Why It Took 11 Years To Bring Donna Adelson To Justice: The SHOCKING TRUTH REVEALED
True Crime Today | Daily True Crime News & Interviews
Tony Brueski
4.2 • 612 Ratings
🗓️ 26 August 2025
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The road to the Donna Adelson trial has been long — 11 years long. Dan Markel was murdered in 2014, and since then, we’ve seen every other player in the conspiracy convicted: the hitmen, the middlewoman Katherine Magbanua, and Donna’s son Charlie.
So why did it take more than a decade for Donna herself to finally face a jury? Prosecutors needed time. They had to lock down the other convictions, secure sworn testimony, and build the kind of airtight case you only get when every piece of the puzzle is in place.
And now, just as Donna faces trial, her defense tried a bold move: subpoenaing her own daughter, Wendi Adelson, to testify. Wendi’s lawyers fought back, and the judge quashed it. Wendi will not be forced to testify for her mother’s defense.
The symbolism here is powerful:
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Wendi refuses to take the stand for Donna.
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Charlie, already convicted, still wants to testify for his mother.
Defense attorney Bob Motta joins to break down the legal chess match behind this decision. What did Donna’s team hope to gain by forcing Wendi on the stand? Why did Wendi fight so hard to avoid it? And how will jurors interpret the fractured family dynamic that’s been dragged into the open before opening arguments even begin?
This trial is about more than evidence — it’s about loyalty, silence, and survival.
Subscribe for more in-depth coverage as the Adelson trial unfolds.
#DonnaAdelson #WendiAdelson #DanMarkel #TrueCrime #HiddenKillers #BobMotta #FamilyDrama #MurderTrial #Courtroom #Justice
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | A Better Help ad. |
| 0:02.3 | Lewis Capaldi partnered with Better Help to get word out about how important therapy can be. |
| 0:07.6 | I struggle most weeks to get up, get myself up and ready and go to therapy or whatever. |
| 0:13.0 | Even like to open the laptop to talk to, my therapist sometimes could be really difficult. |
| 0:17.4 | But I do it because I realise how important it is for me to continue to feel |
| 0:21.3 | good. Because I felt the best I've felt in a long time through therapy. |
| 0:25.6 | Learn more about online therapy at betterhelp.com. |
| 0:29.5 | A better help ad. |
| 0:31.5 | Lewis Capaldi partnered with BetterHelp to get word out about how important therapy can be. |
| 0:36.8 | 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. |
| 0:51.0 | I felt the best I've felt in a long time through therapy. |
| 0:54.8 | Learn more about online therapy at betterhelp.com. |
| 0:58.5 | This is Hidden Killers with Tony Bruske. Here now, Tony Bruske. |
| 1:04.6 | 11 years, that's how long it has taken to get Donna Edelson into a courtroom as a defendant. |
| 1:10.8 | Think about that. |
| 1:11.7 | Dan Markell was murdered in 2014. |
| 1:14.8 | And in the decade since, we've watched a slow motion dismantling of the conspiracy. |
| 1:21.0 | Prosecutors say tore his life apart. |
| 1:23.8 | The hitman, convicted. |
| 1:25.6 | Catherine McBonna. |
... |
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