meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
True Crime Today | Daily True Crime News & Interviews

How Donna & Harvey Adelson Rewrote Reality — And Believed It | FBI Behavioral Breakdown

True Crime Today | Daily True Crime News & Interviews

Tony Brueski

News, News Commentary, True Crime

4.2612 Ratings

🗓️ 20 October 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Even after years of recordings, evidence, and convictions — the Adelsons still say it’s all a lie.
 Why? Because when your identity is built on control, truth becomes negotiable.
 In this episode, Tony Brueski, Stacy Cole, and behavioral expert Robin Dreeke examine how cognitive dissonance, self-justification, and moral compartmentalization allowed the Adelsons to maintain their innocence narrative long after it collapsed. Donna’s defiance, Harvey’s “controlled rage,” and their total lack of empathy aren’t just arrogance — they’re survival mechanisms for people whose reality depends on never being wrong.
Robin breaks down how deception fatigue, emotional rigidity, and “narrative dominance” turn ordinary denial into a pathology — one that consumes entire families.
This isn’t just a breakdown of a courtroom moment. It’s a masterclass in how smart people convince themselves of the impossible.

#AdelsonTrial #HiddenKillers #RobinDreeke #FBI #TrueCrime #Psychology #Denial #CognitiveDissonance #DonnaAdelson #DanMarkel


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

This is Hidden Killers Live with Tony Bruske, Stacey Cole and Todd Michaels.

0:09.4

Well, we've determined that no one can get enough of the Aedelson family.

0:13.3

So it's all Aedelson all the time now here, but it kind of feels like that.

0:17.1

But there's just been so much to talk about in this last week.

0:21.5

And believe me,

0:28.4

I too am looking forward to other things going on in the ether of true crime. But it just keeps popping up. So we're going to talk about what we saw this week. Robin Drake is with us,

0:33.2

retired FBI special agent, former chief of the counterintelligence behavioral analysis program.

0:37.7

If you watched our live coverage the other day during the sentencing, you're in luck.

0:42.0

This is where we are going to talk about what we saw.

0:45.2

Now that we've had those moments to kind of sit back, let it sink in a little bit,

0:50.5

let it simmer, and let the trauma subside of that crazy, crazy sentencing. But before we get

1:02.6

to discussing what we saw the other day, the Markell family, Danny's parents, have released a statement.

1:11.2

And it's new, at least as far as I know it is.

1:15.4

I just saw it right before we jumped on the air here.

1:17.9

And this is in response to the sentencing.

1:22.4

It's specifically in response to Donna's performance,

1:26.5

let's call it what it is, and Harvey's performance as well.

1:31.5

Because they were calling them out. They were literally victim, they were shaming them.

1:38.2

They were disparaging them. They were calling them liars in court about their interactions with their grandchildren.

1:47.2

And they're going to clear it up in this letter. So let me go through this. And then we'll

1:54.1

talk about that on the other side. This is the letter. This is the words of the Markell family.

2:00.7

During sentencing, our family

...

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.