NBC’s Dateline is airing a two-hour episode Friday on the murder case against former MLB pitcher Dan Serafini, with a jailhouse interview that puts the convicted man back at the center of one of Northern California’s most closely watched crimes.
Serafini was sentenced earlier this year to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the June 2021 ambush-style shooting of his in-laws at their Lake Tahoe-area home. Gary Spohr died from the shooting, while Wood survived and made a full recovery before later killing herself.
The new broadcast comes after a judge denied Serafini’s bid for a new trial, which he had sought by arguing ineffective counsel. During sentencing, Serafini maintained that he was not a killer and attacked the justice system, even as the court imposed the state’s harshest punishment short of death.
Keith Morrison, who secured the jailhouse interview, said Serafini threatened to walk out early because he did not like the questions he was being asked. Morrison described him as “an angry individual” and said he believed Serafini was angry that he was convicted and did not think he should have been. He also said the prosecutor had talked about a “certain arrogance” in Serafini and that it was on display.
Morrison said he wanted to understand why Serafini did what he did, and said Serafini wanted him to believe that he had been wronged by the jury. The host called it “one of the wildest stories we’ve covered in a while,” a description that fits a case that has moved from a fatal shooting to a conviction, a failed new-trial bid and now a prime-time examination of what happened in the Lake Tahoe-area home. The episode is scheduled for Friday at 9 p.m. on KCRA 3.
