The Killing of Professor Dan Markel: The Adelson Family's Web of Deceit (Part 2)

Sep 25

In the gripping second part of the Daniel Markel case we delve deeper into the intricate web of deceit surrounding the murder-for-hire plot. This episode focuses on the trials of the two masterminds behind the shocking crime: Charlie and Donna Adelson.

Charlie Adelson's Trial: The episode begins with the conviction of Charlie Adelson. The state's case was built on compelling evidence, including audio recordings from a Miami restaurant where Charlie discussed killing a blackmailer or a police officer. The money trail connecting the Adelson family's dental practice to Katie Magbanua, the ex-girlfriend of the hitman, also played a crucial role. Charlie took the stand in his own defense, claiming he was being extorted by the hitmen. This defense was ultimately not believed by the jury, leading to his conviction for first-degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation.
Donna Adelson's Arrest and Trial: Just seven days after her son's conviction, the matriarch, Donna Adelson, was arrested at Miami International Airport as she and her husband, Harvey, were attempting to flee to Vietnam, a non-extradition country. Key evidence against her included monitored phone calls where she discussed fleeing the country and a recording where she was overheard mulling over extradition policies and reading text messages from her daughter, Wendi. During her trial, testimony from her fellow inmates revealed her attempts to orchestrate false testimony and her admission of her role in the murder. The verdict was unforgettable, as Donna gasped dramatically when she was found guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation, becoming the fifth person convicted in Dan's murder.
The Family's Web of Lies: The podcast also uncovers new details about the involvement of other family members. Wendi Adelson, Dan's ex-wife, testified under immunity but was confronted with her past inconsistencies about her knowledge of the murder plot. It was also revealed that Donna and Wendi had a deep knowledge of Dan's daily routine, and Wendi's ex-boyfriend testified that she once mentioned Charlie looking into a hitman for $15,000.
Legacy and Justice: The episode concludes with the powerful impact of the case on Dan Markel's parents, Ruth and Phil Markel. Their advocacy led to a new law and a long-awaited reunion with their grandsons.

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Dan Markel Murder

Transcript

Mandy: [00:00:00] On Tuesday this week, we started telling the story of Dan Markel's murder and how when the courts blocked the Adelson family's plans to move Dan and his ex-wife, Wendy's kids to Miami. The Adelson family decided that if they couldn't bend the law, they just break it. This week, the plot thickens as Charlie Adelson takes the stand and the walls close in on the matriarch herself.

Donna Adelson.

Marker

Mandy: Hey guys, and welcome to the Moms and Mysteries podcast, a True Crime podcast featuring myself, Mandy, and my dear friend Melissa. Hi, Melissa.

Melissa: Hi, Mandy. How are you?

Mandy: I am doing fantastic. I'm more excited than ever to jump back into this wild story. know, we don't typically love to do cases in two parts, but in some cases, like it just has to be done that way.

Um, so hopefully, having to wait just a couple of days, we'll kind of ease that pain of having it in two parts. 'cause we are here and we are ready to discuss part two, just as much as I'm sure people are ready to hear everything.

Melissa: Yeah. let's do it.

Mandy: Yeah. So [00:01:00] in part one, we met Dan Markel. He was a brilliant Harvard trained law professor, a devoted father of two young boys and a respected scholar at Florida State University.

His life seemed full of promise until his marriage to Wendy Adelson fell apart. Their divorce in 2012 unleashed years of bitter battles over money and custody of their two kids. Wendy's mom. Donna was extremely vocal and very pushy when it came to wanting Wendy and the boys to relocate from Tallahassee down to South Florida.

But the court said no, Donna would not let this go, and she sent emails to her daughter Wendy, coaching her on how to paint Dan as abusive and to manipulate him with religion and the children. She even offered up to a million dollars to buy him off AKA by her grandkids.

The hostility ran very deep. The Adelson family was absolutely ruthless and antagonizing Dan Donna and her son Charlie, even joked about dressing Dan and Wendy's kids [00:02:00] as Hitler youth. Just to provoke Dan. By 2014, the fighting had escalated and Dan begged the court to limit Donna's access to the kids. A hearing was scheduled, but before it could ever take place, Dan was ambushed and shot to death in his own driveway.

He was shot twice in the head just as he pulled into his own garage.

Melissa: Investigators were able to tie a rented Toyota Prius to the crime, which led them to two men from Miami named Sigfrido Garcia and Louis Rivera. These two men had no connection to Dam whatsoever, so police immediately assumed they were hired. Hitman. The link between them turned out to be Katie Magis, Garcia's ex, and the mother of his kids. At the time of Dan's murder, Katie was dating Charlie Adelson. Investigators learned that after the murder, Katie started receiving handwritten checks from the Adelson family Dental practice that were signed by Donna. But there were no legitimate records of employment for Katie there. First of all, that has to be so illegal. I can't [00:03:00] believe they didn't like.

Have her fill out paperwork

and say like, could you consult from your

house and log in and you know,

do anything

Mandy: It's one thing. Yeah. It's one thing to like be paying her out of this, but then to not think that that would be a flag. Like even to the IRS,

Melissa: Right.

Eventually. Like that could be where you get caught because of something

like that. It just seems very stupid, but I think they just thought they were above the law. So when they followed the money trail, the phone calls and the Adelson family's obsession with relocating Dan and Wendy's kids to Miami, it seemed like a very likely motive for murder. Then the FBI conducted a sting where an undercover agent approached Donna Adelson in 2016 and hinted that her family had supported the hitman in Dan's murder. Within hours, she was on the phone with her son, Charlie, talking in code very poorly. Might I add about a TV and an ex-girlfriend, which [00:04:00] Charlie. Instantly understood to mean money and Katie. So soon after that, Charlie and Katie met at a Miami restaurant called Dolce Vita, where hidden microphones captured. Charlie's suggesting just paying off a blackmailer or killing him, or the other option was like, uh, or it's a police officer, like they were just like, we kill them, or it's the police TBD. he also said on these recordings that quote, if they had any evidence, we would've already gone to the airport end quote, which is something that comes up and becomes a cornerstone of this case for another Adelson. So by 2016, Sigfrido Garcia, Louis Rivera, and Katie Mag Bua had all been charged. In 2019, Garcia was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Katie's first trial ended in a mistrial, and she was retried. In 2022. She was found guilty of first degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation, and she was sentenced to life plus 60 [00:05:00] years. Once police had the shooters and the coordinator, prosecutors turned their sight even higher to the Adelson family themselves, and that's where we're picking

things up today in part two.

Mandy: So after Katie's conviction, the state was clear that they were not stopping there. Prosecutors had already said in open court that the Adelson family was the motive behind this entire plot. And the legal pressure started moving up that family tree in 2022, police arrested the first of the bunch, which is Dr. Charlie Adelson, and the evidence they had included the audio recordings from Dolce Vita, the fallout from that FBI Sting the phone records, and of course the money trail that included Katie's sudden employment at the family practice or non-employment rather, and the surge of money into her account.

After Dan's murder, investigators had already mapped out the murder window. They knew about the trips from Miami to Tallahassee and they also knew about that failed first attempt on Dan's life. They [00:06:00] highlighted how these payments to Katie stopped immediately after the FBI sting and how Charlie and Donna were speaking in a code that they both seemed to understand.

Both Harvey and Donna were ordered to appear in court to give depositions. Prosecutors wanted them under oath about exactly what they knew when they knew it, and how far this family's involvement really went. but the Adelson's lawyers fought back. They argued that the Adelson parents shouldn't be compelled to appear and said that testifying could violate their Fifth Amendment rights and jeopardize immunity from future prosecution.

However, the judge rejected their request to dismiss the motion and ended up ordering Donna and Harvey to appear for questioning on October 17th. If they didn't comply, they could be held in contempt. On October 20th, attorneys agreed to drop Donna and Harvey from the witness list less than a week before Charlie's trial started.

Melissa: Charlie finally got his day in court and the state came in hot with the recordings from the restaurant. By then it had been cleaned up so jurors [00:07:00] could actually hear him discussing his options. Things like pay the blackmail or kill the guy, and absolutely do not go to the police. One thing that was interesting in the court is the jurors are given the transcript and they're listening to it and I, it was just interesting to me that they're like, if you're not sure if the audio matches up with the transcript, you should default always to the audio.

And I just thought that was kind of interesting that they're like, don't let your ear, your ears are

what's in charge here. We're just kind of helping you,

but just kind of, I don't know, like a just a point I

wouldn't think you'd have to make, but makes sense why they

Mandy: Yeah.

Melissa: The FBI explained the sting they did on Donna and why they did it. They showed how fast the phones lit up after the sting and how the calls were all stacked into this neat little chain. It was Donna to Charlie, Charlie to Katie, Katie to Garcia. The jury heard about the failed attempt to kill Dan in June and the July trip that resulted in his death. They got to see the rental window on the Prius plus insight [00:08:00] into Katie's financial records.

Here's something that doesn't come up in the script but is actually very interesting. Rivera and his confession to police. Talks about how when he and Garcia get to Tallahassee, they're like getting drugs, whatever, Garcia's holding a gun and accidentally shoots out the fuel line in this rented Prius, where then Rivera

has to go get a new fuel line to put it

in.

So they were able to corroborate all this stuff, but like just idiotic,

like who's gonna accidentally shoot that,

in a, the whole thing? I don't know. It's just one of those fun facts that for some reason I found very fun. But the theme of his trial was simple. They presented a motive method and a money trail. The motive really didn't even need pretty packaging. Donna was livid when the courts blocked her efforts to relocate her grandsons to Miami. The method was hired, help with a rental car, and the money moved in neat little waves before coming to an abrupt stop.

After the FBI spooked the family. [00:09:00] The state also told the jury about the code words. The family used to convey information about the case. Wendy Adelson took the stand under immunity and she denied any involvement in her ex-husband's murder or any knowledge of it prior to it happening. She insisted that her family had nothing to do with it and she was shocked that her brother had actually known the killers for years. During her testimony, Wendy denied that Charlie had even made jokes about hiring a hitman to kill Dan. But when she was confronted with her own 2014 interview where she told police that Charlie joked on multiple occasions about hiring a hitman as a present to her, she admitted that he did say it, but it was a poor taste joke. Duh. I mean, come on. But the idea that she said it never even happened, but it's like, girl, we've all seen your interview. That's crazy. But the TV that Charlie bought, Wendy as like this divorce gift became central to her testimony. She [00:10:00] said she was home the morning of the murder waiting for a Geek Squad technician to fix a cracked screen. When asked why her mom made the appointment for the TV to be repaired and not Wendy herself, she stated, well, I didn't buy the tv, so the company probably had my mom's information on the warranty and called her. And so she made the appointment for me, which doesn't really make any sense that like you're a grown woman, this like attorney, very responsible person, and your mommy's making

your appointments.

That's really strange.

Mandy: For this family though, is it that?

Melissa: No, no, no. Actually it very much makes sense. Wendy also went on to deny that she ever told her ex-boyfriend, Jeff La Cass, that Charlie had seriously

looked into a hitman.

Mandy: Katie testified in Charlie's trial as well. This was her third time testifying in the Dan Markel case, but she said this was the first time she was telling the truth, which, okay, that's not, that doesn't give me that much confidence, but she claimed that her ex Sieg Frito Garcia had nothing [00:11:00] to do with Dan's murder.

And it was Charlie Adelson who came up with the whole idea. She said that it was a favor to Charlie, but money was the primary motivation. According to Katie, Charlie's sister, Wendy was having problems with Dan over the custody of their kids, and Charlie painted Dan as a terrible man who was putting his family through a lot.

Katie said she didn't even know Dan's name at the time of his murder. All she knew was that he was Wendy's ex-husband. She said Charlie wanted someone to carry out the murder, and Katie simply said that she knew someone who could and then connected him with Garcia and Rivera. Charlie did not know that Katie had enlisted her children's father to do this, and similarly, Garcia did not know that the murder was being ordered by Katie's current boyfriend, Charlie Adelson.

These two actually hated each other, so Charlie wouldn't have agreed to have her ex do it, and her ex wouldn't have agreed to do it for Charlie. So that's

Melissa: I know. I'm like, Katie,

what are [00:12:00] you

Mandy: What on earth are you doing?

Uh, so Katie said that one night when she was at Charlie's house, he gave her a sealed envelope while he was wearing a pair of gloves, and he stressed to her that she must not open this envelope.

She later said that she had received a payment, and this payment was a bundle of a hundred dollars bills that were stapled together in the corner, placed in a plastic bag, and then thrown inside of a brown paper bag that was wrapped in another grocery bag. She also said the money she received afterward was stapled in damp stacks, which was allegedly, because Donna had, I guess, washed the money to clean it.

And so the bills, you know, were kind of moldy and disgusting. And she said she thought like Donna had washed the money to disguise it. I don't know what other reason there would be, but I also don't understand that

Melissa: that be the reason?

That's what it sounds like. It's like money laundering. We

have to launder this money and she literally

Mandy: literally

Melissa: washed it. Yeah.

This is definitely, they're [00:13:00] never gonna get

caught with brains like

Mandy: Right. So Charlie did keep cash in his safe at home, but his parents had actually visited shortly before Katie arrived, and she believed that the money came from the Adelson parents and that they had, you know, came by specifically to drop off this money. So Katie also admitted to paying Garcia and Rivera for the expenses of their trips to Tallahassee.

Charlie's ex-girlfriend, a different ex-girlfriend. June. NDA also testified about his cash habits and included information about him stacking bills and stapling them specifically that he would stack a hundred dollars bills into stacks of $1,000. She talked about his gun and the way he was acting so stressed as this case started to heat up.

Jeff LACAs, who again was Wendy's ex-boyfriend, testified that Wendy had once mentioned that Charlie looked into having Dan killed and said it would cost about $15,000. And Jeff said this conversation really freaked him out and he [00:14:00] just changed the subject. Sergeant Chris Corbett took the stand and walked jurors through the digital evidence in the case, and he explained how They pulled call detail records and cell site data from everyone's phones, and then they built a timeline that actually lined up with the murder. On cross-examination the defense tried to minimize that evidence, but still insisted that four phones showed relevant coordinated travel and bursts of phone calls.

Melissa: Charlie's team tried to turn the whole story upside down. They actually claimed in his trial that he was being extorted after the murder by Katie and the hitman. This is the most wild thing I've ever heard of. He's saying that these recordings from Dolce Vita were just nervous words about how to handle a shakedown, and he also pointed out that the audio was unclear and the agents were just fishing.

He said the money that he gave to Katie was innocent, but the state kept pointing to the timing of it all. And the one [00:15:00] line that Charlie said at Dolce Vita about having already been at the airport if the authorities have any evidence, Charlie took the stand in his own defense, which. If you haven't watched that, that I was watching some this morning. It's pure entertainment because he's such a cocky, arrogant jerk, and the things he says are so wild, there's no way he could even believe it. But he testifies that he has nothing to do with Dan's murder and that he found out the murder was committed by a friend of Katie's the night after it was committed. So Charlie said he admitted that he gave money to the people responsible for Dan's murder, but only because he was under threat. He claimed that Katie told him her friends had killed Dan, and then demanded over $300,000 within 48 hours and said Charlie would be killed if he did not comply. So we're saying that his girlfriend, Katie's friends, went to kill Dan. [00:16:00] Then they came

back and were like, now we're extorting you. We

want money for doing this, but we, you didn't tell us before, but now you have to pay us. And he kept saying a third of a million. The um, Georgia Kapelman was like, so they asked for a third of a million dollars. He said, yes, they wanted one third of a million dollars.

I'm like, really? These killers are gonna say it like that. But I guess his point, he was trying to say, well, at one point we all wanted to give Dan a third of a million dollars, so they were trying to extort his third of a million dollars, but it gets better because he testified that he pays $138,000 right away. But then he had to set up a payment plan for the rest because he feared for his life. So literally he's saying that, he tells Katie I can't pay all of this. And she's like, okay, just pay them $3,000 a month and they'll be fine. And they probably won't kill anybody. Also, Charlie doesn't tell anyone, including his sister who could be killed if he doesn't pay this money. [00:17:00] Doesn't make a lick of sense. But he sat up there and and lied and said it. Prosecutors really mocked this idea that these professional killers would send the victim's girlfriend to collect extortion money or allow Charlie to do this layaway plan. Also, Charlie continued to sleep with Katie after the murder and he even texted her things like that.

He loved her. He would buy her gifts, and again, he put her on the dental practices payroll, these aren't really things you do for

someone who's trying to extort you.

Mandy: No.

Melissa: would agree, but one, he was like, I realized that she was being extorted too, so I wasn't, I realized I wasn't really mad at her, and that's why I could say these nice things to her. I don't think this is a guy who forgives and forgets, so No. Charlie claimed that the $300,000 per year that he gave Katie was just an insurance policy to keep himself safe. He said he was just too afraid to report the alleged extortion to the police. A prosecutor asked why Charlie would just hand over [00:18:00] $138,000 in cash without going to the police if these threats are genuine. And of course, he doesn't ever have a good answer. But in the end, the jury and any of you listening, did not buy the defense's story, and Charlie Adelson was found guilty of first degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation. He was sentenced to life in prison, plus 30 years after his sentence was announced, he stated that he would just like to say that he maintains his innocence for Dan Markel's family. This still didn't offer any closure, but Charlie's conviction did mean that the authorities were closing in on the person who'd been the loudest in her hateful obsession with Dan. And that was Donna Adelson. And we have so much more to get into after a quick break to hear.

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Mandy: So after years of bitter divorce battles and the Adelson family's relentless pursuit of. relocating Dan Markel's children, investigators were able to tie his shocking murder to hired hitman from Miami. That connection led to the entire Adelson family becoming suspects. And soon Charlie Adelson was in court to face charges of first degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation.

He was ultimately found guilty. In the week following Charlie's conviction, he and Donna logged 35 hours of phone calls. Donna openly discussed plans to flee the country and talked about needing to take care of things, which prosecutors pointed to as code for getting her own affairs in order before she was about to bolt.

These calls ended up becoming key evidence that helped finally justify Donna's arrest. [00:22:00] In one call, Donna remarked how surprised she was because she thought the jury was supposed to be made up of intelligent people. And Charlie said, that's just it. The jury of my peers weren't there, like just the level of.

Absolute narcissism and just over the top like it's unreal. Charlie made negative comments about the jury as well, and he even called out specific members of the jury to talk poorly about them. Charlie told his parents that after he was convicted, he was held in what he called a filthy suicide cell and said the experience was worse than getting cancer.

Melissa: Ooh.

Mandy: Wow. All he could ever talk about was how he was the good guy. He even described himself as modest. He said, I rarely even spend money except for I do have a Ferrari and a boat and all these other things that I have. Otherwise, I'm a very, very modest guy. But Charlie's conviction also brought some new dangers [00:23:00] since he had testified that the Latin Kings gang tried to extort him.

Well, guess who wasn't very happy with him? Um, they didn't think it was, uh, exactly the greatest defense to use them, you know, as part of the strategy and throw them under the bus and were traveled. And prison officials considered Charlie to be a marked man. So they moved him multiple times. Charlie was transferred from the Leon County Detention Center to the Northwest Florida Reception Center, annex then to wcu, then Columbia.

And finally he was placed into administrative confinement where he could not even have any visitors. And now he's been shipped outta Florida entirely to an undisclosed facility in South Dakota for his safety. The Department of Corrections will only confirm the state he's in, but not the prison, which I guess if you actually have a gang after you, all I really need to know is the state.

Melissa: Right? And name is Charlie Adelson And

his

Mandy: Exactly. It's not like he's

Melissa: figure it

out.

Mandy: For sure.

Melissa: But the most jaw dropping moment came [00:24:00] one day after Charlie's conviction. He had just wrapped up a call with his mom, Donna, but Donna actually didn't hang up. She thought the line was dead, and she set the phone down and walked away, but the system kept recording. So Donna has overheard mulling over the extradition policies in Vietnam and saying the family had looked at all the places, meaning they were actively looking into ways to escape and where they could go without having to fight extradition. She was even reading texts from Wendy out loud, and in one of them, Wendy said, quote, I am not guilty. I did not do anything wrong. Please do not text me about this case anymore. Then Donna closes it with saying, I have one daughter. I don't speak with one son, whose hopes seem dead.

And my daughter, who I love is doing this. Our family was cursed, absolutely cursed, and I don't know how to take care of it anymore. End quote. Yeah, it might be onto something there lady, But just seven days after Charlie was convicted, it was Donna's [00:25:00] turn. I think this was during the call that Donna actually says that she's texting Wendy and saying, bury me in the dress. I picked for one of the kids bat mitzvahs 'cause she's just like, they're gonna kill me or whatever. But

she's like going off as she's like, bury me in that

dress.

Very, very dramatic. So just seven days after Charlie was convicted, it was Donna's turn Late one night at Miami International Airport. 73-year-old Donna and her husband Harvey were intercepted by the FBI and state investigators as they prepared to board an international flight. They had one-way tickets to Vietnam with a two day layover in Dubai, Both non extradition countries agents swarmed at the jet

bridge, right as Donna was about to step on the

Mandy: Imagine be getting ready to board a flight and like here comes like several members of like the FBI and they're like, they're pulling this like old lady out. Like they're, I mean, I just wish that I could witness something like that in my lifetime.[00:26:00]

Melissa: Can you imagine? Oh my gosh. But it just, and imagine them sitting there. 'cause you've gotta be thinking like, we just have to get on the plane. As long as we can get on the plane, everything's fine. Right? And for them to come in and, and get her like that, because they heard this on this recording, if she hadn't been so dumb to leave the thing going and talking about her plans, they would not have been able to get her before them. agents swarmed the jet bridge, right as Donna was about to step on the plane. When they grabbed her phone, she yanked it back and dramatically said no. Unfortunately for her, she was handcuffed on the spot. State Attorney Jack Campbell later explained that they already had enough to charge Donna, but her little airport stunt kind of force their hand.

They weren't able to

risk letting her disappear forever.

Mandy: So Donna was charged with first degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation, which are the same charges that her son Charlie faced and was convicted of. She was booked into jail in Miami and held without bond. She [00:27:00] was scheduled to be transferred to Leon County where Charlie was already incarcerated.

Prosecutors said her attempted escape from the US would be used against her as evidence of guilt. Meanwhile, monitored calls showed that Donna had been getting things in order. She was creating trusts and making sure her grandkids were taken care of, She also talked openly about suicide, but at the same time, she was still planning out escape plans to non extradition countries.

She definitely was guilty and desperate at this point, but Donna's arrest was just the beginning. Fast forward to September 17th, 2024 to when her trial was supposed to kick off in Tallahassee. But on day one there was already a curve ball. Donna's defense attorney Daniel Rash Baum withdrew from the case.

Why would he do that? Well, because he was also Charlie Adelson's attorney and that creates a huge conflict of interest, which didn't, uh, Mr. Rash Baum attorney at, you know, attorney here, did he [00:28:00] not know that that was gonna be an issue from the start?

Melissa: From the very beginning, the second Charlie wants to do an appeal, which, you know, he does, it's gonna become a problem. So why would you have done this? And I, I just don't understand that at

all. It feels like playing with the court's

time

and I would think judges would

not be very fond of that.

Mandy: Well, yeah, exactly. I would definitely think the same thing.

Melissa: Be like, you idiot, how did you

Mandy: Yeah.

Melissa: here?

Mandy: Like yeah, literally.

And from there things got even messier. In December of 2024, Donna filed a motion begging to be transferred out of solitary confinement at Leon County Jail.

She wanted to either be put in the general population, or better yet, if they couldn't do that, maybe they could just put her on house arrest.

Right?

Right. So her lawyers argued that her conditions were inhumane, but jail officials reminded the court that Donna had openly discussed taking her own life. So she was placed under 24 hours supervision for her own safety.

The judge ended up denying the motion. So sorry,

Melissa: [00:29:00] Aw. So that brings us to this year, 2025. It's been 11 years since Dan Raquel was murdered, and the case has really come full circle. Jury selection for Donna's trial began on August 19th, 2025 with opening statements starting on August 21st. The prosecutors presented a straightforward case. Donna had really mastermind the entire plot. They said she was the matriarch that was pulling all the strings and that she was motivated by her daughter Wendy's bitter divorce and custody fight. It was alleged that Donna saw the relocation of her grandsons as non-negotiable and that she even was ready to offer a million dollars to make Dan just go away and give them custody of the kids to move down there. The defense said the state is telling a sensational story, but has not shown any direct proof that Donna hired or paid anyone and they pinned the money and the logistics on others, especially Charlie. Which is so crazy to me [00:30:00] that like in these trials, with all of this being family, like family's now going against each other and saying, oh, it wasn't me, but it was Charlie.

You've already arrested him. You know, whatever. Like it's just a wild thing how far people have to take these things. But Donna was portrayed by the defense as a kind and caring mother and grandmother who was just caught up in a tragic mess. She had to use headphones in court because she said she couldn't hear, but during conviction and everything, she definitely did hear and did not need her headphones.

But the judge kept reminding her to keep 'em on because she would take them off and he was like, no, keep them on. You wanted these, you gotta have 'em. So first, jurors heard from the neighbor, James Geiger, who discovered Dan in his garage back in 2014. His testimony was consistent with what he told police.

All along during the medical examiner's presentation, which included photos in details of Dan's injuries, Donna broke down audibly in court. She was crying, making noises, and reacting [00:31:00] heavily in front of the jury. The judge actually had to call her out during recess and tell her that no amount of emotion would sway the jurors and that she needed to stay composed no matter how difficult it was. And then came testimony from Wendy and Robert Adelson, who were both subpoenaed to testify against their mother. So let's start with Wendy. Her testimony is truly something. She came across as very nervous, uncomfortable, and forgetful. And she needed to have her memory refreshed constantly by the prosecutors. It basically went like this. Wendy, do you remember saying this? Um, no. Page 54, line B. Okay. And then her going to find it. And then, and then you said this. No. Page 56 1. Like the whole thing was just her going through the book and seeing it, and then saying, oh, I did say that. So she barely even looks in Donna's direction while sh, while Donna is sitting there bawling her eyes out watching Wendy. Wendy testify. Which is crazy when, [00:32:00] when we hear what happens when Rob testifies. The jury sees emails between Wendy and Donna that absolutely shattered this sweet grandma narrative. One of those emails read, and this was from Donna to Wendy, quote, the rest of your life, and consequently dads mine and even Charlie's will be affected by how well you can perform slash act before July 31st. You can be a good actress when you want to. I've seen you in action. You need to put on the performance of your life end quote.

And this message is in reference to Wendy's divorce hearing, but it doesn't really scream level-headed matriarch of the

family. It's more like unhinged grandma,

I don't even know. Heading

to Vietnam.

Mandy: dearest mommy dearest, for

Melissa: Yes, Grammy

Mandy: Yes,

So Wendy admitted that her mom was hyper involved in her life and that she had even helped her move out, changed her kids' last names, and at one point even created a dating profile for her, which Wendy said she [00:33:00] never used. But it just kind of goes to show that Donna was beyond just meddling.

She was really running the show or trying her absolute hardest to run the show. Wendy also admitted that her brother, Charlie, had joked about hiring a hitman and said that she herself participated in antagonizing her ex-husband Dan, by calling him names. Wendy said that her mom's motto was always that the ends justify the means, and she admitted that Donna called her before Charlie's trial and told her to be supportive.

Later, she scolded Wendy for not being supportive enough when her brother was found guilty. Which, what do you want me to do? Like, I mean like crazy.

But Wendy said that her mom often said she didn't want Wendy to be stuck in Tallahassee and described it as being like a hostage situation. There Donna tracked Dan's schedule, knew his routines, and saw the relocation of his children as non-negotiable, and she was relentless in her pursuit of everything that she was trying to [00:34:00] get.

Some of the ugliest details emerged when prosecutors dug into the emails about this topic of relocation. After the judge had denied Wendy's move to South Florida, Donna wrote that she planned to strong arm Dan really, by any means necessary. Wendy admitted that she had discussed the idea of bribing Dan with a million dollars with other members of the family, but she told her mom that it was a crazy idea, and Donna just said, no, everyone has a price.

And she told Wendy to fight for herself, which I don't know if that's, she's not, I don't know. It doesn't really work.

So on the morning of July 18th, 2014, which is the day of the murder, Wendy said she saw the police tape near Dan's home. She knew her kids had spent the night with him, and he was supposed to take them into preschool.

But even though she sees caution tape all around Dan's home, she doesn't try to call him. She doesn't call the daycare to just check and see if her kids are there or where her kids even are. She just goes about her day

Melissa: To me, that's the biggest

thing, right? You go up to a [00:35:00] road, you see that it's police have cornered it off and we live in central Florida, so yes, there's electric storms and all that, but the police officer even remembered seeing Wendy and for her not to have just text Dan or to call the daycare to just say, Hey, just wanna make sure the kids made it in.

Whatever.

That's the most like parental thing you

Mandy: Right. That would be your first thing. Yeah, for sure.

So she admitted to knowing Dan's schedule that day, including the time he went to the gym, and she also admitted that her mom, Donna, also was aware of Dan's routine, which is so weird to me. Like, why does your ex mother-in-law need or want to know what you're doing?

That's just so beyond inappropriate. Wendy denied telling her then boyfriend Jeff LACAs, that she would move to South Florida if something ever happened to Dan. And she also denied that Charlie ever seriously considered hiring a hitman. However, the jury also heard just how quickly she did move to South Florida after Dan was killed, how quickly she [00:36:00] changed her children's last names from Markel to Adelson, and she even changed her oldest son's middle name.

Uh, before enrolling him in school, So Wendy painted her mother Donna as being overprotective and emotional, but she stopped short of calling her controlling. She did admit that her mom was very angry with Dan in the time before his death. But emails written by Wendy herself showed that she too had significant animosity for Dan.

In April of 2013, she wrote, quote, I hate him at this moment. I hate that. I hate my children's dad. When Wendy was cross-examined, Donna's defense team pushed her to say that anyone responsible should be held accountable. And Wendy agreed in principle, but she didn't say anything that would incriminate herself.

Of course.

Melissa: Another great thing about her having immunity or whatever. Well, not another great thing, but another great thing that the prosecutors do is they're so careful what they ask her on the stand because anything they ask her can't be used against [00:37:00] her later. So like she'll try to ex overexplain something and they kind of shut it down and uh, you just know all these

things that they're like holding

together stuff we don't even

know, but they're just

like waiting to do it. Mm-hmm. So Donna's trial also brought someone else outta the woodwork, someone we haven't heard much from so far in the story. And that's Rob Adelson. If you recall from part one, Rob was Donna and Harvey's es strange son. They hadn't spoken since a fallout after Donna behaved in a very insulting way towards Rob's wife Rob had enough of his mother trying to micromanage his life and he cut her off. The defense had tried hard to keep Rob off of the stand, but prosecutors called him anyway. Rob described his mom in three words. Three words

you'd never want your kids to describe you

as, and they were controlling rigid and unyielding. She had very strong and firm ideas about how her kids should live, and if any of them veered off that script, they'd be hell to pay. [00:38:00] He said Charlie was the most dependent on their mom and Wendy often played the dam soul in distress, particularly during her divorce from Dan Rob said At first Donna liked Dan, but over time she really grew to hate him. And Rob gave examples of that hatred as well. told the court that Donna had told him that when Wendy was deciding to leave Dan, she actually called him when she knew he was away on this trip, she knows he's about to go up and do this like big presentation and she says, by the way, I've left with the kids.

And then he has

to go on stage to give this presentation.

Like just Like to maximize the hurt. So when Donna relayed the story to Rob, though, as we think it's awful, she seemed pretty pleased and almost gleeful about it. Rob testified that Donna used her maiden name and secretly rented Wendy an apartment, but it was the way Rob delivered his testimony in this calm clinical way that really showed his intentions. [00:39:00] He wasn't there to perform like his mother would have him do. He was there to tell the truth about his family and set the tone for how Donna reacted when she didn't get her way.

And who's better than the son that is estranged

to know how she acts when she doesn't get her way? Rob said that when the family discussed Dan's murder, after it happened, Donna was indifferent and when the question he would even ask like, do you have any idea?

Do we know who it could have been? She said, I don't know, and it doesn't concern me. Which is a wild thing to say when you're talking about these precious grandchildren you have who have

just lost their dad. Don't you wanna know what happened? Rob also recalled when Donna called him to tell him that Dan had been shot and that he died During that call, she slipped in a very specific detail. she said that someone came to the door at Dan's house. So she's telling Rob what happened and says that someone came to his door and says, are you Dan Markel? And then shot him. Rob asked his mom how she could possibly know that the shooter went up to him and said, are you [00:40:00] Dan Markel? And Donna said, that's

just what they're telling us. It is a huge thing. Rob also said on the stand that he was bothered by this comment because it felt to him like insider knowledge that Donna shouldn't be privy to. Rob testified that Donna warned him not to cooperate with the police and when he told her the FBI had already interviewed him, she dismissed it by saying, well, you don't know anything.

Anyway, those watching considered Rob to be the most credible witness in the entire trial and his testimony was really a direct hit on the defense and their picture of Donna as this kind and selfless woman. He actually did, uh, the podcast over my dead body season one, it's called Tally.

So I recognized who he was 'cause it's such a good podcast by Wondery. They do like this whole story, but they interview him a lot about his relationship and he's like one of the main storytellers in it. But it's really good if you're looking for more information But Rob's testimony didn't do what Donna's defense prayed and hoped he would do.

He actually [00:41:00] painted her as being a manipulative, hostile, and indifferent to justice kind of person. And many analysts said that he was probably the state's most damaging witness. Rob's testimony essentially demolished the narrative that Donna was a strong, loving matriarch of her family. And we still have more to get into after one last break to hear a word from this week's sponsors

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Melissa: And now back to the

Marker

Melissa: episode.

Mandy: In the days after Charlie Adelson's conviction, recorded jail calls revealed Donna plotting escape routes and even looking up extradition policies in other countries. A week later, the FBI intercepted her at Miami International [00:43:00] Airport with a one-way ticket to Vietnam.

Donna was charged with the same crimes her son Charlie was, and in 2025 she stood trial with prosecutors painting her as the mastermind of the whole plot, but the state still wasn't done. Rolling out more witnesses and each one chipped away at this carefully curated image of Donna as being this sweet little old grandma caught up in this horrific tragedy.

One of the biggest voices, aside from we heard from Rob Adelson was that of Jeff LACAs, who spoke on the stand about his relationship with Wendy Adelson. He was an associate professor at FSU and he said that at first his relationship with Wendy was just casual. But by Halloween of 2013, things had gotten more serious.

However, what wasn't casual was Wendy's constant complaining. All she would talk about nonstop was her divorce and custody battle with Dan and her hatred for Tallahassee in general was also a recurring theme. Jeff described the Adelson family as [00:44:00] having no boundaries, and he recounted a conversation he had with Charlie one night in a hot tub where Charlie bragged about having connections in the professional world, but also in what he said was the criminal element.

More chilling was a conversation that Jeff had with Wendy just days before the murder when she told him that her brother, Charlie had looked into all the options possible to take care of Dan, including hiring a hitman and that it would cost about $15,000. Jeff stressed on the stand that this was not the joke about buying a TV that had been mentioned numerous times in the trial.

This was a real thing. Wendy was actually dead serious when she was telling him this. He also testified that he thought the Adelsons were trying to frame him. Wendy had pressed him over and over again about his plans on July 18th, 2014, which was the day of the murder, and his plans actually did include driving to Atlanta, which could have lined up with the killer's route, and Wendy seemed like she was trying to confirm that that was going to be a [00:45:00] possibility.

Melissa: It was like the way he would get out of Tallahassee would go right by Dan's house. So if you're checking any, phone records, it looks like he's

Mandy: Exactly. He also noted that he had traveled the same way during the June, 2014 failed attempt. And the fact that he drove a gray Nissan Sentra, which was ambiguous enough that it could be confused for a Prius. you know, he just kind of, all of that to him seemed like he was possibly being set up to be the patsy for this.

Melissa: Next up on the stand was June. nda. Charlie's ex-girlfriend who we dated from 2015 to 2017. So this is after Dan's murder. She testified that after the 2016 FBI Sting operation where the undercover agent spooked Donna. Her whole relationship with Charlie went off the rails. She said he began acting erratically and like a crazy person. June also recalled being at Donna's house during this time and hearing her say that her life was crumbling and that it felt like Dan was haunting her from the grave. [00:46:00] Then prosecutors presented one of their most impactful pieces of evidence, that accidental jail call where Donna thought she hung up, but she actually didn't on that call.

She talked about extradition from Vietnam, said she thought the family was cursed, and even read some of Wendy's text out loud. The ones where Wendy said, quote, stop blaming me. I'm not guilty. Leave me out of this and quote. But the state had something much bigger up their sleeve.

They had testimony from two inmates that Donna had been housed with. This was very interesting to watch. So Patricia Bird took the stand and said that Donna had admitted her role in the murder right away. She said she did it and it was to keep her grandkids, but that it wasn't supposed to go as far as murder. Patricia also said that Donna had pressured her to give false testimony against Katie banal. Basically, a lot of these people, once they're in jail, they're kind of all, you know, shuffled around, so you see a lot of people. And so I guess she knew Katie [00:47:00] or had seen Katie, but basically she wanted her to say that Katie killed Dan for money. In exchange for this, Donna said she'd give Patricia a trailer land, and she'd have Harvey fix her teeth for free.

Mandy: Okay.

Melissa: Yeah, And of course that wasn't all, another inmate named Drina Bernhardt testified that she lived near Donna for four months in jail and they got super duper close. Donna actually called Drina her jail daughter and her sunshine, which Remember back in those filings where Dan accused Donna of telling the boys that.

He's trying to take her sunshines away. So calling her sunshine was a big deal. So she also gave her little paintings with notes of well wishes, such as, I hope your life will be filled with joy and love and flowers. Seems nice, right? But that's only until you consider that it was paired with promises of $10,000, a grand piano that I think she won on the prices.

Right. And drugs and [00:48:00] commissary goodies. That is, if Drina stuck to the script and by script, it's actually a script. It's his handwritten instructions that were proven to be in Donna's handwriting that she wanted Drina to memorize and then falsely testify to paint Katie as the villain

who was trying to extort Charlie.

Mandy: She's just doing so much. Donna

Melissa: She's doing so much. But what made me really mad about the drugs thing is she knew

that this girl was in there from drug

charges and she was gonna have this. I guess it was a friend of Charlie's, maybe write her prescriptions when she got out. Just like anything for them to, you know, to, to make it better for themselves.

They don't care who they hurt Of course, the defense tried to tear down. Both Patricia and Dina attorneys pointed at things like inconsistencies like Patricia, confusing the details of investigators or fumbling the timeline of how long she'd lived near Donna. But the pattern was really impossible to overlook.

Donna wasn't just sitting [00:49:00] quietly in her jail cell. She was actively scheming recruiting allies and trying to control the narrative. There was also a side note about a friend of Wendy's named Sarah Yusef. She was listed as a potential witness for the state, but she was never called in a deposition. She said that shortly after Dan's murder, she attended a child's birthday party where Donna was also present at this party.

Donna allegedly said about Dan quote, they're talking about him like he's a beloved professor. But you know something? He was a jerk. In quote, Sarah said this comment struck her as being cruel and bizarre. She told investigators that she believed Donna, Charlie, and Wendy were all involved in Dan's murder. By the time the prosecution rested, the picture was clear. Donna wasn't just some frail old grandmother. She was a mastermind. She was manipulative and hostile, and she was desperately trying to spin the story her way, edit, and she was still desperately trying to spin the story [00:50:00] her way from her

jail cell.

Mandy: Of course the defense tried to counter and they called friends and associates who swore up and down that Donna was devastated, emotional, and just was not the mastermind.

The state was painting her out to be a close friend named. Anna Cunningham said that Donna was distraught after her son, Charlie's conviction. She was openly crying and she was clearly anything but a calculated killer, which, okay, you can like be two things at once,

like you can, and also I question how much of this was actually crying because you feel sorry for anything, or just crying because you're so upset that like your master plan did not work and now your entire family is going to jail for the rest of their lives.

Like I feel like that is an emotional moment for her, regardless of how you slice it. So to me, like I don't feel like her display of, you know, tears and emotion doesn't make me feel like sorry for her in that way. But another family friend, uh, painted them as grieving [00:51:00] as well, and not plotting. And as for the planned one-way flight to Vietnam.

Well, the defense explained it as nothing more than travel plans for a family bar mitzvah, which convenient, right, so they argued that Donna had no warrant at the time she was arrested. So technically she did nothing wrong and she was still free to book flights and travel. Another one of the defense attorneys agreed and said that Donna fully intended to return to the United States.

Another friend of the family was called, and that person described Donna as being the ultimate Jewish mother. She was the kind who would never miss a Bar Mitzvah, so of course, that's what she was doing. He said that Donna only got involved with Wendy's kids' lives because they had lost their dad, and Wendy was so busy working to provide that.

Donna felt she just had to step in and help them. Prosecutor Georgia Cappleman completely annihilated that image in cross-examinations. She reminded the witness that Donna's own emails encouraged Wendy to provoke Dan during their divorce. And then she [00:52:00] said, quote, you said Donna Adelson is a Jewish grandmother.

Does a typical Jewish grandmother suggest dressing her grandchildren up in Nazi uniforms? And the witness just replied, not to my knowledge

Melissa: How do you come back from that? Yeah, and as if the jurors needed any more evidence that tied Donna to the murder for hire that left her ex son-in-law dead. The state still had a couple of bombshells left. Prosecutors called Tallahassee Police, Sergeant Corbet, to testify that it wasn't just Donna who was making suspicious moves. Her husband Harvey has also been in contact with one of the hitman, which means the whole thing truly was a family affair. I wanna say that he was calling the hitman after this, or the hitman tried to call him. There was like some connection though, but like they jumped the chain of command of who called who, and somebody went right to Harvey. Finally though, the smoking gun came when Donna's 2014 planner was revealed. It was handed over by her former attorney and had [00:53:00] one chilling little note scribbled inside of it. It was Dan Markel's car make model and license plate number. They wondered why after two years since Wendy's divorce, why would Donna have that information written down?

There's no reason she would know that information, but prosecutors said they knew why they think she got the information from Wendy passed it to Charlie, who gave it to Katie, who fed it to s Fredo Garcia and Louis Rivera. Sure enough, the Carla said, and Donna's planner matched the exact vehicle that Hitman followed.

The day they executed Danny, they actually were following his car. A psychological review of that planner revealed that Donna was obsessive and controlling, and that she used meticulous organization not for managing bake sales or family birthdays, but to manipulate people in events and in this case, to plot a murder. When it came time for Donna to take the stand, she didn't. There was much [00:54:00] stalling and a ton of back and forth and asking. She needs more time. She just doesn't know yet. But ultimately she did not testify in her own defense probably 'cause she saw what Charlie did and that was look like a big old idiot on there. But the jury didn't take long to return a verdict either. Just three hours into deliberating they had an answer. Donna Adelson was found guilty on all three charges, first degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation

in the killing of her former son-in-law.

Mandy: Melissa, when this news broke, that Donna was found guilty, we were at Crime Con and we were at our table even, and we had people coming up to us and being like, did you guys see this? Did you hear this? And at that point, I did not know a whole lot about the case. So like I just kept directing people to talk to you if they wanted to talk about that, because I knew that you were kind of following along even while we were there at Crime Con.

Um, so now I'm happy that I have been brought up to speed on

Melissa: Right. and maybe by the next crime [00:55:00] come we'll have more um, information. Someone even came up and had the coolest earrings and gave me a pair, but it had Donna Adelson in jail on one side, and the other one's a picture of Wendy with like a

question

Mandy: Oh my gosh. I love it.

Melissa: jail. I know. I was like this is amazing.

Mandy: I love that.

So the verdict in Donna's case was unforgettable. She became the fifth person convicted in Dan's murder, and as the jury foreman read the guilty verdict, Donna dramatically gasped very loudly. The judge, once again, had to warn her to keep her emotions in check, and she sobbed, you know, as they read through each of the counts and everything that she was guilty of.

Then it was Dan's parents, Ruth and Phil Markel's turn to say their peace. They stood and addressed the court and described the devastating loss of their son, but also the grandsons who had been kept from them. Ruth looked at Donna and said Dan was the boy's hero and they have been forced to live a life without a father.

Donna said Her family is cursed. [00:56:00] She is the curse.

Melissa: Loved it.

Mandy: too. Then Dan's dad took the floor and asked Donna point blank if this was all worth it. He said she had permanently harmed the very people that she claimed to love. Literally all of them.

Melissa: all of them.

Mandy: After the verdict was read, a press conference was held and reporters asked Prosecutor, Georgia Cappleman, whether or not Wendy was next, because that's the one we still have not, um, you know, there still is more to come, hopefully.

And Georgia just smiled and said, don't ask. And someone said, do we need to stay tuned? And Georgia replied, you can stay tuned. But even as the courtroom doors closed on Donna, the markels weren't done yet. Ruth and Phil have spent the last decade channeling their grief into advocacy and have worked with Florida lawmakers to draft house bill 1 1 1 6 AKA, the Markel Act, which actually passed in 2022. This allows grandparents to petition for visitation when one parent has been murdered by the other. This is so amazing. [00:57:00] You, it's,

you always think that some of these things should be common sense, but in the legal world, nothing is common sense.

If it's not written in the law, like they will not do it. And so it it, 'cause of course it seems like the grandparents of the victim should absolutely have legal rights to their, that, you know, to their grandchildren. and it's just heartbreaking that any family has ever had to fight for such a thing.

But I absolutely love that they, did this and that they got this passed.

Melissa: Absolutely, and that law may have prompted a breakthrough. After six years of No contact, Wendy actually invited the markels to attend her son's bar mitzvah. Ruth and Phil flew down to Florida in April of 2025 and spent a day with the boys which Ruth said was a joyful and long awaited reunion. Ruth Markel's advocacy has been nationally recognized And in 2023, she was awarded the Agnes Fury victim Survivor of the Year Award. Ruth was actually nominated for the award by Georgia Cappleman, who was the prosecuting attorney on the case. [00:58:00] Georgia said, quote, Ruth's fierce advocacy for access to her beloved grandsons and her sheer determination to see all of her sons killers held accountable is an inspiration to us all. Ruth Markel has also written a memoir titled The Unveiling A Mother's Reflection on murder, grief, and Trial life. It's a deeply personal account as well as a resource for other families facing loss. But still, the story is not finished yet. As of today, Wendy and Harvey Adelson have not been arrested or charged. Donna and Charlie Adelson both sit convicted, as does Katie Magis, Sikh, Freddo Garcia, and Louis Rivera. But will the rest of them ever answer for their roles? What we do know for sure is that Dan Markel's legacy has grown far beyond the tragic way his life ended. His scholarship on crime and punishment still lives on, and his students remember him as his parents fight every

day for justice,

Mandy: Man, this is such a sad, [00:59:00] sad story. And to tell you the truth, I'm so surprised that I really had not heard of it because I do live here in Florida, and obviously this has been. Going on for quite some time. Um, I'm so glad I got caught up on this story though, just because like you were talking about watching tiktoks and before we started recording, you were watching clips from Charlie's trial.

Um, this is one of those cases where there literally is so much to watch out there, like on social media, you can find so much and it's one of those rabbit hole cases that you can just go down and like really get sucked into. And yeah, that, that, that'll be me. I'll be right there with you now, Melissa. So if you,

the next

Melissa: keep sending you stuff.

Mandy: yeah, you can send it to me and we can talk about it

Melissa: Absolutely. A couple of quick things. My 2 cents on this is it makes me so angry in this case that they really did take Katie Sigfrido and Louis, who all agreed to this by the way. But we're just kind of like these, these people are expendable. They can do our dirty work and then we're up here at the top [01:00:00] and we can just kind of

have the life we want.

We don't care what happens to

them, they can get caught. It doesn't matter. We've paid them, whatever. But also if you want to watch something that will make you feel so good, this is probably wrong to say, but there's a video of, during Donna's trial, they brought Charlie to, uh, the Leon County Sheriff's or the courthouse because they didn't know if he was gonna be called up or how that was gonna work.

But he was like on. On call for or whatever. Anyway, they stop him. I guess the driver stops before they get to the courthouse and gets him Wendy's. And if you see him eating this Wendy's meal, like it's the best thing he's ever had in his life. He's like, thank you so much. And you just see this person who's been like this terrible guy, like just truly the worst of the worst.

And he's just salivating over this Wendy's and you think like my, how the mighty have fallen. Not

that, that's like I don't know, just something about it

Mandy: Yeah.

Well, it's like

Melissa: good uhhuh.

Mandy: please. Like.[01:01:00]

Melissa: Yeah. 'cause he, nobody had ever humbled him before, that's for sure. But yeah, I'm glad we got to discuss this case. My dad's been watching it forever and telling me about it, so, I'm glad we got

to discuss it and can't wait to see what we do next.

Mandy: Thank you guys so much for listening. We will be back next week. Same time, same place. A new story.

Bye.

Melissa: a great week.

Dan MarkelTrue CrimeMurder for HireAdelsonPodcastfsuhitmandonna adelsonwendi adelsoncharlie adelson

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