Dan Markel’s legacy on the 10th anniversary of his death

Today marks 10 years since FSU law professor Dan Markel , a 41-year-old father of two young boys, died from wounds sustained in a ruthless paid hit.

Markel was shot twice in the head while pulling into his garage; one bullet smashed his cheekbone, and the other became lodged in his brain. He was taken to a local hospital, where he died the next day.

FILE – Dan Markel (Florida State University)

The murder mystery took years to unravel. At first, police had no clue who wanted to kill Markel. Students and colleagues adored him. He was beloved in his tight-knit community and very active in his synagogue; he had once considered becoming a rabbi.

Eventually, police discovered it was a murder-for-hire.

Markel was killed by hitmen hired by his ex-brother-in-law, wealthy South Florida periodontist Charlie Adelson . Adelson recruited his on-again, off-again girlfriend, Katherine Magbanua , to arrange for two men she knew to kill Markel.

She recruited Sigfredo Garcia (who shared two young children with Magbanua) and Luis Rivera to carry out the actual killing. Magbanua, Garcia and Rivera received upwards of $100K in cash and luxury goods for carrying out the hit.

At the time of his death, Markel was in a bitter custody battle with his ex-wife, Charlie Adelson’s younger sister Wendi Adelson .

Wendi wanted to move their 3 and 4-year-old sons to the Miami area (about 450 miles away) to be closer to her family. A court ruled against it.

It is believed that Charlie and Wendi’s mother, Donna Adelson , actually set the murder plot in motion. Prosecutors say she was desperate to have her daughter and grandsons near her, and by all accounts, her hatred of Markel bordered on obsession.

Wendi, who has an alibi, has not faced any charges in connection with the death of her ex-husband. She maintains she was unaware of Donna and Charlie’s plans.

THE DEFENDANTS

Eventually, the suspects all fell like dominoes. The cases were covered by Court TV; and they were convicted in the following order:

2016: Luis Rivera

Luis Rivera took a plea deal in 2019 in exchange for a 19-year prison sentence. He testified against Garcia and Magbanua.

2019: Sigfredo Garcia

The man who pulled the trigger was found guilty in 2019 . He is serving life in prison .

Katherine Magbanua testified against Charlie Adelson on Oct. 30, 2023. (Court TV)

2022: Katherine Magbanua

A mistrial was declared in 2019, but Magbanua was eventually found guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation to commit murder at her 2022 retrial .

2023: Charlie Adelson

Charlie Adelson was convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and solicitation to commit murder in 2023. He is currently serving a life sentence. He has been shuffled throughout a series of prisons because the Latin Kings gang allegedly put a hit on him.

L to R: Donna Adelson and Charlie Adelson. (Court TV)

MARKEL’S  LEGACY

Dan Markel’s father, Phil Markel , recently appeared on the podcast “Surviving the Survivor” to discuss his son’s life.

Dan, who’s native to Canada, went to Harvard for both undergrad and law school. He also earned degrees from Cambridge and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Markel also served as a law clerk and worked for a prestigious law firm in D.C. before academia reeled him in.

By all accounts, however, Markel’s proudest accomplishments were his sons, Benjamin and Lincoln. Former students have recalled that his office door and walls were covered with the kids’ artwork rather than the standard diplomas and other accolades. At his home, it was apparently impossible to miss the clothesline across the open floor plan that featured a constant rotation of the boys’ paintings and drawings.

Louis Baptiste, a former student of Markel’s, was also a guest on “Surviving the Survivor.” He said that the 10-year anniversary of Markel’s death gives him “chills” because he’s “thinking about the 10 years that were stolen…from Ruth [Markel’s mother ], from his boys, the memories they could’ve had…He cared more about being a father than a professor and in being a lawyer…More than the contributions he could have made to the legal community, a whole new generation of lawyers that he could’ve taught and helped shape, is the memories that were stolen from his boys.”

Benjamin and Lincoln, who are now 13 and 14, have been kept from their paternal grandparents. Phil told “Surviving the Survivor” hosts Joel Waldman and Karm Waldman that although he’s barely had any contact with the boys for seven years, the door will always be open.

“If the time comes when there is that possibility and I’m able and capable, I will open my arms and be there for them without question,” he said. “The love of these two boys is special, it’ll never disappear, and it’s just very, very sad that we are being kept out of their lives, and them out of our lives, and it’s just awful.”

Phil has five grandchildren in total. His daughter’s three kids live near him in Toronto, and he’d love to share the same kind of moments with Benjamin and Lincoln. Phil wishes he could have taught them how to ski, ride a bike, and play tennis like he did with the other three.

“When I say I’ve lost two grandchildren, at this moment, I feel I’ve lost them,” he said. “They’ve been basically — I don’t know what they know about the situation, I don’t know what they’re aware of. I don’t know how they feel about us. We — I don’t know anything, really, about them.”

Ruth and Phil Markel still hold out hope that Benjamin and Lincoln will one day be regular fixtures in their lives, but they also advocate for grandparents’ rights. In 2022, the “Markel Act” was signed into law in Florida, which protects grandparents from alienation. The law allows grandparents to seek visitation with their grandkids in very specific situations where a living parent can be criminally or civilly charged in the other parent’s death. The measure stemmed from the Markels’ concerns that if Wendi were to be arrested, the kids could be placed in foster care.

THE OTHER CHILDREN

Baptiste pointed out that, besides Markel’s boys, there are multiple children involved.

“Charlie has a young son, the killers have young children who didn’t commit horrible acts, but now have to live their lives,” he said. “One: With the guilt and shame based on acts that their parents committed — not them. And two: Having to live with the separation that is now created because of the prison sentence — that is deserved! To be very clear, it is deserved. But the ripple effects it creates for their children, who are still children, right? The defendants’ children are still people.”

WHAT’S NEXT?

Donna Adelson was taken into custody precisely one week after her son Charlie’s conviction. Ironically, she’s being held in a jail in Tallahassee—the city she so desperately wanted Wendi and her grandsons to leave. Donna is scheduled to face trial this September. She has a case management hearing on Monday, July 22.