Serafini Verdict: Life No Parole & the Wife Who Never Turned | Signal 51 Chronicles Case 14 Pt 2

This is the signal fifty one chronicles. I'm John Henry. This is my compadre to my left here, Jake White. Jake, what's the word? A man of few words at the moment. Processing this, figuring out what we're gonna do here. What'd you do this weekend? Anything fun? No. So that you so you so no. You don't have you just recently took a trip to, Washington DC to drop off one of your kids. Yeah. I did that. That was fun. See all of DC? What? Did you see all of DC? Most of it. White House is closed. Yeah. The Grand Ballroom or Oh, yeah. Yeah. So that was closed. I mean, just the normal. Yeah. Did you add did you ask if you could if you could serve your country and maybe drill a stake in the ground of the Grand Ballroom? No. No. We did go to Old Debits, the bar right across the street from the White House. It's kind of the the oldest bar town. Yeah. In DC? Yeah. Went there. We're in Georgetown mostly. Yeah. But you'll be back there, I'm sure, before the semester's Yeah, probably another, I don't know, month or so. I think we'll go back up there. You ever been there before? Was that your first trip? Briefly. I mean, that was the longest I've had stayed there. Well, we come to you from an undisclosed location in Fort Worth, Texas as part of the Sunset Lounge DFW and Stolen Water Media. Yep. I have that right? You you have that correct. We tell stories of true crime around our area, Texas, and as you will see today, as you saw last week, we also dip into other parts of the country like California. Hi, Jake. Let's, let's try our last meal. Yes. The last meal segment is brought to you by no one yet. No one. Soon will be, though. I feel it. We're gonna have the last meal of Mr. Brandon Anthony Micah Bernard. Man convicted and executed for the 1999 robbery, kidnapping, and murder of Todd Bagley and his wife, Stacy Bagley, ages twenty eight six and 28 respectively. Bernard is a Texan. He spent most of his childhood in Killeen, home of Fort Hood, Fort Cavazos, and again, Fort Hood, even though it's a different Fort Hood. Oh, yeah. It's back to Fort Hood? But it's a different Fort Hood. Yeah, yeah, different. Yeah. Don't get you started. Fort Fort Cavazos. So Fort Hood, of course, was a confederate general, so the Biden era people renamed it to Fort Cavazos, who is part of the three Cavazos brothers who went to to Texas Tech. Oh, okay. The oldest Cavazos brother was the secretary of education for George Herbert Walker Bush, and I think Ronald Reagan to his later career later presidency. And this Cavasos, his name is escaping me, was a hero in the Korean and Vietnam wars. K? And then the Trumps got in there and had to rename it Fort Hood, even though it's not the confederate general Fort Hood. It's some Fort it's some Hood from World War one. I digress. Did did the Fort Cavazos really catch on, though? No. It was only there for a couple years. Okay. Because I didn't I mean, I remember it, but I No. I wasn't. Not very long. So, anyway, that's where this Bernard, grew up was Killeen. And in his early teens, he began committing crimes such as burglary and joined a neighborhood gang. His crimes and rebellious behaviors led him to being kicked out of several schools and prosecuted in the juvenile criminal justice system. In 1999, Bernard and four teenage accomplices robbed, kidnapped, and murdered the Bagleys. In Killeen or in the area, I suspect. So in 1999, Bernard and four teenage accomplices robbed, kidnapped, and murdered the Bagley's in that area, in the Belton, Texas, Lake Belton area. After forcing the passengers into the trunk of the car, the ringleader, Christopher Andre Villalva, say that three times, shot both in the head before Bernard set the car on fire, according to officials. Todd Bagley had died instantly from the gunshot, while Stacy's cause of death was disputed. A last minute stay a last minute request for stay of execution was rejected by the United States Supreme Court, and Bernard was executed hours later on 12/10/2020. He asked as part of the proceedings of sending him on his way from this realm. He asked as his last meal, a meat lovers pizza. Yes. We, as part of this segment, we, enjoy the last meals of of of of of of executed those sent to the chamber. Those sent to the chamber. And as such, we have ordered a Meat lovers pizza. Meat lovers pizza. This one's comes from Mama's Pizza. It's kind of a big deal in these parts. It's bomb. Mama's is the bomb. Yeah. It really is. It's really good. We were we were trying to get somewhere else but You guys talk me out of it. Well, no. No. We we couldn't they said we had to they said they're gonna send We it to had to heat it up and all that stuff. We don't want frozen pizza. Just cook it and send it to us. Right? I mean, that's what you do for us. That's the way it's traditionally been done for the better part of, I don't know, since the beginning of pizza delivery. I remember when I was growing up, we didn't have pizza delivery until Domino's came here, least as far as I know. We never got a pizza order. Yeah, you're probably right. So dom Domino's shows up in the early Sixties, eighties. Seventies. No. Where I lived, you couldn't deliver pizzas. You had to go either buy it or get a DiGiorno. And so they would actually you know, they would Domino's would cook this pizza, and they guaranteed it. You get it at your house in thirty minutes. Yep. And then they came and they rang the doorbell, and they said, here's your pizza. With their hand I mixed guess, in those days for a tip. Well, no. I mean, I think in those days, you even had to I think you paid for it right there. Mhmm. Probably. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They had the little money bags. Yeah. Yeah. You paid for it right there. Yeah. Nowadays, I noticed I ordered a pizza a few weeks ago, and I never order I never order food delivery. Just not my MO. But this one particular Sunday, I wasn't feeling great and just didn't wanna get out of the house. And so I ordered a Domino's pizza. And I waited for it, and I waited for it, I waited for it. And I looked on the app, and it says it's been delivered ten minutes ago. Yeah. And I went outside, and there it was, sitting on the porch. So there's no more ringing doorbells anymore to Did you tip on the app? I think I did. No. That's probably why. And so this likewise, we ordered I don't know who we ordered from. DoorDash? I just ordered the delivery from momma's. Okay. And I'm like, is our pizza here? And you're like, I don't know. You go out and look, there it is on the porch. On the porch. Alright. Let's dig in. Did you know that this Bernard guy, actually had the likes of Kim Kardashian in his corner? Really? Yeah. The just hours before his death, Kim Kardashian Kim Kardashian West. Is this is she still married to Kanye West? No. Mm-mm. No. I don't know. Detailed a phone call she had with Bernard just hours before he died. She said, quote, just spoke to Brandon for what will likely be the last time. Hardest call I've ever had. Brandon, selfless as always, was focused on his family and making sure they are okay. He told me not to cry because our fight isn't over, so she tweets. Later, she says, When he told me he's claustrophobic and they offered to give him a shot of sedative to calm him down before they put him in the chair, and he just didn't want to panic. I literally lost it. I had to mute my phone so he wouldn't hear me cry like that. We didn't say goodbye. We wanted to be hopeful that we would talk again. We said, talk to you soon. What a joke. Yeah. What a joke. I mean, I'm not one to judge my neighbor, but I mean, if those Kardashians make it to the promised land, I'm gonna be one pissed Christian. I'll tell you that right now. Here we go. Mhmm. Now you're onto them. Oh. Baseball swings, the Kardashians. All sorts of hot sports opinions. Bill Belichick. Have you all seen this stuff about Bill Belichick's son? Mhmm. Yeah. A little bit. Okay. Y'all, how do we rate this for last meal? I mean, it's it's it's high. It's high on the list. Well, y'all keep talking about how y'all would have a pizza for your last meal. Mhmm. That we would? Mhmm. Y'all have both said it multiple times. I'll give it I mean, hard to give anything a 10. Yeah. I can't go 10. I'm in the nines. I don't know if those fish and chips were good. Right. They were good. But we also have to keep remembering. Did they give him a DiGiorno pizza? Or did they give him a mama's pizza? Good point. Like what would they give them in Huntsville? So some of these lists say like Pizza Hut. Yeah. But this doesn't say that. I can rest assured that it was not a mama's pizza. No, it definitely wasn't a mama's pizza down there. Yeah, mean, this is easily the highest on my list, unequivocally without Wow. Yeah. Wait. Period. Full stop. I can't believe it just it beats the beats the Zeke's and? Oh, yeah. Beats I mean, mama's pizza beats the the Greek. Greek cafe? I mean, personally, the gyro. This this is this a gyro is high on my list. Well, all we can do is ask for your opinion. I mean yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Does it and it beats the fish and chips? Mhmm. And the burger? Oh, yeah. And the steak? Mhmm. That steak was lackluster, though. Well, you know Yeah. Ashley, that, our man Jake here has told us that he could is that what is that? Large? Yeah. The large. You're talk was it the large or was it the mama's you were talking about? The mama's you were talking The biggest pizza they have there. You know what's funny is So you could down that by himself Mhmm. A supreme. Mhmm. I feel like every time we have this segment, we talk about this. Really? Mhmm. I I mean, I could. I'm not going to, but I could. So the vote is is that this is the top one right now? Yeah. I guess so. I mean, I I don't know. It's right there with the fish and chips. Let's let's let's dip in there. So when we last saw you guys, we were discussing the untimely demise of of Gary Spore and Wendy Wood. Wendy Wood, married couple in North North Lake re North Lake Reno. Right? Is that right? North not Reno. Tahoe. Lake Tahoe. North Lake Tahoe On the California side. The California side. The police had received a 911 call, though there was no one really coherent on the other side. They could hear breathing, heavy breathing, and so they went over there, found a deceased Mr. Spore in a seriously wounded Wendy Wood. And as part of their investigation, they rounded up video surveillance cameras of the spores as well as some neighbors Mhmm. Around the neighborhood. And in that video footage, a tan Subaru stood out to them, particularly a young woman or a woman who was seen around it. And then we also run into this guy named Dan Serafini, a major league left hander. First round draft pick 1992? Yeah. 1992 of the of the Minnesota Twins. He winds up spending twenty two years in major in in in pro baseball between, the major leagues and Japan. He does well financially. Obviously, he earns upwards of $14,000,000 over the course of his career. And then we learned that he entered the bar business and opened a bar called the Bullpen Bar. And that's where the bar didn't go very well, So kind of found out. No. No, it didn't. The bullpen bar at Aspen Glen sounds, you know, that in Colorado. No, it's there in Lake Tahoe. Okay. That area. Serafini's business acumen, bar acumen, if you will. No. Not quite the same success that he had. Throwing strikes. Throwing strikes. There's a show Bar Rescue. I don't Seen it. So I've never seen this show. I know that it's had some popularity, if you will. Yeah. No. It's a guy named John Taffer. John Taffer. That's right. Biggest asshole you'll ever meet in your life. He's probably just faking it. He's probably a really nice guy. Well, his his he portrays an asshole Oh, okay. On the show. Okay. So the bullpen bar opens 2013. By 2015, you know things aren't going well if you're a bar and you're on bar rescue. Show up on bar rescue. So the bar rescue, this John Taffer, who I don't know what his background is, it's in food Artender? Maybe. He takes these failing bars and tries to change their protocols and culture and everything else and brings them back. Yep. So this one, the bullpen, Serafini's bar appeared on Bar Rescue in 2015. The episode focused heavily on Serafini's financial situation and his difficulty managing the bar. Uh-huh. Ultimately, Taffer, the host you're just talking about, remodels the establishment. Rebrand he he rebrands them too. Rebrands it to the Oak Tavern. Makes it a few no. I mean, I guess it makes another six, seven years until it eventually closed in, around '21 or '22. Uh-huh. So there's one other person. We just talked about her briefly, but we didn't get into it much. Erin Spore. Yeah. We met her last week when she with her kids and the Spore's grandkids were over at the house the day of the murder. Yeah. And they went to Lake Tahoe to enjoy a day of boating and then they came back and The masked intruder was inside the house that unbeknownst to them. That's right. Yeah. We also saw an intruder that knew the code and went into the house and spent some time in there. Aaron also had her last name is Spore and some and articles and other articles at Serafini. That was Dan Serafini's wife. They were married in, around 2011. Aaron was the daughter, like we mentioned, of Gary and Wendy. Aaron and Dan met when Aaron was working for Dan's first wife, Renee. Mhmm. They didn't become a thing, though, until that first marriage ended. Mhmm. Mhmm. After the marriage ends, they get married. Dan and Aaron get married. They have two kids, but a little bit about Aaron. So she grew up in the equestrian equestrian world, if you will. At the age of 15, she moves to a horse training facility to fine tune her craft, her ability to ride, race, whatever it was she did. At the age of 21, it was reported that she left the training facility, and she was gonna start dental hygiene school. All this come coming from a 2010 article in Chronicles of Horse, I believe, was the publication. I'm not familiar with that one. Yeah. I think it's it's more California based. So by 2016 so Dan and Aaron had been married for five years at this point, couple kids. Aaron's looking at the opportunity to open her own equestrian sin center, board horses, training, etcetera. Yeah. To do so, though, she needs money. Don't we all? But yeah. Yeah. But you would think. I mean, she did marry a guy. Capital to do this. Yeah. Exactly. She's married a major league pitcher. It was broke at the time. Even at that time? Yeah. Yeah. We'll we'll we'll go into that a little bit. But in short, he had no money by 2016. Gary and Wendy, on the other hand, wealthy. What did Gary and Wendy do? They were real estate investors. They had a it was stated they had a net worth of 23,000,000. I don't know how accurate that is, but that was what it was reported to be. But Aaron needs $1,300,000 to open this thing off the ground. So Gary and Wendy giver, loaner, finance the deal, whatever whatever the terms of the $1,300,000, involved. So there's one other person we've talked about. We've talked about the the tan Subaru. We met this, this this lady at the tan Subaru. Samantha Scott. She has a name. Samantha Scott. Yep. She was a friend, a student of Aaron. They met in 2018 at Aaron's Horseback Equestrian business. Scott and Aaron became close friends. I mean, she would help with odd jobs, nannying, you know, things of the things of the sorts. And in return, Erin would give her horseback riding lessons and house her horses. Bartering. Yeah. So in short, she becomes the nanny for the Serafinis. So we've got Dan Serafini, Aaron Serafini. Serafini. Yep. And Samantha Scott. Yes. Now, did you know I don't know that we covered this, but it was also reported that Aaron was once a nanny for Dan and his first wife, Renee. Uh-oh. Oh, boy. This happens. Where are we going here? So we identify the the players. Right? We've got the victims identified. We've got the other three, may or may not be suspects, all three of them. So what happened? So we remember Serafini in total pitches about fifteen years over a twenty two year span, makes 14,000,000. Few things happened to his money, though. First, his divorce to his first wife, Renee. The end of that marriage apparently accounted for a substantial portion of his financial losses. Sources kids, I wonder. Yeah. So yeah, if you want a good indicator, a good gauge of poverty, it's number of wives, number of children by different wives. The more you have, the more wives you have, and the more children you have, the broker you will be. The broker you will be. That is not that that is not just some some flips comment I'm making. It's truth. That is a fact. That's a fact. So sources consistently describe this divorce as bitter, expensive, exact amounts are unknown. Second, Serafini also said he made a series of bad investments. Yep. Wives and kids. Yes. I think that's a story we hear, though, with some athletes or people with, you know, that earn high that are high income earners from time to time. Third, by 2013, Serafini was apparently sufficiently short on capital, so short that he turned to his parents to find a finances next business, the bullpen. His parents reportedly took out a $240,000 loan against their home so Dan could purchase or open the bullpen. Initially, this bar did well by all accounts. Serafini said it was doing approximately 45 to 50 k per month in sales. Don't know what their operating expenses were. He then became less involved in its day to day operation. And that's when the business went down. Yep. By the time Bar Rescue or, yeah, Bar Rescue intervened, Serafini was reportedly approximately $300,000 in debt with not only his own financial security, but his parents' house potentially at risk as well now. So the first few years of the marriage, 2011, maybe up to 2015 or so, things seemed to be going decent. So his his baseball career ended in 2007. Is that what we said? 2007. 2007. Yeah. That 2013 WBC appearance with Italy. I don't know if he ever saw the field during that. Okay. Yeah. But professional career over 2007 Okay. Last season with the Rock. So things seem to be going well, Dan. He was a see, yeah, he pitched for the for the Italians in the World Baseball Classic we saw there. Yep. And and we find out the same year he's $300,000 in debt. So he's probably trying to make a little money there. Bet he's trying to do. You're right. Go ahead. So things are going good. The bullpen making money or seemingly making money. The equestrian center is doing decent. But trouble starts to surf surf first surface in around March 2016, maybe a little bit before. Gary and Wendy began asking for financial statements concerning that $1,300,000 investment into the equestrian center. This this is where some of the problems started. There was an email between Serafini and the in laws where Gary and Wendy reportedly wrote, quote, all we ask for is for financials, and you treat us like scum. Oh, that is another email subject line. Quote, we're at the point we're at the no return point. Pay attention or deal with the consequences. You brought this on yourselves. Gary complained that he that they had provided money for Aaron's dream but were being treated badly in return. But Dan and Aaron both pushed back. Aaron accused her parents of choosing to, quote, insult, berate and belittle them. Dan complained that Gary and Wendy were interfering in the business, and the exchanges became sufficiently hot so sufficiently hostile that Dan warned Wendy that if Gary cursed at him again, he'd knock him out. The old knockout threat. Yeah. Gary, in turn, threatened to sell the horse ranch or sell the ranch to recover the $1,300,000. So for at least five years before Spore Spore's murder and Wendy's injury and that and that Wounding. Yeah. Wounding in that criminal event. Dan Serafini and Aaron had been locked in an on again, off again financial feud. With her folks. With the folks. But there were there were they would reconcile. Like I said, it was on and on again, off again. The family would fight. They'd reconcile. Well, the day this happened, they were going to the They're going to the lake. Lake. Yeah. Yeah. They'd vacation together. But, ultimately, the financial disputes and Dan's resentment towards his in laws repeatedly resurfaced right up to the months before the murder. And this is where Samantha Scott enters the story. Mhmm. So Samantha wasn't some mysterious person that Dan met on the side. Again, she met through Aaron in 2018. Her horse shoe and her horse business. Deeply embedded in the Serafini family doing some man sitter, nanny. Yep. So we're gonna go to 06/05/2021 Yeah. When Samantha secretly drove Dan hundreds of miles towards Lake Tahoe. They had met, in Reno. The two, not exactly, in a romantic relationship yet, at least according to Samantha. Apparently, their, romantic relationship, their sexual relationship Yeah. Didn't begin until October 2021, about four months after Gary and Wendy, were shot. So on the day of the shooting, Samantha wasn't Dan's mistress. She was his wife's friend. And somehow Dan convinced his wife's friend to drive him to Lake Tahoe without telling Aaron where they were going or what they were doing. Four months after the murder, the relationship crossed the line. Dan and Samantha Samantha began sleeping with with each other. And by November, Dan tells Aaron about it. So this is after? Four months or several months after Several months after. Shooting. Strangely enough, the affair itself wasn't necessarily a deal breaker for Aaron. I think we've discussed this before, the the throuple. Yeah. I don't know if this was a don't know We did discuss the throuple. Yeah. I don't know if this was a a throuple, but, an open marriage, it was indeed. What made this different was Samantha, It wasn't a stranger. It was her friend. Right? Yeah. And Aaron had no idea. Samantha already knew far more about what happened to to her parents than what she was leading on. So what happens leading up to this? So yeah. So that was that's that's my question. You know, does this what is Samantha's culpability in all this? Mhmm. What does she know about? So And if she knows that anyway, if she knows he's potentially the assailant in a murder and in an attempted murder, she falls in love with this guy. Mhmm. Okay. Makes perfect sense. 2023, authorities had obtained a warrant for Serafini on charges connected to Gary Spoer's murder and the attempted murder of Wendy Wood. The US Marshals Service developed information that Serafini was working and living part time in Winnemucca in Northern Nevada. Winnemucca. Johnny Cash song. Right? I don't know. I think so. Hold on. Be very impressive as if it was. Yeah. I've been everywhere, man. I've been everywhere. He says, I was was toting my pack along the dusty Winnemucca Road. Look at you. Yeah. There you go. So 1996. Yeah. So Serafini Alright. Is he I think he's working in a mine making $28 an hour in 2023. On October 19, Nevada authorities were notified by the US Marshals Service that Serafini was wanted. The arrest operation involved several agencies, including the Marshals, Winnemucca Police Department, Humboldt County Sheriff's Office, Nevada State Police. The following morning on October 20, authorities moved in. This wasn't a, you know, dramatic takedown or chase or anything like like that. He was law enforcement simply approached him, and he surrendered. Nothing no Yeah. Barricaded person or anything wild. So he's take taken into custody and booked into the Humboldt County Detention Center, initially held without bail while California authorities sought his extradition. Again, they're it's not like it's far. Right? I mean Yeah. You know, it's right next door. Yeah. It's like here in Arkansas or something or Louisiana or New Mexico or Scott. What about her? So investigators coordinated Scott's arrest for that same morning, but she was roughly 400 miles away in Las Vegas. The Placer County Sheriff's Office worked with the marshals to apprehend her there in Vegas. A week later, Dan Serafini is brought back to California. Four days later on October 31, Serafini appeared in the Placer County Superior Court. He pled not guilty to charges including murder, attempted murder, burglary, and child endangerment. The judge denied his bail. So have they nailed down a motive at this point? Clearly, obviously had something to do with the debts that he had, and and a hope for inheritance from his wife's parents. Yeah. Yeah. So Dan now Dan and Samantha are in custody. So what was kind of the break in the case? How'd they get there? So, obviously, the first break was the surveillance cameras at, the home, Gary and Wendy's house, masked man, hooded sweatshirt, white pants or light pants, backpack, enters the house. Eight 51, the camera records the gunshots. Eight 56, this person leaves the house. His face was covered, so they can't say for sure that it's Dan. Investigators therefore begin that's when they started collecting more surveillance video around the West Shore Tahoe. So they they start to they start collecting surveillance video. The the Subaru comes back into play. That was one of the bigger breaks in the case. So one of the that too came from a surveillance camera on Sequoia Avenue, which, again, was about 1.4 miles from where the crime occurred. The camera captured that distinct tan and brown Subaru, but it had damage to the left rear bunk bumper parked in the area. Samantha Scott was the female, that could be seen getting out, walking around, and returning to the vehicle during the period between 06:44 and 09:22 on June 5. That's how they ultimately connected Scott to to this. A reporting of the investigation specifically identifies the Subaru and Scott's cell phone location as key reasons why the investigators beg it why they started to focus on her. Right? So you got the murder. It's it's not gonna be a random fact that somebody that's connected to Aaron Spore is well, let's call it acting strange nearby, you know, 1.4 miles away. So the detectives knowing this, they start working backwards. So they reconstructed what Dan and Samantha Scott had been doing before they ever reached Tahoe. A detective later testified or obtained surveillance footage from the Red Lion Inn in Nevada. The footage showed that on June 4, Dan checks into the hotel. The morning of June 5, Samantha arrives. Hotel records showed both were staying in Room 331. So now detectives have now investigators have had evidence connecting Dan, Samantha, the Subaru, Lake Tahoe, close to Gary and Wendy's home. Dan's cell phone created another suspicious piece, though. Dan's cell phone was nowhere near Lake Tahoe. It remained around Crescent Valley, Nevada, hundreds of miles away. At first glance, that's potentially a powerful alibi. Right. Right? It was intentional, though. Dan Serafini, he left his phone behind on purpose Yeah. Knowing, hey. Law enforcement could track this. Investigators examined activity on both Dan and Samantha's cell phones or devices. The defense later emphasized that Dan's phone showed some app activity while it remained near Crescent Valley, including face Facebook and Amazon activity. So that's hard to may could be a little bit of something that's a little difficult to overcome. But prosecutors examines Dan Dan's communication patterns over a much broader period and argued that the usually limited outgoing activity on the day of the murder supported the idea that the phone had been deliberately left behind. So instead of clearing Dan, prosecutors eventually portrayed the stationary phone part as part of the planning. Investigators questioned Samantha Scott. Once investigators connected Scott and her Subaru to Tahoe, they interviewed her, she lied. She testified later in 2025 that investigators questioned her on two occasions and that she concealed the real story about driving Dan to Tahoe. She maintained those lies for years, even lying to her own attorney and family. Remember that investigators didn't know at that point. According to Samantha's eventual testimony, she possessed devastating information. She had driven Dan towards Tahoe. One other thing, she had seen Dan fire test fire a handgun with what's described as a PVC pipe suppressor, the old silencer, if you will. Yeah. Somewhere Homemade one? Yeah. I I don't know if it was homemade. I don't know if it was homemade. Probably. Because I I mean, I I don't know why they multiple reports described it as a PVC style suppressor. Ultimately It took him two you're talking two two after. Yeah. This is a long time after. Like, after the murders. Yeah. After the murder. So eventually, she confesses that she drops Dan off near Gary and Wendy's house. She waited for him for hours. She picked him up afterwards. She watched him throw the gun, clothing, backpack, and other items out of the Subaru as they drove back towards Nevada. Mhmm. But, again, these are not things she's telling the investigators in 2021. Right. That's just she's lying all the way up to that point, up until the point where they charge her as, you know, and some type of accessory role. The Subaru. Now Dan Dan plans this out. He thinks a lot about this. Right? Leaves his cell phone, drops off, you know, gets dropped off a mile and a half from from the crime scene location, walks. The Subaru, when it was captured on surveillance camera, had recognizable or noticeable damage on the the rear bumper area. According to Samantha's eventual testimony, several days after the murder, Dan became so concerned that the existing damage could make the vehicle identifiable. So Samantha said Dan deliberately backed his pickup truck truck into her car, causing additional damage, substantial enough to justify taking the Subaru to the body shop. Dan then gave Samantha money for that repair. Prosecutors later portrayed that as an attempt to alter the appearance of the vehicle that had transported him. Because one of the things that they never said regarding the Subaru was they didn't they didn't connect her via a license plate. They couldn't see the license plate or perhaps the license plate was obscured or removed or who knows? No flat cameras was gonna work on that one. No. Talk about talk about a political hot potato. Oh, yeah. That's definitely a political hot potato. So investigators search for the discarded evidence. They look like a 133 mile area because so Samantha says he throws this the clothes backpack, all that stuff out. They deployed a dive team in Lake Tahoe, but the gun, that makeshift suppressor, that PVC style pipe suppressor clothing never recovered. Never found? Mm-mm. The absence became important at trial because the prosecution's explanation for why there was no murder weapon depended heavily on Samantha's later testimony. Oh, one of the other things comes up. So, again, it's a masked man entering the house. Right. Detective compare detectives compared the figure's height, build, movements, and gait with Serafini. One of the detectives had personally encountered Serafini on June 7, two days later when they interviewed him, and testified that Serafini's driver's license information listed him at approximately six foot three and two hundred and twenty pounds. Eventually, the investigation the investigation became so, suffix sophisticated that the FBI conducted a photogrammetric analysis of the surveillance imagery to estimate the height. Yeah. The height of the the mass intruder. And they were able to, I presume, line it up with him or or his size anyway. Okay. So what happens In July 2025, Dan Serafini is found guilty, convicted for the first degree murder of Gary Spore, the attempted murder of Wendy Wood, and first degree burglary. The jury also found the special circumstances of lying in wait and felony felony murder true along with the firearms allegations. So this whole lying in wait thing. Remember the trapdoor? Trapdoor. Yeah. I don't know that they From a closet. There was Yeah. A trapdoor in this closet. Into another closet. Into another closet. Yeah. I don't know that they ever said that he was I don't know that it was ever discovered that he was that he was there, but it kinda makes sense. Kinda makes sense. And then also, like, you whoever you you would have to know that that's there. Right? So, I mean, the whole thing from the start, I mean, knowing the garage door code Yeah. Then that trapdoor information coming up from the crime scene investigator. I mean, there was a whole lot that I think probably led the investigators to realizing it may have been somebody that they knew, that Gary and Wendy knew. 02/27/2026, Dan Serafini is sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Mhmm. At sentencing, Serafini continued to maintain his innocence. He told the judge or the judge, I'm sorry, was highly critical of him, describing Serafini as a liar, if you will. And the judge also later denied a motion for a new trial for Serafini. What happened to our girl, Samantha Scott? Samantha. So Samantha Scott received a drastically lighter sentence than Dan Serafini because she reached a plea agreement and essentially became the prosecution's key witness. Scott was sentenced on 03/16/2026 in Placer County. She received two years of, two years of probation Yeah. For what's described as a felony accessory after the fact. Yeah. Originally, she faced a much more serious charges, murder, attempted murder after in her that 2023 arrest. But in February 2025, she pleaded guilty to the single accessory charged charge and agreed to testify truthfully against Sarah. There you go. So bargain. Yeah. But, I mean, here's here's the thing. How strong was their was their case? Right? It had to have been in my possibly, the investigator's case against Serafini was so weak that they had to have her testimony. Yeah. Right? I mean, did he pull off the perfect crime? I mean, had the investigators not seen the tan Subaru? Might have gotten away with it. Might have gotten away with it. Cause they had no physical evidence to the No physical evidence. Till she told them where it was. Yeah. Yeah. And and they obviously, he couldn't the the the the Spore Gary Spore couldn't identify him because he was dead. And I guess mother couldn't either. Wendy Spore, his wife Well, we never got into that. Wendy Spore in Wendy Spore, March 2023, twenty one months or so after the shooting. You know, Wendy Wendy was obviously depressed. I she had some, obviously, serious injuries from being shot in the head, which is where she was shot. She just didn't die at the time, but she did commit suicide in March 2023. So she too can no longer you know, she wasn't available to testify Testify either. As a witness. I mean So if he is indeed guilty of his murder, he killed two people. Yeah. In in short. Yeah. Instead of just one. Yeah. In short. Yeah. The other one the only other thing is what about Aaron? So you would think he Dan, her husband gets convicted for murdering her dad and stepmom, that she would Hold a grudge? So, yeah, you would think she would hold a grudge, but not really. She described Serafini as a great father, a great provider, her best friend. Yeah. She still trusted him 100%. You know, she was she was really a a much better witness for the defense, Aaron, than than for the prosecution. During one during the trial, there were times where she obviously was frustrated with the prosecutor and some of the questioning and things of that sort. She also said that the masked person, the masked intruder was not Dan. There's no way she didn't recognize the masked man's movements as as being Dan Serafini. She attacked Samantha Scott's credibility during trial. You know, I I suppose that part would be well, I don't even know if is is that normal? I mean, yes, they're they're clearly having an affair. She knows they're having an affair. To me, it would seem like she would go kind of wheels off or attack both of them. Right? But she comes to she comes to Sarafini's defense and basically throw shade on Samantha Scott saying, no. Everything you know, in in short, everything she's saying's a lie. You know? Basically, I I think you could probably summarize it as saying, Dan didn't do this, and she's making it all I I think people can, for whatever reason, can talk themselves into believing anything Yeah. They want. So in short, another well, I guess different than Skaggs, but a baseball player. Yeah. Professional baseball player squanders his wealth. You know, marries marries somebody who's got a wealthy family. They squander that $1,300,000. The wheels just completely fall off. I mean, and who knows how long the wheels had been falling off. Well, know, that's the thing. We don't really know if they squandered the $1,300,000 or not. I mean, we presume they did because they wouldn't provide the financials. Maybe Yeah. When you say squandered, mismanaged possibly. But whatever the case was, that's the other thing Aaron knew is that there was some tension about this $1,300,000 that was still at play when all this was going on. Yeah, definitely at the end of the day, mean, Serafini's got several kids. He personally too. I mean, there was a lot of information came that came out. I mean, he had a drug problem. He'd done many drug deals involving cocaine and meth and MDMA. Some, according to some of the reports, he testified the night before the murders while staying at the Red Lion Inn. He's he was drinking scotch and doing lines of cocaine and using MDMA. So, like I said, the guy I mean, the you know, everything fell apart. Everything collapsed for that guy. But he'll never never see the light of day as a free man. So but definitely, it was a that that like I said, I think it was a challenging case, and really what highlighted that's what we talked about was when they cut a deal with with Samantha. I mean, I'm not saying she's equally culpable. You know, she didn't pull the trigger. She knew I I would think she knew damn well what was going on. Yeah. You got that. I mean, everything was was secret and suspicious driving from Nevada, you know, hundreds of miles away. So, I mean, I think they had to have her testimony To get a conviction. For a slam dunk. Yeah. Alright. Well, rest in peace and God rest your souls, Gary Spore and Wendy Wood. Yep. I believe that the police got this one right, investigators got this one right. All right, we gotta go. So before you go, do all the things on social media, share, like, all that stuff, and we'll see you next week. Next week. This is a Stolen Water Media production.