AUBURN, Calif. – Daniel Serafini will remain in prison for life without the possibility of parole after a judge passed the sentence on the 51-year-old on Friday, Feb. 27, for his role in the Homewood shooting.

In July, a jury convicted Serafini of first-degree murder of his father-in-law Gary Spohr and attempted murder of his mother-in-law, Wendy Wood in their Homewood residence on June 5, 2021.

According to prosecutors, Serafini was motivated by money, including Spohr and Wood’s $23 million estate.

Adrienne Spohr, Spohr and Wood’s daughter, gave a victim statement at the sentencing where she discussed Serafini and her sister Erin Spohr’s financial reliance on her parents and how her parent had pushed back four months before the shooting.

“He is a monster that knows no moral boundaries and has zero reservations about taking lives to benefit himself,” Adrienne Spohr said in her impact statement.

Court records show after the July conviction, Serafini requested a new trial on the grounds of ineffective counsel, which a judge denied.

Trial evidence revealed that on June 5, 2021, Serafini broke into his in-laws’ residence and waited until the couple came home and then shot them in the head.

“He thought he had gotten away with murder. He thought that he would be cashing out my parents’ estate with his wife in the months afterwards,” Spohr said. “He was happy while my dad lay deceased and my mom lay bleeding out on her couch, clinging to life.”

Her father died the day of the shooting. Her mother survived, but later took her own life after disinheriting Spohr’s sister and Serafini, Spohr said in her statement.

Serafini also offered a statement at the sentencing wherein he repeatedly said, “I am no murderer.”

In response, Judge Garen Horst told Serafini he hopes he becomes a better person while incarcerated, saying, “What I heard from you this afternoon, though was not reflection, it was deflection in this court’s view. What I heard from you was all about you and not enough about the victims that died in this case.”

Spohr discussed how she feared Serafini would come after her and left her home to relocate in an RV until she learned that he had been arrested. She also pursued a concealed carry permit and slept with a weapon next to her bed. Her fear continues even with him behind bars.

“I believe that I am on Dan Serafini’s target list,” she expressed, “and I believe that if he can conspire with another person, he may try to have me killed.”

Spohr filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her sister and Serafini in 2023. It was placed on hold until criminal proceedings conclude.

The victim’s daughter requested the court remember her parents for not just what happened to them, but for who they were.

“They were adventurous people,” she said, “who loved their community.”