Mark Sievers fights death sentence. Miami model accused of murder. Plus, John Wayne Gacy mini-series

Summary

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Dateline: True Crime Weekly

Episode Date: October 16, 2025
Host: Blaine Alexander (filling in for Andrea Canning)
Main Stories:

• Mark Sievers and his fight against a death penalty conviction
• Miami model Courtney Clenney accused of murdering her boyfriend
• Donna Adelson’s sentencing in the Dan Markel case
• The new John Wayne Gacy mini-series
• Updates on Ellen Greenberg and Kouri Richins cases

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Episode Overview

This week’s Dateline: True Crime Weekly dives deep into several high-profile cases, offering updates and insights from courtrooms around the country. Host Blaine Alexander covers the ongoing legal battle of Mark Sievers, recaps a toxic relationship that turned deadly in Miami, shares details from the emotional sentencing of Donna Adelson, and spotlights a new drama focusing on the often-overlooked victims of serial killer John Wayne Gacy. Expert correspondents and guests provide context, behind-the-scenes details, and thoughtful commentary throughout.

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1. Mark Sievers Fights Death Sentence in Florida

Segment starts at 01:40

Background and Case Recap

• Dr. Teresa Sievers, a prominent holistic physician, is found bludgeoned to death in her Bonita Springs, FL home in 2015.
• Her husband, Mark Sievers, was out of state at the time but quickly became the focus of police investigation.
• Mark was convicted in 2019 for orchestrating a murder-for-hire plot and sentenced to death.

Interrogation and Initial Reactions

• Mark's police interview was emotionally fraught: “In this interview room, he's crying, he's hitting him, he's scratching. She had so much to offer the world.”
  (Dennis Murphy, 04:31)
• Mark, distraught, says: “If I came back this wouldn't have happened.”
  (Dennis Murphy, 05:19)

Investigation Breakthroughs

• A call from Missouri links Mark’s longtime friend Wayne Wright to the case.
• Wayne is interrogated and ultimately confesses that Mark solicited him for the murder in exchange for a share of $5 million in insurance.

Defense and Appeal Issues

• Mark’s defense attempts to discredit Wayne as unreliable and possibly motivated by infatuation.

  “There were some text messages…like little pet names and things like that that just—it kind of struck me as this may have been a relationship that, you know, maybe Mr. Wright may have wanted something more out of the relationship.”
  (Blaine Alexander & Dennis Murphy, 08:54-09:16)

• Mark’s original lawyer was not “death certified,” leading to claims of ineffective counsel:

  “The lawyer at the time who argued the case, he was not death certified. So now they're saying maybe this is an appellate issue, that he was not qualified and should not have been in that courtroom.”
  (Dennis Murphy, 07:50)

Notable Evidence

• A post-trial letter from the alleged hitman, Jimmy Rogers, hints at Mark’s possible innocence:

  “Jimmy Rogers comes forward and he says to Mrs. S, you know, your poor boy has been wrongfully accused here. He had nothing to do with it.”
  (Dennis Murphy, 10:03)

Current Status

• An evidentiary hearing is underway to determine if Mark Sievers deserves a new trial due to counsel issues and previously withheld information.

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2. Miami Model Courtney Clenney Accused of Murder

Segment starts at 12:35

Case Overview

• On April 3, 2022, Christian Obumseli is fatally stabbed in a luxury Miami apartment; his girlfriend, influencer Courtney Clenney, claims self-defense.

Relationship History

• “This relationship is a classic example of...a toxic relationship. We have videos of the couple arguing, getting physical inside a living room. There's another video of them fighting inside some elevator in their building.”
  (Christian Colon, 13:33)
• Repeated domestic disturbances led the building to consider eviction.

Incident Details

• Clenney says she was attacked and threw a knife at Obumseli from 10 feet away.
• Medical examiner’s findings contest this: the 8-centimeter-deep wound could not be caused by a thrown knife from that distance.

  “According to court documents, Clenney was found with no injuries to prove her claim that she was the one that was attacked.”
  (Christian Colon, 15:47)

New Developments

• Defense is fighting to keep audio evidence (recorded by Obumseli of Clenney berating him) out of the trial.
• Motions are pending regarding bond and admissibility of other evidence.

Context

• “All this evidence gets put together. Prosecutors say, hey, this person has been toxic with the alleged victim in this case. It was clearly for them, second degree murder.”
  (Christian Colon, 16:19)

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3. Dateline Roundup

Segment starts at 19:38

Donna Adelson Sentenced in Dan Markel Murder Case

• Donna Adelson, 75, sentenced to life for orchestrating the murder of her former son-in-law, FSU law professor Dan Markel.
• Her husband, Harvey Adelson, delivers an emotional courtroom plea:

  “Donna did not participate in the heinous acts that she was convicted of doing. You are sending an innocent woman to prison. You have taken my wife and you have taken my life as well.”
  (Harvey Adelson, 20:42)

• Donna insists on her innocence:

  “If I had become aware of this plan before Danny was murdered, I would have stopped it.”
  (Donna Adelson, 21:36)

• The judge is unmoved—sentence is mandatory for first-degree murder.

Ellen Greenberg Case Update

• Philadelphia teacher Ellen Greenberg’s death again ruled a suicide after a second medical review, despite 23 stab wounds.

  “The distribution of wounds is admittedly unusual...however, she believes that many of the wounds are what she would call hesitation wounds.”
  (Dr. Lindsay Simon, summarized at 23:43)

Kouri Richins Homicide

• Utah mother and author Kouri Richins remains in jail awaiting trial for allegedly poisoning her husband with fentanyl in hopes of collecting life insurance payout.
• Defense accuses estate executor (husband’s sister) of paying prosecution witnesses; these payments were for expert witness testimony, according to her attorneys.

---

4. John Wayne Gacy Mini-Series: A Focus on the Victims

Segment starts at 25:17

Series Purpose and Unique Approach

• “Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy,” an NBC drama now streaming on Peacock, shifts the infamous story’s focus to victims, families, and detectives.
• Showrunner Patrick McManus:

  “I want to focus it on the police, I want to focus it on the lawyers, I want to focus on the victims families...I didn't come away from watching the documentary wanting to do it because at the end of the day, the documentary is very focused on John Wayne Gacy.”
  (Patrick McManus, 26:46)

• The series tells “short stories” about victims, without centering Gacy or their murders.

Acting Challenges

• Michael Chernis (Gacy):

  “There are really four Gacy’s: John the contractor, John the politician, John the clown. Then there’s the other guy. To have to embody John Gacy all the time just felt like maybe something I didn’t want to take on just for...mental health reason.”
  (Michael Chernis, 28:13-29:00)

• Gabriel Luna (Detective): Appreciated the chance to portray “the mundanity of heroism” and reflect the real burden carried by law enforcement.

Systemic Issues and Hope

• McManus notes the show spotlights both systemic failures and heroic efforts within Chicago PD:

  “So much of the show is also about the systemic failure of Chicago PD to actually have stopped him...But on the flip side...a group of detectives who were dedicated to ensuring that every last victim was found.”
  (Patrick McManus, 30:09)

• The team hopes the show might help identify still-unknown Gacy victims.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Dennis Murphy on early suspicions:

  “It's not just a rule on Dateline 101, it's also Law Enforcement 101, that the spouse is always suspect until he's not.” (03:58)

• On the emotional toll of the Gacy investigation:

  “One great hope of mine is that maybe through telling the story and just like shedding a different kind of light on it, that maybe we aid in putting a name to one or two or three of those boys that still are unknown their identities.”
  (Brad Davis, 31:14)

• Donna Adelson, denying guilt at sentencing:

  “But I had no knowledge that this horrible, evil act was going to take place. If I had become aware of this plan before Danny was murdered, I would have stopped it.”
  (21:36)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• Sievers Case: 01:40 – 10:25
• Clenney Case: 12:35 – 17:11
• Adelson, Greenberg, Richins Updates: 19:38 – 25:05
• John Wayne Gacy Series Interview: 25:17 – 31:29

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Conclusion

This episode of Dateline: True Crime Weekly provides thoughtful updates and expert discussion on high-profile crimes, legal drama, and their broader human impacts. The team goes beyond the headlines, with deep dives into courtroom strategy, emotional interviews, and a commitment to highlighting victims’ stories.

For extended interviews and related documentaries, listeners are directed to stream content and bonus material on Peacock.

---

Transcript

[Blaine Alexander]

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[Dennis Murphy]

911 has faced nearly every emergency on earth. ABC Thursdays. They will go where no first responders have gone before.

[Blaine Alexander]

Five everyday heroes were launched into space. All contact with the spacecraft was lost due to a sudden geomagnetic storm. Mission control, do you copy?

[Dennis Murphy]

911 All New Thursdays, 8, 7 Central on ABC and stream on Hulu. Good morning.

[Blaine Alexander]

Good morning. You're listening to dateline's morning meeting. They then put him under hypnosis that is also on video. Our editorial team is catching up on breaking crime news. If she was innocent, what would their motive be? Something to do with him being stabbed? Maybe he stabbed himself. It is in the hands of the jury. Welcome to Dateline True Crime Weekly. I'm Blaine Alexander filling in today for Andrea Canning. It's October 16th and here's what's on our docket. In Miami, the case of the model who said she fatally stabbed her boyfriend in self defense ramps up for trial. Prosecutors say it was murder.

[Christian Colon]

So when police walk in, they find Clenney just cradling her boyfriend. There's blood all around the room.

[Blaine Alexander]

In DATELINE Roundup, a medical examiner weighs in on the mysterious death of a Philadelphia teacher. And Donna Adelson, the Florida grandmother convicted of plotting the murder of her former son in law, speaks out at her sentencing. I had no knowledge that this horrible evil act was going to take place. Plus, a riveting new drama series about the victims of John Wayne Gacy. Andrea interviews the show's creator and cast. But before all that, we're heading to Florida where a man sentenced to death for murdering his wife, a doctor tries to convince a judge he got a raw deal 10 years ago in sunny Bonita Springs, Florida, Dr. Teresa Sievers was making a name for herself in the field of holistic medicine, appearing on local TV shows and speaking at public events. Getting you healthy is my passion. Being healthy is your choice. When the devoted doctor didn't show up for work on June 28, 2015. Her patients and her staff immediately knew something was wrong. Her husband Mark, who was out of town, asked a friend to check on her at their home. And what that friend found was a bloody crime scene.

[911 Operator]

911, what is your emergency?

[Dennis Murphy]

I'm at a friend's house and I.

[Blaine Alexander]

Came here to check on the flights and he's dead on the floor. Teresa had been bludgeoned to death. Investigators quickly zeroed in on a suspect, Teresa's husband, accusing him of hiring his best friend and another man to commit the crime. In December of 2019, a jury convicted Mark of murder and he was sentenced to death. This week, more than a decade after Teresa's death, Mark is once again standing before a judge. He says he's innocent and that his case needs a second look. There is a lot to cover here and there's nobody better to break it all down than my good friend Dennis Murphy, who has covered this case extensively for dateline. So, Dennis, thank you so much for being here today.

[Dennis Murphy]

Always a pleasure to be with you.

[Blaine Alexander]

Blaine Featherson, so let's start by talking about Dr. Sievers. She's this beloved doctor. Her husband was out of town at the time. How did he react to learning this tragic news?

[Dennis Murphy]

Well, it's not just a rule on Dateline 101, it's also Law Enforcement 101, that the spouse is always suspect until he's not. Now, Mark Seaver's alibi was that he was a three hour plane ride away. He was up in Connecticut visiting with family, so he couldn't have been in the house. But he flew back down that day and was soon in a police interview room where things got really interesting.

[Blaine Alexander]

Tell me more about that because I know that you have said that this was one of the more memorable interrogations on dateline.

[Dennis Murphy]

People say you never know how anyone's gonna react to a situation. But in this interview room, he's crying, he's hitting him, he's scratching. She had so much to offer the world.

[Blaine Alexander]

She was really. Everyone says this about their wife. Their kids are special. My kids are phenomenal. It should have been me. I should have been home. Well, she really is on track to change the world.

[Brad Davis]

Breathe, breathe with me.

[Blaine Alexander]

Slow me down. Life is so much better this time. And then the police leave the room, but they can still hear Mark talking on the recording, apparently to Teresa.

[Dennis Murphy]

Oh, my God, Theresa, what could I.

[Blaine Alexander]

Have done if I was with you? This wouldn't have happened.

[Dennis Murphy]

If I came back this Wouldn't have happened.

[Blaine Alexander]

And then afterwards, once he kind of calms down, what does he tell police?

[Dennis Murphy]

He gets into a conversation with the detective there and says, you know, we had a good marriage. We had a few fights, but everything was okay. And then he says, but we did have an open marriage, which caught the detective's interest. And that raised a whole problem for them because they said, you know, are we suddenly now looking for a jealous husband or boyfriend who's the perpetrator here?

[Blaine Alexander]

Before investigators could dive too deeply into Mark's relationships, though, they got this tip that came from far out of state, all the way in Missouri. What was that about?

[Dennis Murphy]

Police down in Fort Myers, Florida, Lee county, get a call out of the blue from somebody they don't know in Missouri, saying, well, you know, I have a friend named Wayne, and he wasn't around this week, and he has a very best friend named Mark Sievers. And I'm watching on the Nancy Grace show that this. This Mark Sievers has a wife who was just murdered. She starts to wonder what's going on. Does this friend Wayne have anything to do with. With a friend Mark who's got a murdered wife?

[Blaine Alexander]

So, of course, detectives set about finding Wayne. They bring him in for an interview.

[911 Operator]

And what do they learn?

[Dennis Murphy]

They learn that he's been a best friend of Mark Seaver since the ninth grade. They've been the best men at each other's weddings.

[Blaine Alexander]

And Dennis. After some time goes by, Wayne ends up making this stunning confession to investigators. And he tells them that Mark had asked him for his help to kill Teresa.

[Dennis Murphy]

The plot had been hatched a few weeks before, according to the authorities. Mark Seaver says to Wayne in a conversation, they're talking about, well, how's your marriage to the doctor going? He says, well, it's not that. Not that great. I think she's going to leave me. I'm worried about losing the kids. And by the way, there's more than $5 million of insurance money in play here. I can give you a piece of that, maybe $100,000 if you'll do the killing. So Wayne, the best friend of so many years, says, yes, I'll help you out, but first I'm going to hire this kid. I know Jimmy Rogers, and I'll have him along the way to do this thing. Now, Mark Seaver says he knows, he knows nothing about this, that Wayne is not a reliable person, and this is all coming out of his imagination.

[Blaine Alexander]

And that's really kind crux of the defense's case, right? That Wayne is lying about all of this and really tried to discredit Wayne as a. As a witness.

[Dennis Murphy]

Right.

[Blaine Alexander]

But in the end, obviously, the jury agreed with the prosecution and Mark was found guilty. So now, Dennis, more than 10 years after Teresa's murder, Mark is back in front of a judge for an evidentiary hearing on his claims that the trial was unfair and his original attorney was ineffective.

[Dennis Murphy]

That's right, Blaine. There's this issue known in. In legal circles as death certified. If you're going to argue a case in court, you need to be death cert. And the lawyer at the time who argued the case, he was not death certified. So now they're saying maybe this is an appellate issue, that he was not qualified and should not have been in that courtroom in the first place, Though the lawyer was on the stand and he said, everyone knew that I was not death certified.

[Blaine Alexander]

That was no secret. Okay. And he wanted you to represent him so much that he didn't mind that you were not death qualified. That's right. And the trial attorney went on to say that he did the best he could to represent Mark, but there was one more thing that he was questioned about. Right. Tell us about that.

[Dennis Murphy]

Here is a very curious thing about this, Blaine. When you look at the two of them, the two men, they look a lot alike. They're bald headed men that have the same kind of Van Gogh beard and they're creepily similar in manner. They brought the lawyer back on the stand and he said, it has been alleged on the edges of this thing that Wayne had an infatuation with Mark Sievers.

[Blaine Alexander]

Why did you believe that he was infatuated with Mr. Sievers? So there were some text messages, you know, like little pet names and things like that that just. It kind of struck me as this may have been a relationship that, you know, maybe Mr. Wright may have wanted something more out of the relationship.

[Dennis Murphy]

They did not bring that up at trial. And this is another one of the questions before the court is why didn't you use that information if you had it? And he said, I thought it would inflame the jury.

[Christian Colon]

You know, if there are people on.

[Blaine Alexander]

The jury who are homophobic, maybe they hold that against Mark.

[Christian Colon]

Maybe they judge Mark based on homophobia.

[Blaine Alexander]

And not on the facts and the law.

[Dennis Murphy]

Sievers has denied it, but it's one of the claims you're making of it would have been a more fair trial if they had aired these elements of the case.

[Blaine Alexander]

And we should say that Wayne denied having any sort of sexual relationship with Mark. When police questioned him about it. And Dennis, there's one more kind of hanging chad in all of this. It's this letter that has come out to Mark's mother from Jimmy Rogers, the alleged hitman. What was that about?

[Dennis Murphy]

Well, this is after the trial. Jimmy Rogers comes forward and he says to Mrs. S, you know, your poor boy has been wrongfully accused here. He had nothing to do with it. But there seems to be an effort this week to hear more about what Jimmy Rogers knew and what he said later on.

[Blaine Alexander]

This is going to be fascinating to watch. We'll certainly be following this. And thank you so much for being here to break it all down for us.

[Dennis Murphy]

Blaine, take care. So good to see you.

[Blaine Alexander]

Coming up, the case of the social media influencer accused of stabbing her boyfriend to death. She says she didn't know mean to kill him. 91 1, what is your emergency? Get off the field.

[Dennis Murphy]

911 has faced nearly every emergency on earth. ABC Thursdays. They will go where no first responders have gone before.

[Blaine Alexander]

Five everyday heroes were launched into space. All contact with the spacecraft was lost due to a sudden geomagnetic storm. Mission control, do you coughing 91 1.

[Dennis Murphy]

All new Thursdays, 8, 7 Central on ABC and stream on Hulu.

[911 Operator]

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[Blaine Alexander]

What happens when they don't?

[Dennis Murphy]

Based on a true story. Police looking for John Gacy.

[Blaine Alexander]

We discovered bodies by looks of it. The younger man, the things he did to those kids.

[Brad Davis]

He's sick.

[Blaine Alexander]

The system failed. These families.

[Dennis Murphy]

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[Blaine Alexander]

Do you know how many there are?

[Dennis Murphy]

Up to you to find out.

[Blaine Alexander]

On April 3, 2022, a luxury apartment in Miami became the Scene of an alleged murder. 27 year old Christian Obumseli died after his girlfriend Courtney Clenney fatally stabbed him. Clinney, a 25 year old Miami based model and social media influencer with more than 2 million followers and said that it was all in self defense. But detectives didn't believe her story. After a four month investigation, she was charged with second degree murder, pleaded not guilty and has been awaiting trial in jail ever since. This week there was a hearing as the case ramps up for trial. Christian Colon is a reporter at our NBC affiliate in Miami, wtvj. Christian, thanks so much for joining us today to get us up to speed on all of this.

[Christian Colon]

Thank you so much for having me.

[Blaine Alexander]

There is a lot to cover here and it's certainly been drawing a lot of interest from people. So just to start, kind of lay the groundwork for us, what can you tell us about the relationship between Courtney and her boyfriend Christian?

[Christian Colon]

Yeah, so this relationship is a classic example of what a toxic relationship. And we see that through the records. We have videos of the couple arguing, getting physical inside a living room. There's another video of them fighting inside some elevator in their building. They have multiple incidents of domestic violence where police were called to the scene. And police learn a lot from the building manager. In this case, that person told police that since they moved in in January, they had so many issues with the building, with the neighbors just complaining, noise complaints. They heard arguments. And according to the records, the building was actually getting ready to kick the couple out and try to evict them because of so many problems that the couple was having.

[Blaine Alexander]

Wow. So take us to April 3rd. According to the arrest warrant, the day started actually pretty peacefully. Right. They were playing with their dogs in the apartment and just kind of going about a normal day.

[Christian Colon]

It seems that they were having a normal day. But from what we've learned about this relationship is that it could quickly become violent. So their beautiful day turned into violence when they just started fighting. According to Clenny's version, her boyfriend grabbed her by the neck. He pushed her to the wall, then to the ground. Clenney is obviously from her version of the story. She's freaking out. She picks up the phone, she calls her mom. Christian didn't like the fact that she was calling her mom. So supposedly he became very aggressive. And that's when she just runs to the kitchen, she grabs a knife and then she claims that she threw the knife and it struck him in the chest. That claim has been kind of challenged by the state attorneys because she claims that she was about 10ft away when she threw the knife. So when police walk in, they find Clenney just cradling her boyfriend. There's blood all around the room. Christian, according to the medical examiner's report, had a wound that's about like 8 centimeters deep.

[Blaine Alexander]

And so, Christian, the medical examiner's report is really challenging Clenney's version of events. Right. Basically saying that if she threw it from that distance, then there's no way that the knife could have penetrated that deeply.

[Christian Colon]

Exactly.

[Blaine Alexander]

So that's Courtney Clenney's claim. What is it? Aside from that distance and the question of how it was able to penetrate so deeply, what was it that made investigators suspicious of that story?

[Christian Colon]

So the facts were there's a body, Clenney automatically that day she confessed that she did it. Right. So when it comes to the self defense claim, what prosecutors look for is whether or not the victim or the person that claims to be the victim was caught up in some sort of fight. According to court documents, Clenney was found with no injuries to prove her claim that she was the one that was attacked. So what also led up to her getting charged is the videos of them fighting in the elevators. There's audio recordings of her allegedly calling him a racial slur. So all this evidence gets put together and prosecutors say, hey, this person has been toxic with the alleged victim in this case. It was clearly for them, second degree murder.

[Blaine Alexander]

Okay, and now we are in the march up to the trial. Now this week, there was a hearing before the judge. Just tell us really quickly what that hearing was about.

[Christian Colon]

So right now there's a few pending motions in the Clenney trial. And one of the the motions is that Christian, he was supposedly illegally recording Clenney. And those recordings are the ones that we have seen now as quote, unquote, evidence of her toxic behavior. Defense attorneys don't want that evidence to be part of the trial. Another motion that's still pending is to reconsider bond. So defense attorneys say that new evidence has come in in the case and they want Clenney to get some sort of bond.

[Blaine Alexander]

A lot of twists and turns in all of this. Thank you so much for getting us up to speed.

[Christian Colon]

Yeah, thank you for having me.

[Blaine Alexander]

Up next, it's time for DATELINE roundup. The sentencing of Florida grandmother and convicted murderer Donna Adelson. Plus, you've heard of serial killer John Way Gacy, but what do you know about his victim? Andrea talks with the director and cast of Peacock's chilling new drama series, Devil in disguise. John Wayne Gacy. 91 1, what's your emergency? Got tornadoes coming right at us. Listen to the wind blow.

[Dennis Murphy]

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[Blaine Alexander]

A good thing going, a good job and two lovers.

[Dennis Murphy]

That is until this triangle got complicated.

[Blaine Alexander]

And somebody had to go.

[Dennis Murphy]

I'm Josh Mankiewicz and this is Deadly Engagement, an all new podcast from dateline.

[Blaine Alexander]

It's a story that's sure to keep.

[Dennis Murphy]

You guessing as lovers turn on each other in a desperate bid to avoid prison. All episodes are available now. To listen ad free, subscribe to DATELINE Premium on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Dateline premium.com.

[Blaine Alexander]

Foreign welcome back. Joining me for this week's roundup is DATELINE producer Brad Davis. Brad, thanks so much for joining us today.

[Brad Davis]

Glad to be here.

[Blaine Alexander]

So, Brad, we are starting this week with a case that you have been following now for years. We're Talking about the 2014 murder of Florida State law professor Dan Markel. This week, Donna Adelen, his 75 year old former mother in law, appeared in court for sentencing after she became the fifth person convicted in his murder back in September. And Brad, all of this was pretty dramatic.

[Brad Davis]

It really was. Don Adelson's husband, Harvey Adelson read a statement in court. We've not heard from him before. He's always really been Sort of in the background in the story in a way. He was at the airport when Donna got arrested. And we've heard Don and her son Charlie talking about him on some of the wiretap calls in this case. But we never really heard him speaking until now. So I was really curious what he would have to say. And it turns out, not surprisingly, he's really sticking by Donna.

[Blaine Alexander]

Donna did not participate in the heinous acts that she was convicted of doing. You are sending an innocent woman to prison. You have taken my wife and you.

[Dennis Murphy]

Have taken my life as well.

[Brad Davis]

And for what?

[Dennis Murphy]

This is not justice.

[Blaine Alexander]

It is vengeance and it is wrong.

[Brad Davis]

He gave an extremely forceful defense of his wife, saying she's innocent. And he went after the prosecutors saying they were spewing lies throughout the trial. He also blamed one sided media coverage for her conviction.

[Blaine Alexander]

We also heard from Donna, right? She had a chance to speak during the sentencing. What did she have to say?

[Brad Davis]

Yes, that's correct. She gave an emotional statement. She told the judge she was actually devastated when she found out her son in law was killed and insisted she had nothing to do with it. She claims she became a second victim in all of this and would never do anything to harm him.

[Blaine Alexander]

I had no idea that other people planned to cut Danny's life short. And the people who did this are exactly where they deserve to be. But I had no knowledge that this horrible, evil act was going to take place. If I had become aware of this plan before Danny was murdered, I would have stopped it. Gosh, it's certainly stunning to hear her say that. And I'm sure that there were strong reactions from people who, certainly from the Markell family who may have had their own thoughts about that. I'm curious, Brad, did any of this hold any sort of weight with the judge?

[Brad Davis]

No, it really didn't. Don Adelson's conviction comes with a mandatory sentence of life in prison. It's first degree murder. So after hearing all the statements, he still ended up handing down the same sentence. And Adelson has already been taken to jail and she's on her way to a Florida prison. They just put out a mug shot of her from the department of corrections there. She said that she has planned to appeal the ruling in the case and continues to work to prove her innocence.

[Blaine Alexander]

Next up, we are off to Philadelphia where there was news this week in the case of Ellen Greenberg, the 27 year old woman who was found dead in her apartment back in January of 2011. With more than 20 stab wounds, including 10 in the back and neck. So, Brad, just quickly bring us up to speed on this case.

[Brad Davis]

Right. So Ellen's manner of death has been a source of debate for years now. The medical examiner initially ruled the death a homicide, then a few months later changed it to suicide. Ellen's parents filed a civil suit against the city for emotional distress, which settled on the eve of trial when local officials promised to take a second look at the case.

[Blaine Alexander]

And that brings us to the news this week. What happened?

[Brad Davis]

Once again, the Philadelphia medical examiner's office ruled Ellen Greenberg's death is best classified as a suicide.

[Blaine Alexander]

Did the medical examiner's office give any explanation for how they came up with this manner of death, a suicide?

[Brad Davis]

They did. Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Lindsay Simon said in her report that a key factor in her decision was Greenberg's previous struggles with anxiety.

[Blaine Alexander]

Now, one of the sticking points, Brad, is that she was found to have been stabbed 23 times. How did the medical examiner explain that?

[Brad Davis]

Dr. Simon does acknowledge this in her report. She says, quote, the distribution of wounds is admittedly unusual. She says, however, she believes that many of the wounds are what she would call hesitation wounds. And she added, there was no one else's DNA on the knife or any evidence of anyone being in the apartment at the time of Ellen's death.

[Blaine Alexander]

So what comes next in this case?

[Brad Davis]

That remains unclear. Police may not reopen the investigation if suicide is the official cause of death. So the case is really at an impasse, it seems, at this point.

[Blaine Alexander]

And finally, a quick update out of Utah, where Corey Richards, the mom of three who wrote a children's book about grief before being arrested for her husband Eric's murder, is still in jail awaiting trial. Prosecutors say Corey slipped a lethal dose of fentanyl into Eric's Moscow mule back in 2022, hoping to cash in on life insurance policies. She has pleaded not guilty to charges including aggravated murder. So, Brad, what's the latest in this case?

[Brad Davis]

So Corey's defense team is asking a judge to compel the handover of financial records from her husband's estate. Richen's defense has accused Eric's sister, who is the executor of his estate, of withholding documents that show she's been paying prosecution witnesses for their testimony.

[Blaine Alexander]

So has anyone responded to this allegation? Brad?

[Brad Davis]

Attorneys for the sister in law have admitted that the estate did pay two witnesses, but they were expert witnesses, they say, and these communications should be protected by privilege.

[Blaine Alexander]

We can expect to hear a lot more about this in the coming months as we await the start of her murder. Trial early next year. Brad, thanks so much for joining us on Roundup this week. We really appreciate it.

[Brad Davis]

You bet.

[Blaine Alexander]

For our final story this week, we are going back in time to December of 1978 and the gruesome discovery of 33 murdered young men and boys in a Chicago suburb. Four of them had been dumped in a river. The rest of them had been buried on the property of a local businessman by the name of John Wayne Gacy. Gacy, considered one of the nation's most prolific serial killers, has been the subject of countless films and documentaries over the years. But according to the creative team behind a new eight part drama series, Devil in John Wayne Gacy, there's a side of the Gacy story that hasn't been told before. The story of Gacy's victims, the victim's families and the detectives who made it a mission to identify them them and bring them home. The detective said missing kids usually come home. What happens when they don't? Starting this week, the series, produced by NBC News Studios, will be available to watch on Peacock, the streaming channel owned by our parent company, NBC Universal. Andrea Canning recently sat down with the show's creator, Patrick McManus, along with actors Michael Chernis, who plays Gacy, and Gabriel Luna, who plays the lead detective on the case, to talk about why it was so important to them to tell the victim's stories. Take a listen. So, Patrick, let me start with you. Why did you decide to do this show and shape it the way that you did?

[Patrick McManus]

The story that I keep telling everyone is just the true story, which is that I turned it down twice.

[Blaine Alexander]

Really? Yeah.

[Patrick McManus]

I did not want to do it. And Universal Content and Peacock, they came to me a third time and they had said, will you just take a look at the documentary? And I said, okay. And I watched the documentary that is on Peacock. It's brilliant. The documentary is really, really amazing. But I didn't come away from watching the documentary wanting to do it it because at the end of the day, the documentary is very focused on John Wayne Gacy. And so I said to them, I said, look, if you will let me do it my way. And I didn't mean it in an obnoxious way. I just meant that I want to focus it on the police, I want to focus it on the lawyers, I want to focus on the victims families. And to their credit, they said yes, but I didn't know what I meant about focusing on the victims until we got into the writers room and we figured out this idea of doing the short stories, which is Our attempt to be able to actually tell the victim's stories, but with absolutely no connection to John Wayne Gacy or their murder.

[Blaine Alexander]

You know, not to take away the creep factor and the spook factor, because it's all there, you know, the scary parts. But I think it makes it more digestible, focusing on that.

[Brad Davis]

We really hope that the word gets out to folks who maybe wouldn't be interested in a show about a serial killer that this is an alternative sort of take on that story.

[Blaine Alexander]

Why did you decide to play games? And you played him so well. Sometimes he's creepy. Sometimes he's like the guy next door. Sometimes he's funny. There's so many faces to him.

[Dennis Murphy]

There are.

[Brad Davis]

And that was, in my opinion, very true of the actual man. And so I knew that the role would be a real challenge in that regard. There's really four Gacy's. John the contractor, John the politician, John the clown. Then there's the other guy. I had this great initial meeting with Patrick. He told me that there would be no murders on camera, that we were focusing on the victims. And he said to me, like, I hope you're okay with. You're not gonna be in it all the time. And I was like, thank God. That's such a relief. Cause, like, to have to embody John Gacy all the time just felt like maybe something I didn't want to take on just for, like, personal mental health reason.

[Blaine Alexander]

You've been told that you look like him.

[Brad Davis]

Is that here and there? People would say that, and, you know, it's not the highest compliment, but, yeah, you know, people would say, like, well, you look like that killer clown. You should see if someone write a show or a film for you. And so it was always kind of in the back of my mind, yeah.

[Blaine Alexander]

Gabriel, you get to play the lead detective. Yes, yes, I was.

[Dennis Murphy]

I was privileged to play Detective Raphael.

[Brad Davis]

Tovar, the lead investigator on the case.

[Dennis Murphy]

Police looking for John Gacy. Kids missing reported last scene with you.

[Blaine Alexander]

What did you take away as the most interesting part of your character? I think for me, personally, I had.

[Dennis Murphy]

Played a lot of invulnerable characters.

[Blaine Alexander]

I mean, maybe physically invulnerable in that.

[Dennis Murphy]

They were, you know, robotic killing machines or superheroes with flaming skulls. And what I loved about this part was just the mundanity of his heroism.

[Blaine Alexander]

And you really captured the weight that the detectives carry with these cases.

[Patrick McManus]

Well, yeah, but it's an interesting aspect of the show because so much of the show is also about the systemic failure of Chicago PD to actually have stopped him, had multiple opportunities to stop him. But on the flip side of that coin are a group of detectives who were in that pit every single day, who, who had their lives upended. And they were dedicated to ensuring that, that every last victim was found. And, and where we got really the inspiration for Tovar's entire journey through the season was from a statement that he made where he said to this day he's still haunted by the idea that he didn't find everyone.

[Brad Davis]

You know, there are still unidentified victims. And one great hope of mine is that maybe through telling the story and just like shedding a different kind of light on it, that maybe we aid in putting a name to one or two or three of those boys that still are unknown their identities.

[Blaine Alexander]

That would be, be amazing if something like that could come out of this. Absolutely.

[Patrick McManus]

Yeah.

[Blaine Alexander]

Yeah. Well, it has been a pleasure talking to all of you and congratulations on this. Really. Just, I can't say enough good things.

[Dennis Murphy]

Thank you.

[Patrick McManus]

Thank you so, so much for taking the time.

[Blaine Alexander]

If you want to listen to more of Andrea's conversation with the team behind Devil in Disguise, we'll be dropping that in the Dateline feed on Monday. And all episodes of the drama itself are available to stream on Peacock right now. And if you'd like to dig even deeper, you can check out the documentary from NBC News Studios, also on Peacock. And that's it for this episode of Dateline True Crime Weekly. Coming up this Friday on Dateline, I've got a brand new episode for you about a determined daughter who set out on a decades long quest to find her mother's killer. He's talked to me straight in my eyes like nothing was wrong. And he was comforting you.

[Christian Colon]

Yes.

[911 Operator]

And he is the one who did it.

[Blaine Alexander]

Watch a perfect spring morning this Friday at 9, 8 Central on NBC. I can tell you it's an interview I will never forget. Thanks so much for listening. Dateline True Crime Weekly is produced by Carson Cummins and Katie Ferguson. Our associate producers are Caroline Casey and Logan Johnson. Our senior producer is Liz Brown Kuriloff. Production and fact checking help by Sara Kadir. Veronica Mazeka is our digital producer. Rick Kwan is our sound designer. Original Music by Jesse McGinty. Paul Ryan is executive producer and Liz Cole is senior executive producer of Dateline. Anybody have anything else they want to talk about?

[Dennis Murphy]

Okay.

[Blaine Alexander]

Come get the pumpkin bread if you're here while it's still hot. 91 1, what's your emergency? Got tornadoes coming right at us.

[Dennis Murphy]

ABC Thursdays. The 911 universe expands to Nashville.

[Blaine Alexander]

A fire out of that tornado two.

[Dennis Murphy]

Miles from executive producer Ryan Murphy.

[Blaine Alexander]

Get everyone you can and send them out here now.

[Dennis Murphy]

Chris o', Donnell, Jessica Capshaw, Kimberly Williams, Paisley, Leanne Rhymes.

[Patrick McManus]

We are on the move the hell to save kid.

[Dennis Murphy]

91 1, Nashville. All new Thursdays, 9, 8 Central on ABC and stream next day on HUL.