This is Hidden Killers with Tony Bruske.

Here now, Tony Bruske.

There is a reason why so many people, even though, even those who've never heard of Dan Markell or the Aedlesons or anything about that case, feel something deep and visceral

when they see or hear Donna Adelson speak.

Why is that?

Why are so many people connected

in their collective angst

against this woman?

I got some ideas on that, and I think I know why.

It's not just about the crime. It's not just about the legal arguments or the evidence or even

the tragedy of a murdered father whose children were caught in the middle of a family feud turned fatal.

And I'm not minimizing that at all, but this video is not about that. It's about something else.

It's about Donna. And people like Donna. It's that look, that tone, that manipulative self-pity masquerading

as suffering. It's a particular brand of narcissism that millions of people recognize instantly

because they've lived it. The internet didn't unite in disgust at Donna Adelson because she was just another villain.

It united because she represented someone people had been gaslit by, guilt trip by, manipulated by, or psychologically gutted by.

And watching her finally get called out by reality too many felt like long overdue

justice not just for dan markell but for every person who's ever survived someone like her when you hear

donna speak in her jail calls in in her letters, her courtroom statements,

you can hear the language of narcissism in every syllable.

The tone is measured but cutting.

The phrase is centered on herself, even when the subject is murder.

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