Donna Adelson Trial-State Opens With Shocking Murder-for-Hire Claims Against Matriarch "Mastermind"
True Crime Today | Daily True Crime News & Interviews
Tony Brueski
4.2 • 612 Ratings
🗓️ 23 August 2025
⏱️ 71 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Dive into the opening statement in the Donna Adelson trial where the State paints a chilling portrait: a controlling, relentless matriarch who allegedly conspired to kill her ex–son‑in‑law, Dan Markel. In front of the jury, Assistant State Attorney Sarah Kathryn Dugan didn’t mince words—Donna, she said, was “part of a conspiracy to hire a hitman” in a plot rooted in a bitter custody battle and a longing to relocate her daughter and grandkids to South Florida.
Dugan walked jurors through the family's inner workings—from emails revealing Donna’s involvement, to allegations she “hated” Dan, to claims she managed details, payroll, and even payroll arrangements for Katherine Magbanua, the go‑between who connected the Adelsons to the hitmen.
She emphasized Donna’s dominance in the family: “She was extremely controlling… she ran the office, the home and the lives of the Adelson family members.” Wiretaps, coded phone calls, and financial records were promised to underscore the prosecution’s theory of motive and execution.
If you want the full strategy, emotion, and shadow of motive defined, this is your must-see moment.
#DonnaAdelsonTrial #ProsecutionOpening #MurderForHire #MatriarchMastermind #DanMarkelMurder #TrueCrimeCourtroom #CustodyBattle #FloridaTrial #WiretapEvidence #DonnaDidIt
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Transcript
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| 0:17.4 | But I do it because I realize how important it is for me to continue to feel good. |
| 0:21.8 | Because I felt the best I've felt in a long time through therapy. |
| 0:24.9 | Learn more about online therapy at betterhelp.com. |
| 0:28.7 | A better help ad. |
| 0:30.6 | Lewis Capaldi partnered with Better Help to get word out about how important therapy can be. |
| 0:36.6 | 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. |
| 0:51.2 | Because I felt the best I've felt in a long time through therapy. |
| 0:54.1 | Learn more about online therapy at betterhelp.com. to feel good because I felt the best I've felt in a long time through therapy. |
| 0:57.9 | Learn more about online therapy at betterhelp.com. |
| 1:02.2 | This is continuing coverage in the trial of Donna Edelson from the Hidden Killers podcast and True Crime Today. |
| 1:06.0 | Now, back to the courtroom. |
| 1:10.9 | Everyone can be seated. |
| 1:15.1 | Good morning, members of the jury. |
| 1:18.6 | Thank you. |
| 1:19.8 | Everyone recalled. |
| 1:21.5 | Good job. |
... |
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