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True Crime Today | Daily True Crime News & Interviews

Donna Adelson Trial: Wendi Adelson Testifies-Daughter Confronts Family Secrets

True Crime Today | Daily True Crime News & Interviews

Tony Brueski

News, News Commentary, True Crime

4.3 • 598 Ratings

🗓️ 25 August 2025

⏱️ 89 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Donna Adelson Trial: Wendi Adelson Testifies-Daughter Confronts Family Secrets
The courtroom turned tense today as Wendi Adelson, daughter of defendant Donna Adelson and ex-wife of slain professor Dan Markel, testified in front of the jury. Her words carried a unique weight—not just as a witness, but as someone who lived in the eye of the storm that prosecutors allege sparked this murder-for-hire plot.

Wendi walked jurors through the bitter divorce with Dan Markel, the custody battles that followed, and her family’s frustrations with being “trapped” in Tallahassee rather than moving back closer to her parents in South Florida. She acknowledged how often her mother, Donna, expressed resentment over the situation. The State leaned into this narrative, pressing the idea that Wendi’s testimony showed motive: her parents’ desperation to free her from Tallahassee by any means necessary.

Her testimony matters for a very different reason than the investigators’. While Jason Newlin laid out hard evidence, Wendi gave jurors insight into the family dynamic—what prosecutors suggest was the spark that ignited the alleged murder plot. The jury wasn’t just listening to a timeline; they were hearing about family pressures, frustrations, and conversations that prosecutors say reveal the motive behind Dan Markel’s killing.

There was also the tension of seeing a daughter testify while her mother sat just feet away at the defense table. Every word, every pause, every glance carried an emotional weight that can’t be captured in documents alone. Wendi’s testimony brings a human element to the trial that jurors won’t easily forget.

This is more than a courtroom witness—it’s a window into the Adelson family itself, a family prosecutors allege was willing to cross unthinkable lines.

#DonnaAdelson #WendiAdelson #DanMarkel #TrialCoverage #TrueCrimeCommunity #MurderForHire #CourtroomDrama #AdelsonTrial #FamilySecrets #FloridaJustice

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This is continuing coverage in the trial of Donna Adelson from the Hidden Killers podcast and true crime today. Now, back to the courtroom. Good morning. If you can just take your seat for right now, I will swear you in when the juror is in other round. Thank you. other.

0:43.3

I believe even though the jurors indicated they did not have to go to the bathroom at this point. If we are once again dealing with the needs of 14 people, they might be in the bathroom, so wait for the knock.

1:00.6

There's a lot. There's a balance.

1:00.8

Yeah. It's fun.

1:18.6

I believe that we have a few jurors that do need to use the restroom.

1:25.6

If anyone needs to stretch their legs or use the bathroom themselves, please take your opportunity now.

1:31.1

Once we start with a testimony, again, the door will remain closed if you exit.

1:39.4

Go ahead.

1:54.3

Before. Oh, before you leave the room, Ms. Fulford, once again, Ms. Adelson, I'm going,

1:59.6

this is Adelson, I'm going to reiterate the instruction that I gave to you last Friday concerning any reactions that you may have to either the testimony or the evidence in the case.

2:04.3

I understand this may be a distressing thing for your child to be offering testimony and your trial.

2:11.1

However, you are to control your expressions and your emotions. Do you understand those?

2:16.9

Everyone can take their break.

2:18.3

If you need to step down until it's time you testify, you may do so as well. Second session.

2:43.0

You can be seated.

2:46.0

Are they good?

2:48.0

Yep, we're gonna.

2:50.0

Yep, sorry to pop you down there, coming back in.

2:53.6

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. All right, all right, You can be seated. Please raise your hand to be sworn. Do you swear or affirm the testimony you will give today in this trial will be the truth?

3:49.6

You may be seated. Please adjust the microphone as you need to so you can be clearly heard.

3:55.6

Ms. Kaplan, you may examine.

3:59.3

Please state your name and spell your name.

...

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