Donna Adelson on Trial: Mastermind Or Losing Her Mind?
True Crime Today | Daily True Crime News & Interviews
Tony Brueski
4.2 • 612 Ratings
🗓️ 6 September 2025
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A grandmother. A custody battle. A cold-blooded killing. And now, a trial that could finally reveal who really orchestrated the murder of Dan Markel. In this comprehensive episode of Hidden Killers, Tony Brueski sits down with defense attorney and former prosecutor Eric Faddis to break down the most compelling elements of the case against Donna Adelson.
From the emotionally distant testimony of her own children… to the 44 paychecks she allegedly signed for a murder-for-hire intermediary… to a suspicious one-way ticket to Vietnam… this case is stacked with bizarre twists and damning behavior. But is it enough to convict?
Eric and Tony explore the strategies on both sides of the courtroom—how the prosecution is painting Donna as the mastermind, and how the defense is desperately trying to reframe her as a grandmother in over her head.
If you want to understand the psychology, the evidence, and the legal stakes of one of the most fascinating murder trials in recent memory, this is the episode that brings it all together.
Hashtags:
#DonnaAdelson #DanMarkel #MurderForHire #TrueCrimePodcast #HiddenKillers #TonyBrueski #EricFaddis #AdelsonTrial #MastermindOrMom #JusticeForDan
Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video?
Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod
X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod
Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | A Better Help ad. |
| 0:02.3 | Lewis Capaldi partnered with Better Help to get word out about how important therapy can be. |
| 0:07.6 | I struggle most weeks to get up, get myself up and ready and go to therapy or whatever. |
| 0:13.0 | Even like to open the laptop to talk to, my therapist sometimes could be really difficult. |
| 0:17.4 | But I do it because I realise how important it is for me to continue to feel |
| 0:21.3 | good. Because I felt the best I've felt in a long time through therapy. |
| 0:25.6 | Learn more about online therapy at betterhelp.com. |
| 0:29.5 | A better help ad. |
| 0:31.5 | Lewis Capaldi partnered with BetterHelp to get word out about how important therapy can be. |
| 0:36.8 | I struggle most weeks to get up, get myself up and ready and go to therapy or whatever. |
| 0:42.2 | Even like to open the laptop to talk to, my therapist sometimes could be really difficult. |
| 0:46.6 | But I do it because I realise how important it is for me to continue to feel good. |
| 0:51.0 | I felt the best I've felt in a long time through therapy. |
| 0:54.8 | Learn more about online therapy at betterhelp.com. |
| 0:58.9 | This is Hidden Killers with Tony Brewski. Here now, Tony Bruske. |
| 1:05.9 | Ah, Donna Adelson. There's so much to discuss in this case, and there's so many legal questions, |
| 1:12.5 | I think. A lot of us are starting to stack our list with because it's getting more dicey, |
| 1:18.7 | it's getting more questionable. It's getting more obvious the guilt of Donna Adelson, let's be |
| 1:22.9 | honest. But I want to start with something in this next conversation that I really think cuts through this first week and a half of testimony. |
| 1:33.5 | The family. |
| 1:35.3 | We've now seen Donna and her own children take the stand. |
| 1:40.3 | Robert came across blunt, detached, almost clinical in how he described his mother's control. Wendy, on the other hand, was evasive, giving jurors a steady diet of, I don't remember. Instead of showing family unity, it exposed a lot of cracks. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Tony Brueski, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Tony Brueski and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

