TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Court TV) – The upcoming trial of Donna Adelson has the makings of a Shakespearean tragedy.
Think about it: A powerful matriarch fixates on the person she feels stands in the way of her family’s happiness, and sets in motion their death.
Donna Adelson was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami-Dade County on an out-of-county warrant. Her former son-in-law, Daniel Markel, was murdered in 2014. Adelson’s son, Charlie Adelson, was convicted of Markel’s murder last week. (Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation)
Lady MacBeth thought King Duncan was hindering her husband’s ascension to the throne, so she helped convince MacBeth to kill Duncan. Donna Adelson thought her former son-in-law, Dan Markel , was preventing her from being with her grandsons, so she allegedly plotted his murder.
MacBeth later ordered the slaying of Banquo, whose ghost appeared, symbolizing MacBeth’s guilty conscience. Donna Adelson made comments about Dan Markel haunting her from the grave .
Lady MacBeth’s guilt manifested itself in the form of nonexistent blood stains on her hands. Donna reportedly washed $138,000 in cash . As in, literally put stacks of dollar bills through the spin cycle before handing what is believed to have been blood money over to her son, Charlie Adelson , to give to the people who carried out the actual shooting.
READ MORE: FL v. Donna Adelson: Matriarch Mastermind Murder Trial
The Adelsons owned a lucrative dental practice in South Florida. They had millions in assets. Donna was reportedly so desperate to have her divorced daughter, Wendi Adelson, and young grandsons closer to her that she arranged to have Markel killed. Markel, a law professor at FSU, had shared custody of the boys and lived in Tallahassee, virtually tethering Wendi 500 miles north. Donna reportedly involved Charlie, a flashy periodontist who brought his ex-girlfriend, Katherine Magbanua , into the mix. Magbanua, in turn, arranged for hitmen Sigfredo Garcia and Luis Rivera to gun Markel down. Markel was shot in the head while pulling into his garage on July 18, 2014. He was declared dead the next day.
The alleged plot worked for almost a decade… until it didn’t.
The first person to be brought to justice for Markel’s murder was Luis Rivera, who pled guilty and accepted a plea deal. Rivera testified that he and Garcia, his lifelong friend, drove from Miami to Tallahassee to carry out the murder-for-hire. He told the jury that Garcia was the triggerman. Rivera, who was once a Latin Kings gang leader, took a plea deal in 2016 in which he was sentenced to 19 years in prison.
Up next were Garcia and Magbanua, who were tried jointly in 2019. Garcia was found guilty, while jurors were deadlocked on the charges against Magbanua. Garcia was sentenced to life in prison . At her 2022 retrial, Magbanua was found guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation to commit murder. She is currently serving a life sentence.
Charlie Adelson, left, was convicted in the 2014 murder of his former brother-in-law, Florida State University law professor Dan Markel, right.
Charlie was finally brought to justice in 2023, a Tallahassee jury having rejected his claims that he’d been extorted by Garcia and Rivera. Charlie, now 47, was sentenced to life without parole, and was shuffled throughout a slew of Florida prisons before landing in South Dakota for his own safety. He was relocated because the Latin Kings had reportedly put a hit out on him.
READ MORE: FL v. Adelson: Dentist Mastermind Murder Trial
Donna was apprehended at Miami International Airport on Nov. 13, 2024, exactly one week after Charlie’s conviction, while attempting to board a flight to Vietnam on a one-way ticket. She was transported to the Leon County Jail, where she’s been ever since. She is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and solicitation to commit murder. Donna invoked her right to a speedy trial , citing her wish to be home in time for the Jewish holidays, and jury selection is set to begin Sept. 17. The timeline all but dictates that Donna, now 74, will know her fate by early October.
Markel’s family will never truly get closure, but Dan Markel’s father, Phil Markel, summed the situation up succinctly when he spoke at Charlie’s sentencing , saying, “The wheels of justice turn very slowly, but so far, we are grateful they are still turning.”
This case has an exhaustive timeline as well as a long list of major players, so let’s break some of it down:
WHO’S WHO
DONNA ADELSON
(Court TV)
Defendant Donna Adelson is the fifth person to face charges in connection with the death of Dan Markel. Donna and her husband, Harvey, have three children. Donna managed the office of Harvey’s dental practice. The FBI first began to close in on Donna in the form of a sting operation known as a “bump.” Donna was approached back in 2016 by an undercover police officer who claimed to be representing Luis Rivera and demanded $5,000 on Rivera’s behalf. From there on in, police closely monitored Donna and Charlie, which included recording their conversations. Donna phoned Charlie right after the bump.
DAN MARKEL
(FSU)
Victim Dan Markel was married to Donna’s daughter, Wendi Adelson. Markel was born and raised in Canada, and went to Harvard for undergrad and law school. The couple settled in Tallahassee when Markel took a professor role at Florida State University. Dan and Wendi had two sons, Benjamin and Lincoln. The boys were still in preschool when they lost their father. Dan was a devout Jew who kept kosher. Upon Dan and Wendi’s divorce , the couple had shared custody of the kids. Wendi wanted to move down to Miami with the boys to be closer to her family, which wasn’t possible due to the custody arrangement. By most accounts, Donna began to hate Dan and that hatred bordered on obsession. E-mails between Donna and Wendi came out at Charlie’s trial in which Donna suggested tactics such as dressing the children in Nazi uniforms to make Dan angry. (It’s important to note that the Adelsons are Jewish, but Donna felt that Dan was a “religious zealot.” ) Comments that Donna made to the boys led Dan to petition the court to not allow Donna to be alone with them.
CHARLIE ADELSON
(Alicia Devine/Tallahassee Democrat via AP, Pool)
Before he became a ward of the court, Charlie Adelson was an oral surgeon who drove a Ferrari with a license plate that read: MAESTRO. Charlie wasn’t arrested until after the FBI got its hands on an enhanced recording of a 2016 conversation between Charlie and Magbanua that took place at a busy restaurant the day after the bump. Initially, the conversation was too garbled to hold up in court, but technology has since made it possible to isolate the voices of Charlie and Magbanua. The two were discussing how Charlie’s mother was being blackmailed. Charlie is expected to testify at Donna’s trial.
KATHERINE MAGBANUA
(Court TV)
Katherine Magbanua turned down an offer of immunity from prosecutors and elected to go to trial. She said that accepting a plea deal meant turning on Garcia, with whom she shared two children. Magbanua eventually cooperated with the prosecution and testified against Charlie at his murder trial. Magbanua told the jury that the Adelsons gave her large sums of money and luxury goods in exchange for arranging Markel’s murder. At one point, Magbanua said, she was given a bag of cash that was moldy , as if it had been washed. Magbanua appeared on the Adelsons’ payroll, even though she never worked at their dental offices. Magbanua’s “paychecks” were signed by Donna.
SIGFREDO GARCIA AND LUIS RIVERA
L to R: Sigfredo Garcia and Luis Rivera (Leon County Sheriff’s Office)
Garcia and Rivera drove from Miami to Tallahassee to carry out Dan’s killing in exchange for cash. On the morning of Dan’s death, they staked him out , following him to the gym and eventually to his driveway. Magbanua, who had two children with Garcia, was their link to the Adelsons.
WENDI ADELSON
(File)
Wendi Adelson is the only daughter and youngest child of Donna and Harvey Adelson. Wendi was a lawyer who taught at FSU, but not at the professor level as Dan did. Wendi changed Benjamin and Lincoln’s last name from Markel to Adelson after Dan’s death . Wendi was called as a witness at Charlie’s trial where she was questioned about a TV repair man who was scheduled to come to her house at the exact time of the murder. Prosecutors have suggested that the appointment was made to establish an alibi, and that “TV” was a code name which referenced the hit on Dan. Donna and Charlie could be heard saying “TV” in recorded phone calls, and Wendi admitted to police that Charlie had made a joke about buying Wendi a TV as a divorce present because it was cheaper than hiring a hitman. Wendi was also grilled on the stand about why she drove by the crime scene shortly after the murder, when she did not live nearby. She said her presence in the neighborhood was simply a coincidence because she needed to buy a bottle of Bulleit bourbon (pronounced: “bullet”) at the local liquor store. Wendi maintains she had nothing to do with Dan’s death and has never been charged.
HARVEY ADELSON
(File)
Harvey Adelson was attempting to board a plane with Donna at the time she was apprehended . Harvey has also never been charged in connection with Dan’s death, and whether or not he was involved remains unclear. Harvey and Donna married in 1971. Harvey was a very successful dentist prior to retirement.
JEFFREY LACASSE
(Court TV)
Jeffrey Lacasse dated Wendi after her divorce. Lacasse was brought in as a witness , testifying that Wendi told him that she and Charlie went for a celebratory dinner after Dan’s death. Wendi admitted to prosecutors that she threw up in the restaurant, right at the table during that dinner. Lacasse also testified that he suspected the Adelsons were attempting to frame him for the murder of Dan Markel.
ROB ADELSON
Rob Adelson, the now-estranged son of Donna and Harvey Adelson, is on the State’s witness list. He is currently a physician in New York State. He rarely speaks publicly about his family, but appeared as a guest on the podcast “ Over My Dead Body ,” where he provided some insight into the family.
RUTH AND PHIL MARKEL
(Alicia Devine/Tallahassee Democrat via AP, Pool)
Ruth and Phil Markel are Dan’s mother and father. Even though they live in the Toronto area, where Dan is buried, they established a Florida law known as the Markel Act , A bill stating that grandparents can petition the court for their right to visit their grandchildren in the event that the living parent is found to be responsible for the other parent’s death.
GEORGIA CAPPLEMAN
(File)
Assistant State Attorney Georgia Cappleman is representing the State of Florida in the case against Donna. She previously prosecuted Charlie , Magbanua, and Garcia. She also helped facilitate Rivera’s plea deal.
DAN RASHBAUM
(Court TV)
Dan Rashbaum has represented the Adelsons since 2016. He represented Charlie Adelson at his 2023 murder trial and was hired by Donna , whom he is currently representing.
TIMELINE OF EVENTS
July 31, 2013 – Wendi Adelson and Dan Markel’s divorce is finalized
May 15, 2014 – Court motion to prohibit Donna from having unsupervised visits with her grandchildren is continued. Markel died before a new hearing could be scheduled
July 15, 2014 – According to the Tallahassee Police Department, Garcia and Rivera rented the Prius connected to the murder in Miami
July 16, 2014 – Garcia and Rivera drive from Miami to Tallahassee. This information was obtained with the help of cell phone records, surveillance footage, city bus security cameras, and SunPass electronic toll collection data
July 17, 2014 – Garcia and Rivera roll into Tallahassee in the early morning hours, according to cell phone records
July 18, 2014 – Dan Markel is gunned down in his garage
July 19, 2014 – Dan Markel dies
July 24, 2014 – Dan Markel is laid to rest in York, Ontario, Canada
Sept. 16, 2014: Memorial service held at FSU for Markel following the start of the school year
April 19, 2016 – The Bump
April 20, 2016 – FBI records conversation between Charlie Adelson and Katherine Magbanua at Dolce Vita restaurant
May 25, 2016 – Sigfredo Garcia arrested on charges of first-degree murder in the death of Dan Markel as well as possession of cocaine
June 2, 2016 – Luis Rivera is named as a second suspect
Oct. 1, 2016 – Katherine Magbanua is arrested for first-degree murder
Oct. 4, 2016 – Luis Rivera enters guilty plea on second-degree murder charge, sentenced to 19 years in prison
Oct. 11, 2019 – Sigfredo Garcia convicted of first-degree murder, jury deadlocks on Magbanua
April 21, 2022 – Charlie Adelson is arrested and charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation of murder
May 16, 2022 – Katherine Magbanua’s retrial begins
May 27, 2022 – Magbanua is found guilty of murder, conspiracy and solicitation
June 24, 2022 – The Markel Act is signed into law
July 29, 2022: Magbanua is sentenced to life in prison
November 6, 2023 – Charlie Adelson is convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and solicitation of first-degree murder
November 13, 2023 – Donna Adelson is arrested at Miami International Airport while attempting to board a flight to Vietnam via Dubai
December 12, 2023 – Charlie Adelson is sentenced to life in prison on the first-degree murder conviction, plus an additional 30 years each for convictions on conspiracy and solicitation charges
September 17, 2024 – Jury selection in the case against Donna Adelson is set to begin
We have used evidence, witness testimony and legal reporting to report the facts of this case, however by law, Donna Adelson is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
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