Donna Adelson Trial: Katherine Magbanua Testifies Against Donna Adelson in Emotional Turn
True Crime Today | Daily True Crime News & Interviews
Tony Brueski
4.3 • 598 Ratings
🗓️ 26 August 2025
⏱️ 60 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The day ended with dramatic testimony from Katherine Magbanua, once accused of being the crucial link between the Adelson family and the hired killers. Now serving her own conviction in the case, Magbanua took the stand in the Trial of Donna Adelson and delivered a raw, emotional account of why she finally decided to tell the truth. “The truth needed to come out and the people responsible needed to be arrested,” she declared.
Magbanua admitted that she had lied in the past, protecting herself and others, but explained that after her conviction she saw no reason to keep the cover-up alive. Her testimony directly implicated Donna, describing how the family pulled strings and kept payments flowing to ensure silence. For jurors, this was the voice of someone once inside the conspiracy—now turning against its alleged mastermind.
Her words mattered not just for their content, but for their delivery. Magbanua’s emotional clarity carried the weight of lived experience. She was no longer denying, no longer dodging—she was naming Donna Adelson as the orchestrator. In a trial filled with theories and circumstantial evidence, Magbanua gave jurors something far more dangerous: a firsthand account of complicity, regret, and accusation.
#DonnaAdelsonTrial #KatherineMagbanua #DonnaAdelson #DanMarkel #TrueCrime #FloridaTrial #CourtroomDrama #AdelsonFamily #WitnessTestimony #JusticeForDan
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is continuing coverage in the trial of Donna Edelson from the Hidden Killers podcast and true crime today. |
| 0:07.0 | Now, back to the courtroom. |
| 0:10.0 | You're going to go ahead and see it for right now. |
| 0:25.6 | Please check if the jurors are ready. Carrier Quorum. Cariator Coram. Carav. Mr. President, |
| 1:15.8 | Please remain standing. |
| 1:17.1 | Anyone else can be seated? |
| 1:18.3 | Please raise your right hand to be sworn. |
| 1:22.4 | Do you swear or affirm the testimony |
| 1:24.5 | you will give today will be mature? |
| 1:26.5 | Yes, John. You may take your seat. |
| 1:28.3 | Please speak loudly and clearly for the jurors. |
| 1:31.3 | Yes. |
| 1:36.3 | Please say your name and spell your name. |
| 1:38.3 | Catherine Magbanua, K-A-T-H-E-R-I-N-E-M-A-G-B-A-N-U-A. Ms. Mayor B-A-A-N-U-A. Yes, ma'am. Are you serving a sentence? Yes, ma'am. For what? Life for what? For the murder of M. Rek-L-E-A-N-R-K-L. And did you have a trial before you received that sentence? Yes, ma'am. |
| 1:45.0 | Okay, and in that. And did you have a trial before you received that sentence? |
| 2:02.0 | Yes, ma'am. |
| 2:03.0 | Okay, and in that trial, did you testify in your own defense? |
| 2:06.8 | Yes, ma'am. |
| 2:07.6 | Okay, and in that testimony, did you testify that essentially we had it right about everyone else, |
| 2:14.9 | but you were in the dark, you weren't involved in any way? |
| 2:18.3 | Yes, ma'am. Okay. |
| 2:19.3 | And was that true? |
... |
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