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Dateline NBC
Deadly Mischief
01:23:27
Dennis Murphy reports on the trial of 75-year-old Florida grandmother Donna Adelson, whose family is tied to an elaborate murder-for-hire plot in the death of her former son-in-law, Dan Markel.
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When work gets crazy i like to stop by the bar after have a few cold ones i don't drink at all until four o' clock we limit ourselves to one bottle of wine a night excessive drinking has a way of sneaking up on us a few drinks a few nights a week it can add up and suddenly we're at greater risk for long term problems like heart disease cancer and depression reason enough to rethink to drink more at rethinktodrink dot com no ha initiative netcredit is here to say yes to a personal loan or line of credit when other lenders say no apply in minutes and get a decision as soon as the same day loans offered by netcredit or lending partner banks and serviced by netcredit application subject to review and approval learn more at netcredit dot com partners netcredit credit to the people tonight on dateline they claimed that i this grandma was the mastermind behind the murder never in a million years would i have wanted danny to be harmed or killed a stunning new turn in a twisted family saga of murder and betrayal this seventy something year old woman who bakes banana bread and takes care of her grandchildren it's hard to embrace that she could commit such a heinous act her son charlie knew how to get it done he was donna's right hand the daughter wendy is at the center of this entire story i was not involved in any plot to kill danny the estranged son rob adelson who is the leader in the family who tends to run the show i think my mom a very powerful he had direct evidence to offer i am an innocent woman she's just being a parent not a killer she's a meddler not a murderer we the jury find the defendant first shock it's such a traumatic moment a dad gunned down in his garage a family turned toxic ten years of twists come down to a shattering moment in court i'm lester holt and this is stateline here's dennis murphy with deadly mischief wheel of martin for fifty years contestants have been spinning that wheel and trying to solve that puzzle it's a bit like trying to solve a crime each clue revealed brings a bigger picture into and that brings us to a certain contestant in nineteen eighty nine we now meet donna adelson from coral springs florida i want to hear all about you donna let's go well i'm a domestic coordinator a domestic coordinator back then donna did just great on wheel of fortune she solved the puzzle on wheel the idea of the game is to fill in the blank do you remember what hers was i remember it well donna f yes mischief maker mischief maker yeah that's it and oh what fatal mischief donna adelson would make don't here she is thirty four years later writhing in a police van under arrest and she's now become the wheel of misfortune if you will so exactly who is this seventy five year old grandmother depends who you ask she's a terrific human being believe it or not there is something purely evil inside that woman and just how did she find herself in a jumpsuit facing trial for murder please come up to the witness stand miss adelson donna in my mind is the architect i didn't do this tonight we bring you the latest chapter in this hair raising tale this is not justice it is vengeance misses adelson control yourself with brand new evidence she actually called me her jail daughter all the explosive testimony including the prosecution's newest star witness how do you know the defendant in this case donna adelson actually my mother but first we have to roll back the years to the summer of twenty fourteen in sunny tallahassee florida the opening scene of what i've come to think of as a shakespearean like drama a tale of bitter divorce dueling grandparents twisted family ties and the custody of two little boys that all started with one tragic and mysterious murder it's right next door to my house eleven am on july eighteenth a man heard gunshots from a neighboring garage and quickly called nine hundred and eleven he's inside the car is running and he's got blood all over his head he was dan markell a beloved and accomplished law professor at florida state university markell had just arrived home from the gym when he was shot twice in the head his car window smashed his eyeglasses broken his assailants apparently pulling away that car was backing up it was light colored white or silver i want to say it was a prius when dan's friends jared and heather ross first heard about a shooting in town they couldn't believe it then jared got word who the victim was i went into the bedroom and i kind of woke heather up i said it was danny and she kind of looked at me like what what and i said the shooting on trescott it was danny tallahassee authorities reached dan's parents ruth and phil markell that afternoon shot that doesn't make sense no who would ever want to shoot dan mark hill for me it was an out of body experience like i can't you know even don't even want to think about it in terms of that the moments were so horrific they quickly made their way to tallahassee but never did get to say goodbye dan markell died overnight in the hospital tough to talk about until now dan's friend josh berman got the call at home in new york i put the phone down i sat there on the bed with my head in my hands i was like you know speechless dan markell was just forty one a loving friend and father was now gone not to mention a brilliant legal mind our second speaker is dan markells a native canadian and harvard graduate he was a sought after speaker at legal conferences across the country including this appearance for the federalist society i guess i've been working in the in the realm of punishment theory for the last dozen years or so incredibly gregarious guy mark spotswood was a colleague of dan's at fsu law school what was his passion what drove him in the law his research focus and his passion was figuring out why we ought to punish people really digging into the philosophical justifications for punishment to think about how could we make better choices about sentencing his goal was to make the law school at fsu one of the top ten schools and that was part of danny's abilities he just met people he wanted to put people together back in two thousand four dan connected with a law student named wendy adelson on the jewish dating app j date they were like visibly lovey dovey wendy hailed from south florida from a family of well to do dentists what do you think the glue was mutually the attraction wendy's definitely a sharp cookie they had some overlapping interests but quite candidly they just seemed to be in love with each other the couple married in two thousand six and settled in tallahassee where they eventually had two sons dan loved the boys more than anything else in the world i think we all love being a parent but i don't know that i've ever seen anyone love being a father more than danny markell but after six years wendy and dan's relationship began to crack the day of reckoning came in september twenty twelve while dan was away traveling for work wendy packed up the kids and left divorce papers on the bed surprise news they're getting divorced huh yes it was it was a shock stephen webster was a divorce attorney for dan and became a friend as i understand it wendy adelson wanted to take the children with her and move closer to her family in south florida was that the question that was the initial question and family law court said you cannot do that if the children are here in a stable environment and the father can participate fully with the raising of the children the law prefers that and should that motion was denied wendy stayed in tallahassee with the boys as the court required eight hours away from her parents home in south florida her divorce from dan became final in twenty thirteen but the custody arrangement remained a sore point on both sides fifty fifty sharing arrangement with the kids yes absolutely and he availed himself of every second and quite frankly wanted some time that maybe she found offensive offensive enough to kill her ex husband now police were about to talk to wendy who would be remarkably forthcoming about their bitter divorce and a whole lot more danny didn't treat me very well setting the stage for a painstaking march toward justice that would rip apart two families i'm sitting there thinking these people are the ones that killed my son i was not involved in any plot to kill danny never in a million years would i have won wanted to eddie to be harmed i believe that the truth has a way of coming out the investigation into the death of florida law professor dan markell was just hours old when his ex wife wendy adelson first spoke to police there was a shooting your husband your ex husband excuse me daniel all right has been taken to the hospital he's not going to survive oh my god okay i'm sorry i'm a messenger this morning what happened well before we get into everything i have to establish where you were and who you were with and so forth okay through tears wendy told a detective she'd been at her home that day having her tv repaired five miles from the crime scene she didn't leave until noon okay oh my god and i tried to drive up triscott and i saw that it was blocked do you know anybody that would have a beef against your ex husband oh god i hate to ask it now but i have to do now you understand right he always meant well but he would sometimes rub people the wrong way okay but not anyone would do something like this oh my god my poor kids where's your closest family at my parents are in coral springs okay and my brother i have two brothers but i'm very close to one of them who is in fort lauderdale oh my god i can't believe this is happening after wendy got control of her emotions she phoned her mom donna mom i need you to sit down danny has been shot and i don't think he's gonna make it and i'm at the police station and i'm trying to help them figure out who may have done this her mom said she'd rush up to tallahassee to be with her love you too bye then wendy hung up my mom handled that pretty well tallahassee police took photos and swabbed her hands for gunshot residue none was found georgia kaplan is chief assistant state attorney in leon county florida and would review wendy's interview with law enforcement she told the truth about the status of their relationship that it wasn't a happy marriage in the end and it was a very bad divorce correct he's litigious so we have ongoing litigation where he i filed a motion in the court to have him pay me what he said he would it certainly was of interest to law enforcement that there was an ongoing nasty divorce and litigation concerning these children that's part of a classic recipe for homicides yep but detectives later checked out her alibi and confirmed that she could not have shot her ex husband now they wondered if someone she knew could be behind it danny didn't treat me very well i was so scared that maybe someone did this not because they hate danny but because they thought this was good somehow wendy told them she'd been seeing another man after the divorce jeffrey lacosse an associate professor of social work at fsu we've been dating since end of october we had like a fight at the end of june and it was weird i asked him to just no contact for a week just so i could kind of figure out whether i wanted to be with him or not when did you ask him that monday night after yoga just a few days before dan markell was gunned down in his garage wendy said she wanted to cool things off because jeff had become increasingly jealous is jeff a violent person no not at all no jeff i don't think so i mean he certainly could have a gun and i wouldn't know about it so the tallahassee police tracked down jeff lacoste who had a lot to say about wendy have you met wendy not personally very charismatic and very good at i mean once you date this girl you just do anything for i'm not the only man that's been under her thumb jason newlin is the chief investigator for the leon county state attorney's office and worked closely with the tallahassee police and the fbi on the case did you think lacoste was still head over heels for wendy oh definitely i think he would have loved another chance to police jeff lacoste seemed straight out of central casting the jilted boyfriend a man who made no secret of his dislike for dan and you've never had any kind of physical contact with danny no i'm surprised you guys didn't call me earlier though because i probably said it a hundred times in public that i like to kick his ass because he kept really making wendy suffer and things like that but no i would never i'm a professor and i'm a i didn't do anything like that and it turned out he didn't he was five hundred miles away when dan was shot so he's got an alibi that holds up he does he whoever's in the driveway is not him correct so who was in that driveway not wendy and not her ex boyfriend it was only day one of an investigation that would soon involve law enforcement agencies across the state of florida the detective's first mission find the car that neighbor saw driving away it's the date of the homicide and you can actually see the prius pull up to the atm netcredit is here to say yes to a personal loan or line of credit when other lenders say no apply in minutes and get a decision as soon as the same day loans offered by netcredit or lending partner banks and serviced by netcredit applications or subject to review and approval learn more at netcredit dot com partners netcredit credit to the people did you know thirty nine percent of teen drivers admit to texting while driving even scarier those who text are more likely to speed and run red lights shockingly ninety four percent know it's dangerous but do it anyway as a parent you can't always be in the car but you can stay connected to their safety with greenlight infinity's driving reports monitor their driving habits see if they're using their phone speeding and more these reports provide real data for meaningful conversations about safety plus with weekly updates you can track their progress over time help keep your teens safe sign up for greenlight infinity at greenlight dot com podcast a mochi moment from tara who writes for years all my doctor said was eat less and move more which never worked but you know what does the simple eating tips from my nutritionist at mochi and after losing over thirty pounds i can say you're not just another glp one source you're a life source thanks tara i'm mayra amit founder of mochi health to find your mochi moment visit joinmochi dot com mochi members have access to licensed physicians and nutritionists and are compensated for their stories results may vary dan markell's jewish faith had been deeply important to him and his memorial service at his tallahassee synagogue was packed with friends and family including wendy and her parents did you see wendy at the service i did she kind of came in in shock it was a really sad sad and harrowing scene then just days after the service wendy moved back to south florida with her two boys to be near her family up in tallahassee homicide detectives started following the best lead they had that possible getaway car a witness described it was light colored white or silver i want to say it was a prius detectives suspected that car may have been following dan that morning so they retraced his travels in search for clues so jason he's dropped the kids off at the preschool roughly what five minutes of nine something like that close to that and then he's he's driving right down this road to go to the gym that's when dan left this voicemail for wendy hey wendy it's danny good morning it's nine o' clock on friday i was hoping to pick the boys up early this afternoon and begin swimming cops found security video of dan as he arrived at the gym at nine thirteen am you could see him checking it we did see him scan his key card in then police checked security cameras outside the health club and hit a forensic home run what do you know there was a prius and it was following dan when he drove in at ten thirty four am dan leaves the gym when dan drives out of the parking lot the prius is twenty seconds behind him he leaves the parking lot here and is headed back towards his house at that point he is being hunted they're not going to let him out of their sights they're not over the next few months police gathered more video of that prius from cameras on local buses and spotted something else a sun pass toll tag on the prius windshield investigators suspected the car had traveled from out of town and it turned out that sun pass had dinged at toll sites on i seventy five between miami and tallahassee at times that fit the window of the shooting perfectly it was assigned to a actual business the sun pass business account came back to a small car rental agency in north the renter won luis rivera also on the paperwork cops found a cell phone number that led them to another man a close friend of rivera's and that's how you end up establishing siegfredo garcia siegfredo garcia and luis rivera two names already known to law enforcement both were from the miami area and had criminal records garcia had been arrested for robbery and burglary and rivera was a member of the latin king's gang a little more investigation turned up bank records and they were able to locate a withdrawal from a bank down in pembroke pines this is on the day of the murder the date of the homicide and you can see luis rivera driving and siegfriedo garcia sitting in the passenger seat there on the day of dan markel's murder were there two prime suspects together in a silver prius it was a perfect match for the vehicle seen stalking dan it had taken investigators nearly two years to put the puzzle pieces together and in the summer of twenty sixteen sigfredo garcia and luis rivera were arrested and charged with the murder of dan markell but it was anything but case closed it was not a random act that they came up here for him these guys garcia and rivera they didn't wake up one fine morning and say we got two options we can hang out on the beach and drink or we can go rent a car drive to tallahassee go murder some guy we never met point blank in his garage and then drive back i mean the police have called this a murder for hire and these guys didn't hire themselves investigators discovered that right after dan markell's death the two men went on a spending spree buying cars and motorcycles it seemed they'd come into major amounts of discretionary cash but where had it come from who was the paymaster with the money the malice and the desire to see dan markell dead detectives went back to their first theory could his ex wife wendy have been involved or maybe her family stephen epstein is an attorney and author of a book about the markell case extreme punishment steve what are some words that describe the relationship between these two families the son in law and the adelsons in the months leading up to the murder it was toxic definitely toxic how toxic did it get well wendy herself hinted at it in a seemingly offhand remark during her police interview my parents have more reason to dislike danny than almost anyone else he hurt their daughter and as they dug into the court documents from her divorce with dan investigators learned wendy had a forceful person in her corner her mother donna adelson in a series of emails she encouraged wendy to go low go fight dirty hi honey it's time for action let's show this f what will make him absolutely miserable but first donna told wendy the family was going to make dan a big money offer to back down investigator jason newland learned that even wendy's brother charlie was planning to kick in a few hundred thousand dollars there was communication between wendy and donna about just to offer him a million dollars to go away raise the kids in a certain way here's a million bucks yeah a million dollars to relocate the kids to south florida closer to grandma but the adelsons ultimately never did make that offer so had wendy's family done something else to make dan go away that seemed improbable given their circumstances her dad harvey was a prominent dentist who along with her mother donna ran the adelson dental institute in tamarack florida donna was very much the happy homemaker her kids were her main focus as she mentioned when she charmed the wheel of fortune audience in nineteen eighty nine i'm responsible for the activities classes and lessons of my son robert who was sixteen charlie who was twelve wendy who was ten when they grew up the oldest rob moved away and saw the family less and less donna made sure her middle child charlie remained closer to home my name is doctor charlie adelson and i am a periodontist he eventually joined the family business and had a lucrative implant practice what i love about what i do is being able to restore people's smiles doctor charlie was also a flashy figure around the miami area driving a ferrari with a license plate that read maestro dan markell's friend jared ross had grown up in south florida and knew the adelsons too he and charlie were in the same high school class he was really outgoing he was kind of a party guy you could tell he was loving that south florida lifestyle wendy was the baby of the family and investigators learned that charlie was her protective older brother in her police interview wendy talked about how her parents and brother rallied around her during the divorce my brother the one his name is charlie the one i'm really close to you he knew danny treated me badly and it was always this joke he said i you know i looked into hiring a hitman and it was cheaper to get you this tv so instead i got you this tv i mean he would never he's my big brother that story certainly got the prosecutor's attention according to wendy adelson it was suggested by the brother in the form of a joke but it's a very strange thing to say very in light of the circumstances wouldn't be any big deal if he was alive and well with us it was all very interesting this smoke gathering around wendy adelson and her family of dentists then word came from the leon county jail one of the state suspects wanted to talk because i asked him why are you going to wear kitty tight the two hitmen accused of killing dan markell sat in jail for months while tallahassee investigators kept trying to figure out who had hired them for the job then one of them decided to confess luis rivera pleaded guilty to second degree murder in exchange for a reduced sentence he told investigators that garcia said he had a contract to kill dan and needed the gangbanger's help i'm gonna kill this guy you're going to get paid this much thirty thirty five thousand dollars we're driving he showed me a picture of my kid the night before the murder rivera said they checked into a motel not far from dan markel's home friday morning went to markel's house followed him to the gym waited in the parking lot for a while so when he came out of the gym i followed him home garcia jumps out goes around the car shot him twice got in the car we left kid driving i mean it's as cold blooded a killing as you can get to drive all the way to tallahassee and pull up into someone's driveway that you don't know and just shoot him in cold blood and rivera offered an answer to the cop's biggest question what was the motive for dan markell's murder because i asked him why you want to kill this guy because the lady wants her two kids back she want full custody of them kids the lady who wanted full custody of the kids it sounded like he was talking about wendy adelson rivera went on to tell police that after his partner siegfredo garcia killed dan markell they quickly hit the road back to miami and garcia made a phone call he called her and he said everything is done make sure you have my money i'm on my way but the woman on the other end wasn't wendy it was garcia's romantic partner the mother of his children katie magbanowa and who was she she was employed at a couple dental practices she was employed at a bar at one point a modest income at best yet in a curious bit of timing katie's cash flow and south florida standard of living suddenly improved after dan markell was murdered in tallahassee her bank account for the end of twenty fourteen through twenty fifteen went from a minimal low income bank account to one hundred thousand dollars cycling through in less than a year but where did the money come from more digging turned up a tantalizing clue she was getting a paycheck from the adelsons four hundred bucks and changed correct was there any obvious work that she was doing there was no obvious work that law enforcement was able to uncover yet she's drawing a paycheck checks signed by none other than donna adelson wendy's mom but it turns out katie's connection to the adelsons ran a lot deeper than a few cash checks because she is the girlfriend or recent ex girlfriend of charlie adelson wendy adelson's brother so there's your you're heavy you're hit guys one of them has a girlfriend katie mcbonnawa who has also been a girlfriend of charlie adelson correct boy that's straddling two worlds investigators learn katie received more perks from the adelsons including alexis and some other upgrades we were informed at one point that charlie paid for half of her breast augmentation done by a guy known in south florida circles as doctor bubner doctor bubner yeah putting it all together investigators had formed a tidy theory that these two criminals gunned down dan markell in a hit set up by katie magbanowa and paid for by dan's angry in laws but a theory isn't evidence there's just no communication with anybody that we can find or that anybody will tell us that says the adelsons are involved investigators had been tapping the adelsons phones and decided to put a squeeze on the family they launched an undercover sting operation targeting donna adelson in police terms it's called a bump he's gonna be wearing green black and white top fbi agents knew donna was a doting grandma who frequently looked after wendy's two boys they surveilled her near her luxury high rise condo as she headed to pick up her grandson from school excuse me misses adelson how you doing just want to give you this he's an fbi agent and he is going to approach donna adelson on the street and imply that he is somehow affiliated with louis rivera and give her a piece of paper which contains an article about the homicide and written on the letter is five thousand dollars and a phone number don't be scared listen just want to let you know that we know that your family has been taking care of katie and the friends who's over for quite some time after your problem up north has resolved tuto is a nickname garcia used he says something to the effect of you're taking care of katie and garcia but you're not taking care of my boy he doesn't say the name but the implication is that it's rivera i want to let you know that my brother he's incarcerated he helped your family with this problem you guys had up north i do not know well this will explain she had the paper they're walking away donna walked home to her condo and immediately called charlie i got some paperwork hand delivered to me you're being sued no does it involve me or other people people well probably both of them what's that probably the two of us so you probably have a general idea what i'm talking about after that cryptic conversation with his mother charlie adelen called katie which of course is exactly what investigators were hoping for hello hey what's going on investigators believe they were inching closer to solving the puzzle of dan markell's murder after they staged that bump confronting donna adelson fbi agents were listening as charlie quickly called his one time girlfriend katie mcbonnawa the only known link between the hitmen and the adelsons i don't know what's going on but my mom she said that someone approached her on the street but something regarding her son something regarding his ex girlfriend and the person asking my mom for some money katie didn't say anything incriminating on that call but the fact that charlie called her told investigators they were on the right path law enforcement kept close tabs on katie charlie and donna adelson for weeks and found them in constant communication after the bump hello hey hey howdy how are you hey how are you everything okay the investigators kept hoping one of them would explicitly say they had planned markell's murder but the chatter was vague at times it seemed as though they were speaking in code good properties come up all the time i mean it's suspicious but it doesn't get us there if you're going to try somebody you want to make sure your evidence is as good as it possibly can be so the thought all along was go after the low hanging fruit first hope that more of the low hanging fruit individuals flip and turn state's evidence that was their hope for katie prosecutors thought they had enough evidence against her to pull the trigger so in october twenty sixteen she was arrested and charged with first degree murder but she didn't flip she pleaded not guilty and three years later went on trial prosecutor georgia kaplan laid out the evidence against katie and sigfredo garcia her alleged co conspirator and father of her children kathryn magbanowa was hired to solicit garcia who in turn solicited rivera to come to tallahassee and to exit mister markell in cold blood in a risky and dramatic move katie took the stand in her defense and she didn't give an inch did you have anything to do with the murder of dan markell no ma' am did you get the father of your children mister garcia to commit a murder on behalf of mister charlie adelson no ma' am her lawyer walked her through some of the state's most damning allegations including the charge that the adelsons had given her thousands of dollars katie said no she supported herself she said she worked as a bottle girl promoting liquor brands at bars and clubs and as she told it tips were good what was a good night for you at the club i can walk out of there with one thousand to one thousand five hundred dollars no blood money from the adelsons she said not even for that augmentation surgery charlie didn't pay for that how did you pay for your birth in funds from my cash tips all along the state had hoped katie would turn and reveal other figures as the real masterminds of the murder but she didn't still katie couldn't deny that she was intimately connected to charlie and the adelson family charlie's own sister came to court and provided evidence for that my name is wendy adelson wendy was given some immunity to testify her statements on the stand couldn't be used against her she told the jury she had never met the alleged hitman siegfredo garcia but she had met katie the state showed the jury this photo of the two of them on the beach together in june twenty fourteen just a month before dan's murder and do you know where the photo was taken i think that's south beach close to where your parents were living in the condo yes and did you say how you know she was dating my brother but the idea that katie was part of a conspiracy that involved her family wendy pleaded ignorance were you involved in any way in a plot to kill dan markell no do you have any knowledge of anyone being involved in a plot to kill your husband no the other adelsons charlie and parents donna and harvey were not to be found in the courtroom but the jury did hear from them in the evidence including that video from the bump and prosecutors had another recording they played the jury a bit of this video that's katie and charlie talking in a miami restaurant called dolce vital the video was grainy and the audio hard to hear but it showed the two in close contact after the bump and of course the state brought in one of the admitted conspirators to court as well luis rivera told the jury how he drove with sigfredo garcia from miami to tallahassee to shoot the law professor soon as pulled in garcia jumped off jumped out of the car and went around went to the driver's side and shot him he said he got paid thirty five thousand dollars who was responsible for getting the money i believe katie was it katie or not yes it was katie now it was up to the jurors they went off to deliberate on the charges against the alleged hitman and katie magbanowa after ten hours jury's in the courtroom they came back with a verdict state of florida versus siegfriedo garcia the defendant is guilty of first degree murder but what about katie that was a different story netcredit is here to say yes to a personal loan or line of credit when other lenders say no apply in minutes and get a decision as soon as the same day if approved applications are typically funded the next business day or sooner loans offered by netcredit or lending partner banks and serviced by netcredit applications subject to review and approval learn more at netcredit dot com net credit credit to the people did you know thirty nine percent of teen drivers admit to texting while driving even scarier those who text are more likely to speed and run red lights shockingly ninety four percent know it's dangerous but do it anyway as a parent you can't always be in the car but you can stay connected to their safety with greenlight infinity's driving reports monitor their driving habits see if they're using their phone speeding and more these reports provide real data for meaningful conversations about safety plus with weekly updates you can track their progress over time help keep your teens safe sign up for greenlight infinity at greenlight dot com podcast a mochi moment from mark who writes i just want to thank you for making glp one s affordable what would have been over one thousand dollars a month is just dollar ninety nine a month with mochi money shouldn't be a barrier to healthy weight three months in and i have smaller jeans and a bigger wallet you're the best thanks mark i'm mayra amit founder of mochi health to find your mochi moment visit joinmochi dot com mochi members have access to licensed physicians and nutritionists and are compensated for their stories results may vary a tallahassee jury had just rendered a guilty verdict for hitman siegfredo garcia in the murder of dan markell now dan's parents awaited the fate of the other accused co conspirator katie mcbonnawa it was quite tense for us i was very nervous but on the question of katie's guilt or innocence the jurors were deadlocked as to miss mcbanowa i will declare this case mistrust the mistrial experience was actually quite upsetting shocking and we had to pull ourselves together prosecutors believed katie was the central link in a chain of conspiracy to kill markell connecting the hitmen to charlie adelson and his family and they were determined to retry her so what's next for you then regroup and try to do it better next time as they regroup prosecutors kept the adelsons in their sights wendy was working as an immigration attorney in miami with her two boys not far from her parents and brother charlie preparing for katie's second trial prosecutors took that surveillance video of charlie and katie in a restaurant known as the dolce vita tape to an audio technician who'd once worked for the cia maybe he could make it easier to hear and he hit pay to earn the audio of their conversation is still low but easier to understand in the first enhanced clip charlie tells katie suggesting according to prosecutors that if he really feared arrest he'd be on a plane and in another moment later in the conversation charlie is wondering why the scary character in that fbi sting targeted his mom and not him is that the best evidence you have tying katie to this family it's the best evidence we have tying the adelsons yeah into this crime specifically charlie adelson the loyal son and wendy's protective big brother it had taken nearly eight years to get here but in april twenty twenty two fbi and police arrested charlie at his house in fort lauderdale the charges first degree murder conspiracy and solicitation of murder dan markell's friend josh berman how'd you hear charlie was busted they'd taken him down oh i probably got five texts at once and you know and you said what something profane like it's about time yeah yeah exactly charlie adelson was transferred from miami to the leon county jail and just a month later he got more bad news in her second trial katie was convicted and sentenced to life in prison though she continued to deny any involvement in a conspiracy the defendant is guilty of first degree murder so in october twenty twenty three the stage was set for the people versus charlie adelson dan's parents phil and ruth returned to tallahassee with the hope that prosecutors were closing in on the real masterminds behind their son's murder when you actually walk in a courtroom and you recognize the offender who he's from and the family that was a really different experience one of the state's first witnesses was wendy's ex boyfriend and one time potential suspect jeff lacoste you may take your seat he testified that charlie had bragged to him about having contacts in the criminal underworld he also told the jury an explosive story wendy confided in him that charlie had gone much further than merely joking about a tv being cheaper than a hitman in a very serious tone of voice told me that charlie had investigated all possible options to take care of the problem of danny markell including hiring a hitman so definitely not the to be confused with the tv joke no i'd heard that joke repeatedly this was something very different charlie's devoted parents donna and harvey didn't attend the trial they watched at a friend's beach house but his sister wendy did show up again testifying for the state under that limited immunity agreement still that wouldn't protect her from a withering direct examination your family had your ex husband killed to try to help you didn't they no that's completely untrue for a few hours it seemed like she was the one on trial were you involved in any way in the plot to kill your ex husband absolutely not did you know it was gonna happen but maybe not know the details i knew nothing did your brother ever mention hiring a hitman hitman to kill dan markell no but kaplan reminded wendy that she was the one who first told that story about charlie and a hitman on the day of the murder he knew danny treated me badly and it was always this joke you know i looked into hiring a hitman and it was cheaper to get you this tv while i was talking with law enforcement for six hours terrified out of my mind i offered them every possible idea i could come up with right and one of the one of the possible ideas was that your brother could have murdered your child's father i didn't really believe that was possible was part of the plot for you to be able to have plausible deniability about this absolutely not then katie mcbonnawa returned to the stand to testify against her one time boyfriend charlie this time as a witness for the state please raise your right hand katie had sat in this box and sworn under oath that she had nothing to do with the murder of dan markell but now she was testifying as a convicted killer serving a life sentence were you in the middle yes ma' am i was after years of denials katie finally admitted her involvement in the murder and not just hers who came up with the idea to kill dan markell charlie it was a seed planted in earnest nine months before with a simple question what was the question do you know anybody that can harm someone and did you know anybody that could harm someone yes ma' am i did who was that siegfredo katie says she convinced sigfredo garcia to commit the murder then charlie gave her specific instructions he had a manila envelope that was sealed he told me katie do not open it and basically relate you know give that paper to the other person did he express any concerns about fingerprints being on the envelope or the contents yes ma' am he said he wore a glove so that there's no fingerprints on it and what about licking the envelope and that he didn't lick the envelope katie testified that after the murder she went to charlie's house to get the payment and charlie had the money money packaged up for her stapled in stacks she also said her payment for the killing included those checks from the adelson institute signed by donna did you perform any job at the adelson institute no ma' am i did not author stephen epstein is this finally the unvarnished truth from katie mcmanua it's certainly a lot closer to the truth than what we heard from her before which was that she knew nothing but according to charlie's attorneys the real unvarnished truth about dan markle's murder was was something nobody not even the prosecutor sitting at the next table over had heard before on that day two crimes occurred the first one the state knows about the other one they don't know about but before we get there i like cliffhangers so do we and you won't believe the story you're about to hear from charlie adelson adelson himself but this was charlie basically saying this the whole time charlie adelson's ex girlfriend katie mcbonnawa was unswerving in her testimony against him but charlie's attorney dan rashbom says she did plenty of swerving in the years leading up to this appearance on the stand she's told more than two versions she's lied when she was arrested she's lied in the first trial she's lied in the second trial and then her story changes again when she's on the stand i told you i lied in my first and second trial to save myself just like you're lying here to save yourself right i'm not saving myself i'm telling the truth this time what happened after that was a high stakes gamble for the defense we called charlie adelson charlie adelson himself took the stand with a brand new version of events and this guy gets out of the car startling head spinning and totally out of the blue he claimed two crimes had been committed the murder of dan markell and the extortion of charlie adelson when you heard it you know this case so well what did you think my jaw dropped open did you cause the death of professor dan markell absolutely no charlie told the jury his own nightmare began the very day dan was murdered katie came over to his house that night and she was in a panic and she said listen this is all my fault i spoke in too much detail about your family's personal problems about your sister dan markell and the million dollar offer that would be the million dollars the adelsons talked about giving dan if he'd let his children move to south florida what did you say i'm like what are you talking about and she's like she's like my friend killed dan and he wants to be paid a third of a million dollars what happened next i stood up and i started cursing and i'm like what the are you kidding me and she's like no i'm like who did this who's your friend that did this and she's like i don't want to say i can't say and and i'm like katie i'm not going to be part of this like i'm not going to be part of paying for a murder this is insane and she's like look if you don't pay in forty eight hours they will kill you and i said katie i feel like i'm getting extorted now he testified he didn't have that much money but he did have one hundred thirty eight thousand in his safe she put it in her purse and she asked she goes how can you get the rest charlie said he couldn't ask his parents they'd go right to the police she asked me she said well can you pay like can you pay like three thousand dollars a month and i said yeah i can i can do that and while most killers don't agree to installment plans these guys apparently did then charlie testified that katie seemed to want to get in on the extortion money herself she asked for a cut of the three thousand dollars monthly payment and suggested he put it in a payroll check for her i said i'll do it for you no problem i mean i wanted to keep her happy charlie said his mother did the books for the dental practice so she set up the payments for katie to go through the company payroll and then she's like well what's katie gonna be doing and i go oh she's just gonna be helping me out with some stuff and different things as for the key evidence that newly improved video that helped pave the way for charlie's arrest he had an explanation for that too why didn't you specifically mention the word extortion in dolce vita i was being real careful when i spoke to katie i would never say the word extortion to her you've got a very complicated theory which addresses all the dots and t's that need to be crossed but what about the fact that these guys are strangers to dan markell i mean that doesn't seem to make sense we're going to kill this guy and then hope we get three hundred thousand but that's the same exact thing in the murder for hire theory too because the testimony is clear that they didn't get paid before the murder so they're doing a murder for hire according to the state with the hopes of getting paid later it doesn't make any sense outrageous as it all sounded to dan markell's family and friends charlie's detailed defense did make some of them nervous did you worry that he was going to find one juror to believe it oh yeah absolutely right but as you say if prosecutor georgia kaplan was worried she didn't show it in her cross examination she didn't even try to hide her disdain doctor have you ever heard the saying that the simplest explanation is always the most likely have you heard that i've heard that theory before yeah do you agree that the only problem with having an explanation for everything is that there's just so many explanations there's no explanation i explained what happened according to the prosecutor nothing charlie did was consistent with someone who was a victim of extortion she asked charlie about his cozy relationship with katie which continued even after all the danger he claimed she'd brought into his life what's the purpose of keeping katie happy was she gonna sic the latin kings on you if you made her unhappy she was protecting me i didn't know what would happen did you always offer that she could use your range rover anytime i said she could borrow the car sure did you pay for the breast augmentation no i did not pay for her boo job on the stand charlie seemed to have an explanation for everything do you think you can talk your way out of this no i don't i'm not part of a murder now the jurors would have to decide if charlie was a victim or part of a murder conspiracy as others wondered if anyone else from his family was involved netcredit is here to say yes to a personal loan or line of credit when other lenders say no apply in minutes and get a decision as soon as the same day loans offered by netcredit or lending partner banks and serviced by netcredit application subject to review and approval learn more at netcredit dot com partners netcredit credit to the people did you know thirty nine percent of teen drivers admit to texting while driving even scarier those who text are more likely to speed and run red lights shockingly ninety four percent know it's dangerous but do it anyway as a parent you can't always be in the car but you can stay connected to their safety with greenlight infinity's driving reports monitor their driving habits see if they're using their phone speeding and more these reports provide real data for meaningful conversations about safety plus with weekly updates you can track their progress over time help keep your teens safe sign up for greenlight infinity at greenlight dot com podcast emoji moment from tara who writes for years all my doctor said was eat less and move more which never worked but you know what does the simple eating tips from my nutritionist at mochi and after losing over thirty pounds i can say you're not just another glp one source you're a life source thanks tara i'm mayra amit founder of mochi health to find your mochi moment visit joinmochi dot com mochi members have access to licensed physicians and nutritionists and are compensated for their stories results may vary by the fall of twenty twenty three charlie adelson had transformed from suave miami bachelor to criminal defendant facing a life sentence all that remained was to hear from the group of jurors who were deliberating his fate so what are you thinking i mean you're out there in the gallery did you think you had it this time we knew we had a good chance we've already been around this stuff a little too long we're over nine years now so the deliberations are just a very very worrisome time everyone can be seated but word came much sooner than the markells anticipated the jurors had reached a decision definitely surprised at like the three hour mark has the jury reached a unanimous verdict yes you honor it had taken nearly a decade to bring charlie to trial but this jury's verdict was quick the defendant is guilty of first degree murder thousands were livestreaming the verdict including author stephen epstein i think charlie thought he was about to walk out of the courtroom of freeman three hours later he wasn't no and you could see his reaction it was a look of surprise of shock his head sank to the table and he mouthed one word no in the moment it's like feeling of relief almost celebration it's a good feeling because you were waiting for this to happen and yet you can't really celebrate because you have this stark awful moment of grief in your life that this is all about yes prosecutor georgia kapelman took a quick break victory lap then hinted that charlie's conviction was not the end of the conspiracy chain is this the last prosecution we're going to see in the dan martell murder or will there be others i don't know the answer to that question yet so stay tuned as capelman left the courthouse charlie adelson settled in behind bars and when they put him away there's a telephone there there is and who's at the other end of the line same person who's been at the other end of the line throughout his entire life his mama donna adelson i don't even know what to say there's nothing to say there's nothing to say charlie spent many hours on the phone with his mother donna and father harvey this is a free call from charlie an incarcerated individual at the leon county jail this call is not private hey hey charlie charlie how are you guys okay okay they commiserated over the verdict can't believe it's reality either we just can't believe this is what happened that there's no out of this you can't believe this donna was especially critical of the jury they didn't give you a chance they had their minds made up you don't walk out for three hours no trust me they didn't charlie said the trial played out like a particular tv show you know the one when they realized they were losing they had to turn it into dateline nobody watches dateline without coming away with their own thinking they figured it out one adelson was notably absent on those calls wendy on one call donna was talking to charlie then his side of the call dropped but for the next twenty five minutes she kept talking to her husband harvey and others in the room not knowing she was still being recorded she read them a text she said she sent to wendy after the verdict i wrote this last night we know you never ask anything about your brother but we just got off the phone with him and the first thing he asked was how's wendy holding up i didn't have the heart to tell him that you never called up or asked about him i just said we weren't up to phone calls right now everyone looks to protect you i bet you've got a lot to think about but then she didn't answer eventually wendy an experienced lawyer replied and donna read that message out loud too i'm not responsible in any way for charlie's situation i am not guilty because i did not do anything wrong and i was not involved in any way with danny's death donna seemed to realize she was losing her grip on her adult children i said to harvey i swear to god our family was cursed and donna had an urgent reason to get wendy back in the fold something she expressed on this same recording i have a space here i want to give her pose we're going to be gone i want her to have all this information gone where the conversation soon turned from complaints about the trial to plans for the future and they are just going back and forth and back and forth trying to figure out what do we do now and oh what a plan the mischief maker had hatched there's a lot of things that we have to do and we've got a very tight time frame donna and harvey adelson loved to go on extravagant vacations just seven months after dan's murder they traveled to australia and posed for these pictures including these shots tourists mugging for the camera as convicts at a melbourne jail but now their son charlie was in actual jail for murder and their lives had changed dramatically here's donna talking to charlie about another big trip she was planning we've been looking it up over and over because things change if there is extradition from vietnam because we've looked at all the places i mean i could go to korea and china but there's no extradition but we're looking for places where there's no extradition donna seemed to be planning to flee to a country that would not send her back to the us for any prosecution and she set it all on that monitored jailhouse line authorities learned donna and harvey had booked more one way tickets to vietnam the day after charlie's conviction when dan marel's friend jared later heard about it he believed it could mean only one thing jared a one way ticket one way ticket they planned this they knew that if charlie was convicted they were coming for her next and she wanted to one up them and get out before they could as donna and harvey made their way toward the plane tallahassee fbi agency agent pat sanford leading a team of officers some of them undercover pounced they're boarding the plane they believe they're about to make their great escape but pat sanford is there and literally sees the phone in donna's hand and grabs for it because he has a search warrant donna yanks it away from him as if she's got control and power and and the next thing you know she's got her hands behind her back cuffed and she's marching in the opposite direction off the jetway with a gaggle of officers surrounding her and harvey utterly helpless to do anything harvey was sent home without being charged when did they issue a warrant donna seen here sitting in the back of a police car was driven straight from the airport to a miami lockup through that door it's an event with a lot of exclamation points oh it's amazing where are we now they've gotten donna the mother and where does she fit in the grand scheme of things do you think donna in my mind is the architect in november twenty twenty three nine years after dan markell's murder donna adelson was transported up to the leon county jail in tallahassee writhing shaking and very far away from the high rise condo in south beach where she'd spent her life of luxury then she faced a judge how does she plead not guilty you honor as she sat in the leon county jail donna lamented that she wouldn't be able to see her two grandsons wendy's kids on their first day of school as she wrote in this email obtained exclusively by dateline it breaks my heart that i can't see them or even pictures of them on this special day if the state convicts me like they did to their uncle for a crime i had no part in i want them to remember all the fun things we did together i do not want them to visit me in prison if i don't get out then hopefully i die soon so that no one remembers me in prison garb behind bars with her trial approaching her attorneys argued donna should be released on bail at a bail hearing donna testified about the jailhouse condition i've gained more than a third of my body weight here the diet is all carbs no protein and we have had no exercise at all she said she felt unsafe and had even been assaulted by another inmate while she was brushing her teeth and what happened someone came up behind me and pulled my left hand away from the sink and twisted my arm and she said unless you want those pretty white teeth knocked out of your mouth you're gonna find me commissary so i said okay donna said she bought the woman some snacks at the commissary the jailhouse store and she eventually left her alone prosecutors objected to bail and pointed out that the jail conditions were not unusually high miss adelson has complained about the jail being too loud the food is not good but she is in jail it's not the four seasons what's more the state argued donna was an obvious flight risk given that one way ticket she'd booked for vietnam but donna had an explanation for that it was a vacation not an attempt to flee my husband and i literally shocked and tried traumatized at what had happened to charlie it was his idea he said sweetheart let's go just get away that wasn't enough to convince the judge donna would stay locked up come on up meanwhile charlie was transferred to the same jail in tallahassee so he could potentially testify in his mother's trial he was apparently having a hard time there too here he is berating a deputy for opening the cell door on his toe congratulations you open a hatch there's someone standing here barefoot you open a door into their toe excuse me that was really stupid bring your lieutenant over i'll tell him how stupid you are as charlie and his mother awaited her trial donna's defense team geared up for a fight she's just being a parent not a killer she's a meddler not a murderer netcredit is here to say yes because you're more than a credit score apply in minutes and get a decision as soon as the same day loans offered by netcredit or lending partner banks and service by netcredit applications subject to review and approval learn more at netcredit dot com partners netcredit credit to the people did you know thirty nine percent of teen drivers admit to texting while driving even scarier those who text are more likely to speed and run red lights shockingly ninety four percent know it's dangerous but do it anyway as a parent you can't always be in the car but you can stay connected to their safety with green lights infiniti's driving reports monitor their driving habits see if they're using their phone speeding and more these reports provide real data for meaningful conversations about safety plus with weekly updates you can track their progress over time help keep your teens safe sign up for greenlight infinity at greenlight dot com podcast hi we're emoji health your long term weight loss 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murder the stakes couldn't have been higher sitting in the pack gallery were phil and ruth markell across the aisle harvey adelson donna's husband sat alone i could not understand how he could sit there like stone faced he never had a reaction white to seventy five year old donna in glasses and wearing a simple cardigan looked every bit the grandmother her attorney jackie fulford praised her virtues she's kind caring loving she cares more about people than she does about herself you may take your seat the first defense witness was donna's best friend anne cunningham have you found her to be a hateful person never is she aggressive towards others never have you ever heard her threaten anyone never she told jurors that donna called her the day dan was killed sounding frantic almost hysterical she was very concerned and worried about wendy and the boys whether they were in danger okay because she did not know who had shot him john singer is an attorney and legal analyst who followed the trial that testimony was for the purposes of somehow connoting that donna wasn't involved that donna was shocked as everybody else was that she played no part in this she wasn't the orchestrator and after her son charlie's conviction the friend said she saw donna slide further into despair she was considering taking her own life echoing donna the friend testified that donna wasn't planning an escape to vietnam it was simply a vacation and she had a return date in mind in fact she told you she was coming back didn't she definitely and she was coming back without a doubt to go to what lincoln's bar mitzvah lincoln is wendy and dan's son his bar mitzvah was scheduled for january twenty twenty four just a few weeks after their vietnam flight donna had even picked out a dress for the occasion when she booked the ticket there was no warrant she was not doing anything wrong the defense conceded that donna was over involved in wendy's life and indeed wrote some nasty things about her son in law like in that email where she called him the f word and said she wanted to make his life miserable but they said that wasn't evidence of murder in all the evidence they have collected she can't help herself but run her mouth not a single email no phone calls that are recorded no written documents no emails not one single thing that said anything about wanting danny markell killed and her attorneys pushed back on the investigators theory of the crime that donna would orchestrate a murder because of the relocation of her grandsons they pointed out the fight over custody and relocation was in the rearview mirror settled and done by a judge relocation was done for over a year that's the motive there is not a single email that shows that my client donna adelson was continuing on a rampage about relocation do you swear or affirm the testimony you will give today in this trial will be the truth daughter wendy returned to the stand with her limited immunity agreement once again she denied any involvement in the scheme i was not involved in any plot to kill danny wendy offered more insight into dan and donna's relationship the week before he died your mother was babysitting for danny wasn't she yes and in fact she actually made him banana bread specifically the way he right it was his favorite without nuts but with chocolate chips that's right she babysat seven days before his murder so that's the story from the defense that donna isn't this diabolical she's not the ogre that you're all hearing about yes and she even baked dan his favorite herb banana bread and that shows they had a very cordial relationship even a week before he was killed charlie adelson was in a jail close by waiting to testify in his mother's trial but the defense never called him rather they focused on all of that surveillance evidence they argued that investigators tried repeatedly through those wiretaps in the fbi sting operation to get donna to blurt out anything incriminating but she never did her confusion during that fbi bump seemed genuine the defense played another tape this one recorded by donna herself she called back the undercover agent and again expressed complete ignorance everybody knows what's going on i don't you know you're saying everyone knows i know i lost my ex son in law i did not have anything to do with it it isn't me you have got the wrong person the defense insisted donna was innocent and in a surprising move told the jury that might not be true for two of donna's children there's not a single piece of evidence that connects my client to that murder charlie adelson yep potentially wendy adelson she's the one who said she hated him she's the one fighting with him in court donna adelson nothing instead they urged jurors to see donna for who she really was she's just being a parent not a killer she's a meddler not a murderer meanwhile prosecutors had been building their case against donna adelson and they were ready with powerful new evidence including a star witness ready to lift the curtain on the adelson family secrets how do you know the defendant in this case she's my mother after eleven years investigating dan markell's murder prosecutors believe they had the final pieces of the puzzle and they were about to reveal new evidence against donna adelson the family matriarch assistant state attorney sarah dugan who in dan markell's life would hate him enough to hire a professional killer donna adelson of course she was not the sweet granny who baked banana bread for her son in law the prosecution said she was angry bitter and vengeful over wendy and dan's divorce did your mom ever call dan markell any disparaging names around this time frame she did okay including piece of yes a narcissist yes a bully yes a bastard yes they introduced another email exchange with donna urging wendy to take bizarre steps to gain the upper hand in the custody fight she used a nickname for dan gibbers if you dress your kids up in hitler youth uniforms and brought them down here donna wrote it would show gibbers that he's not in control if your children are baptized it doesn't make them christian it's an act dan was devoutly jewish she wanted to put the kids in hitler youth uniforms as a way of infuriating and angering dan do you remember that prosecutors said donna never gave up trying to get wendy and her grandsons to move closer to her she referred to being in tallahassee that you were a hostage and a prisoner right yes she did but they argued there was another legal flashpoint far more explosive than the relocation issue prosecutors called it the grandma motion the kids had allegedly told dan that grandma says that you're stupid grandma says that she hates you and dan had had enough of that dan was so furious prosecutors said that he filed a motion to limit donna's contact with the boys a family court judge scheduled a hearing on that motion but dan didn't live to see it happen so you put that court date in the timeline it becomes more important it definitely does it was still looming and had not been adjudicated as of the date that the murder took place once the murder plot kicked into gear prosecutors said donna was doing her her part to see it through while she never directly communicated with the two hitmen investigators did find something that was crucial for the two men tailing dan her calendar book had dan markell's license plate number of his car in it in twenty fourteen and there would be no reason at that point two years post separation for her to have that other than to provide that information to the ultimate individuals who effectuated the hit once again prosecutors called the central link in the conspiracy chain katie mcmanowa katie described picking up the initial payment for the hit from charlie's house the night of the killing did you go to charlie adelson's house to get the money on the night of the shooting yes ma' am prosecutors suspected that money came from charlie's wealthy parents donna and harvey in court they showed the jury this text message from donna to her son charlie earlier that night just three words outside your house that's another very damaging piece of evidence that puts mom donna as the source of the money that's correct katie testified that the cash was bundled into stapled stacks and this was odd the money was damp tell me that his mom washed the money that she physically washed the money yes ma' am literally washed it ahead of time perhaps to erase any traces of fingerprints or whatever else could have been on the money and of course the state showed jurors all those checks donna had written out to katie checks that she signed herself and while it's true donna never said anything directly about the murder plot on those hours of wiretaps or recorded jailhouse calls prosecutors did play that call she made to charlie after the bump does it involve me or other people well probably don't what else argued the state could she be talking about besides the murder that is direct evidence if anyone in that jury room wants to acquit her make them tell you how that is not a confession prosecutors thought it was absurd even laughable that donna's defense called her trip to vietnam a vacation you're not flying to a non extradition country to come back in a couple of months to surrender and have your hands cuffed you're flying to a non extradition country with the hopes that you'll get to live the rest of your life there then a new face in the saga entered the courtroom i swear you may take your seat for the first time donna's eldest son rob adelson who'd been estranged from the family since dan's death took the stand who's the oldest child i am rob testified that he watched his mother assume the role of fixer in wendy's life and wendy letter did you observe that wendy played a bit of a damsel in distress in your opinion in the divorce yes i think that's a good way to describe it and he described his mother's odd behavior after dan was murdered and i said you know what do you guys think happened and she had said you know i don't know and i don't care it doesn't concern me was that out of character for her to not be curious and not be asking some questions yeah he told jurors how the fbi came to his home for an interview and this is what his mother told him and she had called me and said the police come around you know don't talk to him okay so she told you not to talk to law enforcement correct and i said i already did what did she say to that she said oh well you don't know anything anyway you don't know anything anyway which assumes that somebody does know something like donna yes the subtext of what she said is i know what happened and you don't when news broke that police had arrested the hitman rob spoke to his mother again so i said you know they arrested someone who killed danny you know there's no response and i said it you know at least two or three times and then her response was you know i've got to go and then did she hang up the phone after that yes and they never spoke again they never spoke again phil markell was grateful that at least one adelson was capable of standing up to donna i think the story was very very important took unbelievable guts the state said that even when she was behind bars donna adelson wasn't done making mischief please raise your right hand miss bernhardt this was one of donna's cellmates at the leon county jail drina brady bernhardt she actually called me her jail daughter and she and i got close drina had spent time in jail with katie mcbonnawa years prior when donna found that out drina said she tried to recruit her to create a cover story that katie mcbonnawa was the real mastermind and that she and charlie knew nothing about the plot the same extortion narrative charlie himself had loaded at his trial she wants drina bernhardt to tell this jury her jury that katie mcbanawa told her this is what happened and it was you will go into a trial someday and you'll tell him that katie admitted she lied and this double extortion crazy as it sounds actually happened yes the cellmate testified how donna even drafted this handwritten script spelling out exactly what she should say in court and suggested she memorize it cameras in the jail caught donna walking up to a table and writing it out in the cellmate's notebook obviously the recklessness of it the foolhardiness of it the thinking i'm not going to get caught because of it was insane what does she write in the script extort underlined it was a mic drop moment for the prosecution now one question remained would the meddling mother who had so much to say about her children's lives have anything to say to the jury this decision affects the rest of my life for nearly two weeks donna adelson sat at the defense table listening to prosecutors portray her her as the master architect of murder now it was up to donna would she take the stand and answer to any of it the conventional wisdom was that she was going to testify to try to save herself have you made a decision concerning this matter i haven't i'm not prepared to make that decision this decision affects the rest of my life i was hoping i would have some time to speak to my terms this has already been discussed what is your choice the judge is infuriated like you need to decide are you testifying and she's not able to make that decision five minutes later donna had her answer this time i don't want to test it now it was up to a jury to decide donna's fate and it didn't take long after three hours about as long as charlie's jury the jurors sent word they had reached a verdict the jury files back in donna she looks so nervous like she may pass out we the jury find the defendant is guilty of first degree murder misses adelen control yourself she is so upset and she starts breaks down starts crying the judge admonishes her but the funny part she didn't have a single tear rolling down her cheeks there is something purely evil inside that woman and the coldness of a person to be crying hysterically and not being able to shed a tear dan's murder has shattered our family and caused deep permanent pain right after the verdict the markell family was allowed to give victim impact statements my only short question to donna was it worth it i'd like to have an answer from her i don't think i'll ever get one deputies transferred donna in a wheelchair from the courthouse to her jail cell the matriarch once said to control everything was now a convicted felon have you arrived at a point of finding something that feels looks like justice whatever that may mean only if and when everybody involved is brought to justice i think i just feel kind of honored to be able to deliver this win for the markells another victory lap and once again the assembled reporters wanted to know was there more to come do we need to stay tuned stay tuned from the moment dan was killed his ex wife's role has been the source of endless speculation prosecutors have previously named wendy as an unindicted co conspirator in court documents she has never been charged with anything related to the plot the case against wendy is more difficult than the case against donna and charlie but there is enough circumstantial evidence there to infer that wendy took affirmative steps to help further the conspiracy legal analyst singer points to two key actions that could tie wendy to the conspiracy days before he was killed wendy sent a text to dan asking about his travel plans was she making sure he'd be home for the scheduled hit there was no reason for her to send that to dan markell unless it were to ensure that he was in fact going to be in town and hours after the shooting prosecutors argued wendy drove out of her way along dan's street and saw the police roadblock there was she checking to see if the murder actually to me the step back point comes back to the old latin phrase cui bono who benefited from this awful thing and you have to say the widow the wife wendy was the beneficiary she got exactly what she wanted she got the children right and does common sense tell you that her family with whom she is so incredibly close was going to have her ex husband the father of her children murdered without her knowledge or imprimatur wendy ever the careful attorney has said over and over again in court testimony and in her police interview that she had no involvement in the plot to kill her ex husband her attorney did not respond to our request for comment in october twenty twenty five donna returned to court for sentencing her husband harvey was there again to support her after years of silence the retired dentist finally spoke and was went after both the prosecution and the judge and i could not help but scream in my mind by the witnesses that were brought forward by the prosecution who told outright lies a biased judge and jury were influenced by years of one sided news pieces and social media thank you doctor miss fulford this has nothing to do with the character of the defendant the judge shut down the husband's rant harvey paused then continued this is not justice it is vengeance and it is wrong then it was donna's turn to address the court i had no knowledge that this horrible evil act was going to take place where is the evidence before july eighth eighteenth twenty fourteen at ten fifty in the morning before you continue misses abrarson you certainly can continue however the court can take into consideration the utter lack of remorse that you are displaying donna wasn't done with her denials not by a long shot never in a million years would i have wanted to any to be harmed or killed nor could i ever do something that would leave these two small boys to grow up without him i swear to you on my life i was not involved in any way with danny's murder i was not then the judge sentenced donna to life in prison without parole for ruth and phil markell donna's conviction has closed one chapter in this saga but it is not the end of the story their grandsons who have always been at the heart of the case are now both teenagers and live with their mother wendy i don't have that relationship with my grandchildren and of course i don't have it with my son either after dan's death wendy changed the boys last names from markell to adelson saying it was to protect their privacy the markells say that over the years wendy has restricted their contact with their two grandsons the last time that i actually saw the children i actually spoke to wendy and i asked her wouldn't it be nice if we can arrange for the boys you included to come to toronto let them see where their father grew up let them see where he's buried and she said that'll never happen never happen that's what she said to me we want to be a part of their life we want them to know how much love we have for them it's been more than a decade since dan markell was gunned down in his garage the brilliant law professor who spent his career studying punishment and justice became himself the victim of a murder plot that sent five people to prison but for those who knew him dan's legacy isn't defined by courtrooms or convictions it's defined by the people he loved the most his family he was such a phenomenal father i mean the best thing about danny everybody you know he's a scholar he's internationally acclaimed that all counts but the biggest biggest factor was the the kind of father that he was that's all for this edition of dateline and check out our talking dateline podcast dennis murphy and blaine alexander will go behind the scenes of tonight's episode available wednesday in the dateline feed wherever you get your podcasts we'll see you again next friday at nine eight central i'm lester holt for all of us at nbc news good night did you know thirty nine percent of teen drivers admit to texting while driving even scarier those who text are more likely to speed and run red lights shockingly ninety four percent know it's dangerous but do it anyway as a parent you can't always be in the car but you can stay connected to their safety with greenlight infinity's driving reports monitor their driving habits see if they're using their phone see if speeding and more these reports provide real data for meaningful conversations about safety plus with weekly updates you can track their progress over time help keep your teen safe sign up for greenlight infinity at greenlight dot com podcast.