts hauling them up.
00:27:50Now why would she do that?
00:27:53Keith, I have no idea.
00:27:55And Dave?
00:27:56He apparently got in a boat, went out to go talk to her, stop her from doing it.
00:28:00And while he was out there, she hit him in the head with the oar or the paddle, and it
00:28:07kind of went south from there.
00:28:09Dave suffered puncture wounds and abrasions to his head.
00:28:12The cops were called, and Wendy was charged.
00:28:16Katran prosecuted Wendy for assault with a deadly weapon.
00:28:19She pleaded no contest, got probation, and was ordered to stay away from the fisherman and his property.
00:28:25That was 2018, three years before the shooting.
00:28:28Was Dave getting his revenge?
00:28:30I mean, it seemed like that might have legs.
00:28:34That had legs for a little while.
00:28:35We looked into him.
00:28:37We were able to go through all of his cell phone data, including the GPS locations, and found out he
00:28:46wasn't present.
00:28:47He wasn't there.
00:28:49His digital alibi, so to speak, was very good.
00:28:52So maybe Wendy wasn't the target after all.
00:28:56But Gary?
00:28:58Well, lovely house along the lake.
00:29:01Looks very genteel and sweet.
00:29:03And there's grandparents taking the grandkids out on the boat.
00:29:07It looks so idyllic.
00:29:09But when you dig a little bit, what did you find out about Gary's past?
00:29:13I found out a little bit he did have a past with narcotics.
00:29:20I believe it was a federal case that was brought against him.
00:29:23And that he had kind of worked with the federal government to kind of right the wrong that he had
00:29:29done, so to speak, of the crimes that he had been caught for.
00:29:33Long ago, mind you, and no records to be found, but some things aren't forgotten.
00:29:38Well, that opens up all kinds of possibilities, though, doesn't it?
00:29:42It opened an amazing amount of possibilities.
00:29:44It kind of gave me and my partners a giant moment of pause.
00:29:49Yeah.
00:29:50This could span...
00:29:52Oh, Lord, yeah.
00:29:54I mean, we could be down into anywhere.
00:29:57We have no idea how far this rabbit hole could go.
00:30:01Meanwhile, they were confirming alibis, like where Dan Serafini, Wendy and Gary's son-in-law, said he was night before
00:30:08the murder.
00:30:09Detectives learned that after drinks with his co-workers, Dan left to relax in a hotel in Elko, Nevada.
00:30:16And when they drove out there, the desk clerk said he was there all right.
00:30:19Security cameras proved it.
00:30:21But then, a bit odd, a woman checked out for Dan and checked herself in to the same room.
00:30:29Her name was Samantha Scott.
00:30:32Interesting because Dan's phone record showed he had received a call the morning of the murder from the same woman.
00:30:39They do their cop stuff, you know.
00:30:42They get her driver's license, they get a picture, you know.
00:30:44And they find an address for her.
00:30:47Samantha lived in Reno, Nevada, in an apartment complex about 45 miles north of Tahoe City.
00:30:52A detective drove out there, and when he pulled up, he saw something that caught his attention.
00:30:58There's an Audi sitting in the parking lot.
00:31:03And he thinks he's seen the car before, and then it dawns on him that the Audi was Gary's.
00:31:10Oh, boy.
00:31:11The victim of the murder.
00:31:13Who was Samantha Scott?
00:31:16Why did she have Gary's car?
00:31:21You've heard it here before, sometimes luck is the best detective.
00:31:27While checking Dan's alibi, detectives came across a woman named Samantha Scott,
00:31:32who checked into Dan's room, and just weeks after Gary's murder, was driving the dead man's car.
00:31:39It was very, very weird that presumably the girls or somebody within the family structure
00:31:46had given the okay to give her that vehicle, either permanent or a temporary use of the vehicle.
00:31:53I mean, it could happen, just a little unusual.
00:31:56Absolutely.
00:31:57It was enough to make us start asking more questions, to start looking a little bit more.
00:32:03And that is exactly what they did.
00:32:06Hello.
00:32:07Hi.
00:32:07Foster County.
00:32:08Hi.
00:32:09Hi.
00:32:09How are you?
00:32:09Samantha?
00:32:10Yeah.
00:32:11Detectives showed up at Samantha's apartment in Reno, Nevada, but an hour away from Lake Tahoe.
00:32:16You obviously know why we're here to speak to you.
00:32:18Um, I mean, I'm assuming...
00:32:21I can assume, yes.
00:32:23Sure.
00:32:23What do you think?
00:32:24Um, I mean, it probably has something to do with my friend Aaron's partner.
00:32:29Yeah.
00:32:30Yeah.
00:32:32And what, what, what can you tell me about that?
00:32:38Um, I'm not really sure why I would be involved in it.
00:32:43Involved in it?
00:32:45What was Samantha referring to, exactly?
00:32:49So I'm not too sure what to tell you.
00:32:51Okay.
00:32:52I'm more than happy to try and answer for you.
00:32:55Okay.
00:32:56Samantha said she met Aaron about five years earlier when she was looking for a trainer
00:33:00who specialized in equestrian triathlons.
00:33:04She's the only one in town that does it.
00:33:06Outside, bring her around.
00:33:07Aaron became her trainer.
00:33:09And she would let Samantha board her horse in exchange for some work.
00:33:14Good.
00:33:15What can you tell me about Aaron's husband, Danny?
00:33:22Um, Aaron's husband.
00:33:23I've known her for about five years.
00:33:25Okay.
00:33:26Um, and I mean, therefore I've known him for about five years as well.
00:33:30Okay.
00:33:31Then, without being asked, she launched into her and his whereabouts on Friday, June 4th,
00:33:39the night before the shooting.
00:33:40I went with him to Elko, um, I think that Friday.
00:33:45Um, and that's kind of the first time we've ever hung out.
00:33:49Um, why?
00:33:50Because, she said, Dan needed help with a surprise purchase for Aaron.
00:33:56We went to look for a truck for Aaron, uh, a new Ford.
00:34:01And I had just, uh, broken up with someone.
00:34:04So he's like, hey, come, we're having a party.
00:34:06And I was like, okay, cool.
00:34:07And then, we didn't look for a truck for Aaron.
00:34:11What did you, what did you end up doing?
00:34:13Uh, well, I just spent the night up there.
00:34:15After a night out in Elko, she said, she and Dan went back to the suite he had booked.
00:34:20And she slept in the bedroom.
00:34:23He slept in the living room.
00:34:24So she said.
00:34:25So no sexual relations or anything like that?
00:34:28No.
00:34:28No, uh, no.
00:34:31Not at all.
00:34:32Ever?
00:34:33Ever.
00:34:34And when she woke up in the morning?
00:34:37Dan was gone.
00:34:38Did he tell you that the night before he was going to be leaving early?
00:34:41No.
00:34:41She assumed Dan had left for work, she said.
00:34:44And so, she decided she would extend her stay for a little R&R.
00:34:49I was getting ready to go.
00:34:50And then, kind of wanted to stay.
00:34:53Because, I've just never been in a suite before.
00:34:58She said she checked out the following day.
00:35:00And on her drive home, a friend called to let her know what had happened to Aaron's parents.
00:35:05And so, Samantha said she reached out to Aaron and offered to help any way she could.
00:35:33And all of that story, all of it, could have been quite true.
00:35:37Oh, except?
00:35:39We could see there was a crack in the armor of fear.
00:35:42Really?
00:35:43She was nervous at points when there shouldn't have been nervousness.
00:35:48If she was an innocent person or didn't know anything.
00:35:52Correct.
00:35:52If there was nothing that she didn't know, I mean, we understand and expect a certain degree of nervousness.
00:35:59But when the fear continues and the oddities continue, that kind of puts some of the alarms up that something
00:36:06was wrong.
00:36:08I'm not super involved with anything but the horses.
00:36:15Can I ask why I'm involved besides me having been in Elko?
00:36:22Well, we're...
00:36:24Seems like Dan's interest.
00:36:27It's an investigation.
00:36:29And so, we have to make contact with folks that we come across in the investigation.
00:36:38We're just trying to get the facts.
00:36:40That's it.
00:36:42Obviously, it's a death investigation.
00:36:44You also have his car here.
00:36:48So, I mean, can you understand why we're here talking to you and that's based on that?
00:36:54Yeah.
00:36:54No, I do understand.
00:36:57Simple explanation, said Samantha.
00:36:59Erin let her borrow the Audi because Samantha's sisters were in town and they were using her Subaru.
00:37:05In fact, she had taken the day off to meet up with her sisters who were at a hotel in
00:37:10Lake Tahoe, all perfectly innocent.
00:37:12The detectives wrapped up with her sisters, and drove to the hotel in Lake Tahoe, and there was Samantha, not
00:37:26with her sisters, but with Aaron and Dan.
00:37:30It started to raise a lot of questions of how deeply are they all connected, and who's connected to who,
00:37:36and what are they doing up here.
00:37:39Someone held the answers to those questions.
00:37:42Tell me about your relationship with Samantha.
00:37:47I idolized her.
00:37:49I thought she was the coolest person.
00:37:50Sarah Ross was barely a teenager when she met Aaron Spore.
00:37:55I was like, whoa, I was a bit starstruck.
00:37:57Aaron had built her career on riding feral horses and had become a bit of a celebrity in the event
00:38:03riding community.
00:38:04She was really, really brave.
00:38:06I think that was her biggest quality, and it didn't really dawn on her to be afraid.
00:38:10In her mind, she could outmuscle it.
00:38:12She could make it do what she wanted to do.
00:38:14Sarah lived across from Aaron and Dan's barn in Rideau, Nevada, when she joined Aaron's training program.
00:38:21She was almost more of a, like, big sister type coach.
00:38:25So she was funny, she wanted to engage, but she also was pretty firm when she had to be.
00:38:32To help with the cost of the sport, Sarah often worked at Aaron's barn, and it's how she met Samantha
00:38:38Scott.
00:38:39So I'd go schmobbing on the hay cart, and we'd load bales, and we'd just chit-chat, and that kind
00:38:44of was our bonding.
00:38:46Sarah also saw the bond that developed between Samantha and Aaron.
00:38:51It started just like a client, like anything, and then over time, when that's kind of your circle,
00:38:56then you all kind of become friends, and so they were quite close friends.
00:39:00Dan was part of that circle, too.
00:39:03He'd come to the horse shows when he could.
00:39:04He'd, you know, be out there fixing fences.
00:39:07He really cared about the horses themselves.
00:39:09Together, Dan and Aaron were a good time.
00:39:12Everybody gravitated toward them.
00:39:14They were just fun to be around, and they had these massive personalities.
00:39:21Was that what was going on when detectives saw Samantha with Aaron and Dan at that hotel in Lake Tahoe?
00:39:26Friends just hanging out a little less than a month after the shooting?
00:39:33Detectives watched from a distance, saw them walking around the property.
00:39:37It started to raise a lot of questions of how deeply are they all connected and who's connected to who,
00:39:43and what are they doing up here.
00:39:46So, they asked Dan to come in for another round of questions.
00:39:49This time, he brought his attorney.
00:39:52Detective Meyer confronted Dan about being with Samantha the night before the murder.
00:39:56We went to the Red Lion.
00:39:57Uh-huh.
00:39:58And you were there with Sam.
00:39:59Oh, no.
00:39:59I was.
00:40:00Yeah, but you didn't tell us that that night.
00:40:01You said you're off with co-workers, you were doing your thing.
00:40:03But that's not a lie.
00:40:04That's my personal life.
00:40:05He was indignant, didn't feel like it was a big issue, kind of like it was my business, you don't
00:40:12need to know about it.
00:40:14Okay, I'm not saying it's a lie, but it's when you kind of sell it one way, and then we
00:40:21find out it's another.
00:40:21And like I told you that day, I am not the marriage police.
00:40:25You couldn't ask me any questions at all, and I would have told you more if you asked more.
00:40:30Well, we didn't know it at that point.
00:40:31Sure, but my personal life is my personal life.
00:40:33Just so I know, are you and Sam in a relationship?
00:40:36Absolutely not.
00:40:37Was that an affair that was up that night?
00:40:40What was it that was up there?
00:40:42Sam and I are not having an affair at all.
00:40:44Okay.
00:40:45Just like Samantha said, they were going to buy a truck for Aaron, and that was it.
00:40:51And the day of the shooting, he insisted, he was long gone, miles and miles away in his trailer in
00:40:56Crescent Valley.
00:40:58I laid in bed, passed out pretty much the whole life.
00:41:03Okay.
00:41:04And I'll tell you what I took.
00:41:05I took two Vicodin, a shot at NyQuil-Z, and two Tylenol PMs.
00:41:12And then laid them, bedged out on my bed.
00:41:14And of course, that phone of his backed him up, put him a four and a half hour drive away
00:41:19from where his in-laws were murdered.
00:41:21So, that was that.
00:41:23They let him leave.
00:41:25And months went by until, in the fall of 2021, Samantha's phone records came back.
00:41:34And our phones can reveal a thing or two, which is why detectives invited Samantha for another talk.
00:41:43I'm happy to answer your questions.
00:41:45There's a lot of details that we would like to know.
00:41:47Things that only the people in that inner circle will know.
00:41:50Like, for example, her actual relationship with Dan.
00:41:55I'm very close with Aaron and I'm very close with Dan.
00:42:03We didn't, well, there's a recent flirtation going on.
00:42:07I'm sure you will see my phone.
00:42:09With Dan?
00:42:10Mm-hmm.
00:42:10Okay, not Aaron?
00:42:11No, not with Aaron.
00:42:13And we always joke around that we're like a frubble because he always complains that he has two wives.
00:42:19By now, detectives had told Samantha they had her phone records.
00:42:23And maybe that's why her story about the day of the murder was about to change.
00:42:29I left the Red Lion.
00:42:30I went to Crescent Valley.
00:42:32Well, well.
00:42:33She didn't spend the day at the hotel after all.
00:42:36And what did you do there?
00:42:38In Crescent Valley.
00:42:40I was just there momentarily.
00:42:42And then I left and went to Tahoe.
00:42:44Okay, and you were by yourself?
00:42:45No, I went with Dan.
00:42:47Dan, you went with you to Tahoe?
00:42:51There it was.
00:42:52She confirmed what her phone record showed.
00:42:55That her cell phone traveled from Dan's trailer to Lake Tahoe.
00:42:59And Dan was with her.
00:43:01Okay, so you guys joke together?
00:43:03Correct.
00:43:03Was he ever out of your sight?
00:43:05Yes.
00:43:06Samantha said she dropped off Dan in the afternoon.
00:43:09Near the shops in Tahoe City.
00:43:11About four miles away from Gary and Wendy's house.
00:43:15And she waited for hours until Dan returned.
00:43:18He just said to wait and pick up his package.
00:43:21And is it okay?
00:43:22She believed, she said, that he was there to pick up cocaine.
00:43:26So the digital evidence doesn't support what you're saying, unfortunately.
00:43:31Her phone put her much closer to the crime scene.
00:43:34Did you see him with a gun?
00:43:35I did not.
00:43:36Samantha said she didn't believe Dan had anything to do with the shooting.
00:43:40To which the detective replied.
00:43:43I don't buy that story whatsoever.
00:43:44You are in a lot of trouble.
00:43:46This does not make sense.
00:43:48And something else that didn't make sense.
00:43:50Did he tell you to turn your phone off?
00:43:52No.
00:43:53Yes.
00:43:54He did tell me to turn my phone off.
00:43:55Okay.
00:43:56Okay.
00:43:56Samantha?
00:43:57I'm sorry.
00:43:58I know it's fine.
00:43:58Hold on.
00:43:59I'm not judging you.
00:44:00This is scary.
00:44:01But you have to be honest.
00:44:02Samantha said Dan told her to turn off her phone hours before they made it into Tahoe.
00:44:08And she did.
00:44:09Or thought she did.
00:44:11She made the mistake of presumably just killing off the screen on the phone.
00:44:17And did not turn off the power off the entire phone.
00:44:21And it left a digital breadcrumb trail from beginning to end.
00:44:27Detective Meyer and his team watched the interview on FaceTime.
00:44:32Well, they stood by with a search warrant near Dan's trailer in Crescent Valley.
00:44:36We were hopefully going to switch from just doing a search warrant out there to maybe we're going to be
00:44:43able to make the arrest.
00:44:44But Samantha didn't give up anything more.
00:44:47How did that change your thinking about the case?
00:44:51We knew at that point we were on the right track that we had him.
00:44:54We knew that she had just put him there.
00:44:57She had just put Danny there.
00:44:58But now we had the finish line in sight.
00:45:00We were ready to finish it.
00:45:01That finish line was further than it seemed.
00:45:07While investigators worked on building a stronger case against Dan and Samantha, Wendy was trying to rebuild her life.
00:45:14She had survived multiple gunshots to the head.
00:45:17And now she was doing all she could to regain her strength and her memory.
00:45:22Did it seem to you as if she would make a full recovery physically and mentally?
00:45:26I was very hopeful.
00:45:28It had that feeling that she was getting better by the day.
00:45:33Wendy's rehabilitation was long and strenuous.
00:45:36It was a miracle, Wendy.
00:45:38Her daughter, Adrienne, released video of her progress.
00:45:41Reporter Michelle Bendur.
00:45:42Video of her riding a bike, learning how to walk again, learning how to speak again.
00:45:47Like, she had this fight to live.
00:45:51Amazing she survived it, really.
00:45:52Amazing.
00:45:53And she kept up with the investigation.
00:45:56I spoke to her almost every day.
00:45:58Oh, really?
00:45:59Okay.
00:45:59Me and Wendy, we developed kind of a friendship.
00:46:02Wendy told Detective Meyer quite a bit about Adrienne's sister, Erin, and brother-in-law, Dan, and their financial issues.
00:46:11They were taking more from Gary and Wendy than Adrienne ever had.
00:46:15During a recorded phone call with detectives, Wendy described her frustration.
00:46:21They were very needy for money and all the time.
00:46:25There was always something, and then, you know, we would help them out.
00:46:31In fact, on the day of the shooting, Gary and Wendy forked over a rather hefty sum.
00:46:35I believe it was a $90,000 check that Erin was given prior to leaving the residence.
00:46:41So, the money was absolutely flowing in.
00:46:44Detectives learned that sometimes the money was a gift, and other times, a loan.
00:46:50Either way, it was a lifeline for the couple.
00:46:52At one point, Danny had one failed business venture, a bar in the Reno Sparks area, that fell through.
00:47:00By the time of the shooting, Dan and Erin owed hundreds of thousands of dollars to her parents.
00:47:06There had been intense fights, and sometimes estrangement.
00:47:10Her mother cut her off so many times throughout her life.
00:47:13You know, would cut her off and then bring her back.
00:47:16Did those heated arguments lead to murder?
00:47:19Wendy started to believe they did.
00:47:22She began to remember things, right?
00:47:24She was trying to.
00:47:26Like, maybe she saw Danny.
00:47:30Yes.
00:47:31This is Wendy, almost a year after the shooting, on the phone with the detective.
00:47:36I've had some memory come back.
00:47:38I felt that someone was in the house.
00:47:41And I looked up and saw Danny with a hoodie on.
00:47:44How clear do you remember it?
00:47:47Very clear.
00:47:47I remember him walking over and seeing him shooting Gary and then pointing the gun at me.
00:47:55It sounded credible, but given her brain injury, were her statements actual memories?
00:48:02Or a mixture of things she had heard from friends and family?
00:48:06Wendy herself wasn't sure.
00:48:08But she was suspicious enough of Dan and her daughter that she revised her will and disinherited Aaron.
00:48:15The more lucid she had become, the more involved she had become, the more engaging, also the more frustrated she
00:48:21had become.
00:48:22Equally frustrated was her daughter, Adrienne, who'd also become suspicious of Dan and her sister.
00:48:29Sergeant Tyler Neer, a new supervisor of investigations assigned to work with Detective Meyer, spoke with her.
00:48:35She wanted something done, and she wanted justice for her parents.
00:48:39And life was not easy.
00:48:43Wendy had improved physically, but mentally, she was struggling.
00:48:48And nearly two years after the shooting, Detective Meyer received a call from Adrian.
00:48:54She said, my mom killed herself, and I blame you for it.
00:49:01To be accused of being responsible.
00:49:04She's dead, she killed herself, it's your fault.
00:49:07It was my fault because we didn't solve the crime, and she felt that it was never going to be
00:49:11done.
00:49:13What was that like, physically, emotionally, to get that call?
00:49:17It hurt.
00:49:21It made me angry.
00:49:23I was sad because I'd gotten to know Wendy, and to know that she had taken her life, that hurt.
00:49:30Took it pretty hard, huh?
00:49:31It hit, yeah, it hit really hard.
00:49:38A few months later, on the second anniversary of Gary's murder, Adrian filed a wrongful death lawsuit,
00:49:44alleging what she had come to believe, that both Dan and Aaron were responsible for the shooting.
00:49:51Placer County District Attorney Morgan Geyer.
00:49:54Did you believe that Aaron was involved in this in a substantial way?
00:49:58I do.
00:49:59What things stand out for you?
00:50:01Well, the most obvious being the timing of the murder of Gary Spore and the shooting of Wendy Wood.
00:50:08Aaron was there that day.
00:50:10Aaron went out on the boat with her children and her parents.
00:50:14Almost a two-hour window, the shooter used to slip into Gary and Wendy's home and wait.
00:50:20Aaron responded with her own lawsuit, denying any involvement with the attack against her parents.
00:50:26She alleged that was a lie Adrian used to turn Wendy against her.
00:50:31Aaron is accusing Adrian of cutting them out of the will and of taking advantage of her mother.
00:50:37The allegation was essentially that she had manipulated her mother into disinheriting, and she filed a lawsuit to get to
00:50:43the bottom of it.
00:50:44How did all this complicate your investigation?
00:50:47For me, I treated it a lot as kind of noise, but I wasn't allowing it really to influence the
00:50:52investigation or influence any direction.
00:50:55By then, they'd found a key piece of evidence.
00:50:58It was video of Samantha on the day of the shooting, walking to her parked Subaru at 8 p.m.,
00:51:05a mile and a half from Gary and Wendy's home.
00:51:07She waited there until dark, and then, 24 minutes after the shooter left the crime scene, headed in her direction.
00:51:15We could see the dome light turn on, and presumably that's when he had gotten in the vehicle and they
00:51:23drove away.
00:51:24The last piece of the timeline puzzle.
00:51:28But before detectives could make an arrest, there was still something they needed to do.
00:51:33Really closing those doors on other people that could have been suspects or named as potential suspects to really paint
00:51:39the picture beyond a reasonable doubt that it couldn't be anybody else responsible for this.
00:51:44Seven months after Wendy's death, they believed they had done just that.
00:51:48Today, we arrested 39-year-old Danny Serafini and 33-year-old Samantha Scott.
00:51:53The case was finally ready to prosecute.
00:51:58Detectives called Adrian to share the news.
00:52:01And we called her and told her, it's done. We got him. And she just screamed.
00:52:07She screamed in excitement and told her boyfriend that was with her, that it was done, that they finally got
00:52:14him.
00:52:15Why did you never arrest Aaron or charge her?
00:52:18There was no evidence that pointed at Aaron or showed Aaron had any culpability.
00:52:24After the arraignments, Adrian talked to reporters about her brother-in-law.
00:52:28I think he is violent. I think he is greedy.
00:52:33And I am just so thankful that Placer County has taken him into custody, because that's where he should be.
00:52:40The former Major League Baseball player was about to face a jury.
00:52:44Dan Serafini and an unexpected star witness would take center stage.
00:52:52Dan Serafini and Samantha Scott were in jail, accused of murder and attempted murder.
00:52:58By January 2025, they'd been there 15 months.
00:53:02And Samantha, she'd had a change of heart and sat down with investigators to tell them everything.
00:53:10What did she say that was different than what she'd said before?
00:53:13Most importantly, she told us what instructions she had received from him to keep her phone off, to keep her
00:53:19mouth shut.
00:53:19And she indicated that he had a gun with him and had even test fired that gun and silencer on
00:53:24their drive from Nevada to Lake Tahoe.
00:53:28And then, after Dan shot Gary and Wendy, said Samantha, as they were driving back to Dan's trailer,
00:53:35she saw him throw the gun, the silencer, the backpack and some shoes out of the car.
00:53:41By the time investigators looked for that evidence, it was gone.
00:53:45But Samantha's sworn statement would be enough.
00:53:48We were already preparing to try him without that testimony because the evidence showed that he did it.
00:53:54But this provided corroboration to a lot of other pieces of evidence.
00:54:00Samantha agreed to plead guilty to being an accessory after the fact, and she got to go home.
00:54:05Well, with a new accessory of her own, an ankle monitor.
00:54:10Four months later, May 2025, Dan Serafini went on trial.
00:54:15And prosecutor Rick Miller opened with something Dan told his brother.
00:54:20I'll pay $20,000 to have them killed.
00:54:23That is how the trial started.
00:54:25Well, he certainly didn't bury the headline, did he?
00:54:28No, he did not. He got everyone's attention.
00:54:31The prosecutor said Dan's hatred toward his in-laws started years earlier.
00:54:36There were these very contentious emails that the jury heard.
00:54:40One exchange was from 2016 when they were arguing over a multi-million dollar ranch
00:54:45they'd helped purchase for Aaron and Dan.
00:54:48The prosecutor quoted from Dan's email to Wendy.
00:54:51Take the f***ing house.
00:54:53But if Gary ever says f*** you to me again, I will knock him the f*** out.
00:54:57Three months before the shooting, there were more.
00:55:00More. This one, after a disagreement over the couple's kids.
00:55:04Wendy wrote to Aaron,
00:55:05Danny's disdain for us is right to the surface, so he enjoyed berating us.
00:55:10They fought a lot.
00:55:12They fought a lot. They did. A lot of fighting.
00:55:15This was way more than just keyboard warriors.
00:55:19Dan said he wanted them killed,
00:55:21and then set out to do that very thing, said the prosecutor.
00:55:24He would have stood to inherit quite a bit of money with his wife,
00:55:29but he didn't want to wait.
00:55:31He wanted it now, and he didn't want any strings attached.
00:55:34And it all came to a head on June 5th, 2021,
00:55:37the day Wendy and Gary went boating with Aaron and her boys.
00:55:41The prosecutor showed that video of a figure walking toward the house
00:55:45and told the jurors to focus on the person's gait.
00:55:49What was it about the walk?
00:55:51Well, it was described as a sort of swagger with maybe a little bit of a limp.
00:55:55Sure.
00:55:56And then they had another video of Dan Serafini
00:55:59in the lobby of the Red Lion in Elko, Nevada,
00:56:02the day before the shootings.
00:56:05Was the walk the same?
00:56:06Well, you'd have to look for yourself,
00:56:08but the prosecution said the walk was the same.
00:56:11Had to be Dan, the prosecutor said,
00:56:13because anybody else would have seen the SUV in the driveway
00:56:16and would have thought somebody was home.
00:56:19No one was home, of course.
00:56:21So Dan entered the garage code and walked right in.
00:56:25Then, just over an hour after Aaron drove off with the kids,
00:56:29the jurors heard the five gunshots.
00:56:35Before leaving, Dan put a bag of dog food out
00:56:38because he thought the bodies wouldn't be discovered for days,
00:56:40said the prosecutor.
00:56:42It was all carefully planned, he told the jury.
00:56:45Dan purposely left his phone in his trailer 300-plus miles away
00:56:50so there wouldn't be a digital trail.
00:56:52His phone has a really good rock-solid alibi.
00:56:56That phone never moved.
00:56:59Zero steps.
00:57:00Zero outgoing communication.
00:57:03Everything goes to voicemail.
00:57:05Then the prosecutor called his star witness, Samantha Scott.
00:57:10She described what she saw on that drive to Lake Tahoe,
00:57:13the gun, the silencer, the backpack.
00:57:16And something Dan later revealed about that day.
00:57:20He allegedly confessed to Samantha that he shot Wendy.
00:57:25She also told the jury that Dan threatened to shoot her family
00:57:28if she said anything to anyone.
00:57:30By the fall of 2021, months after the murder, Samantha said,
00:57:36they were having an affair that continued even after they were both arrested.
00:57:41He told her he was in love with her while they were in jail
00:57:44and sent her what they call kites in jail.
00:57:48This is a slang term for sending messages between inmates.
00:57:52And that, said the prosecutor, was part of the plan.
00:57:56He knows she's loyal.
00:57:59He knows she's in love with him.
00:58:03Everything that she has done indicates that.
00:58:08And yeah, even as I'm talking right now,
00:58:11the flame on that candle has not even begun to flicker.
00:58:16She still admitted she was feeling guilty for testifying
00:58:19because she still had feelings for him.
00:58:22Then the prosecutor called Aaron
00:58:23and asked her about Dan's relationship with Samantha.
00:58:27Aaron said she knew of the sexual relationship.
00:58:30That didn't make her upset,
00:58:32but she was more upset that there were emotional feelings
00:58:35that she was finding out about.
00:58:36That's what upset her.
00:58:38She had once considered Samantha a friend,
00:58:40but now, she said, she no longer trusted her.
00:58:44And unlike Samantha, Aaron had not turned on Dan.
00:58:49She testified for the prosecution and defended Dan.
00:58:51Correct.
00:58:52She defended her husband at the trial,
00:58:54saying there's no way that was her husband in that video.
00:59:00Samantha and Aaron on the stand, the two of them.
00:59:03I'm interested in knowing from your observation of them
00:59:06how they came across.
00:59:07They painted two separate pictures.
00:59:10Samantha had accepted defeat,
00:59:12both legally and existentially.
00:59:14And understood that her job now was to connect the dots.
00:59:18Aaron was still in defense mode.
00:59:21She was still actively trying to thwart the truth.
00:59:23So you couldn't have two different perspectives in one courtroom.
00:59:28Or maybe three perspectives?
00:59:31Dan's defense attorney was about to paint an entirely different picture.
00:59:36And Dan Serafini wasn't in it.
00:59:40The person in the video is built differently than Danny
00:59:43because the person in that video is not Danny Serafini.
00:59:49The state had called Dan Serafini a killer.
00:59:54That, his attorney David Ratman said, was flat-out wrong.
00:59:59Danny Serafini did not shoot Gary Spohr.
01:00:03Danny Serafini did not shoot Wendy Wood.
01:00:06That masked man in the video?
01:00:08That wasn't him, said the defense.
01:00:11The statue is different.
01:00:12And the person in the video is built differently than Danny
01:00:16because the person in that video is not Danny Serafini.
01:00:20The height was wrong.
01:00:22The weight was wrong.
01:00:23The walk was wrong.
01:00:25Not the same at all.
01:00:26And anyway, remember those phone records?
01:00:28He was many miles away in Nevada
01:00:30when that masked man shot Gary and Wendy.
01:00:33The defense suggested he could have been binge-watching something on his phone.
01:00:37Shopping.
01:00:38Sitting in his trailer in Crescent Valley.
01:00:40And remember, counseled the defense attorney,
01:00:42there was no physical evidence, not a scrap,
01:00:45tying Dan to the Tahoe house on the day of the shooting.
01:00:48Besides, his wife Erin testified
01:00:50that Dan had no financial motive to kill her parents.
01:00:54These people were quite generous
01:00:56with Danny Serafini and his wife, their daughter, Erin.
01:01:01And if Dan killed them, he'd get nothing.
01:01:04Not a cent.
01:01:06The evidence will also show that Danny Serafini
01:01:11was not a beneficiary of their will.
01:01:14He was not someone that was going to inherit.
01:01:18As for Samantha's testimony,
01:01:21she lied, said the defense, to save herself.
01:01:25That story is fantastic.
01:01:28That story is a story.
01:01:31It is a really great leap of faith here
01:01:37that the prosecution is asking you to believe.
01:01:42It's like, why would you kill the golden goose?
01:01:46Before jurors got the case,
01:01:48prosecutor Rick Miller left them with this message.
01:01:51You know why he did it.
01:01:52You know how he did it.
01:01:55You know his motive.
01:01:56You know his opportunity.
01:01:58You know his ability.
01:01:59There's a murderer in this room.
01:02:02He's sitting right there.
01:02:05And then they were sent away to deliberate.
01:02:09I've never experienced or been through anything like this before.
01:02:14Karen Schroeder, the jury foreperson,
01:02:16and two other jurors,
01:02:18Allie McKibben and Gracie Buttrick,
01:02:20took page after page of notes
01:02:21as they listened to the testimony
01:02:23and watched Dan.
01:02:25I spent the majority of the trial
01:02:29just watching him
01:02:30to try to see how he reacted
01:02:32to each and every witness
01:02:34and the evidence
01:02:35and just try to get a read on him,
01:02:36but he seemed very stoic and disconnected.
01:02:39They paid attention to every word
01:02:41from Samantha Scott.
01:02:43Her recollection on the stand
01:02:45and comparing that
01:02:46to what she had already told law enforcement,
01:02:49really trying to pick through.
01:02:51Is she telling the truth?
01:02:53What is she lying about?
01:02:54And found Dan's wife, Erin,
01:02:57to be, well...
01:02:59For lack of a better word, frustrating.
01:03:02It was clear the second she got on that witness stand
01:03:06that her loyalties lied with her husband.
01:03:09And you had to think,
01:03:11he's up there accused of murdering your parents.
01:03:16That first day, the jurors talked.
01:03:19No verdict.
01:03:20We didn't take a vote
01:03:22until the end of our second full day of deliberations.
01:03:27The vote was not unanimous.
01:03:29We used to prize.
01:03:30They kept going,
01:03:31huh, huh, huh.
01:03:32I really thought it was going to be
01:03:33a very quick verdict
01:03:34and had to keep reminding myself
01:03:36the amount of evidence
01:03:37that they had to go through
01:03:38and the complexity of the case.
01:03:39So it kind of gave me that moment of peace
01:03:41to know it's,
01:03:42we're going to get there.
01:03:43It's just going to take a little while
01:03:44to get to where we need to.
01:03:46Do you hope?
01:03:46And I hoped.
01:03:48The jurors took a closer look
01:03:49at the surveillance videos
01:03:51from the Red Lion and the Tahoe House.
01:03:53And they took screenshots.
01:03:55There was parts where you could zoom in.
01:03:58And so then we did side by side
01:03:59and looked,
01:04:00could it be the same person?
01:04:01They looked at the shoes,
01:04:03the pants,
01:04:04the walk.
01:04:05We were like investigators.
01:04:07And finally,
01:04:09on day four.
01:04:10I understand the jury
01:04:12has reached a verdict.
01:04:13And years of grief
01:04:14and anger
01:04:15and tension
01:04:16gathered in the courtroom
01:04:18that moment.
01:04:19We, the jury,
01:04:20in the above entitled action,
01:04:22find the defendant,
01:04:23Daniel Joseph Serafini,
01:04:24guilty.
01:04:25Guilty
01:04:26of first degree murder
01:04:28and attempted murder.
01:04:30The jurors were certain
01:04:31the figure in the video
01:04:33could only have been
01:04:34Dan Serafini.
01:04:36I felt
01:04:37100% that's him.
01:04:40No one was able
01:04:41to convince me
01:04:41it wasn't.
01:04:42And nothing
01:04:44in the evidence
01:04:45could tell me
01:04:45that it wasn't.
01:04:46Today,
01:04:47I wore my mom's
01:04:48engagement ring
01:04:49and my dad's ashes
01:04:52are around my neck.
01:04:54And I knew
01:04:54that they were here
01:04:55with us today.
01:04:56Outside the courtroom,
01:04:58Adrian Spohr
01:04:58was grateful.
01:05:00The Placer County
01:05:01District Attorney's Office
01:05:03and Sheriff's Office
01:05:04never gave up.
01:05:06And today,
01:05:07finally,
01:05:07justice was served.
01:05:11Oh my gosh.
01:05:13Excitement.
01:05:15Tears.
01:05:16A full,
01:05:19kind of like,
01:05:21four years
01:05:22just finally ended.
01:05:23Have you ever been
01:05:24this deeply,
01:05:25emotionally connected
01:05:26with a case before?
01:05:28No.
01:05:28I've never had
01:05:29any case
01:05:30that
01:05:31just
01:05:33exhausted us
01:05:34mentally
01:05:35and emotionally
01:05:35to this degree.
01:05:37And it was,
01:05:38when it was done,
01:05:40that relief
01:05:40was pretty awesome.
01:05:42Except,
01:05:43it wasn't done.
01:05:45It wasn't.
01:05:47Because?
01:05:48Dan Serafini
01:05:49simply refused
01:05:50to accept it.
01:05:51And he found
01:05:53a new attorney
01:05:54who revealed
01:05:55a new piece
01:05:56of evidence.
01:05:57Danny,
01:05:58it's Wendy.
01:05:59I didn't get
01:06:00to tell you
01:06:00that I've
01:06:01been doing
01:06:02this electric therapy
01:06:03and I have
01:06:05a vision
01:06:05of the shooter.
01:06:06The DA said,
01:06:07where'd you get that?
01:06:08Watch out.
01:06:12You know how it is.
01:06:13The jury pronounces
01:06:14guilty
01:06:15and it's done.
01:06:17Cooked.
01:06:18Finished.
01:06:19We begin
01:06:20with breaking news.
01:06:21A jury has found
01:06:22former MLB pitcher
01:06:23Dan Serafini
01:06:24guilty of murder.
01:06:25Except this time,
01:06:26it wasn't.
01:06:28Dan Serafini,
01:06:29one time
01:06:29Major League Baseball
01:06:31pitcher,
01:06:31now convicted murderer,
01:06:33simply refused
01:06:34to accept the verdict.
01:06:36What the hell happened?
01:06:37I think what happened,
01:06:39unfortunately,
01:06:40for everyone
01:06:42is that due process
01:06:43never happened.
01:06:44Or you could say,
01:06:46this guy
01:06:46is what happened.
01:06:48Dan swapped out
01:06:49his old lawyers
01:06:50for Barry Zimmerman.
01:06:52And Zimmerman
01:06:53had a whole new play
01:06:54in mind.
01:06:55Throw out his conviction
01:06:57and get Dan
01:06:58a new trial.
01:07:00Why?
01:07:01Two reasons,
01:07:02he said.
01:07:03Reason one,
01:07:05jury misconduct.
01:07:07What did the jury do
01:07:08that was so terrible?
01:07:09They decided
01:07:10on their own dime
01:07:12to go through
01:07:13the video
01:07:14of the surveillance
01:07:16at the house
01:07:17and the video
01:07:18at the Red Lion
01:07:19and make screenshots
01:07:22and then compare
01:07:23screenshots
01:07:24to screenshots
01:07:25to see if they could match
01:07:27who they knew
01:07:28to be Danny Serafini
01:07:29at the Red Lion
01:07:30with the perpetrator.
01:07:32That,
01:07:33Zimmerman said,
01:07:34was outside the scope
01:07:35of the jury's role.
01:07:36I was shocked.
01:07:37I thought,
01:07:38this is absolutely
01:07:40misconduct.
01:07:42And reason two?
01:07:43Zimmerman argued
01:07:44that Dan's trial attorneys
01:07:46had failed him,
01:07:47given him a poor defense.
01:07:48For example,
01:07:49Dan was pushing
01:07:50to go to trial,
01:07:51but Zimmerman said
01:07:52his lawyers
01:07:52should have taken a pause
01:07:54and regrouped,
01:07:55especially after learning
01:07:56that Samantha Scott
01:07:57had flipped.
01:07:58The responsible thing
01:08:00for his trial lawyers
01:08:01to have done
01:08:02at that moment
01:08:03was to say,
01:08:05break's on,
01:08:06we're not ready.
01:08:07The cards have changed.
01:08:09The table is now different.
01:08:10We have Samantha Scott
01:08:11to deal with.
01:08:12Was Samantha Scott
01:08:13the key to it all?
01:08:15Yes, absolutely.
01:08:17Zimmerman claimed
01:08:18Samantha was more involved
01:08:20than she let on.
01:08:21I don't view her
01:08:22as being some naive person
01:08:25who just happened to say,
01:08:27I'll do whatever
01:08:27Danny Serafini
01:08:28he tells me to do
01:08:29and I won't ask any questions.
01:08:31I don't buy that
01:08:31for a second.
01:08:32Also, said Zimmerman,
01:08:34Dan's attorneys
01:08:35should have let him testify.
01:08:37He's not a fool.
01:08:38He knew he had to testify,
01:08:41especially when Samantha
01:08:43was going to testify
01:08:44against him.
01:08:45Come on,
01:08:46he's his own agent.
01:08:47He could testify
01:08:48if he really wanted to,
01:08:49couldn't he?
01:08:49He could,
01:08:50but when the pressure's on,
01:08:52let me just kind of
01:08:52put you into this.
01:08:53You're facing life
01:08:54without the possibility
01:08:55of parole.
01:08:56You have two lawyers,
01:08:57you've paid $400,000 to.
01:08:59They're both telling you,
01:09:00you can't testify,
01:09:02it's a mistake,
01:09:03you're going to lose.
01:09:04And Zimmerman argued
01:09:05the defense
01:09:05didn't call a single witness,
01:09:07but should have called
01:09:09a neighbor
01:09:09who told investigators
01:09:11she saw Dan
01:09:12in Crescent Valley
01:09:13the day of the murder,
01:09:14and a secret lover
01:09:16who told detectives
01:09:17she spent the day with Dan.
01:09:19I was with them
01:09:20all day Saturday
01:09:21and then went to work.
01:09:23Okay,
01:09:23what did you guys
01:09:24do on Saturday?
01:09:26Um,
01:09:27drank a bunch
01:09:28of disgusting wine.
01:09:31So,
01:09:32Zimmerman got
01:09:33a hearing
01:09:33and they all
01:09:34assembled
01:09:35in the courtroom,
01:09:36and Dan Serafini
01:09:37shuffled in
01:09:38his garish
01:09:39jail jumpsuit
01:09:40punctuation
01:09:40for a very
01:09:42unusual proceeding.
01:09:43For several days,
01:09:44he testified
01:09:45about Samantha Scott
01:09:46and his complaints
01:09:47about his attorneys.
01:09:49And with Dan
01:09:49on the stand,
01:09:51Zimmerman revealed
01:09:52evidence the jury
01:09:53never heard.
01:09:54Danny,
01:09:55it's Wendy.
01:09:56I didn't get
01:09:57to tell you
01:09:58that I've been
01:09:59doing this
01:09:59electric therapy
01:10:01that allows me
01:10:02to recall visions,
01:10:04and I have a vision
01:10:05of the shooter
01:10:06and it's not you.
01:10:08This was Wendy
01:10:09saying Dan
01:10:10was not the killer.
01:10:12That was powerful stuff.
01:10:13The DA said,
01:10:14where'd you get that?
01:10:15Dramatic.
01:10:16Or,
01:10:18maybe not.
01:10:19During his cross
01:10:20examination,
01:10:21the prosecutor
01:10:21played that
01:10:22other Wendy tape.
01:10:24Someone was in the house
01:10:26and I looked up
01:10:28and saw Danny
01:10:29with a hoodie on.
01:10:30He was able to show
01:10:31that Wendy knew
01:10:33exactly what
01:10:34Danny had done
01:10:35and at some points
01:10:36were keeping them
01:10:37close and making
01:10:38them believe
01:10:39that she didn't
01:10:40think that
01:10:40so that she could
01:10:41remain safe.
01:10:42She still remained
01:10:42fearful for her life
01:10:44up until the end.
01:10:45As for Dan's
01:10:47alibi witnesses,
01:10:48the prosecutor
01:10:49said his neighbor
01:10:50had the date wrong
01:10:51and Dan told
01:10:52his lover
01:10:53to lie.
01:10:54The alibi witnesses
01:10:55would have ultimately
01:10:56provided more
01:10:57incriminating evidence
01:10:58against Mr. Serafini
01:10:59and arguably
01:11:00would have sped up
01:11:00that guilty verdict
01:11:01that he so justly deserved.
01:11:03So his original defense
01:11:04attorneys were right
01:11:05in withholding
01:11:06those people?
01:11:06They were absolutely
01:11:07right in withholding
01:11:08any evidence
01:11:09of the alibi.
01:11:10The prosecution argued
01:11:11Dan was simply
01:11:12having buyers of wars
01:11:13and the jury
01:11:14did nothing wrong.
01:11:16Dan watched it
01:11:17all unfold.
01:11:19One more shot
01:11:20at another chance
01:11:21and he had a lot
01:11:23to say about it.
01:11:24I think you need
01:11:24to stop with those
01:11:25questions because
01:11:26you keep implicating me
01:11:27and it's not me.
01:11:30From pitcher's mound
01:11:32to jail cell,
01:11:33Dan Serafini's fall
01:11:35was as steep
01:11:36as they come.
01:11:37I thought about
01:11:37this case a lot.
01:11:38I wondered how
01:11:39somebody with all
01:11:40the talent
01:11:41and the advantages
01:11:41that you've got
01:11:42in life
01:11:42has wound up here.
01:11:44I'd love to understand it.
01:11:45Do you understand it?
01:11:47No, I don't understand
01:11:48it at all.
01:11:49I believe in the
01:11:50justice system
01:11:51and the justice system
01:11:53failed.
01:11:54Well, the justice system
01:11:55would say it didn't
01:11:55fail at all,
01:11:56that it was a good
01:11:57circumstantial case
01:11:58and when they
01:11:58laid it out,
01:11:59there was a lot
01:11:59of circumstantial
01:12:00stuff there.
01:12:01Some prosecutors
01:12:02say that's the
01:12:03best kind of case.
01:12:05Circumstantial case
01:12:06and I believe
01:12:06the circumstantial
01:12:07stuff that they
01:12:08had was just
01:12:08making up a story.
01:12:09They had no proof,
01:12:11no anything.
01:12:12This, Dan decided,
01:12:13would be his only
01:12:14network interview.
01:12:15There was a time
01:12:16limit and jail rules
01:12:18required this
01:12:19somewhat awkward
01:12:20arrangement through
01:12:21a thick layer of glass.
01:12:22Dan told us
01:12:23he's behind bars
01:12:24because his trial
01:12:25attorneys did not
01:12:26mount a strong
01:12:27defense.
01:12:28And the jury...
01:12:30They just didn't
01:12:30like me.
01:12:31They didn't like
01:12:31my lifestyle.
01:12:32They didn't like
01:12:34the way I acted
01:12:36in court,
01:12:36which I didn't
01:12:37act anyways.
01:12:38I sat there
01:12:38like I was
01:12:39supposed to
01:12:40because my lawyers
01:12:41told me to.
01:12:42Don't react.
01:12:43Don't respond.
01:12:44Sit there like
01:12:45nothing's bothering
01:12:45you.
01:12:46And I did.
01:12:47And I got
01:12:47crucified for it.
01:12:49And then there
01:12:50was the woman
01:12:51who turned
01:12:51against him.
01:12:52Tell me about
01:12:53your relationship
01:12:54with Samantha.
01:12:55Samantha was
01:12:56a very close
01:12:57family friend.
01:12:59We ended up
01:13:00kind of falling
01:13:01into a fling
01:13:02with each other.
01:13:03My wife and I
01:13:04live a certain
01:13:05lifestyle to where
01:13:07we do our own
01:13:08things when we're
01:13:08apart.
01:13:09Our rule was
01:13:11not to bring
01:13:12any drama home.
01:13:13I left down
01:13:14a lot for work.
01:13:16I was allowed
01:13:16to do what I
01:13:17wanted to do.
01:13:18I screwed up.
01:13:20I made a horrible
01:13:21decision by being
01:13:22with Sam because
01:13:24I broke the rules
01:13:25and brought the
01:13:26drama home.
01:13:26She was too close
01:13:27to home to have
01:13:28that kind of
01:13:29relationship.
01:13:30She told detectives
01:13:31that you would
01:13:33shoot her family,
01:13:34you told her,
01:13:35if she spoke up.
01:13:37Of course not.
01:13:38I would not do
01:13:39that.
01:13:40Sam was a big
01:13:41part of my life.
01:13:42Sam was never
01:13:43in danger.
01:13:44It all makes
01:13:44for a really good
01:13:45story.
01:13:47Dan's story
01:13:47was this.
01:13:49He partied
01:13:50with Samantha
01:13:51the night before
01:13:51the murder and
01:13:53then went back
01:13:53to his trailer
01:13:54the next morning.
01:13:55And Samantha
01:13:56came over later
01:13:57that day to pick
01:13:57up $25,000 as
01:13:59arranged for what
01:14:01he called an
01:14:02investment.
01:14:03Samantha left
01:14:04with the money
01:14:05but he didn't
01:14:06go with her and
01:14:07he didn't shoot
01:14:08anybody.
01:14:08Why would
01:14:09Samantha say
01:14:10you did it?
01:14:11You committed
01:14:12the murder?
01:14:13Well because
01:14:14they scared her
01:14:15with 120 years
01:14:16in prison.
01:14:16I think anybody
01:14:17in this room
01:14:18did the same
01:14:18thing.
01:14:19So you're saying
01:14:19she's lying now?
01:14:21You're saying
01:14:22that the authorities
01:14:23encouraged her to lie
01:14:25to get a case
01:14:26against you
01:14:26because they didn't
01:14:27know who else
01:14:27to charge?
01:14:28I mean who else
01:14:29would it be?
01:14:30I have no idea
01:14:30but that's not my job.
01:14:32My job isn't to
01:14:33prove who did it.
01:14:34My job was to
01:14:35prove that I didn't
01:14:36do it and there's
01:14:37nothing there to
01:14:38prove that I did it.
01:14:39The state argued
01:14:40it was Dan who
01:14:41was lying.
01:14:42The prosecutors
01:14:42would say you knew
01:14:43the way
01:14:43into the garage
01:14:44and you did.
01:14:45I mean you'd
01:14:46been there before.
01:14:47You knew the way
01:14:48into the house.
01:14:48You knew where
01:14:49you could hide
01:14:49while they were out
01:14:50doing whatever
01:14:50they were doing
01:14:51before they came
01:14:52back and it was
01:14:52time to act.
01:14:54You knew a lot
01:14:55of these things
01:14:55that nobody else
01:14:56would know.
01:14:56What do you say
01:14:57to those allegations?
01:14:59I'd say again
01:15:00that they're just
01:15:01guessing.
01:15:02I mean how hard
01:15:02is it to walk
01:15:03through a garage
01:15:03door?
01:15:04I mean they're
01:15:05saying that I knew
01:15:06how to get into
01:15:06the house.
01:15:07Of course everybody
01:15:07knows how to get
01:15:08into a house.
01:15:09No one can even
01:15:10prove that the
01:15:11garage door was
01:15:11open or closed.
01:15:13Understand?
01:15:14And then there was
01:15:15the man in that
01:15:16surveillance video.
01:15:18They can't say
01:15:19it's me.
01:15:19There's no way
01:15:20they can say
01:15:20it's me.
01:15:20They can't prove
01:15:21it's you but
01:15:22they've got this
01:15:22guy who looks
01:15:23kind of like you
01:15:23with your sort of
01:15:24walk walking on
01:15:25a surveillance camera
01:15:26and then they've
01:15:27got somebody
01:15:27who knows how
01:15:28to get into
01:15:29the house.
01:15:31I've got to be
01:15:31challenging because
01:15:32we don't have
01:15:33much time.
01:15:33I have to tell
01:15:33you.
01:15:34I think you need
01:15:35to stop with
01:15:35those questions.
01:15:36Because you keep
01:15:38implicating me
01:15:39and it's not me.
01:15:40As for telling
01:15:41his brother he'd
01:15:42pay someone 20
01:15:42grand to kill
01:15:43his in-laws?
01:15:45That brother
01:15:45testified, said
01:15:47Dan made the
01:15:48offer in jest.
01:15:49Not with me,
01:15:50not.
01:15:51My brother was
01:15:52throwing daggers
01:15:53at me because
01:15:54Tim and I had
01:15:55a falling out
01:15:55after my mom
01:15:56passed away.
01:15:56I never
01:15:57mentioned that
01:15:57once to him.
01:15:59And that's on
01:15:59my kids.
01:16:00That's on my
01:16:00wife.
01:16:01And speaking
01:16:02of Erin, Dan
01:16:03said any
01:16:03suggestion that
01:16:04she was involved
01:16:05in some plot
01:16:06to have her
01:16:06parents killed
01:16:07was ridiculous.
01:16:09Erin didn't
01:16:10hate her parents.
01:16:11Erin didn't
01:16:12want her parents
01:16:12dead.
01:16:13I didn't want
01:16:13her parents
01:16:13dead.
01:16:14None of us
01:16:14did.
01:16:15And I think
01:16:16for people to
01:16:17believe that,
01:16:18that's the kind
01:16:18of society we're
01:16:19in.
01:16:20People want to
01:16:20think that I
01:16:21was broke.
01:16:22People wanted
01:16:22to think that I
01:16:23was a washed up
01:16:23baseball player
01:16:24that didn't have
01:16:25any money.
01:16:25I didn't need
01:16:26anybody's money.
01:16:28I paid my own
01:16:28bills.
01:16:29I did my own
01:16:30things.
01:16:31And I'm proud of
01:16:32the person that I
01:16:33am and that I
01:16:34became.
01:16:35I didn't have a
01:16:35superstar baseball
01:16:37career.
01:16:38I've been very
01:16:39successful.
01:16:40And I'm proud of
01:16:41that.
01:16:41And I won't hide
01:16:41from it.
01:16:42That was it.
01:16:44Our allotted time
01:16:45was up.
01:16:46And Dan Serafini
01:16:47went back to his
01:16:48cell where he will
01:16:49remain in one cell
01:16:50or another for the
01:16:52rest of his life
01:16:52because the judge
01:16:55denied his motion
01:16:56for a new trial.
01:16:59At his sentencing,
01:17:00Adrian called Dan
01:17:01evil and a monster.
01:17:04For 10 years,
01:17:06Dan Serafini and
01:17:06Aaron Spore treated
01:17:08my parents like a
01:17:09bottomless ATM.
01:17:10Between loans and
01:17:12gifts, my parents
01:17:13provided them with
01:17:15well over $2 million.
01:17:16But it was never
01:17:17enough.
01:17:19At one point,
01:17:20Dan's attorney asked,
01:17:22why kill the golden
01:17:23goose?
01:17:24And the answer was
01:17:25simple.
01:17:26They got tired of
01:17:27asking.
01:17:28Detective Meyer was
01:17:30in the courtroom watching
01:17:31Adrian deliver the words
01:17:32she had waited so long
01:17:33to say.
01:17:34Adrian gave you a hug
01:17:36of the sentencing,
01:17:36didn't she?
01:17:37She did.
01:17:43I'm sorry.
01:17:45That's okay.
01:17:46She did with,
01:17:47she actually did with
01:17:48me and my wife and
01:17:51kids were there.
01:17:53And she ran over to
01:17:54them and gave them
01:17:56the, gave them a hug
01:17:57as well.
01:17:58She got to meet my
01:17:59family that sacrificed
01:18:01all their time while
01:18:03I tried to bring
01:18:03conclusion for her
01:18:04family.
01:18:05So it was kind of
01:18:06almost like we came
01:18:07full circle.
01:18:08Sure.
01:18:09And maybe that went
01:18:11some way toward
01:18:11repairing the terrible
01:18:13pain you felt about
01:18:15what she said.
01:18:16It absolutely did.
01:18:18One person not in
01:18:20attendance, Aaron Spore,
01:18:22she filed for divorce,
01:18:24though she still
01:18:25stands by Dan.
01:18:26Dan's attorney read a
01:18:28statement Aaron wrote
01:18:29on Dan's behalf.
01:18:30He may be imperfect,
01:18:32but he is one of the
01:18:34most caring and
01:18:34generous people I have
01:18:36ever met in this
01:18:37world.
01:18:38The civil suits between
01:18:39Aaron and her sister
01:18:40have been privately
01:18:41resolved.
01:18:43Adrian's lawsuit
01:18:43against Dan is
01:18:44ongoing.
01:18:46As for Samantha
01:18:47Scott.
01:18:48I am deeply sorry
01:18:49to the families
01:18:50affected by this case
01:18:51and to the investigators
01:18:53who are trying to
01:18:54find the truth.
01:18:55She was sentenced to
01:18:56two years probation
01:18:57for aiding Dan.
01:19:01And 6,000 feet up
01:19:03in the Sierra Mountains,
01:19:04Lake Tahoe glimmers
01:19:06as it always has,
01:19:07deep and clear,
01:19:09and unmoved by the
01:19:11dramas that grip
01:19:12mere humans
01:19:13round its sylvan shores.
01:19:19And that's all for this
01:19:21edition of Dateline.
01:19:22Don't forget to check
01:19:23out our Talking Dateline
01:19:24podcast,
01:19:25which will go behind
01:19:26the scenes of
01:19:27tonight's episode,
01:19:28available Wednesday
01:19:29in the Dateline feed
01:19:31wherever you get
01:19:32your podcasts.
01:19:33We'll see you again
01:19:34next Friday at
01:19:359, 8 central.
01:19:37I'm Lester Holt.
01:19:38For all of us at
01:19:39NBC News,
01:19:40good night.
01:19:41I'm Lester Holt.
01:19:42I'm Lester Holt.
01:19:43I'm Lester Holt.
01:19:45I'm Lester Holt.
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