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Legally Brunette Presents: ‘Til Death Do Us Part - How Far Will A Family Go? · Legally Brunette

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hi guys, welcome to Till Death Do Us Part. I'll
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: be your host, Emily Simpson, with.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Shane. Hi, Shane. Hi.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: We're going to get into the case of Dan Markell today.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Have you ever heard of this?
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: I did because you were reviewing it.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: And it was popping up everywhere on YouTube.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: And on, I don't know, Netflix or somewhere. Markell?
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: It's a new documentary on Hulu.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: I did look into it, and there was a lot
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: of parties.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of people.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: A lot of people.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of people involved. I actually remember hearing
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: about this case a couple years back, and that's when Donna,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: the mother, and we're going to get into it, but
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: when Donna Adelson went to trial, I remember reading about it.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: And now it has resurfaced because it is the subject
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: of Hulu's four-part docuseries called Welcome to the Family, The
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Murder of Dan Markell. So let's get into it. Dan
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Markell was a prominent Florida State University law professor, a
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: father of two young boys, and in the middle of
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: an increasingly bitter post-divorce custody battle with his ex-wife, Wendy Adelson.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: On Friday, July 18, 2014, at 11 a.m., Dan returned
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: home from the gym and was shot in the head
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: twice while sitting in his car inside his Tallahassee, Florida, garage.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: What initially appeared to be a mysterious, targeted killing... unraveled
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: into an elaborate murder-for-hire plot involving hired killers, an ex-girlfriend,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: and members of Dan's former in-laws. It would take more
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: than a decade, multiple trials, undercover FBI work, and a
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: trail of phone calls and money to uncover who was
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: really behind Dan Markle's murder. All right, let's get into it.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Okay, so he was shot. Twice.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: In the head.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: In the garage.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: In his garage.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: In his home. So he came, so I'm just picturing this.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: So he came home from the gym.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: He went to the gym.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: And obviously he was murdered inside the garage. So someone
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: was waiting for him.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Okay. Dan Markell was a Canadian born attorney and rising
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: legal scholar who had graduated from Harvard, earned a master's
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: degree from Cambridge and returned back to Harvard for law school.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: He was raised in Toronto and he was living and
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: practicing law in Washington, D.C. when he met Wendy. In 2005,
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Dan founded Prof's Blog, which was a popular legal blog
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: created as a space for law professors to connect and
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: discuss legal scholarship, teaching, court cases, and life in academia.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: Before his death, he was becoming one of the most
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: prominent criminal legal scholars in the country. Wow. That's ironic, right?
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: That he would be killed? Yeah. Yeah.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: Wendy grew up in Coral Springs, Florida, in a successful,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: close-knit family. She was seven years younger than Dan and
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: attending the University of Miami School of Law when the
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: two connected through JDate, a Jewish dating website. Their relationship,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: why are you laughing? I don't know.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: This is dating. This is like the normal thing now.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: You like dating websites?
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: I've never been on a dating website. No? No.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: You might have to.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: What? I'm just joking. You want me to find someone
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: for you? Yeah, please.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: I'm just kidding. Their relationship became serious and they got
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: married on February 26th of 2006. The couple welcomed their
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: first son, Benjamin, in 2009, followed by their second son, Lincoln,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: in 2010. All right. So let's get to the marriage
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: and some of the red flags in this marriage. There's
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: always red flags.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: Well, there's always red flags leading up to a murder.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: You think?
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Yes. Well.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: I think every marriage has red flags. I mean, if
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: you really want to analyze a marriage, there's always red flags.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: No, you're perfect.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's right. Over time, their marriage became strained. Wendy
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: later testified that differences in how she and Dan practiced
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: their Jewish faith was one source of tension. Dan wanted
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: their sons to follow kosher dietary rules while Wendy was
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: less strict. Wendy later said that she felt that Dan's
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: religious practices could become controlling and that maintaining kosher rules
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: sometimes took precedence over other aspects of their relationship.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: So in order to eliminate the controlling person in the house,
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: she kills him?
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: No, it's more complicated than that.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: As their problems continue, the couple went to marriage counseling.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Dan reportedly believed that they were working to repair their
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: relationship while Wendy had become increasingly unhappy and ultimately decided
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: to leave.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: You know, also in this documentary that I watched, they
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: talked about at the wedding, there were people that were
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: interviewed that knew them and they were talking about how
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: at the wedding, like his faith, he's Orthodox Jewish. And
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: so he had a rabbi at the wedding and he
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: wanted kosher food. That was very important to him. And
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: I believe that, and she's the bride, right? So her
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: family is most likely, her family's wealthy and they're paying
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: for the wedding. But her mother, I believe, just kind
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: of did whatever she wanted anyway. And I believe they
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: said that when you walked into the reception, there was
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: a huge bowl of just like shrimp, like cocktail shrimp,
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: which isn't kosher.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: And so his rabbi had to leave because.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: He couldn't... Oh, even be near it?
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Right, right. And so I think the marriage started out
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: with some very.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: So the mother-in-law is already getting.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: In the midst. Yeah, she's like, oh, you want kosher food? Okay.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: And then does whatever she wants to do anyway.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: All right. But nonetheless, they get married, right?
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Well, yes, they got married that day.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, okay. Is that your first red flag?
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: That would be a red flag. The family is a
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: big deal because if you are married into a family,
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: you marry someone and you marry into a family and
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: the family is very controlling, that's a red flag.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: Well, who's more controlling?
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: What do you mean?
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: The husband or the mother-in-law?
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: The mother-in-law in this case.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: Because it's his wedding so he can have it how
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: he wants.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: What are you talking about?
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: Well, he's controlling and insisting that it be kosher food. Yeah.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: And you're saying that they're controlling by not wanting control.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: No, I'm saying she agreed to having kosher food and
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: then did whatever she wanted to do anyway. And also,
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: if you're marrying someone who is strictly religious, I think
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: she probably knew about that prior to getting married and
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: probably was fine with it. And then later had a
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: problem with it.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: It's okay. I'll change him later.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: Right. I doubt he was presenting himself one way and
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: then being different. I'm sure he was devoutly religious the
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: entire time. I don't think he changed at all. All right.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: September 10th of 2012, Wendy ends the marriage and files
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: for divorce. This is how she, this is what she does.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: So while Dan was away at a work conference in
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: New York, Wendy stopped answering his calls. She just ghosts him.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: Well, she's divorcing him, so it's no surprise.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: When she eventually spoke with him, she told him she
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: was leaving him and that the marriage was over. Dan
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: was reportedly blindsided and pleaded with her not to end
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: the marriage before he returned to Tallahassee. By the time
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Dan returned home, Wendy had already moved out with their
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: two sons and much of the contents of their home
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: was gone and divorce papers had been left on their bed. Dang.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: That was cold.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's like a TV series right there. Yeah.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: But that's the way you behave, I feel like, when
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: someone cheats on you.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: And how old are these kids? Are they little?
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: They're little.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: But do you know what I mean? Like, to be
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: that cold, that's how you should behave when someone's cheating
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: on you. Like, if you were cheating on me, that's
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: how I would behave.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like, your dietary restrictions, I can't handle this.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: I'm out of here. Right.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: And I'm taking half of everything, and I'm taking the children,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: and I'm doing it while you're on a work trip. Right.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's pretty callous. Anyway.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: Well, it beats murder.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but we're not done yet. We're getting there. So
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: now we have a relocation battle because Wendy... Relocation battle? Yes,
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: a relocation battle.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: Because Wendy took the two kids and they're living in Tallahassee,
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: which I don't know if you know where Tallahassee is,
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: but it's up at the top of Florida. This is
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: Northern Florida.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Her family lives in Southern Florida, like the Miami area.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: Or as Emily would call it, the bottom. The bottom.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: The bottom of Florida, South Florida. So Wendy wants to
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: relocate with her two sons from Tallahassee to South Florida.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: Okay, so the relocation is she's moving far away with
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: the children. Same state, though.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: Same state. Yeah, that's a big, long state.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: I know, I know.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: She wants to move where her parents, Donna and Harvey Adelson,
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: and her brother, Charlie Adelson, live. Dan... Markel, the dad,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: opposes the move because it would put his children hundreds
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: of miles away from him. The relocation dispute became one
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: of the biggest points of contention between the former couple.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: That is a big one. Yeah. That is a very
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: big one.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: You know, the whole relocation thing, this is what happens
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: when people get divorced. That becomes very difficult because she
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: wants to move and be close to her family. I
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: don't think she really had any ties to Tallahassee. I
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: get it. I think they got married and she lived
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: in Tallahassee with him because that's where he was teaching.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: That makes sense. But then she's over Tallahassee, doesn't want
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: to live there anymore, files for divorce. Her whole family
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: is far away. So she's like, screw you.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: I don't care that you're the dad. But that doesn't
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: give her... Yeah, she doesn't have any ties anymore because
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: she cut off the ties. So now everyone has to
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: be uprooted?
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Just her and the children.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, but then the father is... In a way uprooted,
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: because now he has to potentially travel far away to
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: see his kids, won't be able to see him so regularly.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but he doesn't want to do that. So he's
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: going to oppose it.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: She's going to file to relocate. Right, but we're talking
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: about the issues of relocating. And I'm just saying, because
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: someone cut their ties by way of divorce doesn't give
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: them the ability to just relocate 100%. of miles away,
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: I think.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: Well, in the state of Florida, in order to relocate
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: and take the kids away from a parent, it's the
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: best interest of the child. That's the standard. And obviously,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: Dan Markell was always very involved in his children's life.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: And he was a good dad. So I... I'm sure
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: the state of Florida said, sorry, you can't relocate. You
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: can't take kids away from a father.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: We're guessing that, right?
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: No, we know that. A judge denies Wendy's request to
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: relocate the children to South Florida. The decision means that
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: Wendy must remain in Tallahassee if she wants to maintain
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: their existing custody arrangement. So she's mad. Because she has
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: to stay in Tallahassee now because she can't move the
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: children away from their dad.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: She doesn't have to stay in Tallahassee.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Well, she can leave the kids with him.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: Exactly.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: And she could move.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: She could move.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: Right. Prosecutors would later argue that the Adelson family's desire
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: for Wendy and the children to move to South Florida
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: became a central motive behind Dan's murder. There was a
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: lot of emails that they showed in this documentary that Donna.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: So Donna Adelson is the matriarch of this family. She
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: is the mother. She is Wendy's mom and she is
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: Charlie's mom. And there's a third son, Rob. But he's
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: kind of estranged from the family. So Wendy and Charlie
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: are very close. That's brother and sister. And then Donna
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: is the mother. And Donna is very controlling. She's the matriarch.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: There are several emails that Donna is sending to her daughter, Wendy,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: talking about the relocation. And it's just very adamant. Like,
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: you have to relocate. You have to get the kids.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: You have to bring them to South Florida. So she's very,
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: the mother of Wendy is just adamant that she moves.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: She'll let it go.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: She wants her to be with her family. She wants
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: her to bring the kids. And she wants them there.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Adding stress to the situation, no doubt. Rather than a,
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: we'll make it work. We'll figure something out. We can
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: come up and visit you. You're not alone. Instead, it's
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: like you have to figure it out. You have to
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: do it. Yes.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: You have to move here and you have to bring
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: your kids.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: Even if it means killing him. Well, she didn't say that. Oh,
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: she didn't say that? Did I just make that up?
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: Not in an email.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: Oh, okay. Not in an email.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: So July 31st of 2012, the divorce is finalized, but
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: the legal battles continue on after their divorce. Between 2013
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: and 2014, Dan and Wendy continue fighting over issues involving
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: their children and finances. Tensions also escalate between Dan and
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: Wendy's mother, Donna Adelson. Dan seeks to restrict Donna's access
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: to his sons, alleging that she was making disparaging comments
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: about him around the children. A hearing regarding Donna's unsupervised
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: access to the boys is scheduled for May of 2014.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: So Dan Markell has real problems with Donna Adelson, who
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: is Wendy's mom. He thinks she's controlling, she's manipulating the boys,
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: and she's saying terrible things about him in front of
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: his children. Probably. He doesn't want her to have access
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: to the boys, so then they've got legal battles going on.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a tough one.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Because he wants a supervised visitation any time she has
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: to be around the kids, right?
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: There's a court hearing on May 15th of 2014. The
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: hearing involves Dan's effort to restrict Donna Adelson's unsupervised access
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: to the children. No new hearing takes place before Dan's murder,
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: which occurs two months later. So they go to court.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: There's no decision made, I guess. It was probably.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: But where's it left at?
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: It was continued.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: So the situation then prior to his murder, but after
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: the court date is what's the arrangement with the kids?
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: She's still in Tallahassee.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: She's still in Tallahassee. I don't know what their custody
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: arrangement is. I would assume it's 50-50 probably.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: So they just have some temporary situation going on. Right.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: And whatever she was pursuing was continued or dismissed, right?
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: So she's stuck up there in Tallahassee. Right.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: On July 18th of 2014, so this is the actual
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: day of the murder. And again, remember, so they just
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: had the hearing in May where he wanted to restrict
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: the grandmother's access to the kids. It was continued. Now
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: we're two months later and there hasn't been another hearing.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: So that's still in limbo, which I'm sure he still
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: wants a hearing date on that.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: So July 18th of 2014... At 8.50 a.m., Dan dropped
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: his two sons off at their creative preschool in Tallahassee.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: At 9.02 a.m., Dan calls Wendy and leaves her a voicemail.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: He told her he was planning to be at the
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: gym that morning and offered to talk or meet with
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: her afterward. That's sad to me. That he's like... He's
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: trying to.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: He's trying to work through their issues. Right.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: At 9.13 a.m., Dan arrives at Premier Health and Fitness
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: Center for his morning workout. There's surveillance footage that shows...
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: This is the first clue of where they start to
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: figure things out. But they have surveillance footage of him
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: going into the gym and leaving. And they have surveillance
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: video of him getting into his– he has a black car.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: I don't know. It's like a Honda Accord or something.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: They show him get into his car and pull out.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: Their surveillance video shows like a light green or maybe
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: even silver-colored Prius. circling the gym parking lot for a while,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: and then when he leaves, it follows him out.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: Oh, wow.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: So they got a car on camera.
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: So that was their first clue. Okay, but does she
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: have a Prius? Do we know?
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: No, she doesn't have a Prius.
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: Okay. Does her mom have a Prius? No. Does her
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: hitman have a Prius?
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: Maybe.
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: Oh, was it a hitman?
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I told you to read about this case.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: There was a lot of parties in this case.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Oh, my gosh. All right, between 9.13 and 10.38 a.m.,
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: while Dan worked out, the Prius remained in the parking
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: lot for an hour and a half, moving to different spots,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: but no one ever got out.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: What kind of hitman drives a Prius? That's not a
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: getaway car.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: I know, right?
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: He's like a green hitman. Seriously? Yeah.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: He doesn't want to leave a carbon footprint.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: No, no. His carbon footprint. That's how he markets himself.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: He distinguishes himself from other hitmen. Right. By having a
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: low reduced carbon footprint. Right.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: He's like, you can pay me to kill someone and.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: And I save on gas and I pass those savings
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: on to you. Right.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: You don't have to give me much gas money. I mean,
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: he does have to drive from South Florida to Tallahassee.
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: Well, are those mitigating factors in her homicide case? No. No.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: If you were the defense attorney, you would present that.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: Yes, I would. You would.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: You would be like, your honor and the hitman was
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: very green.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: Okay. This is ridiculous. Sorry. All right.
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: Around 10.38 a.m.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: See, it's better.
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: I don't know the cases. It's like you're just telling
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: me a story. I'm listening to like a murder story.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: I love that it's like story time for you.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: Yes, it is. Yeah.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: I do all the research and then it's story time
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: for Shane.
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: I just need like a little bean bag and like
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: a juice box. Yeah.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: All right, so we have the Prius.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: Yes, silver. Driving around for about an hour.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: In the gym parking lot.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: And then it leaves when the, when, what's his name? Dan.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: His name's Dan. Dan leaves.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: All right, so it's.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: That's creepy.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: Right. So at 10.38 a.m., Dan leaves the gym and
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: drives home. And the green Prius follows him out. And
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: they have that on surveillance video. So they see the
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: car leave.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: Wait, is it green? Or are you just referring to.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: It's like a light green. It's not like a dark green.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: It's like a light green silverish.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: Okay. Yeah.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: At 11 a.m., Dan arrives at his home on Trescott
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: Drive in Tallahassee and began pulling his car into the garage.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: While arriving home, he was speaking on the phone with
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: a friend. During the call, Dan mentioned that someone he
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: did not recognize was in his driveway. The person on
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: the phone then heard a muffled sound and Dan stopped responding.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: And the guy on the phone- They interviewed the guy
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: that he was talking to. That was really the first
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: time he'd ever met him. He was just reaching out
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: to him, asking him about a job, if he liked
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: working at a certain.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: Oh, so they didn't know each other.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: No, it was really their first.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: It was a first phone call of some sort.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think a mutual friend connected them somehow
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: because Dan was looking into maybe teaching at the same
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: place this guy teaches, and he was like, can I
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: ask you some questions?
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: So he's on the phone with him and then you
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: can hear Dan says, oh, there's someone in my driveway
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: I don't recognize.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: But that's funny because if you were talking to me
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: and you came home or your sister or someone close
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: and you came home and someone was strange there, you
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: might mention it. Yeah. But if you're talking to someone
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: that for the first time you don't really know them
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: and you're talking on certain business issues or whatever and
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: you come home and then you see someone in your driveway,
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: would you announce it?
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: Well, I think it was because he was telling him
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: he had to talk to him. Oh, okay.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: I thought it was maybe so alarming that he mentioned it, right?
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: Like he reacted like, oh my gosh, there's someone in
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: my driveway. Maybe like if the guy was, you know,
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: looked troublesome.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: Well, I think he was one, alarmed, but two, I
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: think he was telling him because he was saying, hold
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: on a second, let me ask why this guy is
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: in my driveway. Dan was then shot twice in the
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: head at close range while sitting in the driver's seat
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: of his car. A neighbor heard what sounded like gunfire
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: and then saw a small, light-colored vehicle resembling a Prius
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: rapidly backing out of Dan's driveway.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: Rapidly and Prius. They don't go together? Right there, the
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: witness needs to be careful. Right. It's not going to
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: be credible.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: At 11.02 a.m., Dan's neighbor called 911 after finding him
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: slumped over in the driver's seat, unresponsive. Shortly after, police
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: and paramedics arrived at Dan's home. He was still alive
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: and was rushed to a local hospital in critical condition.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: You know what? I wonder if when you're still alive
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: but you have gunshot wounds to the head.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: How conscious are you?
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And is he thinking it was Wendy's family?
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: Do you know what I mean? Yeah.
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: I don't know. We won't know.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: Early in the. afternoon police located wendy adelson at a
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: restaurant where she was having lunch with friends.
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: Um establishing an alibi yeah she's.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: Like i'm having lunch with friends see.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: All my friends see i have four i invited lots of.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: Friends to have lunch with me right now On July
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: 19th of 2014, this is the day after, this is
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: 15 hours after the shooting, Dan Markell was pronounced dead
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: at 41 years old. And then 48 hours after the shooting,
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: his memorial is held at a local synagogue. I did
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: not know that, but in the Jewish faith, you have
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: to have a, I guess it's a memorial or a
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: wake within 48 hours. Oh, okay.
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: The immediate aftermath. So police interviewed Wendy for more than
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: five hours the day of the shooting. I watched a
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: lot of the interview clips that they showed of Wendy Adelson.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: I mean, she seemed very distraught. She was crying. She
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: was upset. I mean, I don't know.
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: It looked... While she was packing to go to Tallahassee? Yeah. Yeah.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: She told the investigators about the contentious divorce and custody
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: battle and mentioned that her brother, Charlie, had previously joked
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: about hiring a hitman to kill Dan. I don't know
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: why people.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: Think that would be funny?
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: Why that would be funny or why she would say.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: Who mentioned that they joked about it?
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: So, Wendy has a brother named Charlie.
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: And Charlie is in South Florida. He's a dentist. Okay?
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: Wendy and Charlie are very close. Wendy mentions to the investigators...
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: That her brother, Charlie, had made a joke about.
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: That's the thing is, why she even mentioned that?
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: That's what I mean. Like, who says that? Why would you...
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: You're already talking about how you have a contentious divorce.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I've always joked about killing him, but I never
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: actually thought it happened. Right. I mean, why would you
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: volunteer that information?
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: I don't know, but she did. So she volunteered the
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: information that her brother, Charlie Adelson, had joked about hiring
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: a hitman to kill her husband. And then something like
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: he got her a gift of a TV instead because
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: it would be cheaper. Hmm. And she told the investigators this. Then,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: what do you think Wendy did immediately?
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: She went to the crime scene? No. She called the
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: band in the Prius? No.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: She packed up and moved.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: Oh, she did move. Yeah. Okay. She moved to Tallahassee.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: Her relocation was granted. No, I'm just kidding.
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: It wasn't. Well, now it doesn't matter.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: Now it doesn't matter. Exactly. So Wendy moves her sons,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: Benjamin and Lincoln, to South Florida immediately after Dan's death.
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: Well, okay. But let's be fair. If she had nothing
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: to do with his death, that's a big if because
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: it's more of a hypothetical, so I don't believe it.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: If she had nothing to do with his death and
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: he tragically died, whether it's car accident or what, why
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: wouldn't she move next to her family?
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: She would. I just want to know if she was pre-packed.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: She probably was.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: I just want to know how quickly it took her
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: to move. Like, was everything laid out already? Did she
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: already have like a house rented there?
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: She probably never unpacked. When the court ordered her to stay,
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: she was like, I'll see about that.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: She later changed their last names from Markel to Adelson,
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: claiming she did so because of the intense media attention
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: surrounding the case. Investigators quickly believed that Dan was targeted,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: and they were finally able to trace the green Toyota
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: Prius to two men named Sigfrido Garcia and Luis Rivera.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: So they saw this Prius, right? But they tried to
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: zoom in on it. And they found all this different
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: footage of the Prius.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: But no license plate.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: But they couldn't get a license plate.
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: No.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: The ATM footage is where they got the faces of
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: the two people the whole time.
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: Oh, did they go up to an ATM? Yes. Oh.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: So they get all.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: This footage of this Prius driving in all these different streets.
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: And then it goes to an ATM. And then it
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: goes to an ATM. And they go up to the ATM.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: And then they grab the footage of the ATM.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: So then they get the footage of the ATM from
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: the bank. And they roll the window down and they
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: lean forward.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: Oh, it was a drive-thru ATM.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: It was a drive-thru ATM. And they get a visual
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: recognition of both of the parties. There's two men in
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: the car.
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: Uh-huh.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: And so it's a man named Sigfrido and another man, Lewis.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: Did they? And then what did they do at the bank?
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: Withdrawal or deposit?
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: They were getting cash.
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: I don't know. They were probably getting snacks. I was
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: just wondering, did they have to deal with crime?
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: I don't think so. It didn't say. But maybe they
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: were hungry. They wanted some cash. They wanted to get
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: a candy bar.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: I mean, they don't need gas.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: No, but I don't know if they were making a
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: deposit like she paid them. Or if they were making
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: a withdrawal to use the money for something.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: No, I don't know. I don't think they were making
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: a deposit.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: Okay, so now they have visuals of the two men
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: in the Prius. Right. And now what?
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: Now they have to figure out what is the connection
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: of these two men. Because they're starting to believe that,
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: because now they know about this contentious divorce. She talks
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: about how her brother was talking.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: About- They're saying, how do you know Markel? Right.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: They don't go to those two men. They're just trying
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: to make the connection between them.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: Well, they're not going to go and be like, we
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: have a murdered victim here. How do you know him? Right.
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: He's not going to admit it.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: So they figure out the connection back to the Adelsons,
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: came through a girl named Katie Magbanwa, who used to
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: date Charlie Adelson. Charlie Adelson is the brother of Wendy.
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: The jokester.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the guy that's like, I'll hire a hitman.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: Here's a TV.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: But I'll get you a TV instead. That connection is
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: a girl named Katie. He used to date Katie. Katie
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: has two children with Sigfrido. Sigfrido's the one who actually
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: pulled the trigger.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: How'd they know Charlie's dating history?
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: Well, you know what? They pull financial records and they
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: find that So Charlie Adelson is a dentist and his
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: dad is a dentist and they have a lot of
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: money because they own this big dental group in South Florida.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: The dental group was writing checks to Katie every month,
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: but Katie didn't actually work there. So I'm sure they
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: did some kind of forensics on this family and found
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: that there were these checks being written to a girl
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: named Katie, but Katie doesn't actually work for this dental group.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: And the checks started coming after the murder. And then,
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: Katie has two children with Sigfredo, who is the one
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: they identified that was driving the Prius. It's all very complicated,
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: and there's a lot of people in this case.
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: You know, and this all stems from having gone to
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: the ATM.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it really does. I was thinking that, too, when
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: we were talking about the ATM. Because they could never
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: get a license plate on that Prius. They tried to
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: sharpen it, and they tried to do everything possible.
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: And if it was rented from out of state, it's
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: even less likely that they're going to find it. Because
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: remember I said earlier that they looked up like green
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: Priuses registered in the county. That's what they can do sometimes, right?
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: Narrow it down kind of thing. But in that case,
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: it would have been obviously not found that way.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: So investigators pieced together that Charlie Adelson had arranged the
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: murder through Katie, who connected him to Garcia and Rivera,
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: and that $ 100, 000 was paid for the hit.
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: $ 100, 000?
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: $ 100, 000. And it was paid to Katie, I believe.
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: Those cheap guys wanted to get a Prius? Yeah.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: They charged $ 100, 000.
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: All right. And now we get to 2016.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: Remember, he was murdered in 2014.
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: In April 2016, almost two years after Dan's death, the
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: FBI launched an undercover operation called The Bump. Okay, this
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: I thought was really interesting, and I liked this. They
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: wanted to get Charlie Adelson and Donna Adelson. They know
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: that these two guys are the ones that pulled the trigger,
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: but they know that they're not the mastermind behind it, right?
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: Wait, we're two years later after the murder? Yes, two
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: years later.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: Because they're trying to get enough evidence against Charlie Adelson
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: and the mother, the matriarch.
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: Donna Adelson. All they have are like names and possible connections.
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: They don't have any evidence of any kind, right? Right.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: But they know. They don't have a murder weapon. They
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: don't have fingerprints. They don't have blood anywhere. They just
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: have a Prius driving around and then pulling money out
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: of the bank. And they are connected to Charlie's former
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: dating girl, whatever. Katie. Right.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: So they know the connections, right? You can draw it
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: all out and map it all out, but they don't
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: have enough evidence.
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: No, they have no evidence, really.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: And they know that the two men murdered him, but
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: they know the two men didn't... They know that these
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: two guys didn't just drive up from South Florida to murder.
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: A law professor. Or to walk around or to drive
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: around and then go back. Right.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: They know that it was a hit and it was
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: coming from the Adelson family, but they don't have the
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: evidence of that, right? So then they're like, okay, what
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: are we going to do? So they come up with
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: this plan where they have an undercover cop approach Donna Adelson,
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: the mom, and give her a picture of Sigfredo, I believe,
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: or maybe it was Louis Rivera. And on it, it
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: has a phone number written, and it says something to
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: the effect of basically like, if you want to keep
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: him quiet, you need to keep paying money. They're trying
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: to do something to instigate conversations between these family members.
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: Oh, so basically they're trying to spook her.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: Into calling and confessing the thing or talking about things,
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: which is ultimately an indirect confession.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: So they got warrants to have her phone and Charlie
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: Adelson's phone bugged, right?
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: So they're listening in on their conversations. And they're very careful.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: They don't talk about the murder at all.
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: Which I always thought was a weird thing that you
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: can get a warrant to eavesdrop. They got a warrant.
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: I never really could.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: But now they need to do something to instigate conversation
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: between the two of them.
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: And so what did they do to instigate conversation? It
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: was a picture of him and it said, if you
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: want to keep him quiet or something.
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: So this undercover cop walks up to her while she's
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: just walking on the street.
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: And gives her a picture, like a printed off photo
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: of Dan Markell with a phone number on it and
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: basically says that he's connected to, I think it was
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: either Sigfredo or Luis Rivera, one of the two guys
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: that were the hitmen. And says something to the effect
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: of like, he wants more money. If you want him
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: to stay quiet, you need to call this number and
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: pay more money. And so she's like, who are you?
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: Get away.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: But she takes the paper, right? And they have surveillance.
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. Everything's recorded. I get it.
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: I mean, they've got like a whole van of people.
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: Listening and watching. It's probably in 4K and everything.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: Right. So she takes the paper and shoves it in
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: her purse, right? So they're basically doing it because they
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: want to instigate conversations. Investigators then secretly monitored the calls
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: and conversations that followed. This part I found.
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: Interesting because– Yeah, it's getting interesting. Yeah.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: They were smart. Nobody was talking about this murder at all.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: They just acted like it never happened. But then when
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: this guy walks up and hands her this, she immediately
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: calls Charlie Adelson, her son, right? And she tells him like,
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: you know, I got this and there's a phone number
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: on it and they're trying to extort more money. And
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: he's like, okay, well, I'll handle it. Let me. So
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: then there's all these conversations about, like, who's going to
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: call the number. So everybody's trying to get somebody else
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: to call the number. They're all nervous about the number
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: to call.
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: It was pretty funny, actually. I found it comical.
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: They were like, no, you call.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: No, you call. No, you call.
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: But they could not call.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: Right? I mean, they really thought something was going to
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: happen if they didn't call and settle it. Right.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: They eventually call the number and.
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: I know that Charlie Adelson talks to, it's like the
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: undercover cop is the one that answers and says like
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: basically like, well, you know what you did and my
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: friend or whoever he says he's related to wants more
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: money or whatever. But then Charlie was actually pretty smart.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: I'd have to say his takeaway.
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: Was he very careful with his wording?
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: He was careful with his wording, but he also, his
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: takeaway was he thought it was possibly an undercover cop.
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: Like he didn't really believe that it was, you know,
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: the two hitmen trying to extort him.
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: So he was probably reluctant in saying anything that was incriminating. Yeah.
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: So how did it go?
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: He didn't really say much that was incriminating.
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: Did he just ask questions kind of thing and just listen?
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but then you could hear because, you know, they
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: have their phones tapped. So then he calls his mom
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: and says, you know, the guy had a New York accent.
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: I don't really think he was a gang member like
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: from Tallahassee or whatever. I think he was, you know,
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: like he sounded more like an undercover cop. I think
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: like the cops are on to us kind of thing.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: So then they're aware. So then they're going to start
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: monitoring their conversations, right?
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: Then meanwhile, while all that's going on, Sigfredo Garcia and
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: Katie Magbanwa were eventually arrested. So now we get the
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: hitman and then the hitman's baby mama. And the baby
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: mama is Katie, who also used to date Charlie Adelson.
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: And is on their payroll.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: And is on the payroll. Luis Rivera was already in
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: jail for some other separate charges and he cooperated with
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: investigators and admitted his role in the murder for hire plot.
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: Is she on payroll for this murder?
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: Well, she's on payroll.
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: I mean, she's getting paid.
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: It's like these guys are like, okay, we, yeah, that's great.
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: A hundred grand murder. Great. But we want to be
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: able to like write it off a little bit. We
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: wanted to make it an expense. So we're going to
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: put you on payroll.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: Oh, you think that's why they did it? So just
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: paying her cash?
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, it's a benefit to them. You don't think
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: they're going to write that off?
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: As what, though?
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: As a business expense.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: Hitman. Yeah.
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah. All right.
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: So Luis Rivera comes clean, tells them everything they need
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: to know, that he did it with Sigfredo, that Katie
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: was the go-between, that Katie used to date Charlie, that
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: they were doing it. They were doing it because they
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: made it sound like, you know, Dan Markell was, you know,
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: some abusive ex-husband that, you know, wouldn't let her leave
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: with the kids. And so they were like, okay, well,
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: we'll just take him out for $ 100, 000. Sigfredo Garcia was
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: later convicted and sentenced to life in prison while Katie
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: was convicted at her second trial in 2022 and also
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: received a life sentence.
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: Why'd she have a second trial?
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: Because the first trial she goes to, it's a hung jury.
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: And she also admits to nothing. She basically is like,
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: I didn't do that. I don't know anything about that.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: I don't know what you're talking about.
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: That's her best bet.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And so there was a hung jury. They didn't
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: have enough evidence really to convict her. Then she goes
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: to a second trial. I think they are able to
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: probably accumulate a little bit more evidence. She goes on
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: second trial. And this time the jury convicts her of murder.
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: She gets convicted for her second trial in 2022, and
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: she receives a life sentence. So now you've got Sig
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: Fredo that went to trial, and he's convicted, and he
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: gets a life sentence. He's the one that actually pulled
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: the trigger. Then you've got Katie that had to go
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: through two trials. In her second trial, she's convicted. She
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: receives a life sentence. After she finally receives a life
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: sentence and she's in prison, does she finally start to say, hey,
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: maybe I should talk? Okay, so before Katie... is arrested, convicted,
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: goes to trial, any of those things, Charlie reaches out
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: to her and says, Hey, we need to meet. So
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: they go and meet in a restaurant. The police are
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: onto them, right? The FBI, they've got his phone tab.
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: They know that.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: They're going to go to the restaurant. So they put
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: a recording device in a bag kind of next to
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: the table that they're sitting at. And they record this
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: conversation between Katie and And Charlie Adelson.
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: And what happens in the conversation.
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: And they're clearly talking about this murder and what's happening.
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: And all these things. And what do we get on audio?
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: The problem is that it's a super loud restaurant that
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: they go to. So the audio is terrible. You can
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: barely hear what they're saying. And you can hear dishes
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: and people. And it's just loud. So they send this
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: audio off to someone.
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: That cleans it up.
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: That cleans it up. I mean, I don't know. It's
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: very technical. But it took like a year for them
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: to be able to kind of separate. the words out
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: from all of the noise in the background. And then
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: they finally got some usable audio of the two of
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: them talking about this murder for hire plot. That's how
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: the second time when she goes to trial, they now
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: have more evidence.
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: On April 21st of 2022. So this is nearly eight
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: years after Dan's murder. Charlie Adelson was arrested and charged
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: with first degree murder, conspiracy and solicitations. They actually sent
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: like a SWAT team to his house and they like,
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: you know, all pound on the door.
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: Why do you think it was excessive? Yeah. It was dramatic.
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was. But he had like, I guess like
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: a wired fence all around his house. He was clearly paranoid.
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: You know what they do though? They, they look into
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: it and it's like, like what if he was a
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: registered firearm owner?
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah. things like that. So they're like, and then he
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: has a barbed wire or whatever he said he has
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: around his house. So it makes them think, well, this
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: guy might be a little more guarded and he might
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: be defensive.
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: So they send like a SWAT team. So they're just
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: like coming in, you know, and pounding on the door.
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: He comes out, his hair is all crazy and he's
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: got his boxer shorts on. He's like, what are you
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: doing here?
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: Clearly he didn't expect them that morning.
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: Not that morning.
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: No.
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: On November 26th, 2023, Charlie was found guilty on all
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: three counts. So he goes on trial for, Katie testifies
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: against him because now she's in prison for life. So
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: she's like, well, you're out living your life.
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: I'm here in prison. Sigfredo's in prison.
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: My kids don't have a mother or father anymore. Now he,
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: Charlie's on trial. She goes and testifies against him. There's
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: another girlfriend that they interview in the documentary. Her name's June.
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: She was dating him when all of this was going on.
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: Also the same time he was dating Katie, he was,
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: clearly a womanizer. He was dating lots of women.
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: Charlie. Charlie. Yeah.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: He, um, they, I don't know. He lived a fast lifestyle.
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: He had cars and money and women and all the things.
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: So that's why they stormed his house the way they did. Yeah.
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: So anyway, June testifies against him. Really what she was
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: testifying to was Kate testified that he would bring cash
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: to pay for the hit man, but he would use
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: a stapler and he would staple the money together.
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. I thought you didn't have any rubber bands.
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: No, no paperclips. No, he would use a stapler. Then June,
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: this other girl that he was dating, they used her
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: to testify because she testified to the fact that she
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: would see stapled money. So they were corroborating that these
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: two women had seen the same thing.
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: They had a stapler expert come in to verify that
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: the staples were actually from the stapler. Right.
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: I thought it was funny that they were corroborating that
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: they were both telling the truth about this money transaction
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: by both of these women saying that they saw money
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: stapled together.
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: And I guess she asked him, why do you staple
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: the money together? And he said, so, you know, someone can't,
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: you know, take one off the top or lose, lose some.
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: And she's like, what about a paperclip? But he staples
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: the money. Also, what was funny is she talked about
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: how the money that he used to pay was also,
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: it was cash was also damp. And she asked him
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: why it was damp and mildewy. And he said that
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: his mother, Donna Adelson had literally washed the money in
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: the washing machine and, So that there weren't any fingerprints
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: on the money.
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I thought you were going to say, like, she
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: thought that's how you launder money.
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah. She's like, wait, we got to launder this first.
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: I've seen it on TV. They say they launder the
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: dirty money.
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: Right. So let's put it through the washing machine.
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: So she didn't want any fingerprints on the money.
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: And the money. Even though when it comes out of
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: the washing machine.
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: I assume. How did she stack it? Well, she could
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: have used gloves. Yeah.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: So no fingerprints on the money.
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: I didn't know you could do that.
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: I don't know if that works. I don't know.
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: All right. So Charlie's on trial. His sister testifies, too.
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: What his defense was, this was the defense. He was
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: trying to say that he did not hire them, the
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: two men, that this was an extortion effort. Because originally,
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: back in the beginning, when Donna Adelson wanted Wendy to
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: move with the boys to South Florida, there was an offer.
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: They were going to offer Dan Markell a million dollars
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: to let his kids go.
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: No way. Yeah.
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: They were going to offer a million dollars. And I
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: think that's in an email that she was like, We've
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: all talked as a family and we've come up with
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: this idea and we're going to give him a million
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: dollars to.
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: Let you know. 500,000 per kid. Right.
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: So then Charlie's defense when he is on trial is
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: that it was not a hitman situation, that it was
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: an extortion, that these two guys heard about the million
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: dollar offer through Katie and they were basically trying to
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: take out Dan Markell to get the million dollars or something.
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: So he turned it into his defense was like, it
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: was an extortion type of thing, not a hit man situation.
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: You wonder about these attorneys if they're like, believe in it.
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: Cause you know, these people go home and they're like, okay,
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: I got to figure out something. Right. And then they
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: come back and they tell their attorney, it's, this is
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: how it happened. And then attorney's like, well, what about
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: this evidence? Like, uh, and then they have to account
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: for that. It's just like, I don't know. You never
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: ask your client. What's the question you never ask your client?
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: If they did it.
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, if they did it. Because you don't want to know. Right.
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: Because if they say they did, then that's the end
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: of it.
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: All right. So obviously, Charlie's defense of this being some
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: type of extortion situation did not work. The jury was
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: not bamboozled by that. And they found him guilty. So
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: of parole, plus additional sentences for conspiracy and solicitation. So Charlie,
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: this young guy that lives in Florida, living the high life,
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: driving fancy cars, and dating lots of women, and making
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: all kinds of money being a dentist, is now in
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: prison for life with no possibility of parole because he
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: wanted his sister to move to South Florida with her kids.
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: He was trying to help her by killing someone.
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's unreal to me. Like, that the people
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: sit around.
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: He's in jail.
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: And concoct... Like, think that that's... I don't know. Like,
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: the narcissism is at... like a level I can't even comprehend.
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: November 13th of 2023. So really what they want to do,
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: the investigators, it did not end with Charlie Adelson. They
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: want to get the big fish and the big fish
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: is the mother-in-law. That's Donna Adelson.
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: The non-kosher lady.
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: Yes. The non-kosher shrimp lady. They know that she is
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: really the mastermind behind everything. And they talk about how
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: Charlie is close with his mother. They talk several times
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: a day. He does anything for her. There's another son
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: I talked about, but he's estranged from the family. And
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: he actually ended up testifying later. We'll talk about that.
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: I'm surprised they didn't murder him.
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: I think that they have conversations about it.
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: Oh, wow.
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: Really?
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah. All right.
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: So just one week after Charlie's conviction, this is how
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: they get this tip. So the mother, Donna, is talking
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: to Charlie in a jailhouse conversation. Yeah. So there's an
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: investigator that just wakes up in the morning and he
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: listens to the Charlie-Donna conversations.
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: That's another job I'd want.
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: Right?
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: Where I just listen to the phone calls.
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: He's like, all right, I'm going to go log in
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: or whatever and listen to the Donna-Charlie conversations, the jailhouse conversations.
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: She has a conversation with Charlie. They're very careful about
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: what they say, right? Then Donna thinks she hangs up
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: the phone, but she doesn't.
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: And she just keeps talking. And he's listening, thinking, what
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: am I listening to? And she starts talking about with
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: her husband, Harvey. So this is Charlie's dad, Wendy's dad.
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: Wait, hold on. Who's talking to who? I just want
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: to get this straight because this is important.
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: Charlie is in jail.
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I know.
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: He got convicted.
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: I got that.
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: He's talking to his mom.
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: I got that. She didn't hang up the phone.
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: I got it. She didn't hang up. Now she's at
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: home talking to her husband.
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: Her own husband. Her husband, Harvey. That is a private conversation.
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: That's what I was trying to understand. But she's... Arguably. I... Arguably.
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: Arguably. Anyway, she's talking about extradition and what country they
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: should go to that they won't get extradited from. So
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: they're talking about... This.
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: Is almost better than the Google searches.
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: This is just straight from the mouth. Right.
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: They're talking about they're going to go to Vietnam because
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: they can't be extradited from Vietnam. So now the police
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: are on to them. They know that they're going to
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: go to.
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: Well, that's not admitting murder or anything. No. That's just
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: saying they're pressing charges against us and we want to
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: leave the country.
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: So Donna and her husband Harvey arrive at the Miami
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: International Airport. They bought one-way tickets to Vietnam.
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: Always buy a two-way ticket, a round trip ticket.
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: Even if you're not going to come back.
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: Yes, that's right.
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: Right? FBI agents arrested Donna before she could even board
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: the flight. They arrest her and she won't give them
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: her phone. They try to take her phone away. And
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: she's like, no, stop it. It's my phone. Like, you
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: can't have it. Then she's all concerned about her husband.
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: And then she acts like they're bothering her. She's like, oh,
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: you guys again. My gosh, lady. Prosecutors accuse her of
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: helping orchestrate Dan's murder, arguing that her desire to get
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: Wendy and her grandchildren back to South Florida was a
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: central motive. So on September 4th of 2025, Donna was
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: found guilty of first degree murder.
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: They got her.
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: They got her. She's found guilty of first degree murder,
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: conspiracy and solicitation. She's 75 years old and she was
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: sentenced to life in prison. She goes on trial and
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: when they show her on the stand, she testifies about
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: how she just, how she's gained weight in prison because
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: they only serve her carbs and no protein and So
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: Donna Adelson, while she's in prison, she meets another prisoner
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: and they become friends. This woman, who was a prisoner
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: at the same time, also was in prison when Katie,
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: remember Katie? She was the go-between. She was the girl
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: that dated Charlie Adelson. I'm talking about someone new now.
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: I don't remember her name, but she's in prison with
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: Donna Adelson. Donna Adelson befriends her and then tries to
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: get her to talk to Katie, to convince Katie to
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: say that the whole thing was an extortion and it
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: had nothing. Anyway, that woman then testifies against Donna at trial.
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: And Donna won't let it go.
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: No. So anyway, Donna's convicted.
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: Stubborn to the bitter end, but she's in jail for
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: life now, right? Yeah.
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: So she was convicted, sentenced to life in prison. So
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: now you've got Donna is in prison. You've got this
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: Charlie Adelson. Her son is in prison. Her other son
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: testified against her at trial.
• 46:24
  Speaker 2: Is he still alive?
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: So far, he's still alive, but he needs to watch
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: his back. He testified to the fact that his mother
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: did reach out to him and told him if the
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: FBI comes around, don't talk to them. But he had
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: already talked to them at that point. And then she said,
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: never mind. Who cares? You don't know anything anyway. So
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: he testified.
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: You weren't there for the murder.
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: You weren't there.
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: You don't know.
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: So he testified to that. Currently, here's my question. And
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: what do you think? Wendy Adelson has not been arrested
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: or anything. Are you going to tell me that she
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: didn't have any clue or any idea about any of
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: this going on?
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: She knew, but she didn't do anything.
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: All these people in her life are having all these
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: conversations about hiring a hitman, and she's just out there.
• 47:08
  Speaker 2: Does she just get all their money now?
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 47:11
  Speaker 2: They're all in jail, and business practices are closed.
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: I read like an $ 8 million estate.
• 47:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so her husband's dead.
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: Her husband's dead, so she got to relocate to South Florida.
• 47:21
  Speaker 2: Her family is still in South Florida.
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, they're all in jail.
• 47:24
  Speaker 2: They've relocated.
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: Yes, they've relocated. Her mother and brother are relocated to prison.
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: I don't know. Is this a better deal for her now?
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: I don't know. She doesn't have to live with her
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: mother telling her what to do. She probably has the estate.
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: It's around $ 8 million. She has her two sons with her.
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: And she can tell them whatever story she wants.
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: Right, about their dad.
• 47:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Right.
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: Wendy Adelson currently lives in South Florida with her two sons.
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: Benjamin is now 17 and Lincoln is 16. Wendy left
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: her position at Florida State University College of Law in
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: 2015 and has continued working in the legal field. She
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: also remains a good standing member of the Florida Bar.
• 48:04
  Speaker 2: Oh, well.
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: That's crazy to me, but.
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: I guess if you don't have a felony on a record.
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: Wendy has never been charged in connection with Dan's murder
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: and has maintained that she had no knowledge or involvement.
• 48:16
  Speaker 2: You know they wanted to get her. If there was
• 48:19
  Speaker 2: something there, they would have found it. Yeah.
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, once they got Donna, Donna was the one
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: they really wanted to get.
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: That was probably a personal thing, too. They really wanted Donna. Yeah.
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: Especially if they saw her at the airport.
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: Prosecutors do refer to Wendy as a conspirator, but... They can't.
• 48:39
  Speaker 2: They just don't have. They can't get anything on her.
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: No, but you know what? There had to have been conversations, obviously.
• 48:44
  Speaker 2: There had to have been, but there's no record of it.
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: There's no record of it. But, I mean, they knew
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: what time. They knew where he was going to be.
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: They knew he went to the gym. Where did that
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: information come from? They knew Wendy wasn't there. They knew
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: the boys weren't there. They knew what time he dropped
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: him off at preschool. They knew what time to do it.
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: I mean, that information had to come from the person
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: who knows his schedule.
• 49:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, it's not like the family would do it
• 49:05
  Speaker 2: without her knowing. Right. And without her involvement, as if
• 49:08
  Speaker 2: it was a gift for her.
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 49:09
  Speaker 2: And they were just going to surprise her and be like,
• 49:11
  Speaker 2: guess what?
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: Guess what we did?
• 49:12
  Speaker 2: He's dead.
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: Merry Christmas. Peck up. Dan's murder ultimately resulted in convictions
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: against Sigfredo. Garcia, Luis Rivera, Catherine Magbanwa, Charlie Adelson, and
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: Donna Adelson. Can you believe that? You've got one, two, three,
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: five people that went to prison for life.
• 49:33
  Speaker 2: And not her. Not Wendy.
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: And not Wendy. Five people in prison for life. For
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: the murder of Dan Markell.
• 49:39
  Speaker 2: For life. For life.
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: As they should be. They're all involved in it.
• 49:44
  Speaker 2: The dental community is better off for it.
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: The dental community is safer now.
• 49:48
  Speaker 2: Yes. Right. Can you imagine if like you have an
• 49:51
  Speaker 2: appointment to like have your braces removed or your filling
• 49:55
  Speaker 2: or whatever. And then when you go there, it's like
• 49:58
  Speaker 2: you find out the dentist was arrested and you're like, oh,
• 50:02
  Speaker 2: for what? Murder? Yeah. And you're like, what?
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 50:06
  Speaker 2: So he's not coming back.
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: What about my braces?
• 50:10
  Speaker 2: Did he leave a name? Where do I go? But
• 50:13
  Speaker 2: I mean, seriously, you're like, oh my gosh, this murder
• 50:15
  Speaker 2: was like.
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: You know, who else has not been convicted is the husband,
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: Donna's husband, Harvey. I would assume that Harvey, I don't know.
• 50:24
  Speaker 2: Harvey might be very pleased right now that Donna is
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: put away.
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: You think?
• 50:28
  Speaker 2: He might be. He might be like.
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: You know what it made me think of?
• 50:31
  Speaker 2: He might have been a victim himself.
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: I was like, you know what? I mean, maybe Harvey
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: was just clueless. Maybe he had no idea what was
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: going on. I mean, your dad's kind of clueless like that.
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: Your mom's the matriarch. She pretty much runs everything. So
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: I'm saying it is possible that maybe Harvey just didn't
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: know anything that was going on.
• 50:48
  Speaker 2: Probably not. He's probably better off for it. Yeah.
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: Harvey's living his best life now that Donna's in prison
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: for life. Thank you guys for listening till death do
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: us part. If you have any recommendations of cases for
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: till death, we would love to hear it. So please
• 51:02
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• 51:04
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• 51:08
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• 51:10
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• 51:13
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening.