Dateline NBC (1992) Season 2026 Episode 10

BrightSoul

Transcript

00:00:02Tonight on Dateline.

00:00:04She was this tall, beautiful blonde.

00:00:07They were always joyful together as a couple.

00:00:11They were worth quite a bit of money.

00:00:13A multi-million dollar fortune that they made.

00:00:17The news is on and I heard murder in Lake Tahoe.

00:00:21There was blood on all the mirrors, on all the vanities, on the bathtub.

00:00:25This was a very personal, targeted attack.

00:00:27It wasn't shocking to me that they had a list of enemies.

00:00:31She was in 22 lawsuits.

00:00:33Good lord.

00:00:35Who would gain from this?

00:00:37Well, clearly the two daughters.

00:00:39Samantha was a big part of their life.

00:00:41We always joke around that we're like a fripple.

00:00:44Reading all about it, I was like, whoa.

00:00:47It was middle of summer and I watched a male run up the street wearing full sweats with a hood

00:00:54on.

00:00:54And he was hiding in the house for about three hours.

00:00:59I see these people who look like they have it all.

00:01:02But you never know what your fate is going to be.

00:01:05A charismatic couple living a life of luxury.

00:01:08Turns out they were also rich in enemies.

00:01:11I'm Lester Holt and this is Dateline.

00:01:23Here's Keith Morrison with Deadly Swagger.

00:01:32Lake Tahoe.

00:01:34It's one of those bucket list destinations for people around the world.

00:01:41As setting so sublime, Mark Twain wrote,

00:01:45To breathe the same air as the angels, you must go to Tahoe.

00:01:49He knew whereof he wrote,

00:01:52If any place can be equated with heaven on earth, then surely it is Tahoe.

00:01:56Snow-capped mountains above, crystal clear waters below.

00:02:01It is where people go to find peace.

00:02:03The lucky ones call this home, never want to leave.

00:02:10Though, once upon a time,

00:02:13He was waiting inside that house.

00:02:16In the very heart of this paradise.

00:02:19Then, multiple gunshots, fire.

00:02:25The question of leaving wasn't a choice.

00:02:36It was June the 5th, 2021.

00:02:40The 911 call was recorded at 9.26 p.m.

00:02:44911, what's the address of the emergency?

00:02:48Hello, 911?

00:02:52All the dispatchers could hear was moaning in the background

00:02:56or they could hear someone gasping for air.

00:02:59But there was no words.

00:03:01What was that?

00:03:02Who was that?

00:03:04The 911 operator just couldn't tell.

00:03:07But it didn't sound good.

00:03:09So they dispatched the fire department.

00:03:11Gary Nelson was a captain and paramedic.

00:03:14All we know is there's a possible medical or some type of situation happening,

00:03:18but we don't know what it is.

00:03:20We pull in front of the house, you see behind me with lights on.

00:03:22Here, the home of a retired couple named Gary Spore and Wendy Wood.

00:03:29The front door was unlocked.

00:03:32The first responders walked upstairs to the living area.

00:03:36The dogs are moving back and forth.

00:03:38They're just wound up.

00:03:39So we yell, fire department.

00:03:40We get no response.

00:03:41And there's a gentleman laying on the couch.

00:03:44It looked like he was sleeping.

00:03:45His arms were crossed.

00:03:46His legs were crossed.

00:03:47His feet were up on the table or ottoman.

00:03:50And the TV was on like he was watching the news.

00:03:53And we come over behind him, not to startle him.

00:03:56And then we're like, tap him on the shoulder and go, sir.

00:03:58And yell it loudly.

00:03:59Fire department, sir.

00:04:01No response.

00:04:02And that time we look over and my partner looks at him and goes,

00:04:05I don't think he's breathing.

00:04:06At that point, we check a pulse.

00:04:08We don't get a pulse.

00:04:09We look across at another section of the couch and we notice there's blood.

00:04:15And there on the floor, behind the couch, shell casings.

00:04:20And.

00:04:20We notice a blood trail leading around the back of the couch.

00:04:24And the dogs that were very agitated, they kept coming between us and back into a master bedroom.

00:04:29They'd go back and forth and back and forth.

00:04:31So we're like, OK, this doesn't seem right.

00:04:32We work into the master bedroom.

00:04:34In the master bedroom, we turn on the lights in there.

00:04:38Nothing obvious.

00:04:39So we go around the corner and we turn on the light in the master bathroom.

00:04:43And that's where we find a female patient.

00:04:46It was Wendy, Gary's wife, covered in blood.

00:04:50As were the mirrors, the vanity, the bathtub.

00:04:54An iPhone speckled in blood was by the sink.

00:04:57Wendy had held on to it long enough to call 911.

00:05:01She was alive.

00:05:03But barely.

00:05:04She would only give one word answers.

00:05:06She would say yes, no.

00:05:08And she was, I believe, the paramedic, when he asked her name, she was able to give her name.

00:05:12And that was it.

00:05:13He was asking, were you assaulted?

00:05:15Were you shot?

00:05:16You know, does she have, you know, obviously bleeding from the head, obviously bleeding from the arms?

00:05:21They called in a helicopter.

00:05:23Flew her to a trauma center in Reno, 50 miles away.

00:05:27Did all they could to keep her breathing.

00:05:29And, still middle of the night, Placer County Detective Daniel Meyer got the call.

00:05:35It was going to be his day off.

00:05:38Not anymore.

00:05:40What's it like for you and for the family when, I mean, presumably you make plans for when you're off.

00:05:46And, sorry, I have to wait.

00:05:49I got to go.

00:05:50It's really hard.

00:05:52My kids are older, a little bit older now.

00:05:54They're teenagers, so now they understand it.

00:05:56My wife's really good with it.

00:05:58She knows the, kind of, when it happens, it's something we have to go do.

00:06:02With a thing like that, all day's off and all bets are off, right?

00:06:06All day's off, all sleep is off, and we go pretty much all in on it until we're finished.

00:06:13Investigators at the scene filled him in when he arrived.

00:06:16We had a male that had been shot in the head, and we had another victim, the wife, the female

00:06:23that was found, also shot.

00:06:25We still didn't know the status, if she was going to make it through the surgery or if we were

00:06:31going to have a double homicide at the time.

00:06:34And then Detective Meyer tried to work out what must have happened.

00:06:38It appeared that after her husband was shot and killed where he was sleeping, that she was most likely woken

00:06:44up during the shots.

00:06:46Yeah.

00:06:46And had put her arms up in a kind of a defensive kind of posture, and then tried to get

00:06:53herself into safety.

00:06:56No surprise, the search of the house and property turned up no suspect.

00:07:02Long gone, of course, but whoever it was clearly had one purpose in mind.

00:07:07There was no sign of forced entry. There was no sign that a fight or anything ended sued.

00:07:13It looked eerily normal, minus, obviously, the personal destruction to Gary and Wendy.

00:07:21Now, who in this paradise on earth would want to do a thing like that?

00:07:27You knew the whole damn crime.

00:07:28And yet you knew nothing.

00:07:30Exactly.

00:07:31We had absolutely no idea who this individual could be.

00:07:36So she must have had a reputation around town.

00:07:39And not a very good one.

00:07:41We're like a frepl because he always complains that he has two wives.

00:07:46I've got to be challenging because we don't have much time, I have to tell you.

00:08:03The fear spread at the speed of news, neighbor to neighbor, around the wealth-encrusted shores of Lake Tahoe.

00:08:13Murder, execution style.

00:08:16That Wendy survived, the neighbors heard, was something of a miracle.

00:08:20Though, as the doctors told investigators, continued survival was no sure thing.

00:08:26Did you think maybe she can tell us what happened?

00:08:29We were praying she would.

00:08:30We had all of the nurses waiting to give us a phone call the moment she woke up.

00:08:35And we were praying, but not hopeful.

00:08:38We knew the severity of her injuries, the likelihood that she would be able to, was probably not very high.

00:08:46Everything about this seemed against the odds, starting with the location of the shooting.

00:08:51A multi-million dollar lakefront home in one of the safest neighborhoods in Lake Tahoe.

00:08:57Michelle Bandour covered the case for KCRA, the local NBC affiliate.

00:09:02You don't hear about murder at Lake Tahoe.

00:09:04You know, you maybe hear of someone falling to their death while hiking, you know, or a boating accident.

00:09:10But a crime where someone kills another person, it's just unheard of in Tahoe.

00:09:17I was standing in my kitchen, making dinner, and the news is on.

00:09:20Detectives identifying the victim as...

00:09:22And then the next word they said was Gary's score.

00:09:25Stopped me dead in my tracks.

00:09:26I just couldn't believe it.

00:09:28Just shock is all I can remember of just, what?

00:09:31You know?

00:09:31These people meant a lot to me.

00:09:33Judy Muir and Lisa Fernandez once worked for Gary and Wendy.

00:09:38We were with them almost a decade, years and years ago.

00:09:41Gary and Wendy were my favorite owners of that place ever.

00:09:44The place was the coffee house at Print Shop in Sacramento.

00:09:49Gary and Wendy bought it in the 1990s.

00:09:52And Gary and Wendy were more than just bosses.

00:09:57They were better.

00:09:58Wendy was such a presence.

00:10:00She made such an impression on me as a female.

00:10:03She was Wendy Wood.

00:10:04She was not Wendy Spore.

00:10:06And at that time in the 90s, that made an impression on me of like, wow, she's so independent.

00:10:11There's attitude for you.

00:10:13And she was this tall, beautiful blonde, and she was so confident.

00:10:18And Gary, absolutely dashing.

00:10:21Hi, hon.

00:10:22He drove a cool little Porsche, which again, in my 20s, I thought that was so neat.

00:10:27He was very friendly.

00:10:28He was a very good looking man.

00:10:30Yes, he was.

00:10:34Here they were brimming with charisma.

00:10:37And yet...

00:10:38I never felt like she looked down on us or treated us like the hill.

00:10:43I always felt like they just treated us like we were part of their family.

00:10:47Gave them presents, perfumes, steak dinners, free weekends at their ski house.

00:10:53They would do things like that for all of us.

00:10:56For all of us.

00:10:57They were so generous.

00:10:58With their employees, and especially their daughters, Erin and Adrian.

00:11:04Are you having fun yet, Gary?

00:11:05There was horse lessons and the different things the girls like to do.

00:11:10But Gary and Wendy could afford to be generous because they were rich.

00:11:14As John Ward, who acted as their local attorney a few times, knew well.

00:11:20Wendy and Gary had real estate holdings in California and, I believe, in Washington.

00:11:26By 2021, their time was their own.

00:11:29And they loved skiing and boating and spending time with grandchildren.

00:11:34In fact, the very day Gary was shot, they had gone boating with the grandkids and their daughter, Erin.

00:11:39She lived in nearby Reno with her husband, a former Major League Baseball player.

00:11:44Erin was an equestrian and had a stable in the Reno area.

00:11:50Younger daughter, Adrian, and her boyfriend lived about three hours away from Tahoe.

00:11:55Life had been good to Gary and Wendy.

00:11:57But picture perfect?

00:11:59Maybe not.

00:12:01The family didn't always get along.

00:12:04There was tension between the sisters.

00:12:05And Wendy, with her strong personality, often fought with her daughters.

00:12:11Around the lake, Wendy also butted heads with neighbors.

00:12:16So much so that local prosecutor Christopher Catran was already familiar with Wendy.

00:12:21She was either named as the plaintiff or the defendant in 22 lawsuits.

00:12:27Good Lord.

00:12:28So she must have had a reputation around town.

00:12:31And not a very good one.

00:12:33Gary often backed up his wife in these disputes.

00:12:37Had the couple's neighborhood battles made them a target?

00:12:41Or their money?

00:12:43Or was there something in their past?

00:12:45Because this certainly wasn't some random violent thief, as Detective Meyer could plainly tell.

00:12:52One of the first things that they say is, was it a burglary?

00:12:56Did somebody, you know, go in to steal something and encounter the owners and shoot them and then flee?

00:13:02That was our first, one of at least my first thoughts.

00:13:05But there was no signs of any burglary.

00:13:08The normal things that we'll see in burglaries, with the drawers being pulled or things being disheveled inside of bedrooms,

00:13:17none of that was present during this.

00:13:19And the fact nothing was taken.

00:13:21Nothing of any significance you could figure out anyway.

00:13:23Nothing was.

00:13:24Or the first responders could.

00:13:25There was even a very high-priced tennis bracelet that was not taken, that was left, right, where Wendy was

00:13:32shot.

00:13:34Burglary wasn't the motive.

00:13:36They'd piss somebody off and that was that.

00:13:38They got killed.

00:13:39It was a very, very personal and very intentional act.

00:13:45Detective Meyer was about to get some help with his investigation.

00:13:49There were security cameras inside and outside of the house.

00:13:53And when he rolled that tape...

00:13:55I knew that at that point, that was going to be our shooter.

00:14:13What a difference a bit of tech can make.

00:14:16Those little front door cameras, common as clover now.

00:14:20Like a gift for a detective in need of a break.

00:14:24You must have thought, hey, this will get our guy.

00:14:28Pure excitement.

00:14:30Especially when they spotted one with the perfect angle.

00:14:33Kind of up above the garage, pointing towards their vehicles and their, kind of their driveway area.

00:14:40So if the shooter came in that way, they might be able to see him or her.

00:14:45However, they started watching the video from that morning and nothing happened for hours.

00:14:53Things picked up when daughter Erin arrived with her two boys at 2.24 p.m.

00:14:58That's Wendy in the driveway as Erin backed in.

00:15:01A bit later, Gary pulled in.

00:15:03Looked like an Audi.

00:15:05Blue.

00:15:06There was a pause for almost an hour and then Gary headed out,

00:15:10followed by the rest of the family, down to the lake, by the look of it.

00:15:15But then, then something very peculiar showed up on that surveillance tape.

00:15:21It was middle of summer, so it was obviously warm up there, even for Tahoe.

00:15:27And I watched a male run up the street wearing full sweats with a hood on, a mask on, and

00:15:35a backpack.

00:15:36I would think you'd think, looking at that video, uh-oh, there's our shooter.

00:15:40I was very hopeful that it was.

00:15:44Especially when the masked man turned into the driveway.

00:15:47I knew that at that point, that was going to be our shooter.

00:15:50Did you happen to think at that moment, all right, this is not going to be so hard after all?

00:15:58I did for a little bit until you saw how close he got and then saw we couldn't see his

00:16:03face.

00:16:04He covered every aspect of his skin, of his face.

00:16:08But surely there were more cameras around the neighborhood.

00:16:12They went hunting.

00:16:14We were out here canvassing the full area for several days.

00:16:18We were looking up and down the road from the Spores residence all the way up to the, what we

00:16:25call the Y, up here up in Tahoe City.

00:16:28Did it show you anything more about where the shooter came from or where he went after?

00:16:33It did.

00:16:35Thankfully, we were able to find several cameras along the pathway.

00:16:39It was enough to start piecing together some kind of timeline anyway, which the detectives laid out for the prosecutor,

00:16:46Christopher Katryan.

00:16:47The first sighting of the apparent shooter was at 5.02 p.m., almost a half a mile from Gary

00:16:54and Wendy's house, walking along the main road towards them.

00:16:58By then, Gary, Wendy, Aaron, and the kids were out on the boat.

00:17:03Last person left the house at 3.56 p.m.

00:17:07They walk out the driveway and down the street, and you can see out on the lake.

00:17:12We're fairly close to the lake here.

00:17:13Then, 5.06 p.m., a neighbor's security camera recorded the probable shooter walking along the lake.

00:17:21On the other side of the roadway, there's a bike path, which is used for bikes and pedestrians and things

00:17:25like that.

00:17:26So he's approaching.

00:17:28Minutes later, the masked man jogged into the view of the outside camera.

00:17:33He comes up this hill.

00:17:35You can see the driveway right here.

00:17:38And like he knew just where to go, he turned toward the house.

00:17:43And then, no mistaking what that was, the sound of the garage door opening.

00:17:51After which, a pause.

00:17:53And then around 30 minutes later, the family returned.

00:17:59And at 7.45 p.m., Aaron left the house with the kids and drove away.

00:18:07An hour and six minutes later, at 8.51 p.m.

00:18:14No mistaking that sound, either.

00:18:18Gunshots.

00:18:19Five of them.

00:18:21Silence.

00:18:22Five minutes passed.

00:18:24And out he came, same way he went in.

00:18:27Through the garage and away.

00:18:30At 9.02, another glimpse, faintly, in the gathering dark.

00:18:36It's like you're seeing the whole play from these security cameras.

00:18:40Fortunately, we were able to watch the entire thing, knowing that he was inside the house.

00:18:45Well, the whole family was in there, and they had no idea.

00:18:50Well, and this guy hid in the house for three or four hours.

00:18:55Well, the family was out on the lake, and he waited all that time.

00:18:59He waited almost a time enough to let them kind of get comfortable.

00:19:03Were you able to find a place inside the house where the shooter hid for a period of time?

00:19:08We found a place where we believed that he was hiding.

00:19:11They had a very large closet on the bottom floor.

00:19:16And in the back of it, almost a little hidden room that was off there

00:19:21that somebody could stand up, move around in, lay down.

00:19:24I mean, you knew a whole lot.

00:19:27You knew the whole damn crime.

00:19:29And yet you knew nothing.

00:19:31Exactly.

00:19:31Strange.

00:19:32We saw everything.

00:19:34We heard everything.

00:19:35But yet we had absolutely no idea who this individual could be.

00:19:40Who was this masked intruder?

00:19:43Was he a hired gun?

00:19:45An enemy from around the lake?

00:19:47Or was the shooter's motive one of the oldest of them all?

00:19:50They're worth a lot of money.

00:19:52And as the old adage goes, follow the money, right?

00:20:08Days passed.

00:20:10And the masked shooter who took Gary's life with a single bullet and left Wendy for dead was still out

00:20:15there somewhere.

00:20:17Desperate for leads, the Placer County Sheriff's Office posted a video of the gunman on social media.

00:20:23Placer County Sheriff's detectives releasing this video from home surveillance cameras.

00:20:28What made you decide to appeal to the public for help?

00:20:30Because we needed all the help at that point we could get.

00:20:34Chips came in, flooded the phone lines.

00:20:37Reporter Michelle Bandour.

00:20:39They continued to ask for help.

00:20:41Even asking people in the area within so many mile radius of checking their security video.

00:20:47Do you see a figure like this?

00:20:49Or what do you see on, you know, June 5th between these hours?

00:20:53Did it help much?

00:20:54Unfortunately, it didn't.

00:20:55Might scare the hell out of them, though.

00:20:57I mean, this is an affluent community.

00:20:59And they hear that some guy is sneaking into houses and shooting people.

00:21:03And, I mean, that's pretty scary stuff.

00:21:05The community was terrified.

00:21:06But the way that it was done, it let us feel a little safer to let the Tahoe community know

00:21:13we don't believe that somebody's out there.

00:21:16And we really felt that this was a very personal, targeted attack.

00:21:19And as the old adage goes, follow the money, right?

00:21:23Yeah, sure.

00:21:24Who would gain from this?

00:21:26Well, clearly, clearly the two daughters.

00:21:31Adrian and Aaron were the beneficiaries of their parents' estate worth $25 million.

00:21:36They would split the inheritance equally.

00:21:39Both agreed to talk to detectives.

00:21:42How were they taking it?

00:21:43They were very, very stoic, very composed.

00:21:46They were obviously upset, like any child's going to be.

00:21:50But they were very much into trying to figure out what had happened.

00:21:55You showed them the video, I'm assuming, right?

00:21:57Absolutely.

00:21:58Could they identify him at all?

00:21:59Neither of them were able to identify him.

00:22:02Of course, they had to check the daughters' alibis anyway.

00:22:05Even though they were sure the shooter was a man.

00:22:08When you talked to Aaron, what could she tell you?

00:22:10She was unaware of what could have happened, and she was there with the kids and in genuine shock that

00:22:16that person could have been inside the house with her while her kids and her were present.

00:22:21She was very, very upset at that time.

00:22:24Remember, the shooter came in at 5 o'clock while she, Aaron, and the boys are on the boat with

00:22:31mom and dad.

00:22:32The driveway security camera also showed her leaving her parents' home before the shots were fired.

00:22:39So she clearly has a good alibi.

00:22:43And what about her husband?

00:22:46Aaron told detectives he was out of town when the shooting occurred.

00:22:50Dan Serafini was his name, ex-Major League baseball player.

00:22:54Minnesota Twins, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, etc., etc.

00:22:59He was an ex-bar owner, too, and now a miner.

00:23:03I believe he was a heavy equipment operator in a mine about three and a half hours east of the

00:23:12Reno Sparks area.

00:23:14They went to see him, and he had alibis, too.

00:23:18Day before the shooting, he said he attended a training class at the gold mine where he worked, then met

00:23:23up with co-workers.

00:23:24He was going to have a couple drinks with some friends that night from work.

00:23:29He spent the next day in Crescent Valley, Nevada, where he had a trailer he used when working away from

00:23:35his family.

00:23:36Never left.

00:23:37Phone records showed him in Crescent Valley when Gary and Wendy were shot, just as Dan told them he was.

00:23:43So his alibi looked pretty good.

00:23:45His alibi was looking really good.

00:23:47Did Adrienne have an alibi?

00:23:48She did.

00:23:49She was at work, and we were able to verify that she was working during the time of the murder.

00:23:55But detectives did wonder about Adrienne's boyfriend, a guy named Taylor Hatton.

00:24:01Didn't he have a record, that guy?

00:24:03He did.

00:24:04Taylor was a convicted felon, confessed to robbing a bank, then ultimately pleaded guilty to a weapons charge.

00:24:11He was one of the first individuals that detectives were very interested in.

00:24:18During the commission of that armed robbery, Taylor was covered from head to toe, wore a ski mask, sunglasses, and

00:24:26had a backpack on a hot summer day.

00:24:29Just like the guy who shot Gary and Wendy.

00:24:34Again, maybe solving this murder wouldn't be so hard after all.

00:24:39Was that Taylor on the surveillance video?

00:24:42We did look into him extensively, and we were able to determine he was actually in Petaluma, California, during the

00:24:50time of the homicide.

00:24:51He was working out there as a contractor, constantly working on his cell phones, and he's significantly smaller than the

00:24:59shooter was.

00:25:00It couldn't have been him.

00:25:03So, there were other possibilities, remember?

00:25:07Angry neighbors, potential enemies.

00:25:11And just about then, less than two weeks after the shooting, Wendy woke up and started talking.

00:25:19It was a genuine excitement throughout the entire unit that we might finally have that huge break we're looking for.

00:25:41Around Lake Tahoe, lots of people knew Wendy Wood, and perhaps for all the wrong reasons.

00:25:49After the murder, there were a number of people who said that the suspect list was going to be at

00:25:57least four or five pages.

00:25:58Family attorney John Ward figured Wendy was the killer's target.

00:26:03I think my knee-jerk reaction was that Wendy had pissed off somebody.

00:26:09So, how would she have done that?

00:26:12There were two ways to do things.

00:26:15Wendy's way and Wendy's way.

00:26:18Yeah.

00:26:19She had a mind and will of her own.

00:26:22And that she did.

00:26:24Less than two weeks after she was left for dead, the detectives got a call.

00:26:28She was awake and talking.

00:26:30It was a genuine excitement throughout the entire unit that we might finally have that huge break we're looking for.

00:26:39Yeah.

00:26:40But she was struggling coming in and out of consciousness.

00:26:44She made a quick statement of it was Rick, the water guy, and she passed back out again.

00:26:52The nurses had told us that she had said it was Rick.

00:26:55Well, that was something because Rick, the water guy, was certainly a person of interest.

00:27:01Wendy and Rick had had a lot of eavesman issues because Rick would access his water access from her property.

00:27:10Rick owned a water well that sat on Wendy and Gary's property, and Wendy had issues with that.

00:27:16Things escalated.

00:27:18And then Gary sent Rick an email to let him know that Wendy had a permit to use a gun

00:27:22and would if needed.

00:27:24So, did Rick use a gun on them?

00:27:28We were able to look at him and compare him to the camera, and we knew at that point he

00:27:34was definitely not our shooter.

00:27:35And then, weeks later, more good news.

00:27:40Wendy has made a surprisingly miraculous recovery.

00:27:44Amazing.

00:27:45The detectives hear that she's made this miraculous recovery, and of course now they want to get a statement from

00:27:50her.

00:27:51Of course, yeah.

00:27:52So...

00:27:52Eyewitness to the murder comes back from the dead to tell the story.

00:27:56You can't have it any better than that, I would think.

00:28:00Wendy struggled, but remembered that she and Gary had gone to the lake with Aaron and their grandkids.

00:28:06And at the end of the boating trip, she recalled covering up the boat.

00:28:10That's the last thing she remembers of that day was putting the tarp on.

00:28:15And then the next thing she remembers is waking up in the hospital.

00:28:20Ward sat in on this.

00:28:21Did they ask her who she thought it might have been?

00:28:24They did, and she was quite certain that it involved the incident with the paddleboard.

00:28:29Different guy now.

00:28:30Dave the fisherman.

00:28:32So one day she was out paddleboarding, and there was a gentleman who was a caretaker of one of the

00:28:37lakefront properties,

00:28:39and he was an avid fisherman.

00:28:41So one day he had his minnow trap out.

00:28:46As Dave watched from shore, he saw Wendy yanking his traps out of the water.

00:28:51So while she's on her paddleboard, she starts hauling them up.

00:28:55Now why would she do that?

00:28:58Keith, I have no idea.

00:29:00And Dave?

00:29:01He apparently got in a boat, went out to go talk to her, stop her from doing it.

00:29:05And while he was out there, she hit him in the head with the oar or the paddle, and it

00:29:12kind of went south from there.

00:29:14Dave suffered puncture wounds and abrasions to his head.

00:29:18The cops were called, and Wendy was charged.

00:29:21Katran prosecuted Wendy for assault with a deadly weapon.

00:29:24She pleaded no contest, got probation, and was ordered to stay away from the fisherman and his property.

00:29:30That was 2018, three years before the shooting.

00:29:33Was Dave getting his revenge?

00:29:36I mean, it seemed like that might have legs.

00:29:39That had legs for a little while.

00:29:41We looked into him.

00:29:42We were able to go through all the cell phone data, including the GPS locations, and found out he wasn't

00:29:52present.

00:29:53He wasn't there.

00:29:54His digital alibi, so to speak, was very good.

00:29:58So maybe Wendy wasn't the target after all.

00:30:02But Gary?

00:30:04Well.

00:30:05Well, lovely house along the lake.

00:30:07Looks very genteel and sweet, and there's grandparents taking the grandkids out on the boat.

00:30:13It looks so idyllic.

00:30:14But when you dig a little bit, what did you find out about Gary's past?

00:30:19I found out a little bit he did have a past with narcotics.

00:30:25I believe it was a federal case that was brought against him,

00:30:29and that he had kind of worked with the federal government to kind of right the wrong that he had

00:30:35done,

00:30:36so to speak, of the crimes that he had been caught for.

00:30:39Long ago, mind you, and no records to be found, but some things aren't forgotten.

00:30:44Well, that opens up all kinds of possibilities, though, doesn't it?

00:30:48It opened an amazing amount of possibilities.

00:30:50It kind of gave me and my partners a giant moment of pause.

00:30:55Yeah.

00:30:55This could span for, I mean, we could be down into anywhere.

00:31:03We have no idea how far this rabbit hole could go.

00:31:07Meanwhile, they were confirming alibis, like where Dan Serafini, Wendy and Gary's son-in-law,

00:31:13said he was night before the murder.

00:31:16Detectives learned that after drinks with his co-workers, Dan left to relax in a hotel in Elko, Nevada.

00:31:22And when they drove out there, the desk clerk said he was there all right.

00:31:26Security cameras proved it.

00:31:28But then, a bit odd, a woman checked out for Dan and checked herself in to the same room.

00:31:35Her name was Samantha Scott.

00:31:38Interesting because Dan's phone record showed he had received a call the morning of the murder from the same woman.

00:31:46They do their cop stuff, you know, they get her driver's license, they get a picture, you know, and they

00:31:52find an address for her.

00:31:54Samantha lived in Reno, Nevada, in an apartment complex about 45 miles north of Tahoe City.

00:31:59A detective drove out there, and when he pulled up, he saw something that caught his attention.

00:32:04There's an Audi sitting in the parking lot, and he thinks he's seen the car before, and then it dawns

00:32:13on him that the Audi was Gary's.

00:32:17Oh, boy.

00:32:18The victim of the murder.

00:32:20Who was Samantha Scott?

00:32:23Why did she have Gary's car?

00:32:39You've heard it here before, sometimes luck is the best detective.

00:32:44While checking Dan's alibi, detectives came across a woman named Samantha Scott, who checked into Dan's room,

00:32:52and just weeks after Gary's murder, was driving the dead man's car.

00:32:57It was very, very weird that presumably the girls or somebody within the family structure

00:33:04had given the okay to give her that vehicle, either permanent or a temporary use of the vehicle.

00:33:11I mean, it could happen, just a little unusual.

00:33:14Absolutely.

00:33:15It was enough to make us start asking more questions, to start looking a little bit more.

00:33:22And that is exactly what they did.

00:33:25Hello.

00:33:25Hi.

00:33:26Placer County.

00:33:26Hi.

00:33:27Hi.

00:33:27How are you?

00:33:27Samantha?

00:33:28Yeah.

00:33:29Detectives showed up at Samantha's apartment in Reno, Nevada, about an hour away from Lake Tahoe.

00:33:34You obviously know why we're here to speak to you.

00:33:37Um, I mean, I'm assuming, I can go see you, yes.

00:33:41Sure.

00:33:41What do you think?

00:33:43Um, I mean, it probably has something to do with my friend Aaron's apartment.

00:33:48Yeah.

00:33:51And what, what, what can you tell me about that story?

00:33:56Um, I'm not really sure why I would be involved in it.

00:34:02Involved in it?

00:34:04What was Samantha referring to, exactly?

00:34:07So I'm not too sure what to tell you.

00:34:10Okay.

00:34:10I'm more than happy to train.

00:34:13That's our wish.

00:34:13Okay.

00:34:14Samantha said she met Aaron about five years earlier when she was looking for a trainer

00:34:19who specialized in equestrian triathlons.

00:34:22She's the only one in town that does it.

00:34:25Outside rain, bring her around.

00:34:26Aaron became her trainer.

00:34:28And she would let Samantha board her horse in exchange for some work.

00:34:32Good.

00:34:34What can you tell me about, uh, Aaron's husband, Danny?

00:34:41Um, Aaron's husband, I've known her for about five years.

00:34:44Okay.

00:34:45Um, and I mean, therefore I've known him for about five years as well.

00:34:49Okay.

00:34:50Then, without being asked, she launched into her and his whereabouts on Friday, June 4th,

00:34:58the night before the shooting.

00:35:00I went with him to Elko, uh, I think that Friday.

00:35:04Um, and that's kind of the first time we've ever hung out.

00:35:09Why?

00:35:10Because, she said, Dan needed help with a surprise purchase for Aaron.

00:35:15We went to look for a truck for Aaron, uh, a new Ford.

00:35:20And I had just, uh, broken up with someone.

00:35:23So he's like, hey, come, we're having a party.

00:35:25And I was like, okay, cool.

00:35:26And then we didn't look for a truck though.

00:35:30What did you end up doing?

00:35:32Oh, I just spent the night up there.

00:35:34After a night out in Elko, she said, she and Dan went back to the suite he had booked.

00:35:40And she slept in the bedroom.

00:35:42He slept in the living room.

00:35:44So she said.

00:35:45So no sexual relations or anything like that?

00:35:47No.

00:35:48No.

00:35:49Uh, no.

00:35:50Not at all.

00:35:52Ever?

00:35:53Ever.

00:35:54And when she woke up in the morning, Dan was gone.

00:35:58Did he tell you that the night before he was going to be leaving early?

00:36:00No.

00:36:01She assumed Dan had left for work, she said.

00:36:04And so she decided she would extend her stay for a little R&R.

00:36:08I was getting ready to go.

00:36:10And then I kind of wanted to stay because I've just never been in a suite before.

00:36:18She said she checked out the following day.

00:36:20And on her drive home, a friend called to let her know what had happened to Aaron's parents.

00:36:25And so Samantha said she reached out to Aaron and offered to help any way she could.

00:36:31She was upset.

00:36:32Yeah.

00:36:33Um, but I mean I've known her long enough, like how she handles things too.

00:36:38How does she handle things?

00:36:39Um, she's pretty structured when it comes to things.

00:36:43Right now, um, she seems pretty adamant about getting her house prepared so her mom can live

00:36:50there too when she's released.

00:36:53And all of that story, all of it, could have been quite true, except...

00:36:59We could see there was a crack in the armor of fear.

00:37:03Really?

00:37:03She was nervous at points when there shouldn't have been nervousness.

00:37:09If she was an innocent person or didn't know anything.

00:37:12Correct.

00:37:13If there was nothing that she didn't know, I mean, we understand and expect a certain degree

00:37:18of nervousness.

00:37:19But when the fear continues and the oddities continue, that kind of puts some of the alarms

00:37:26up that something, something was wrong.

00:37:28I'm not super involved with anything but the horses.

00:37:35Um, can I ask why I'm involved besides me having been in Elko?

00:37:42Well, we're...

00:37:45Seems like Dan's an interest.

00:37:47It's, um, it's an investigation.

00:37:50And so we have to make contact with folks that we come across in the investigation.

00:37:59We're just trying to get the facts.

00:38:01That's it.

00:38:02Uh, obviously, it's a death investigation.

00:38:05Uh, you also have his car here.

00:38:09So, I mean, can you understand why we're here talking to you and that's based on that?

00:38:15Yeah.

00:38:15No, I do understand.

00:38:18Simple explanation, said Samantha.

00:38:20Erin let her borrow the Audi because Samantha's sisters were in town and they were using her

00:38:25Subaru.

00:38:26In fact, she had taken the day off to meet up with her sisters who were at a hotel in

00:38:31Lake

00:38:31Tahoe, all perfectly innocent.

00:38:34The detectives wrapped up the conversation.

00:38:37All right.

00:38:37Have a good day.

00:38:38Thanks, Samantha.

00:38:38Hi.

00:38:39And drove to the hotel in Lake Tahoe.

00:38:42They watched and waited.

00:38:44And there was Samantha.

00:38:47Not with her sisters, but with Aaron and Dan.

00:38:51It started to raise a lot of questions of how deeply are they all connected and who's connected

00:38:57to who and what are they doing up here.

00:39:01Someone held the answers to those questions.

00:39:04Tell me about your relationship with Samantha.

00:39:21I idolized her.

00:39:22I thought she was the coolest person.

00:39:24Sarah Ross was barely a teenager when she met Aaron Spore.

00:39:28I was like, whoa, I was a bit starstruck.

00:39:30Aaron had built her career on riding feral horses and had become a bit of a celebrity

00:39:36in the event riding community.

00:39:38She was really, really brave.

00:39:40I think that was her biggest quality.

00:39:41And it didn't really dawn on her to be afraid.

00:39:44In her mind, she could outmuscle it.

00:39:46She could make it do what she wanted to do.

00:39:48Sarah lived across from Aaron and Dan's barn in Rideau, Nevada, when she joined Aaron's training

00:39:54program.

00:39:55She was almost more of a, like, big sister type coach.

00:39:59So she was funny.

00:40:00She wanted to engage.

00:40:02But she also was pretty firm when she had to be.

00:40:06To help with the cost of the sport, Sarah often worked at Aaron's barn.

00:40:10And it's how she met Samantha Scott.

00:40:13So I'd go schmobbing on the hay cart.

00:40:15And we'd load bales and we'd just chit chat.

00:40:18And that kind of was our bonding.

00:40:20Sarah also saw the bond that developed between Samantha and Aaron.

00:40:25It started just like a client, like anything.

00:40:27And then over time, when that's kind of your circle, then you all kind of become friends.

00:40:32And so they were quite close friends.

00:40:34Dan was part of that circle, too.

00:40:37He'd come to the horse shows when he could.

00:40:39He'd, you know, be out there fixing fences.

00:40:41He really cared about the horses themselves.

00:40:43Together, Dan and Aaron were a good time.

00:40:46Everybody gravitated toward them.

00:40:48They were just fun to be around.

00:40:50And they had these massive personalities.

00:40:55Was that what was going on when detectives saw Samantha with Aaron and Dan at that hotel in Lake Tahoe?

00:41:01Friends just hanging out a little less than a month after the shooting?

00:41:07Detectives watched from a distance.

00:41:09Saw them walking around the property.

00:41:11It started to raise a lot of questions of how deeply are they all connected and who's connected to who

00:41:18and what are they doing up here.

00:41:20So they asked Dan to come in for another round of questions.

00:41:24This time, he brought his attorney.

00:41:27Detective Meyer confronted Dan about being with Samantha the night before the murder.

00:41:31We went to the Red Lion.

00:41:32Uh-huh.

00:41:33And you were there with Sam.

00:41:34I know.

00:41:34I was.

00:41:35Okay, but you didn't tell us that that night.

00:41:36You said you're off with coworkers.

00:41:37You were doing your thing.

00:41:38But that's not a lie.

00:41:39That's my personal life.

00:41:40He was indignant.

00:41:44Didn't feel like it was a big issue.

00:41:46Kind of like it was my business.

00:41:47You don't need to know about it.

00:41:49Okay, I'm not saying it's a lie.

00:41:51But it's when you kind of sell it one way and then we find out it's another.

00:41:56And like I told you that day, I am not the marriage police.

00:42:00You couldn't ask me any questions at all.

00:42:02And I would have told you more if you asked more.

00:42:05But my personal life is.

00:42:06Well, we didn't know at that point.

00:42:07Sure, but my personal life is my personal life.

00:42:09Just so I know, are you and Sam in a relationship?

00:42:11Absolutely not.

00:42:12Was that any of it?

00:42:13Was that an affair that was up that night?

00:42:15What was it that was up there?

00:42:17Sam and I are not having an affair at all.

00:42:19Okay.

00:42:20Just like Samantha said.

00:42:22They were going to buy a truck for Aaron and that was it.

00:42:26And the day of the shooting, he insisted, he was long gone.

00:42:29Miles and miles away in his trailer in Crescent Valley.

00:42:33I laid in bed.

00:42:35Passed out pretty much the whole life.

00:42:38Okay.

00:42:39What did you see?

00:42:40And I'll tell you what I took.

00:42:41I took two Vicodin, a shot at NyQuil Z, and two Tylenol PMs.

00:42:47And then laid them, bedged out on my bed.

00:42:50And of course, that phone of his backed him up.

00:42:52Put him a four and a half hour drive away from where his in-laws were murdered.

00:42:56So, that was that.

00:42:59They let him leave.

00:43:01And months went by until, in the fall of 2021, Samantha's phone records came back.

00:43:10And our phones can reveal a thing or two.

00:43:14Which is why detectives invited Samantha for another talk.

00:43:19I'm happy to answer your questions.

00:43:21There's a lot of details that we would like to know.

00:43:23Things that only the people in that inner circle will know.

00:43:27Like, for example, her actual relationship with Dan.

00:43:31I'm very close with Aaron, and I'm very close with Dan.

00:43:38We didn't, well, there's a recent flirtation going on.

00:43:43I'm sure you'll see my phone.

00:43:45With Dan?

00:43:46Mm-hmm.

00:43:46Okay.

00:43:46Not Aaron?

00:43:47No, not with Aaron.

00:43:49And we always joke around that we're like a thruple, because he always complains that he has two wives.

00:43:55By now, detectives had told Samantha they had her phone records.

00:44:00And maybe that's why her story about the day of the murder was about to change.

00:44:05I left the Red Lion.

00:44:07I went to Crescent Valley.

00:44:09Well, well.

00:44:10She didn't spend the day at the hotel after all.

00:44:13And what did you do there?

00:44:14In Crescent Valley.

00:44:16I was just there momentarily, and then I left and went to Tahoe.

00:44:20Okay, and you were by yourself?

00:44:22No, I went with Dan.

00:44:24Dan, you went with you to Tahoe?

00:44:27There it was.

00:44:29She confirmed what her phone record showed,

00:44:32that her cell phone traveled from Dan's trailer to Lake Tahoe,

00:44:35and Dan was with her.

00:44:38Okay, so you guys drove together?

00:44:39Correct.

00:44:40Was he ever out of your sight?

00:44:42Yes.

00:44:43Samantha said she dropped off Dan in the afternoon near the shops in Tahoe City,

00:44:48about four miles away from Gary and Wendy's house.

00:44:51And she waited for hours until Dan returned.

00:44:55He just said to wait, he had to pick up his package, and he said, okay?

00:44:59She believed, she said, that he was there to pick up cocaine.

00:45:03So the digital evidence doesn't support what you're saying, unfortunately.

00:45:07Her phone put her much closer to the crime scene.

00:45:11Did you see him with a gun?

00:45:12I did not.

00:45:13Samantha said she didn't believe Dan had anything to do with the shooting.

00:45:17To which the detective replied,

00:45:20I don't buy that story whatsoever.

00:45:22You are in a lot of trouble.

00:45:23This does not make sense.

00:45:25And something else that didn't make sense?

00:45:27Did he tell you to turn your phone off?

00:45:29No, yes.

00:45:31He did tell me to turn my phone off.

00:45:32Okay, okay.

00:45:33Samantha?

00:45:34I'm sorry, I know it's...

00:45:35Hold on, we're not judging you.

00:45:37This is scary, but you have to be honest.

00:45:39Samantha said Dan told her to turn off her phone hours before they made it into Tahoe.

00:45:45And she did.

00:45:47Or thought she did.

00:45:48She made the mistake of presumably just killing off the screen on the phone

00:45:54and did not turn off the power off the entire phone.

00:45:58And it left a digital breadcrumb trail from beginning to end.

00:46:05Detective Meyer and his team watched the interview on FaceTime

00:46:09while they stood by with a search warrant near Dan's trailer in Crescent Valley.

00:46:13We were hopefully going to switch from just doing a search warrant out there

00:46:18to maybe we're going to be able to make the arrest.

00:46:21But Samantha didn't give up anything more.

00:46:24How did that change your thinking about the case?

00:46:29We knew at that point we were on the right track, that we had him.

00:46:32We knew that she had just put him there, she had just put Danny there,

00:46:36but now we had the finish line in sight.

00:46:38We were ready to finish it.

00:46:39That finish line was further than it seemed.

00:46:57While investigators worked on building a stronger case against Dan and Samantha,

00:47:02Wendy was trying to rebuild her life.

00:47:04She had survived multiple gunshots to the head,

00:47:07and now she was doing all she could to regain her strength and her memory.

00:47:12Did it seem to you as if she would make a full recovery physically and mentally?

00:47:17I was very hopeful.

00:47:19It had that feeling that she was getting better by the day.

00:47:23Wendy's rehabilitation was long and strenuous.

00:47:27There's a miracle, Wendy.

00:47:28Her daughter, Adrienne, released video of her progress.

00:47:31Reporter Michelle Bendur.

00:47:33Video of her riding a bike, learning how to walk again, learning how to speak again.

00:47:38Like, she had this fight to live.

00:47:41Amazing she survived it, really.

00:47:43Amazing.

00:47:44And she kept up with the investigation.

00:47:46I spoke to her almost every day.

00:47:49Oh, really? Okay.

00:47:50Me and Wendy, we developed kind of a friendship.

00:47:53Wendy told Detective Meyer quite a bit about Adrienne's sister, Aaron,

00:47:58and brother-in-law, Dan, and their financial issues.

00:48:02They were taking more from Gary and Wendy than Adrienne ever had.

00:48:06During a recorded phone call with detectives, Wendy described her frustration.

00:48:12They were very needy for money and all the time.

00:48:16There was always something, and then, you know, we would help them out.

00:48:22In fact, on the day of the shooting, Gary and Wendy forked over a rather hefty sum.

00:48:27I believe it was a $90,000 check that Aaron was given prior to leaving the residence.

00:48:32So the money was absolutely flowing in.

00:48:36Detectives learned that sometimes the money was a gift and other times a loan.

00:48:41Either way, it was a lifeline for the couple.

00:48:44At one point, Danny had one failed business venture, a bar in the Reno Sparks area, that fell through.

00:48:52By the time of the shooting, Dan and Aaron owed hundreds of thousands of dollars to her parents.

00:48:57There had been intense fights and sometimes estrangement.

00:49:02Her mother cut her off so many times throughout her life, you know, would cut her off and then bring

00:49:06her back.

00:49:07Did those heated arguments lead to murder?

00:49:11Wendy started to believe they did.

00:49:13She began to remember things, right, gradually?

00:49:16She was trying to.

00:49:18Like maybe she saw Danny.

00:49:21Yes.

00:49:22This is Wendy, almost a year after the shooting, on the phone with the detective.

00:49:28I've had some memory come back.

00:49:30I felt that someone was in the house.

00:49:32And I looked up and saw Danny with a hoodie on.

00:49:36How clear do you remember it?

00:49:38Very clear.

00:49:39I remember him walking over and seeing him shooting Gary and then pointing the gun at me.

00:49:47It sounded credible, but given her brain injury, were her statements actual memories?

00:49:54Or a mixture of things she had heard from friends and family?

00:49:58Wendy herself wasn't sure, but she was suspicious enough of Dan and her daughter

00:50:03that she revised her will and disinherited Aaron.

00:50:08The more lucid she had become, the more involved she had become, the more engaging.

00:50:12Also, the more frustrated she had become.

00:50:14Equally frustrated was her daughter, Adrienne, who'd also become suspicious of Dan and her sister.

00:50:21Sergeant Tyler Neer, a new supervisor of investigations assigned to work with Detective Meyer, spoke with her.

00:50:27She wanted something done, and she wanted justice for her parents.

00:50:32And life was not easy.

00:50:35Wendy had improved physically, but mentally, she was struggling.

00:50:41And nearly two years after the shooting, Detective Meyer received a call from Adrienne.

00:50:47She said, my mom killed herself and I blame you for it.

00:50:54To be accused of being responsible.

00:50:57She's dead, she killed herself, it's your fault.

00:50:59It was my fault because we didn't solve the crime and she felt that it was never going to be

00:51:04done.

00:51:06What was that like, physically, emotionally, to get that call?

00:51:10It hurt.

00:51:14It made me angry.

00:51:16I was sad because I'd gotten to know Wendy and to know that she had taken her life, that hurt.

00:51:23It threw it pretty hard, huh?

00:51:24It hit, yeah, it hit really hard.

00:51:31A few months later, on the second anniversary of Gary's murder, Adrienne filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging what she

00:51:38had come to believe.

00:51:39That both Dan and Aaron were responsible for the shooting.

00:51:44Placer County District Attorney Morgan Geyer.

00:51:47Did you believe that Aaron was involved in this in a substantial way?

00:51:51I do.

00:51:52What things stand out for you?

00:51:54Well, the most obvious being the timing of the murder of Gary Spohr and the shooting of Wendy Wood.

00:52:02Aaron was there that day.

00:52:03Aaron went out on the boat with her children and her parents.

00:52:07Almost a two-hour window, the shooter used to slip into Gary and Wendy's home and wait.

00:52:13Aaron responded with her own lawsuit, denying any involvement with the attack against her parents.

00:52:19She alleged that was a lie Adrienne used to turn Wendy against her.

00:52:25Aaron is accusing Adrienne of cutting them out of the will and of taking advantage of her mother.

00:52:30The allegation was essentially that she had manipulated her mother into disinheriting, and she filed a lawsuit to get to

00:52:37the bottom of it.

00:52:38How did all this complicate your investigation?

00:52:40For me, I treated it a lot as kind of noise, but I wasn't allowing it really to influence the

00:52:46investigation or influence any direction.

00:52:49By then, they'd found a key piece of evidence.

00:52:52It was video of Samantha on the day of the shooting, walking to her parked Subaru at 8 p.m.,

00:52:59a mile and a half from Gary and Wendy's home.

00:53:01She waited there until dark, and then, 24 minutes after the shooter left the crime scene, headed in her direction.

00:53:09We could see the dome light turn on, and presumably that's when he had gotten in the vehicle and they

00:53:17drove away.

00:53:18The last piece of the timeline puzzle.

00:53:22But before detectives could make an arrest, there was still something they needed to do.

00:53:27Really closing those doors on other people that could have been suspects or named as potential suspects to really paint

00:53:33the picture beyond a reasonable doubt that it couldn't be anybody else responsible for this.

00:53:39Seven months after Wendy's death, they believed they had done just that.

00:53:42Today, we arrested 39-year-old Danny Serafini and 33-year-old Samantha Scott.

00:53:47The case was finally ready to prosecute.

00:53:52Detectives called Adrian to share the news.

00:53:55And we called her and told her, it's done. We got him. And she just screamed.

00:54:01She screamed in excitement and told her boyfriend who was with her that it was done, that they finally got

00:54:08him.

00:54:09Why did you never arrest Aaron or charge her?

00:54:13There was no evidence that pointed at Aaron or showed Aaron had any culpability.

00:54:19After the arraignments, Adrian talked to reporters about her brother-in-law.

00:54:23I think he is violent. I think he is greedy.

00:54:28And I am just so thankful that Placer County has taken him into custody because that's where he should be.

00:54:35The former Major League Baseball player was about to face a jury.

00:54:59Dan Serafini and Samantha Scott were in jail, accused of murder and attempted murder.

00:55:05By January 2025, they'd been there 15 months.

00:55:09And Samantha?

00:55:11She'd had a change of heart and sat down with investigators to tell them everything.

00:55:17What did she say that was different than what she'd said before?

00:55:20Most importantly, she told us what instructions she had received from him.

00:55:24To keep her phone off, to keep her mouth shut.

00:55:26And she indicated that he had a gun with him and had even test-fired that gun and silencer on

00:55:31their drive from Nevada to Lake Tahoe.

00:55:35And then, after Dan shot Gary and Wendy, said Samantha, as they were driving back to Dan's trailer,

00:55:42she saw him throw the gun, the silencer, the backpack and some shoes out of the car.

00:55:48By the time investigators looked for that evidence, it was gone.

00:55:52But Samantha's sworn statement would be enough.

00:55:56We were already preparing to try him without that testimony because the evidence showed that he did it.

00:56:02But this provided corroboration to a lot of other pieces of evidence.

00:56:07Samantha agreed to plead guilty to being an accessory after the fact, and she got to go home.

00:56:13Well, with a new accessory of her own, an ankle monitor.

00:56:17Four months later, May 2025, Dan Serafini went on trial.

00:56:23And prosecutor Rick Miller opened with something Dan told his brother.

00:56:27I'll pay $20,000 to have them killed.

00:56:31That is how the trial started.

00:56:32Well, he certainly didn't bury the headline, did he?

00:56:36No, he did not. He got everyone's attention.

00:56:39The prosecutor said Dan's hatred toward his in-laws started years earlier.

00:56:43There were these very contentious e-mails that the jury heard.

00:56:48One exchange was from 2016 when they were arguing over a multi-million dollar ranch they'd helped purchase for Aaron

00:56:55and Dan.

00:56:56The prosecutor quoted from Dan's e-mail to Wendy.

00:56:59Take the f***ing house.

00:57:01But if Gary ever says f*** you to me again, I will knock him the f*** out.

00:57:05Three months before the shooting, there were more.

00:57:08This one, after a disagreement over the couple's kids.

00:57:12Wendy wrote to Aaron,

00:57:13Danny's disdain for us is right to the surface, so he enjoyed berating us.

00:57:18They fought a lot.

00:57:20They fought a lot. They did. A lot of fighting.

00:57:23This was way more than just keyboard warriors.

00:57:27Dan said he wanted them killed, and then set out to do that very thing, said the prosecutor.

00:57:33He would have stood to inherit quite a bit of money with his wife, but he didn't want to wait.

00:57:39He wanted it now, and he didn't want any strings attached.

00:57:42And it all came to a head on June 5th, 2021, the day Wendy and Gary went boating with Aaron

00:57:48and her boys.

00:57:49The prosecutor showed that video of a figure walking toward the house and told the jurors to focus on the

00:57:56person's gait.

00:57:57What was it about the walk?

00:57:59Well, it was described as a sort of swagger, with maybe a little bit of a limp.

00:58:03Sure.

00:58:05And then they had another video of Dan Serafini in the lobby of the Red Lion in Elko, Nevada, the

00:58:11day before the shootings.

00:58:13Was the walk the same?

00:58:15Well, you'd have to look for yourself, but the prosecution said the walk was the same.

00:58:19Had to be Dan, the prosecutor said, because anybody else would have seen the SUV in the driveway and would

00:58:26have thought somebody was home.

00:58:28No one was home, of course.

00:58:30So Dan entered the garage code and walked right in.

00:58:34Then, just over an hour after Aaron drove off with the kids, the jurors heard the five gunshots.

00:58:44Before leaving, Dan put a bag of dog food out because he thought the bodies wouldn't be discovered for days,

00:58:49said the prosecutor.

00:58:50It was all carefully planned, he told the jury.

00:58:54Dan purposely left his phone in his trailer, 300-plus miles away, so there wouldn't be a digital trail.

00:59:01His phone has a really good, rock-solid alibi.

00:59:06That phone never moved.

00:59:08Zero steps.

00:59:09Zero outgoing communication.

00:59:12Everything goes to voicemail.

00:59:13Then the prosecutor called his star witness, Samantha Scott.

00:59:19She described what she saw on that drive to Lake Tahoe, the gun, the silencer, the backpack, and something Dan

00:59:26later revealed about that day.

00:59:29He allegedly confessed to Samantha that he shot Wendy.

00:59:34She also told the jury that Dan threatened to shoot her family if she said anything to anyone.

00:59:40By the fall of 2021, months after the murder, Samantha said, they were having an affair that continued even after

00:59:49they were both arrested.

00:59:51He told her he was in love with her while they were in jail and sent her what they call

00:59:56kites in jail.

00:59:58This is a slang term for sending messages between inmates.

01:00:02And that, said the prosecutor, was part of the plan.

01:00:06He knows she's loyal.

01:00:08He knows she's in love with him.

01:00:12Everything he's, that she has done, indicates that.

01:00:18And yeah, even as I'm talking right now, the flame on that candle has not even begun to flicker.

01:00:26She still admitted she was feeling guilty for testifying because she was still had feelings for him.

01:00:32Then the prosecutor called Aaron and asked her about Dan's relationship with Samantha.

01:00:37Aaron said she knew of the sexual relationship.

01:00:41That didn't make her upset, but she was more upset that there were emotional feelings that she was finding out

01:00:46about.

01:00:46That's what upset her.

01:00:48She had once considered Samantha a friend.

01:00:51But now, she said, she no longer trusted her.

01:00:54And unlike Samantha, Aaron had not turned on Dan.

01:00:59She testified for the prosecution and defended Dan.

01:01:02Correct.

01:01:02She defended her husband at the trial, saying, there's no way that was her husband in that video.

01:01:11Samantha and Aaron on the stand, the two of them.

01:01:13I'm interested in knowing from your observation of them, how they came across.

01:01:18They painted two separate pictures.

01:01:20Samantha had accepted defeat, both legally and existentially, and understood that her job now was to connect the dots.

01:01:28Aaron was still in defense mode.

01:01:31She was still actively trying to thwart the truth.

01:01:34So you couldn't have two different perspectives in one courtroom.

01:01:42Dan's defense attorney was about to paint an entirely different picture, and Dan Serafini wasn't in it.

01:01:50The person in the video is built differently than Danny because the person in that video is not Danny Serafini.

01:02:11The state had called Dan Serafini a killer.

01:02:16That, his attorney David Rattman said, was flat out wrong.

01:02:21Danny Serafini did not shoot Gary Spohr.

01:02:25Danny Serafini did not shoot Wendy Wood.

01:02:28That masked man in the video, that wasn't him, said the defense.

01:02:32The stature is different, and the person in the video is built differently than Danny because the person in that

01:02:40video is not Danny Serafini.

01:02:43The height was wrong.

01:02:44The weight was wrong.

01:02:46The walk was wrong.

01:02:47Not the same at all.

01:02:49And anyway, remember those phone records?

01:02:51He was many miles away in Nevada when that masked man shot Gary and Wendy.

01:02:55The defense suggested he could have been binge-watching something on his phone, shopping, sitting in his trailer in Crescent

01:03:02Valley.

01:03:03And remember, counseled the defense attorney, there was no physical evidence, not a scrap, tying Dan to the Tahoe house

01:03:09on the day of the shooting.

01:03:11Besides, his wife Erin testified that Dan had no financial motive to kill her parents.

01:03:17These people were quite generous with Danny Serafini and his wife, their daughter, Erin.

01:03:23And if Dan killed them, he'd get nothing, not a cent.

01:03:29The evidence will also show that Danny Serafini was not a beneficiary of their will.

01:03:38He was not someone that was going to inherit.

01:03:41As for Samantha's testimony, she lied, said the defense, to save herself.

01:03:48That story is fantastic.

01:03:50That story is a story.

01:03:54It is a really great leap of faith here that the prosecution is asking you to believe.

01:04:05It's like, why would you kill the golden goose?

01:04:09Before jurors got the case, prosecutor Rick Miller left them with this message.

01:04:14You know why he did it.

01:04:16You know how he did it.

01:04:18You know his motive.

01:04:19You know his opportunity.

01:04:21You know his ability.

01:04:23There's a murderer in this room.

01:04:26He's sitting right there.

01:04:29And then they were sent away to deliberate.

01:04:33And I've never experienced or been through anything like this before.

01:04:37Karen Schroeder, the jury foreperson, and two other jurors, Allie McKibben and Gracie Buttrick,

01:04:43took page after page of notes as they listened to the testimony and watched Dan.

01:04:48I spent the majority of the trial just watching him to try to see how he reacted to each and

01:04:56every witness and evidence and just try to get a read on him.

01:05:00But he seemed very stoic and disconnected.

01:05:03They paid attention to every word from Samantha Scott.

01:05:06Her recollection on the stand and compare that to what she had already told law enforcement,

01:05:12really trying to pick through, is she telling the truth?

01:05:16What, you know, what is she lying about?

01:05:19And found Dan's wife Erin to be, well...

01:05:23For lack of a better word, frustrating.

01:05:26It was clear the second she got on that witness stand that her loyalties lied with her husband.

01:05:34And you have to think, he's up there accused of murdering your parents.

01:05:40That first day, the jurors talked.

01:05:43No verdict.

01:05:44We didn't take a vote until the end of our second full day of deliberations.

01:05:51The vote was not unanimous.

01:05:53Were you surprised?

01:05:54They kept going, huh, huh, huh.

01:05:56I really thought it was going to be a very quick verdict,

01:05:58and I had to keep reminding myself the amount of evidence that they had to go through

01:06:02and the complexity of the case.

01:06:04So it kind of gave me that moment of peace to know,

01:06:06we're going to get there, it's just going to take a little while to get to where we need to.

01:06:10You hoped?

01:06:11I hoped.

01:06:12The jurors took a closer look at the surveillance videos from the Red Lion and the Tao House,

01:06:18and they took screenshots.

01:06:20There was parts where you could zoom in,

01:06:22and so then we did side-by-side and looked.

01:06:24Could it be the same person?

01:06:26They looked at the shoes, the pants, the walk.

01:06:30We were like investigators.

01:06:31And finally, on day four...

01:06:35I understand the jury has reached a verdict.

01:06:38...and years of grief and anger and tension gathered in the courtroom that moment.

01:06:44We, the jury, in the above-entitled action, find the defendant, Daniel Joseph Serafini, guilty.

01:06:50Guilty of first-degree murder and attempted murder.

01:06:54The jurors were certain the figure in the video could only have been Dan Serafini.

01:07:01I felt 100% that's him.

01:07:05No one was able to convince me it wasn't.

01:07:07And nothing in the evidence could tell me that it wasn't.

01:07:11Today, I wore my mom's engagement ring,

01:07:14and my dad's ashes are around my neck.

01:07:19And I knew that they were here with us today.

01:07:21Outside the courtroom, Adrian Spohr was...grateful.

01:07:25The Placer County District Attorney's Office and Sheriff's Office never gave up.

01:07:32And today, finally, justice was served.

01:07:36Oh my gosh.

01:07:38Excitement.

01:07:40Tears.

01:07:42A full...

01:07:44Kind of like...

01:07:46Four years just finally ended.

01:07:48Have you ever been this deeply, emotionally connected with a case before?

01:07:53No.

01:07:54I've never had any case that just exhausted us mentally and emotionally to this degree.

01:08:03And it was...

01:08:04When it was done, that relief was pretty awesome.

01:08:08Except it wasn't done.

01:08:10It wasn't.

01:08:12Because?

01:08:14Dan Serafini simply refused to accept it.

01:08:17And he found a new attorney who revealed a new piece of evidence.

01:08:23Danny, it's Wendy.

01:08:24I didn't get to tell you that I've been doing this electric therapy,

01:08:29and I have a vision of the shooter.

01:08:32The DA said, where'd you get that?

01:08:34Watch out.

01:08:50You know how it is.

01:08:52The jury pronounces guilty.

01:08:54And it's done.

01:08:55Cooked.

01:08:56Finished.

01:08:58We begin with breaking news.

01:08:59A jury has found former MLB pitcher Dan Serafini guilty of murder.

01:09:03Except this time, it wasn't.

01:09:06Dan Serafini, one-time Major League Baseball pitcher, now convicted murderer,

01:09:12simply refused to accept the verdict.

01:09:14What the hell happened?

01:09:16I think what happened, unfortunately, for everyone,

01:09:20is that due process never happened.

01:09:23Or you could say, this guy is what happened.

01:09:26And Dan swapped out his old lawyers for Barry Zimmerman.

01:09:31And Zimmerman had a whole new play in mind.

01:09:34Throw out his conviction and get Dan a new trial.

01:09:38Why?

01:09:40Two reasons, he said.

01:09:42Reason one, jury misconduct.

01:09:45What did the jury do that was so terrible?

01:09:48They decided on their own dime to go through the video of the surveillance at the house

01:09:56and the video at the Red Lion and make screenshots

01:10:01and then compare screenshots to screenshots

01:10:04to see if they could match who they knew to be Danny Serafini at the Red Lion

01:10:09with the perpetrator.

01:10:11That, Zimmerman said, was outside the scope of the jury's role.

01:10:15I was shocked.

01:10:17I thought, this is absolutely misconduct.

01:10:21And reason two?

01:10:22Zimmerman argued that Dan's trial attorneys had failed him, given him a poor defense.

01:10:27For example, Dan was pushing to go to trial, but Zimmerman said his lawyers should have taken

01:10:32a pause and regrouped, especially after learning that Samantha Scott had flipped.

01:10:37The responsible thing for his trial lawyers to have done at that moment was to say,

01:10:44break's on, we're not ready.

01:10:46The cards have changed.

01:10:48The table is now different.

01:10:50We have Samantha Scott to deal with.

01:10:52Was Samantha Scott the key to it all?

01:10:54Yes, absolutely.

01:10:56Zimmerman claimed Samantha was more involved than she let on.

01:11:00I don't view her as being some naive person who just happened to say, I'll do whatever

01:11:07Danny Serafini tells me to do, and I won't ask any questions.

01:11:10I don't buy that for a second.

01:11:12Also, said Zimmerman, Dan's attorneys should have let him testify.

01:11:17He's not a fool.

01:11:18He knew he had to testify, especially when Samantha was going to testify against him.

01:11:25Come on, he's his own agent.

01:11:27He could testify if he really wanted to, couldn't he?

01:11:29He could, but when the pressure's on, let me just kind of put you into this.

01:11:33You're facing life without the possibility of parole.

01:11:36You have two lawyers you've paid $400,000 to.

01:11:39They're both telling you, you can't testify.

01:11:42It's a mistake.

01:11:43You're going to lose.

01:11:44And Zimmerman argued the defense didn't call a single witness, but should have called a neighbor

01:11:49who told investigators she saw Dan in Crescent Valley the day of the murder,

01:11:54and a secret lover who told detectives she spent the day with Dan.

01:11:59I was with them all day Saturday and then went to work.

01:12:03Okay.

01:12:03What did you guys do on Saturday?

01:12:06Um, drank a bunch of disgusting wine.

01:12:11So, Zimmerman got a hearing, and they all assembled in the courtroom, and Dan Serafini shuffled in

01:12:18his garish jail jumpsuit punctuation for a very unusual proceeding.

01:12:24For several days, he testified about Samantha Scott and his complaints about his attorneys.

01:12:28And with Dan on the stand, Zimmerman revealed evidence the jury never heard.

01:12:35Danny, it's Wendy.

01:12:37I didn't get to tell you that I've been doing this electric therapy that allows me to recall

01:12:44visions, and I have a vision of the shooter, and it's not you.

01:12:48This was Wendy saying Dan was not the killer.

01:12:53That was powerful stuff.

01:12:54The DA said, where'd you get that?

01:12:56Dramatic.

01:12:57Or maybe not.

01:13:00During his cross-examination, the prosecutor played that other Wendy tape.

01:13:10He was able to show that Wendy knew exactly what Danny had done, and at some points were

01:13:17keeping them close and making them believe that she didn't think that so that she could

01:13:22remain safe.

01:13:23She still remained fearful for her life up until the end.

01:13:27As for Dan's alibi witnesses, the prosecutor said his neighbor had the date wrong, and Dan

01:13:33told his lover to lie.

01:13:35The alibi witnesses would have ultimately provided more incriminating evidence against

01:13:39Mr. Serafini, and arguably would have sped up that guilty verdict that he so justly deserved.

01:13:44So his original defense attorneys were right in withholding those people.

01:13:48They were absolutely right in withholding any evidence of the alibi.

01:13:51The prosecution argued Dan was simply having buyers or mores, and the jury did nothing wrong.

01:13:58Dan watched it all unfold.

01:14:00One more shot at another chance.

01:14:03But he had a lot to say about it.

01:14:05And I think you need to stop with those questions, because you keep implicating me, and it's not me.

01:14:24From pitcher's mound to jail cell, Dan Serafini's fall was as steep as they come.

01:14:29I thought about this case a lot.

01:14:31I wondered how somebody with all the talent and the advantages that you've got in life has wound up here.

01:14:37I'd love to understand it.

01:14:39Do you understand it?

01:14:40No, I don't understand it at all.

01:14:42I believed in the justice system, and the justice system failed.

01:14:46Well, the justice system would say it didn't fail at all, that it was a good circumstantial case.

01:14:50And when they laid it out, there was a lot of circumstantial stuff there.

01:14:54Some prosecutors say that's the best kind of case.

01:14:58Circumstantial case?

01:14:59And I believe the circumstantial stuff that they had was just making up a story.

01:15:02They had no proof, no anything.

01:15:04This, Dan decided, would be his only network interview.

01:15:08There was a time limit, and jail rules required this somewhat awkward arrangement through a thick layer of glass.

01:15:15Dan told us he's behind bars because his trial attorneys did not mount a strong defense.

01:15:21And the jury...

01:15:23They just didn't like me.

01:15:24They didn't like my lifestyle.

01:15:25They didn't like the way I acted in court, which I didn't act anyways.

01:15:31I sat there like I was supposed to because my lawyers told me to.

01:15:35Don't react.

01:15:36Don't respond.

01:15:37Sit there like nothing's bothering you.

01:15:39And I did.

01:15:40And I got crucified for it.

01:15:42And then there was the woman who turned against him.

01:15:45Tell me about your relationship with Samantha.

01:15:48Samantha was a very close family friend.

01:15:51And we ended up kind of falling into a fling with each other.

01:15:56My wife and I live a certain lifestyle to where, you know, we do our own things when we're apart.

01:16:02Our rule was not to bring any drama home.

01:16:06I left town a lot for work.

01:16:09I was allowed to do what I wanted to do.

01:16:12I screwed up.

01:16:13I made a horrible decision by being with Sam because I broke the rules and brought the drama home.

01:16:20She was too close to home to have that kind of relationship.

01:16:23She told detectives that you would shoot her family, you told her, if she spoke up.

01:16:31Of course not.

01:16:32I would not do that.

01:16:33Sam was a big part of my life.

01:16:36Sam was never in danger.

01:16:37It all makes for a really good story.

01:16:40Dan's story was this.

01:16:43He partied with Samantha the night before the murder and then went back to his trailer the next morning.

01:16:49And Samantha came over later that day to pick up $25,000 as arranged for what he called an investment.

01:16:57Samantha left with the money, but he didn't go with her and he didn't shoot anybody.

01:17:02Why would Samantha say you did it, that you committed the murder?

01:17:07Well, because they scared her with 120 years in prison.

01:17:11I think anybody in this room would do the same thing.

01:17:13So you say she's lying down?

01:17:15You're saying that the authorities encouraged her to lie to get a case against you because they didn't know who

01:17:21else to charge?

01:17:22I mean, who else would it be?

01:17:24I have no idea, but that's not my job.

01:17:26My job isn't to prove who did it.

01:17:28My job was to prove that I didn't do it, and there's nothing there to prove that I did it.

01:17:33The state argued it was Dan who was lying.

01:17:36The prosecutors would say, you knew the way into the garage.

01:17:39Yeah, and you did.

01:17:40I mean, you'd been there before.

01:17:41You knew the way into the house.

01:17:43You knew where you could hide while they were out doing whatever they were doing before they came back and

01:17:46it was time to act.

01:17:48You knew a lot of these things that nobody else would know.

01:17:51What do you say to those allegations?

01:17:53I'd say again that they're just guessing.

01:17:56I mean, how hard is it to walk through a garage door?

01:17:59I mean, they're saying that I knew how to get into the house.

01:18:01Of course, everybody knows how to get into a house.

01:18:04No one can even prove that the garage door was open or closed.

01:18:08Understand?

01:18:09And then there was the man in that surveillance video.

01:18:12They can't say it's me.

01:18:14There's no way they can say it's me.

01:18:15They can't prove it's you, but they've got this guy who looks kind of like you with your sort of

01:18:19walk, walking on a surveillance camera.

01:18:21And then they've got somebody who knows how to get into the house.

01:18:24You're already implicating it's me already.

01:18:25I've got to be challenging because we don't have much time.

01:18:28I have to tell you.

01:18:29I think you need to stop with those questions.

01:18:31Why?

01:18:32Because you keep implicating me and it's not me.

01:18:35As for telling his brother he'd pay someone 20 grand to kill his in-laws,

01:18:40that brother testified, said Dan made the offer in jest.

01:18:44Not with me, Dan.

01:18:46My brother was throwing daggers at me because Tim and I had a falling out after my mom passed away.

01:18:52I never mentioned that once to him.

01:18:54And that's on my kids.

01:18:55That's on my wife.

01:18:56And speaking of Erin, Dan said any suggestion that she was involved in some plot to have her parents killed

01:19:02was ridiculous.

01:19:04Erin didn't hate her parents.

01:19:06Erin didn't want her parents dead.

01:19:08I didn't want her parents dead.

01:19:09None of us did.

01:19:11And I think for people to believe that, that's the kind of society we're in.

01:19:15People want to think that I was broke.

01:19:17People wanted to think that I was a washed-up baseball player that didn't have any money.

01:19:21I didn't need anybody's money.

01:19:23I paid my own bills.

01:19:24I did my own things.

01:19:26And I'm proud of the person that I am and that I became.

01:19:30I didn't have a superstar baseball career.

01:19:33I've been very successful.

01:19:35And I'm proud of that.

01:19:36And I won't hide from it.

01:19:38That was it.

01:19:40Our allotted time was up.

01:19:41And Dan Serafini went back to his cell where he will remain in one cell or another for the rest

01:19:47of his life.

01:19:48Because the judge denied his motion for a new trial.

01:19:54At his sentencing, Adrian called Dan evil and a monster.

01:20:00For 10 years, Dan Serafini and Erin Spore treated my parents like a bottomless ATM.

01:20:06Between loans and gifts, my parents provided them with well over $2 million.

01:20:12But it was never enough.

01:20:15At one point, Dan's attorney asked, why kill the Golden Goose?

01:20:20And the answer was simple.

01:20:22They got tired of asking.

01:20:24Detective Meyer was in the courtroom watching Adrian deliver the words she had waited so long to say.

01:20:30Adrian gave you a hug at the sentencing, didn't she?

01:20:33She did.

01:20:40I'm sorry.

01:20:42That's okay.

01:20:42She did with, she actually did with me.

01:20:46And my wife and kids were there.

01:20:49And she ran over to them and gave them the, gave them a hug as well.

01:20:54She got to meet my family that sacrificed all their time while I tried to bring conclusion for her family.

01:21:01So it was kind of almost like we came full circle.

01:21:05Sure.

01:21:06And maybe that went some way toward repairing the terrible pain you felt about what she said.

01:21:12It absolutely did.

01:21:14One person not in attendance, Erin Spore, she filed for divorce, though she still stands by Dan.

01:21:23Dan's attorney read a statement Erin wrote on Dan's behalf.

01:21:27He may be imperfect, but he is one of the most caring and generous people I have ever met in

01:21:34this world.

01:21:34The civil suits between Erin and her sister have been privately resolved.

01:21:39Adrian's lawsuit against Dan is ongoing.

01:21:43As for Samantha Scott.

01:21:45I am deeply sorry to the families affected by this case and to the investigators who are trying to find

01:21:51the truth.

01:21:51She was sentenced to two years probation for aiding Dan.

01:21:58And 6,000 feet up in the Sierra Mountains, Lake Tahoe glimmers as it always has, deep and clear.

01:22:06And unmoved by the dramas that grip mere humans round its sylvan shores.

01:22:16And that's all for this edition of Dateline.

01:22:19Don't forget to check out our Talking Dateline podcast, which will go behind the scenes of tonight's episode.

01:22:26Available Wednesday in the Dateline feed, wherever you get your podcasts.

01:22:30We'll see you again next Friday at 9, 8 central.

01:22:34I'm Lester Holt.

01:22:35For all of us at NBC News, good night.

01:22:43For all of us at NBC News, good night.

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