Were the Adelson's Framed in the Dan Markel Murder Case?

Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary

True Crime Today

True Crime, News, News Commentary

3 • 791 Ratings

🗓️ 3 February 2025

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Dan Markel murder case started as a tragic crime and spiraled into one of the most complex murder-for-hire investigations in modern legal history. What appeared to be a straightforward hit soon unraveled into a tangled web of family drama, money, and manipulation. At the center of it all is the powerful Adelson family—who allegedly conspired to have Markel killed to free their daughter, Wendi, from a bitter custody battle.
Now, years after the crime, shocking new testimony from behind bars threatens to rewrite the entire narrative. Donna Adelson, the family matriarch, claims that the real mastermind may not have been her son Charlie but rather someone much closer to the crime—someone who had their own reasons to keep the scheme going. Is she finally revealing the truth, or is this just a last-ditch effort to shift the blame?

From the moment Markel was ambushed in his driveway to the courtroom drama that saw multiple convictions and life sentences, this is the full, gripping story of a case that refuses to die. Every secret, every backroom deal, every wiretapped conversation—laid bare. With each new revelation, the truth becomes murkier, and the fight for justice continues.
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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a true crime in real-time update from True Crime Today and the Hidden Killers podcast.
0:06.9	All right, grab a drink.
0:08.2	Settle in, because this story is wild.
0:10.6	You know the Dan Markell murder-for-hire case, right?
0:13.8	The one with all the crazy twists, the family drama, the shocking arrests?
0:18.2	Well, just when you thought it couldn't get any messier, Donna Adelson,
0:22.3	yes, the matriarch of the whole thing, just threw a grenade into the mix with some surprise
0:27.0	testimony straight from her jail cell. And trust me, this is the kind of courtroom moment that
0:32.6	makes you sit up and go, wait, what? So, picture this. It's January 29th, 2025. Donna Adelson is in jail
0:42.5	dialing into a courtroom via Zoom. She's not exactly had a great year. Her son, Charlie Adelson,
0:48.3	was convicted in 2023 for his role in the 2014 hit on Florida State Law Professor Dan Markell.
0:55.8	Her former daughter-in-law, Wendy Adelson, had long been suspected of being the reason for the whole murder,
1:02.2	considering her nasty custody battle with Markell.
1:05.2	And Catherine Magbana, the alleged go-between for Charlie and the hitman,
1:09.9	has already been sitting in prison with a life sentence since 2022.
1:14.5	Donna, for her part, has always been kind of lurking in the background of this case,
1:19.3	always there, but never really in the spotlight until now.
1:23.2	Because, out of nowhere, she decides to drop this bombshell testimony about some very interesting
1:28.6	things she says she heard while in jail. Now let's pause for a second. Jailhouse testimony is always a
1:34.9	tricky thing. People behind bars aren't exactly known for their trustworthiness, and there's always the
1:40.7	chance that someone is talking just to get a deal, stir the pot, or mess with
1:44.9	someone else's case. But Donna swears up and down that what she's about to say is the missing
	...

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