Dan Markel: Monster-in-Laws // 624

Summary

Going West: True Crime – Episode 624

"Dan Markel: Monster-in-Laws"

Hosts: Daphne Woolsoncroft & Heath Merryman
Release Date: July 10, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the jaw-dropping murder case of Dan Markel, a respected law professor gunned down in 2014 outside his Tallahassee, Florida home. Hosts Daphne Woolsoncroft and Heath Merryman investigate how an ugly divorce, a contentious custody battle, and an obsessive "monster-in-law" spiraled into a complex murder-for-hire plot. The episode exposes the intense family dynamics, detailed evidence trail, and the legal aftermath, ultimately unraveling the conspiratorial web spun by Dan's ex-wife’s family, the Adelsons.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Dan Markel's Background and Marriage

• Dan Markel: Canadian-born, brilliant, devoted to his faith, known for his “abrasive” honesty and argumentative nature.
• Met Wendy Adelson on JDate; both families highly educated and accomplished; initial match seemed ideal (03:00–07:02).
• Early friction started over religious and cultural differences, such as wedding catering not being kosher—a “rift” which symbolized deeper incompatibilities (07:08–07:56).

2. Marriage Dissolves: The Custody Battle

• Wendy felt minimized in the marriage, wished to return to Miami, felt Dan wouldn’t accommodate her career or desire to be closer to her family (07:59–09:32).
• Significant tension: Wendy's friends and family believed she was emotionally manipulated by Dan.
• Ultimately, Wendy left with their sons, leaving divorce papers on the bed, which she and her attorney believed was safest (12:15–13:14).
• Shared custody forced Wendy to return to Tallahassee, sparking further resentment from her and especially her mother, Donna Adelson (14:16–15:09).

3. The Adelson Family's Obsession

• Donna Adelson, Wendy’s mother, deeply involved and hostile towards Dan, referred to derogatorily as “Dipshit Donna” by the hosts (15:05).

• Donna and Wendy exchanged emails brainstorming maneuvers to convince (or psychologically coerce) Dan to let Wendy relocate the children to Miami (15:28–17:24).

• Donna proposed increasingly bizarre psychological “warfare,” including threatening to baptize the children and even suggesting photos of them in Hitler costumes to taunt Dan—a Jewish man (18:32–19:23).

  “Take control from him, get to him psychologically. He’s going to want you to stop this.” – Donna Adelson, email to Wendy (19:06)

4. Murder of Dan Markel (July 18, 2014)

• Dan was ambushed and shot twice in the head in his garage in broad daylight; neighbor witnessed key parts and called 911 (21:21–22:54).

• EMS delayed: took 19 minutes to arrive—a significant criticism (22:49).

• Wendy’s odd behavior: driving by Dan’s house that day with changing reasons for presence; cast suspicion but she had an alibi and no gunshot residue (23:36–25:14).

  “My ex-husband caused me a lot of grief, but I would never do anything like that.” – Wendy Adelson (25:26) “They hated him enough to kill him, but were incapable of that sort of violence...” – Wendy, about her parents (26:30–26:54)

5. Early Police Suspicions and Focus Shifts

• Wendy and her boyfriend, Jeffrey Lacasse, scrutinized; he had a strong alibi but told police to look at Wendy’s family, describing their “obsession” with hating Dan (29:15–29:42).
• Dan’s friends also noted the Adelsons’ unhealthy fixation and involvement in the custody dispute (30:04–30:47).

6. The Break in the Case: Rental Car and Hitmen

• Investigators trace a unique Toyota Prius (distinctive exterior details) from the scene to a Miami mom-and-pop rental company, rented by Luis Rivera and Sigfredo Garcia—career criminals linked to the Latin Kings gang (35:21–36:37).
• Cell phone records placed them in Tallahassee at the crime scene and in Miami before/after the murder (36:37–36:44).

7. Financial Links: The Adelsons’ Hand in the Plot

• Large post-murder cash deposits to Garcia’s ex, Katherine Magbanua; she also received regular checks from Donna Adelson and expensive gifts from Charlie Adelson (the brother, 40:25–41:17).
• Magbanua had dated Charlie, linking the hitmen to the Adelsons (41:17–41:53).

8. Undercover Operations and the Adelson “Chain of Command”

• Police sting: undercover officer approached Donna, feigning to be a conspirator’s relative demanding hush money; Donna responded by warning other conspirators, indicating guilt and awareness (45:05–46:31).

• Recorded calls further demonstrated her leadership and orchestration (46:31–47:09).

  “Probably the two of us. So you probably have a general idea what I’m talking about.” – Donna to Charlie, after being approached by undercover police (47:09–47:25)

9. Legal Proceedings & Convictions

• Luis Rivera accepted a plea deal; said Donna was the mastermind, that “the lady wants her two kids back...”
• Magbanua, Garcia, and Rivera all convicted; Magbanua received life—the chain of accountability started with the hitmen and gradually caught up to the Adelsons (49:30–49:51).
• Charlie Adelson arrested and tried; found guilty and sentenced to life in prison plus 60 years (53:24–65:44).

10. Donna Adelson’s Arrest, Trial, and Aftermath

• Donna was caught at the airport attempting to flee to Vietnam (a country without US extradition) with her husband Harvey, after recorded phone calls revealed her intentions (63:06–63:36).
• On trial, Donna was portrayed as deeply controlling; even her estranged son Robert testified against her (66:40–67:01).
• Donna received life without parole in 2025 (67:37).

11. Wider Fallout

• Dan’s parents, Ruth and Phil Markel, accused Wendy of cutting off contact with grandchildren, leading to passage of “Markel’s Act” (68:19)
• Wendy and Harvey Adelson have not been charged; their level of involvement/knowledge remains debated (68:31–69:19).
• Wendy changed her sons’ surnames to Adelson, claiming it was to protect them from scrutiny (69:19–69:31).

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Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• On Dan’s personality:

  “Danny was abrasive. There is hardly a friend of his or colleague I imagine, who can’t remember a time when Danny pushed them past the point of comfort.” – Friend, Abigail (04:24)

• On Donna’s manipulation tactics:

  “Take control from him, get to him psychologically. He’s going to want you to stop this.” – Donna, to Wendy (19:06)

• On Wendy’s suspicions:

  “They hated him enough to kill him, but were incapable of that sort of violence, which is another crazy thing to admit.” – Daphne (26:30)

• Chain of command summary:

  “It seems like you’ve got Donna at the top, then you’ve got good boy Charlie right below, and then you’ve got Catherine, who’s below that, and then Luis and Sigfredo... those are the guys that are carrying out the crime.” – Heath (44:02)

• About Wendy’s lack of involvement:

  “Let’s assume that she didn’t know; it’s just wild that Donna is essentially saying, you know, your brother who killed for you is really worried and… he did this for you.” – Daphne (56:11)

• On the family’s priorities:

  “In their attempt to save one child... destroyed the life of her other child.” – Daphne (59:56)

• On the reason for the murder:

  “What, what she was dealing with and what this family as a whole was dealing with was really difficult. But the way that they handled this is asinine.” – Daphne (61:05)

• On the case’s legacy:

  “[Dan’s parents] passed Florida’s Markel act, which makes grandparent visitation rights mandatory following murders where the opposite side of the family is given custody.” – Heath (68:19)

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Important Timestamps

• Dan and Wendy Meet/Marry: 03:00 – 07:02
• Religious/Cultural Conflicts: 07:08 – 07:56
• Divorce and Custody Battle: 12:15 – 14:25
• Donna’s Malicious Emails: 15:28 – 19:23
• Murder Scene and Immediate Suspicion: 21:21 – 25:14
• Wendy’s Questioning: 25:26 – 27:23
• Break in Case: The Prius and Hitmen: 35:21 – 37:54
• Conviction Chain Begins: 49:30 – 53:24
• Donna’s Attempted Escape and Arrest: 63:06 – 63:44
• Final Verdict/Sentencing: 67:37

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Memorable Moments

• Donna’s unhinged emails suggesting manipulating Dan with religious threats and even Hitler costumes (18:32).
• Wendy’s odd alibi and driving by the crime scene on the day of the murder (23:36–25:14).
• Unique evidence: Distinctive rental Prius, security footage trail, cell phone tracing (31:21–36:44).
• Undercover operation where Donna’s reaction tipped police to her guilt (45:05).
• Donna’s airport meltdown as she was arrested fleeing the country (63:06–64:54).
• Estranged Adelson son testifying against his mother, describing her as controlling and dismissive of Dan’s murder (66:40–67:01).

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Tone & Style

• Animated, conversational, but deeply empathetic—Daphne and Heath use humor (“Dipshit Donna”) yet maintain respect for the seriousness of the case.
• They emphasize the absurdity of the Adelsons’ choices and the human cost.

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Final Reflection

This episode thoroughly explored how personal vendetta and extreme family loyalty can metastasize into something deadly. Through email records, financial trails, and exhaustive legal pursuit, the truth about Dan Markel’s murder and the Adelson family’s far-reaching conspiracy was finally exposed. The case is a chilling reminder of what happens when a family's obsession supersedes morality—and how modern forensics and investigative persistence can deliver justice, though often slowly, and at great cost.

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Transcript

[Daphne]

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[Heath]

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[Daphne]

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[Heath]

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[Daphne]

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[Heath]

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[Daphne]

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[Heath]

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[Daphne]

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[Heath]

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[Daphne]

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[Heath]

What is going on, true crime fans? I'm your host, Heath.

[Daphne]

And I'm your host, Daphne.

[Heath]

And you're listening to Going West.

[Daphne]

Hello everybody. Hope you're doing well. Big shout out to C. Sarah, Jennifer and Dulce who all recommended today's case. This is a, this is a wild one. We're going to be talking about not just a monster in law, like a monster mother in law, but monster in laws. Like many of these details are going to genuinely make your jaws drop.

[Heath]

We're going to be talking about a whole family affair today on Going West.

[Daphne]

Like a monstrous family, it is wild. But before we dive in, I want to remind everybody my new lakeside thriller novel, the Season of Sinking just came came out this past Tuesday. It's out on audiobook. You can get it on Kindle, hardcover, wherever you get your book. So check it out.

[Heath]

Yeah, go pick up a copy today.

[Daphne]

Super spooky. Okay, without further ado.

[Heath]

Alright guys, this is episode 624 of Going West. So let's get into it.

[Daphne]

In July of 2014, a law professor was shot in broad daylight outside his home in Tallahassee, Florida. And detectives quickly suspected that the killing was anything but random. Yet the truce would take years, years to unravel. What emerged was a history of extensive family conflict, hidden motives, and an investigation that would eventually draw an entire family into the spotlight. This is the murder of Dan Markell and the story of the Adelsons monster in laws. Daniel Eric Markell, known as Dan, was born on October 9, 1972 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and raised in Toronto, Ontario by his parents, Ruth and Phil, alongside a sister named Shelley. Ruth later recalled with a smile, quote, Dan was the epitome of Dennis the Menace. He was blonde, he was cute, he was rambunctious, he was wild. Dan was staunchly devoted to his Jewish faith and culture, which is something that he was very proud of and loved to share with those around him. And from a young age, he was hardworking and academically gifted and set his sights on Harvard when he was still, still a child. He was naturally persuasive and loved to argue. So working toward a career as an attorney was like a no brainer for

[Heath]

him, which is, yeah, great career for somebody that likes to debate.

[Daphne]

I know it's always so funny when it's like, oh yeah, he's naturally just love to argue. That's a lawyer from like, exactly. But this trait, I will say, would rub some people the wrong way throughout his career and his personal life. Like a friend of his named Abigail remembered lovingly, quote, Danny was abrasive. There is hardly a friend of his or colleague I imagine, who can't remember a time when Danny pushed them past the point of comfort. So there's that. She added, quote, Danny was always unalterably himself. He spoke his mind freely, never tempering his views to suit his audience. This ruffled flocks of feathers, but also won him many admirers. Now, Dan graduated high school and went on to attend both Harvard University, as of course he always planned, as well as the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. After graduating from law school, he accepted a job working for a small law firm in Washington, D.C. and that's when he met Wendy Adelson. And this was on a dating app for Jewish singles, JDate. Now, she was bubbly, charming and intoxicating and they fell for each other very quickly. And it worked out because her family was similarly academically focused and really valued higher education and career advancement. So at first familially, it was like, oh, this is a good match. We have similar values.

[Heath]

Sure, yeah. We were both. We both practice the same religion. You know, we're into the same stuff.

[Daphne]

Seems like it was going to work out.

[Guest or Additional Commentator]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

Now, if it isn't obvious, we are going to be talking a lot about Wendy's family today. So her parents, Donna and Harvey, were a teacher and a dentist, and her brothers were an ENT and a periodontist, the latter of whom, Charlie, ran the family's dental clinic with their father, Harvey. Wendy was born and raised in the Miami area and was attending law school when she met Gary Dan, who was also practicing law at the time, but was very interested in teaching and wanted to move closer to Wendy. Now, this led him to landing his dream job as a law professor at Florida State University in Tallahassee. So when they offered her a job as well, they moved together and they settled in Tallahassee and they got engaged. You know, again, this seems really perfect. They want to move together. They're both working the same kind of job.

[Heath]

They want to start a family. Now they're both working at the same place.

[Daphne]

Yes. And they were really looking forward to their future together. They were excited about this year, next, Next venture. Everything was great.

[Heath]

But. And obviously there's always a but when we're talking about true crime.

[Daphne]

It's always a but.

[Heath]

Friction between Dan and Wendy's family began early on. Now, ahead of their wedding day in 2006, Wendy's family hired and paid for the caterer. But it wasn't until the wedding day that Dan realized that the food wouldn't be kosher because although Wendy was Jewish, she didn't keep kosher, which is why her family hadn't considered this. But they decided to move past it. Yet still, the rift was already forming between Dan and the in laws, which

[Daphne]

I guess, like, I understand to the Adelson, they're like, we paid for the caterer. And this would have been good to know, but I also feel like it's not his fault that he's kosher. Like, he's just trying to eat on his wedding day. I think. I think that kind of says a lot that they are. That that is starting the rift. That he can't eat food that they bought.

[Heath]

Yeah, it's like, that's just what it.

[Daphne]

That's what started it.

[Heath]

It's just small disagreements that are starting out, but soon as you guys are gonna see, it's gonna blossom into something much more nefarious. So over the next two years, Dan and Wendy had two sons together. This was Lincoln and Benjamin. And Dan's career absolutely soared. So the family unit seemed to have everything that they'd ever wanted. His whole life became about his kids, and as passionate as he was about his career, he was even more devoted to his young sons. But Wendy was in kind of a different reality entirely. Dan's demanding work schedule and the fact that they had two kids back to back made Wendy kind of feel like she was being minimized by Dan and his aspirations and that she and her law career no longer really mattered. She longed to move back to Miami to be closer to her family. But Dan was rooted at his job at fsu, and he just really didn't want to leave. Wendy told her friends and family that she stopped feeling like they were a team and began to feel like she was the only one in the marriage to serve Dan in his career. Well, years later, after Dan's death, Wendy took a writing class and then actually put together a podcast about the demise of her marriage. Now, in it, she said, quote, I thought I could cheat the system and marry a man that I lacked passionate love for, because, hey, didn't that die anyway during marriage? It's kind of, like, not the way to, like, approach marriage. Like, I mean, the passion's gonna die anyway, so I'm just. I guess I'm just marrying for the career, really.

[Daphne]

Yeah. I mean, it's sad that she felt that way, for sure.

[Heath]

Yeah, absolutely. Well, in another passage, she said, quote, our marriage dissolved after the children arrived, as the loneliness of being married to someone who didn't view me as an equal crept in. Wendy was also working on a novel that she called this Is Our Story, which seemed to follow the highs and lows of their marriage. And she was absolutely proud of this. She was super proud of it. So you can imagine that she was pretty crushed when she asked Dan to read it, and he never did.

[Daphne]

It's interesting, though, that it's about their marriage and the highs and lows of it, and she wants him to read it.

[Heath]

Yeah, it's like, kind of proving her point a bit. I'm not gonna read that. This is.

[Daphne]

But I could understand how that would be hurtful as well.

[Heath]

But, sure, she put a lot of time and effort into it.

[Daphne]

Probably kind of a devastating read for him. And, of course, you know, this stemmed far deeper than him being unable to eat the food that Donna and Harvey paid for at the wedding and being an unsupportive husband because Wendy's friends and family actually began to suspect that she was being manipulated and perhaps even emotionally abused by Dan, who was a stronger and bigger personality than Wendy's kind of more so warm and easygoing sensibility. It felt like. Felt like he kind of tamped her spirit down a little bit to those who loved her.

[Heath]

And you can also imagine, you know, the fact that, again, he's a lawyer who likes to debate. He likes to argue. Maybe she. And she. She feels like she can't really meet him at that level because he's too over the top.

[Daphne]

Yes. But this is who Dan is. This is who Dan has always been.

[Heath]

Right.

[Daphne]

And. But of course, the people in her life feel like he kind of stepped on her spirit sometimes, and they're like, we don't like that for her. But again, this is just Dan, as his own friend said, like I read earlier.

[Heath]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, his. His own friends at it.

[Daphne]

But I will say Wendy started to kind of feel bullied by her husband and recalled that he once told her that everyone always thought she was kind, but that only he knew the truth about her. So she's one way with him, maybe, and another way with others. And he's like, yeah, but this is who you really are. You're the mean person. And she's like, no, I'm not. And he's trying to manipulate her that way. So In September of 2012, six years into their marriage, Wendy was no longer able to take it. And she called Dan while he was on a business trip in New York City, telling him that she wanted a divorce. Then he abruptly cut his trip short and raced home to kind of reason with her. He's like, what do you mean? I'm coming home. We're going to talk about this.

[Heath]

Yeah, I don't want things to end.

[Daphne]

Yes. But when he returned home, he. He found Wendy and the boys gone, along with most of their things. And she told him that they were bound for Miami, which is where her family lived. Obviously, they're in Tallahassee. This is not too far away.

[Heath]

Right. And she had been feeling like she wanted to go back to Miami for a while anyway.

[Daphne]

Yes. But on their bed, she left divorce papers. So she was kind of criticized for this later, that she just took the boys and left and said, here's her divorce. But claims that her lawyer felt that this was the safest and best way for her to leave the marriage for the sake of herself and her kids. You know, she did what she had to do. This. This was. This was her mode now. Despite their problems, Dan begged her to take him back for the better part of a year, but Wendy continued to refuse. You know, she was standing her Ground. She knew what she deserved. She knew this was not the relationship that she wanted to be in, and she was not going to let him convince her to come running back.

[Heath]

Right. She's not budging.

[Daphne]

Because also, Wendy's friend Tova claim that Wendy had asked for things to change years leading up to their eventual separation. Like, they had talked about this. It wasn't like, everything's great and suddenly I'm leaving you, which you're also obviously allowed to do. But he kind of just refused to adjust his behavior to meet her where she needed him to be. So she's saying, I tried. It didn't work. Now, to the contrary, he told her that she would be broke and childless if she tried to leave the marriage.

[Heath]

It's not. It's not a good look.

[Daphne]

It's kind of hard, though, because you're like, are these unwarranted threats? Or, you know, is he saying. Or are these warranted threats? Sorry. Or is he saying this just in the heat of the moment to try to manipulate her to stay?

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

But either way, she was like, I don't. I don't want to deal with this anymore. Now, when the custody hearing proceeded, the judge awarded them shared custody, which meant that Wendy and her sons would have to leave Miami and return to Tallahassee. This. This is the moment in this whole story.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

Where everything is going to shift because she does not want to leave Miami and she has to go back to Tallahassee so that she can share custody with Dan.

[Heath]

Right. Because, you know, I looked this up in the distance between Tallahassee and Miami is about 450 miles. So if it's a shorter distance, the.

[Guest or Additional Commentator]

The.

[Heath]

The state of Florida will allow you to. To live, you know, not in the same city or whatever, but because it's so far, it makes it really hard. And Dan wouldn't be able to see his kids.

[Daphne]

Right. For shared custody, like, you need to be somewhat close. That is too far for shared custody, for sure. But of course, like I'm saying, Wendy really wanted to be in Miami, So she and her family were irate at this development, but no one more so than her mother, Donna.

[Heath]

Dipshit Donna. We're going to be talking about her today a lot. Dipshit Donna.

[Daphne]

Quite the nickname. She just wanted her daughter and grandsons at home with her in Miami. So Donna is pissed. She's like, I don't want her in Tallahassee. I want her here. Because that's Donna.

[Heath]

Sorry, but not your choice, Donna.

[Daphne]

Absolutely. I mean, this is Wendy's Life. She has to deal with what the judge is telling her.

[Heath]

Yep.

[Daphne]

Well, in the spring and summer of 2013, Wendy and Donna exchanged many emails plotting how they were going to navigate this new custody arrangement and upcoming court dates, referring to Dan derogatorily as Gibbers. Which I was like, I looked this up because I'm like, gotta know what is Gibbers? It's somebody who like holds back or holds like, holds back or is stuck. Like it's, it's in reference to a horse. So.

[Heath]

But it's really funny when you Google

[Daphne]

Gibber's meaning, which is what I did, it's like the second thing to come up is about. It's a Reddit thread on this case. So it's like, I think that this word is almost like synonymous with this story because I think it's a very, it's not a frequently used term in a.

[Heath]

It's a strange nickname. I'm not going to lie.

[Daphne]

Yeah, so they're very strange. So they're calling him Gibbers in emails. And Donna wrote to her daughter Wendy, of course she said, quote, another bribe to get him to allow relocation should be the offer of plane tickets, since he does have family that would allow him to use their homes to stay in. But obviously that's a last ditch effort. If all else fails. He's trying to show the court that your request is frivolous and that you should have to pay for your and his court costs in this plea. Your lawyer has to let the court know that it's anything but frivolous. And isn't he also supposed to pay some of your regular legal fees? This bastard has not paid $0.01 toward your bridge gap alimony. Why? Why only two months of a child support payment over an eight month time frame. Loving, caring father that he is. I'm too angry to write anymore. I'm going to shower, wash my hair, and get ready for you and the boys to come home. Dad said he'd look up any papers tonight and over the weekend that you may need. He even has the info on what Danny had in his IRA and, and 401k prior to marriage.

[Guest or Additional Commentator]

So.

[Heath]

Okay, so they're, they're setting up this plan. They're like, well, if he's not going to allow you to live in Miami, maybe we can offer him plane tickets and say, hey, we'll give you these plane tickets and that way you can fly to Miami and come see your boys whenever you want. Yeah, and then she's also saying that Harvey is going to, is Going to look into Danny's background, his IRA and his 401K and all of that. They're already scheming.

[Daphne]

They're really trying to manipulate, Manipulate the situation and make it work for them, despite what the courts are saying.

[Heath]

Well, get this. Because it gets even more crazy and unhinged. So Donna then suggested engaging in psychological warfare to try and sway Dan into letting her and the boys move to South Florida. So Donna alleged that Dan had become a religious zealot in the years since they had been married, and that Wendy should threaten to baptize the boys in the Christian church, enroll them in Sunday school, share pictures of them on Facebook, dressed up for church, or hire a Christian or Catholic tutor to teach the boys about the Bible at home.

[Daphne]

Girl, what the hell?

[Heath]

She's like, well, if we just. Maybe if we just change the boys religion. Because we know, we know that, we know that matters. Yeah. That you'll change your mind somehow. But it doesn't stop there because she even suggested taking pictures of the boys in Hitler uniforms in order to make Dan feel threatened. What?

[Daphne]

Donna, be serious, girl.

[Heath]

Donna, the dipshit.

[Daphne]

The fact that the last suggestion, the Hitler costumes, makes everything else sound like more reasonable.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

Is crazy.

[Heath]

Even though none of it sounds reasonable at all. It's all unhinged. But the Hitler thing, that's another level, Donna. Okay, Donna, then Donna ended this email with, quote, take control from him, get to him psychologically. He's going to want you to stop this.

[Daphne]

So, yeah, she's clearly making a lot of suggestions of how to really torment Dan to get her daughter and her grandsons to live with her.

[Heath]

Yes. In Miami. And she's, she's really just going about it in the worst way possible.

[Daphne]

Yes.

[Heath]

And she's, she's really trying to take control. She's trying to take the lead on this whole thing.

[Daphne]

And as you guys can imagine, it's going to get so much friggin worse.

[Heath]

Yeah. Well, on a video call, one of their sons actually told his dad that he overheard his grandmother. Again, this is Donna call him stupid. Which deepened the divide between Dan and

[Daphne]

Donna, because now Dan is hearing a little bit of what's going on behind the scenes and knows that Wendy's family friggin hates him.

[Heath]

Yep. So then Dan filed a motion for Donna to have supervised visitation only because he was worried about the effect that she would have on his kids, which is kind of understandable. Like, you hate me. You're talking smack about me to my kids behind my back.

[Daphne]

And he knows how Donna can be. So to him, he's like, I don't really want this woman near my kids.

[Heath]

Yeah. As the custody deliberations trudged on, the divorce finalized on July 31, 2013. With both Wendy and Dan starting to date other people. And things seem to be getting better overall. You know, they're finally settling into a co parenting arrangement at this point. Which is why what happens next is so shocking because suddenly, a year after the divorce, everything would turn upside down. So let me kind of paint the scene first here for you guys. So Dan's house is in Tallahassee in the Benton Hills neighborhood. And it's a three bed, three bath house in a suburban neighborhood. There's big trees everywhere, but not a ton of privacy. Like, Dan's house is very like visible to the house across the street and the houses that are next door to it. And what I'm about to get into happened in broad day daylight.

[Daphne]

Yeah. So good to know the neighborhood. If you're watching on YouTube, you can see pictures and if you want to, you can go on our socials and look too, in case you want to see where all this went down.

[Heath]

So at 11am on Friday, July 18, 2014, 41 year old Dan pulled into the garage of his house in his black Honda when a neighbor of his heard a crash and the sound of glass breaking. Now, he actually happened to have been on the phone with a friend at the time who also heard this crash.

[Daphne]

That's crazy. Sorry to interrupt, but to know that a friend heard this happen.

[Heath]

Yes, a friend actually heard all of this go down. So the neighbor who heard the glass break then watched a light colored Prius back out of the driveway and speed off. So they're like, at this point, they're like, what the hell happened here? And they ran to Dan's aide, seeing him in the driver's seat with blood on his face. The driver's side window was broken. So with all of this, the neighbor called 911 immediately to report that Dan had been shot twice in the head. Dan was unresponsive and the car was still running. The front door was askew and his broken glasses lay on the floor of the garage. Now, it took paramedics a whole 19 minutes to arrive on the scene, which the Tampa police department and Consolidated dispatching agency were later criticized for. Because every minute really counted here.

[Daphne]

Yeah, I mean, the neighbor is saying, there's a man, he's been shot twice in the head. Hello.

[Heath]

He's gonna die. You guys need to get here fast. And it took him. 19 minutes. What's really interesting here and what Wendy would later be kind of criticized for is the fact that that day she was supposedly going to lunch and she ended up in Dan's neighborhood. Well, when she got there, his. His neighborhood was like roped off. It was taped off. There was already police there. So she turned around and she left. Which a lot of people are like, they look at that scenario and they're like, why were you anywhere near Dan's neighborhood? Well, she did have a couple reasons for this. One was that she had simply just got lost that day.

[Daphne]

Lost?

[Heath]

Yeah, she got lost and ended up in Dan's neighborhood. Another was that she wanted to go buy the house that she used to live in.

[Daphne]

Just for. Just for fun.

[Heath]

Yeah, just. Just for fun on the day that my ex husband gets murdered, I'm just gonna pop over there, just take a look.

[Daphne]

Go down memory lane.

[Heath]

Yeah, yeah. And then the third reasoning was because this was apparently a familiar route for her, a route that she. But they're like, that's not the route that you would have taken to go to lunch. So why were you there? Anyway, it's very strange not to get ahead of ourselves, but we will talk about that whole situation later.

[Daphne]

I think that's actually good background to have though, knowing where she was at that time. You know, of course, she was certainly acting none the wiser because when she was brought in for questioning, which happened immediately when police find out that Dan has been killed, he has an ex wife that he has been having a contentious custody battle with, she broke down into sobs. And she asked the detective who would do this, like she. She did seem bereaved by what was going on. She cried the entire interview talking about her ex husband. So they actually believed her. They didn't know yet that she had driven up to the scene or anything like that. They're just clocking her behavior as she's talking to them.

[Heath]

Right.

[Daphne]

She also offered up her ID and allowed her hands to be swabbed for gunshot residue. Which is really amazing that they did that because there are certain cases that we cover where you think somebody could be involved. You're like, swab their frickin head.

[Heath]

Yeah. We have absolutely talked about this in various different cases that sometimes police don't have the foresight to do this, to test people's hands for gunshot residue.

[Daphne]

Right. So it's amazing that they did, because if they hadn't, we wouldn't have known if she had any on her hands. And this is a way that you can really partially at least somewhat rule somebody out. So it's amazing that they did this. There was no gunshot residue found on Wendy's hands. Well, at the time that Dan was murdered, other than driving by the house and going to lunch, 35 year old Wendy had been at home because she was having her TV repaired. She admitted through tears, quote, my ex husband caused me a lot of grief, but I would never do anything like that. She was honest, however, as well about the exceedingly bitter nature of their divorce and described Dan as emotionally abusive. Then she called her parents to tell them what happened and admitted to the officers that they sounded surprised and that she was relieved that they were like, oh good, they didn't do this. Which I think the fact that she's even telling the officers, oh, by the way, they sound relieved. Thank God.

[Guest or Additional Commentator]

What?

[Heath]

Yeah, that's a little freaking suspicious already. A bit suspicious there.

[Daphne]

But she quickly added that they hated him enough to kill him, but were incapable of that sort of violence, which is another crazy thing to admit.

[Heath]

That's like not something you want to tell the interrogating officer. Yeah, my parents really hated this guy and you know, they hated him enough to, to the point where they might kill him, but they could never.

[Daphne]

What a weird thing to frickin say.

[Heath]

Very weird.

[Daphne]

Through tears, she added, quote, even my family who felt that I'd been mistreated would never do something like this. When she was asked who, if anybody, would have wanted her away from her ex husband that badly, like if somebody was trying to take her away from Dan and get him out of the picture completely, she answered honestly that her family might. She's still like pinning this on her

[Heath]

family so, you know, kind of throwing them under the bus a bit like

[Daphne]

over and over, giving them so many reasons to look at her family sideways, sideways. But she even mentioned through tears that her big brother Charlie made a joke when she filed for divorce, you know, back a couple years earlier that a hitman was too expensive, so he bought her a TV as a divorce present instead. So she's like, well, my family did really hate him and, and my family probably would have wanted to do this. And while my brother Charlie did talk

[Heath]

about a hitman, it's like you're kind of leaving little breadcrumbs along the way, girl.

[Guest or Additional Commentator]

He is.

[Daphne]

Yes. Well, Dan held on for hours in the hospital, but ultimately succumbed to his injuries the next day. When Wendy's alibi checked out, detectives scrambled with where to place the blame. Dan's school actually became the primary focus of the investigation, and they wondered if perhaps a student who had, like, gotten a bad grade, maybe had an axe to grind, had taken justice into their own hands and gone after Dan. So his fellow teachers were kind of on edge as well, wondering if they could kind of be the next target. Which is really interesting because this really did feel like a hit. This wasn't a robbery gone wrong. He wasn't in the store during a shooting. You know, Dan arrived home and was shot before even getting out of the car.

[Heath]

Right. It was just pull up, get out, shoot, get back in the car and speed off.

[Daphne]

Somebody wanted him dead and fast.

[Heath]

But then police zeroed in on Wendy's new boyfriend, Jeffrey Lacasse, because Wendy had recently taken space from him. So when they learned this, investigators wondered if maybe he had been angry at her and maybe possibly overreacted, like maybe thinking that she was running back to Dan.

[Daphne]

Sure, reasonable.

[Heath]

But Jeffrey was out of town, and he had an airtight alibi, so he was taken out of the running as a suspect. Though he did mention that the police should take a closer look at Wendy's family, going as far as to say that they were obsessed with getting her and her sons to move to Miami and out from under Dan's control.

[Daphne]

It's a good little tip there. Again, pointing at the family. Everybody's doing it.

[Heath]

Jeffrey was brought back in for questioning in March of 2015 and tipped them off about her family, saying, quote, they hate Danny in a way. I've never seen this kind of obsession. Like, their hobby is hating Danny Wild. A friend of Dan's named Alex Greenberg called her family both mean and unreasonable.

[Daphne]

I think a lot of people are looking at this from the outside as well, knowing that, okay, Dan was not a great husband to her. He wasn't a great partner to her in so many ways. They really fell out of it, and they were splitting up. But a lot of people were just hoping that they could kind of let the lawyers deal with it like most people do with their marriages.

[Heath]

And, yeah, the normal way to handle a split up.

[Daphne]

But so many people are watching Wendy's family become really, really involved in this. And just saying, what are you guys doing? For him to say that even he knew that they were obsessed with hating him. The fact that it was that obvious to people on the outside, it's really disturbing.

[Heath]

Yes, very, very disturbing. And of course, despite the circumstances of Dan being murdered, Wendy was absolutely thrilled to be able to move back to Miami. And she left Tallahassee and moved in with her parents and got a job working as a clerk for a Federal judge. So she didn't waste any time. She's like, bam. Back in Miami. Well, months passed, and they seemed no closer to pinning down a murderer. So to commemorate the one year anniversary of the crime and drive attention back to the case, the Tallahassee Police Department released more details about the car that Dan's killers had been driving that morning.

[Daphne]

Which is kind of wild that it was in broad daylight. A neighbor essentially ran to Dan's house and ran to his body right after this happened. And they weren't able to glean a license plate.

[Heath]

Yeah, well, they did find out that the Toyota Prius was a silver pine Micaela, which is like a greenish silver color, and had been captured on multiple intersection cameras, as well as the footage of the city buses showing that the killer had essentially been scouting out the area on the day of Dan's murder. The car had one black passenger side mirror, but the driver's side was silver pine mica. So this made it stand out a bit from others that were like it. There was also a sun pass for traveling toll roads in southern Florida, and a hole where there should have been like a. Like a cap for towing equipment was missing. Like, it was just a hole there. So there wasn't that.

[Daphne]

So they're noticing these little specialties on the car.

[Heath]

Yes, little details that would, like, set that car aside from any other Prius that was the same color. Well, they also announced a $100,000 reward from a private donor. So now things are starting to kind of pick up in the investigation. They're like, we're noticing little things about the car. There's now reward money. Let's get the ball rolling and hoping

[Daphne]

that will help to say, do you know somebody who drives this kind of specifically cover colored Prius?

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

That has a different colored mirror and has this hole here. And so they're really hoping that this will generate some tips as they're going through the security footage and trying to get more information. So they found on the footage that the Prius like, like Heath just mentioned had been waiting for Dan in the parking lot of Premier Health and Fitness, which was his gym, while he went inside to work out. And you can see that footage now if you're watching on YouTube. The footage is. It's. It's like far away. It's on top of a building, essentially. So it's too far to see who's inside or what that license plate number is, but just enough to glean basic details about the car. Like you mentioned, Heath. Well, the Prius then shuffled around the parking lot, moving from space to space, until Dan went back to his car after the gym and pulled out of the lot, in which case the Prius was right behind him and followed him all the way home.

[Heath]

So now they're saying that this was, you know, set up prior to the actual murder. Like, this car is hanging out, kind of watching Dan's movements throughout that morning, going to his gym, waiting, and then

[Daphne]

following him, trying to find the right opportunity. It's kind of crazy, though. So there was this one moment during the drive home where the Prius had just missed a light that Dan had gone through. They're like, oh, I should have just gunned it. So they're waiting, and there's a bus right behind them. So the bus has a camera that faces the street and it's out on front. Of course, the bus is higher up. This is a small Prius, so it's kind of from a higher angle. And, you know, the Prius is right in front of the bus. So you should be able to see a lot of things about this car. But the camera quality was really bad.

[Heath]

Yeah, yeah.

[Daphne]

You know, it's like 2014 shitty bus footage. And you could. Even though the car was right there, you still can't see the license plate number. So they were really close, and that's why they were able to get all these details, but just not. Not high enough quality footage to be able to get the plate number, but.

[Heath]

And also not high enough quality to see who's actually inside the car.

[Daphne]

Yes, it was always a shadow. But the buses also, who provided, like you said, the sun pass, they could tell by how the sun pass looks on the back. And the bus's side camera, they caught the Prius next to it at one point, and it was on that. That camera, which will display now on YouTube. But again, you can check our socials for that video. You can see the sun pass. If. If you have a sun pass and you know what it looks like, you're like, wait, that's what that is.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

So they're clocking all of this, and because this car was so unique, had so many little details, they finally found it. Police finally found it months later. This car had been a rental car from a small mom and pop rental car operation in Miami and was rented by two men, Luis Rivera and Sigfredo Garcia, who said that he was Lewis's brother. Now, Louis had an extensive rap sheet already because he was a member of the Latin Kings. And not only that, but he was the leader of the North Miami beach chapter. Sieg Friedo was a member of the Latin Kings as well and had multiple drug charges and robbery convictions under his belt. So they were both career criminals. Well, get this. A subpoena of their cell phone records show that they had made that seven hour journey from Miami to Tallahassee the day before Dan was murdered. The two men had rented the car in Miami on July 16, again, this is 2014, and driven it to Tallahassee the following day. And their locations wound up at his fitness center and then in the vicinity of his home at 11am When Dan was killed.

[Heath]

So they're like, gotcha.

[Daphne]

I mean, hello? Turn the phone off.

[Heath]

Like, yeah, basically caught red handed here.

[Daphne]

Caught red handed. Then they drove back down to Miami, stopping at a bank beforehand, on which they were captured on security footage returning the car. This was proving that they drove it and didn't just rent out the car. There's footage of them getting out of the car. On May 24, 2016, nearly two years after the murder, investigators spoke with Sigfredo Garcia, but he proclaimed his innocence and maintained that he had never taken a trip with Lewis, nor did he have any information about that murder. But despite his protests, he was arrested the next day, May 25, 2016, in Hallandale Beach, Florida, for charges of first degree murder and possession of cocaine. He was extradited back to Tallahassee and on June 2, 2016. So a week later, about Lewis was publicly named as the second suspect. Then on June 17, both men were indicted for the murder of Dan Markell.

[Heath]

This show is sponsored by Better help. Even in 2026, stigma can get in the way of a lot of things, like getting support for your mental health. Maybe you've encouraged friends to consider therapy while avoiding taking the first step yourself because you know you're busy, worried what others would think, or possibly you're telling yourself that you should handle it alone. But therapy with BetterHelp, the world's largest online therapy platform, can be a space to slow down and talk through what's been building before. It feels unmanageable.

[Daphne]

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[Heath]

Sign up and get 10% [e-mail] GoingWest that's betterhelp.com GoingWest.

[Daphne]

You know that feeling when you're three days out from someone's birthday and you have no idea what to get them, and you end up with something generic that you're not even sure that they're even gonna like? That's what zazzle fixes.

[Heath]

Zazzle is a custom marketplace where you can take basically any product, say, a mug, a tote bag, a card, a phone case, and make it mean something. You're not just buying a gift. You're making one. Browse millions of designs or start from scratch and build something completely your own. Either way, you're the designer.

[Daphne]

After heath, and I just got a bunch of postcards made for going west at crimecon, I am now so on the zazzle train because I realize that really, the best gifts are the things that you create and make yourself. And even if you're not a super crafty person, this is the perfect way to make it happen and give somebody love. Something special.

[Heath]

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[Daphne]

that's 25% savings on your first [e-mail].

[Heath]

go make Something's Amazing ZazzlE.com. On June 24, 2016, Sigfredo pleaded not guilty the same day that the state announced that it would seek the death penalty. In the days after Dan's murder, Catherine, who was the mother of Siegfriedo's two children, made cash deposits totaling over $44,000.

[Daphne]

You don't say.

[Heath]

She then began receiving regular checks from none other than Donna Adelson.

[Daphne]

God.

[Heath]

Wendy's mother. Which eventually totaled tens of thousands of dollars. Of course.

[Daphne]

I mean, this is so irresponsible. I'm glad that they did it this way, of course, but she's receiving checks. Come on, guys.

[Heath]

Well, then, also, both men bought vehicles and motorcycles in cash in the months following the murder, but couldn't explain where this influx of cash had come from. And get this. Because Katherine and Siegfriedo were separated before Dan's murder, Catherine had met and started dating Charlie Adelson. You don't say. Wendy's older brother, who worked as a periodontist.

[Daphne]

This is just wild. So this is how this connection is being made.

[Heath]

Yeah, they're starting to connect all the dots and the little web, which is crazy.

[Daphne]

The web that is spinning in front of them as they are looking into the two men that they believe did this who were driving the rental car that's seen in the footage. Following Dan on the day he's murdered.

[Heath]

Yep.

[Daphne]

They were probably like, holy shit.

[Heath]

Yeah. And during the same time, when Siegfriedo and Lewis were on this spending spree, Catherine received a breast enhancement, and Charlie Adelson actually paid for half of it. The Adelsons also bought her Alexis on top of all of this.

[Daphne]

So lots of gifts, lots of checks.

[Heath]

Yeah. Lots of money flowing between hands. So, on June 28, 2016, Luis Rivera, who had been serving time for an unrelated crime, was transferred to the Leon county sheriff's office at Tallahassee. And for months, he declined to offer up any incriminating details. But eventually, they did wear him down. Luis accepted a plea deal and offered up his retelling of the events, where he claimed that Sigfredo was the brains behind the operation and that he had been approached in the weeks leading up to Dan's murder. Sigfrito apparently told him that he had a contract killing offer, but that he would need a second set of hands. He claimed that they were each offered about $35,000 for the deed.

[Daphne]

Doesn't feel like enough.

[Heath]

Yeah. Well, the day before the murder, the pair drove north and stayed the night in a motel, Then tracked Dan to his gym on the morning of his murder. And when he left, they followed him home. And Siegfriedo hopped out of the car, shooting Dan twice in the head before hopping into the Prius with Luis as the getaway driver. When asked what the motivation was for the men to carry out the crime, Louise told them, the lady wants her two kids back. She wants full custody of the kids. But he had not been referring to Wendy. He had actually been referring to Donna. On October 4, 2016, Luis pleaded guilty to second degree murder, and he was sentenced to 19 years in prison. So, basically, police came to the conclusion that Catherine was the liaison between her criminal ex boyfriend Siegfriedo and his friend, his brother Luis, and the Adelsons, who most likely set up the attack in order to be able to bring Wendy and her sons back home to Miami permanently.

[Daphne]

Especially with, like, Louise literally saying, the lady wants her two kids back. She wants full custody of her kids. Like, he knows the reason.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

So, yeah, and he's. He's. He's telling him.

[Heath]

Well, on October 11, 2019, Siegfriedo Garcia was convicted of first degree murder. And what I find really interesting here is kind of like the chain of command. Like, it seems like you've got Donna at the top, then you've got good boy Charlie right below, and then you've got Catherine, who's below that, and then Luis and Siegfriedo. You know, Siegfriedo Louise. Siegfriedo Louise. Yes.

[Daphne]

So true, though.

[Heath]

You're correct. But, you know, those are the guys that are carrying out the crime. And it's so interesting to me that, like, it's like, almost they. They had to kind of get these people below on, like, the low. On the totem pole of this chain of command to do the dirty deeds for them, of course, so that they can get away with it. But I just think it's so funny

[Daphne]

that, like, it's such a clear chain. You're right.

[Heath]

Yeah. There really is.

[Daphne]

It really is. And I think it's just wild how many people are involved in this and how many people know about it, which we're going to question here more soon, as well.

[Heath]

A true conspiracy.

[Daphne]

Yes. Well, in hopes of tying Wendy's parents, Donna and Harvey, to the crime as well, because, like, he's saying, everybody knows that Don is the big dog here. Police sent an officer undercover to approach Donna in the street, telling her that his brother Luis helped them, saying, quote, I want to let you know that my brother, he helped your family with this problem you guys had up north. He's going through some rough times, and I want to make sure that you take care of what he's going through,

[Heath]

kind of saying, like, hey, I know. I know that you know what you did. I know what you did. And now he's probably going to go to prison, so you guys going to help out with that? But, of course, this is an undercover officer. He's just trying to get some. Trying to get, like, a confession out of.

[Daphne]

Which is kind of smart, because I feel like you'd be like, oh, yeah, like, maybe your automatic would. You're.

[Heath]

I'll take care of him.

[Daphne]

You're caught off guard. You're on the street. You don't know that somebody's gonna walk up to you and talk about it. So maybe your automatic would be like, wait, oh, Luis's brother. Oh, hey. But I'm actually kind of surprised, because she didn't. She didn't dumb me out like that. She actually feigned ignorance. But she did take the letter from. She's like, what are you talking about? Give me that. So her phone, which by this point was being closely monitored, then made a surge of panicked phone calls to Charlie, Catherine, and Sigfredo about the matter.

[Heath]

Hey, this guy came up to me in the street. She's just like, oh, shit, I got to get a hold of somebody.

[Daphne]

And they're watching as she's calling all these people, which, hello. My God. You're obviously, you know what happened, you know what's going on. You're calling all three of these freaking people like, like you said, Charlie, Catherine, Siegfriedo, she's calling everybody down the chain. So of course at this point she's calling them because she's worried that somebody else knows about this. You guys are talking, I'm gonna be blackmailed for this now. I don't want to pay any more money. What is going on? When little does she know, none of them know what she's talking about because it's actually the friggin police. It's not them.

[Heath]

But she believes that the dominoes are falling, that somebody's a rat in the circle.

[Daphne]

Seriously? Well, in one of these calls she told Charlie that the matter involved, quote, probably the two of us. So you probably have a general idea what I'm talking about.

[Heath]

Very sly.

[Daphne]

Donna girl is saying it without saying it. Though they never paid the extortion money. Charlie allegedly told Catherine that this mysterious family member would need to be killed as well.

[Heath]

Oh no, she's already setting up the

[Daphne]

next hit as collateral damage to keep up this ruse. Because Charlie's like, oh my God, somebody else knows. We gotta get rid of them.

[Heath]

Yep, dude.

[Daphne]

On October 1, 2016, Catherine was arrested for first degree murder for her involvement in the scheme to kill Dan. And the prosecution hoped that they could turn her against her co conspirators. But Catherine of course, refused to admit what she had done. After a series of delays due to Covid, her trial began over four, five years later on May 16, 2022. You know, Dan's family is having to wait so long for this child for justice. Yes, she maintained that Charlie was nothing but an ex boyfriend to her. We actually don't know how they met, but obviously they had dated for a time. She also said that she never accepted money from his family, which we know isn't true.

[Heath]

Yeah, she definitely did.

[Daphne]

Instead she maintained that she was working as a bottle service girl and often made in excess of $1,000 a night. So she's saying, well, I have money because I work. Which she did work, but she was getting a lot of cash. So of course the jury didn't buy her pleas of innocence. And on May 27, 2022, she was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation of murder and first degree murder. So on July 29, 2022, she was sentenced to life in prison, which I know that she was the one who orchestrated this, at least between Donna and the men, the henchmen. But the Fact that Luis was actually a part of the plan. He was the getaway driver. He was. He was actually one of the hitmen. And he got 19 years, and Catherine got. Life is wild.

[Heath]

Yeah, that is pretty crazy. And it's also kind of crazy that it seems like the people are the people that are getting convicted. It's like the chain is moving backwards. It's like, first Luis and Siegfriedo, they go down, Then Catherine's going down, and eventually a few other people are going to go down.

[Daphne]

Well, yeah, with what you're about to say, we are going right up that chain.

[Heath]

But it's kind of. It is kind of crazy how this is all unfolding. Charlie adelson was also arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation of murder, and first degree murder. And Wendy's ex boyfriend, Jeffrey lacasse, who was once looked at for the murder, actually provided a key piece of witness testimony telling the court that Charlie's commentary about putting a hit out on Dan was much more serious than a simple joke that he made, you know, in passing to his sister. There is like, no, he really. He really was about that. Instead, he bragged about his connections to Miami's seedy underworld and claimed that he had, quote, exhausted every possible option in order to get a hitman for his sister's ex husband and admitted to being the intermediary between sigfund frito and Luis and Charlie and Donna. She admitted that it had been Charlie's idea in the first place to put out the hit against Dan and that he had asked Catherine if she knew anybody who could carry it out. She then acknowledged that she did, in fact, know somebody that could carry out this crime, and offered up the father of her children, who was a known criminal and gang affiliate.

[Daphne]

So she's like, I. She asked him to murder for her, essentially, like, as a favor almost for her boyfriend. And now she's the one who's saying it was him.

[Heath]

Yep.

[Guest or Additional Commentator]

Yep.

[Heath]

Well, she admitted that the checks from Donna adelson had been her payment for the murder and that she had also passed along a manila envelope of instructions from Charlie to siegfriedo, which just proved that Charlie was kind of. Charlie was. Donna was at the top, But Charlie was more so organizing the hit. And according to Catherine, Charlie had taken great care not to get his fingerprints or saliva on the envelope so that he, of course, couldn't be connected.

[Daphne]

I mean, Charlie is so responsible for this as we're gonna continue to dive into. You know, Donna does seem like the leader, but so is Charlie.

[Heath]

Yeah, Charlie knew That he could manipulate Katherine into finding somebody to do the hit for him.

[Daphne]

Charlie was like orchestrating the dirty work.

[Heath]

Yes, but of course, Charlie gave a very different story, claiming that he and his family had hatched a plan to offer Dan a million dollars if he was willing to relocate to Miami.

[Daphne]

This is so wild. I know that it's their hours apart, obviously, it's. Tallahassee and Miami are both in the state of Florida. They're not that far apart in the sense that it's across the country.

[Heath]

And they're still the same state.

[Daphne]

Still in the same state. They are going to insane lengths, Even a million dollars so that they can have their daughter living in Miami instead of Tallahassee for a few years while the kids are still in school. My God.

[Heath]

Yeah, it seems like it's. All of this is just so.

[Daphne]

It's so extra.

[Heath]

It's so extra for such a minuscule. Like what seems like a minuscule issue or something that could be resolved without murder maybe. Possibly. Truly. Anyway, so Charlie claimed that he spoke in too much detail about his plan in front of Catherine and that she, Siegfriedo and Luis took it too seriously, Taking it into their own hands and wanting a cut of the money. So he's saying, like, oh, yeah, you know, I just made a joke about, like, hiring a hitman. And they, Catherine, Luis, and Siegfriedo, they're the ones that they pushed it way too far. It wasn't me.

[Daphne]

That's all he's got. He's got nothing else.

[Heath]

He's got no defense. He claimed to have been extorted by Catherine in the aftermath because she told Charlie that the men were criminals and gang members and that they would kill him if he didn't pay up to $300,000. Charlie claimed that he had $138,000 in cash in his safe and offered it up to Catherine. The remainder he said he would pay to Siegfriedo and Luis in installments of $3,000 a month. Catherine herself wanted a cut, so he put her on payroll, which Donna was in charge of for the family business. And reports proved that Catherine was never actually an employee. So this was certainly a very interesting theory, but ultimately, the jury did not buy it. On November 6, 2023, Charlie, just like Catherine, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation of murder, and first degree murder. And six days later, Donna seemed to know that her time was up.

[Daphne]

She was shaking in her boots. This girl was.

[Heath]

Yep.

[Daphne]

So you know, of course, Charlie, her baby boy is in jail and is going to prison for a Long time. And she's talking him on the phone. And they're having so many conversations back and forth where Donna is just sobbing and saying, I don't know what to say. I love you. Just try to stick through it like. Well, she's strong. Yeah, she's kind of sitting pretty at this point. Yeah, Be strong. Absolutely. Just doesn't know. She's. There's nothing she could do.

[Guest or Additional Commentator]

Her.

[Daphne]

Her son is fucked. So she also didn't realize that the calls between them, between her son, who's in jail and her are being recorded. Like, you know, she hasn't been locked up yet. She doesn't know the rules. So during one phone call, Charlie had already hung up. It's actually funny because it. I. I forget exactly what it says, but it says the recorded. The robot woman will say the person has ended the call, so it. It is clear when the call ends.

[Heath]

How did she not hear that?

[Daphne]

Girl didn't hear it. And so she stayed on by accident. Or maybe she did hear it and she didn't hang up. She thought she did. Right. Maybe she thought he hung up and she put her phone down. Either way, the call kept recording. She could be heard telling her husband Harvey, about how Wendy was distancing herself from the rest of the family, saying, quote, I wrote this last night. We know you never asked anything about your brother, but we just got off the phone with him, and the first thing he asked was, how is Wendy holding up? I didn't have the heart to tell him that you never called us or asked about him. I just said you weren't up to phone calls. Right now everyone looks to protect you. I bet you've got a lot to think about.

[Heath]

Dang. That's so crazy, because it's. It's crazy because Charlie is in prison and he's like, you know, how is. How is my sister Wendy holding up? And she's like, I didn't even fucking call.

[Daphne]

But let's remember here, like, let's assume, because we don't know that she is. Let's assume that Wendy didn't know about the plot. I know what you talked about earlier, Heath, that she was driving by the scene.

[Heath]

Yeah. And she's never. By the way, she's never been charged to this day with, you know, having anything to do with the murder.

[Daphne]

Yeah. So let's assume that she didn't know because it's just wild that Donna is essentially saying, you know, your brother who killed for you is really worried and he. He wants to talk because if she didn't know this. Even though she had her issues with Dan, you just killed the father of her children. Like, this is not okay. Yeah, so for. For her mom to almost be guilt tripping her into saying, your brother really wants to talk to you, and he's in prison because of you.

[Heath]

He did this for you.

[Daphne]

Yeah, he. Everyone wants to protect you, and look at the mess we're in. No, I don't think so. It's freaking nuts. So this is what Wendy texted back. She said, quote, I'm not responsible in any way for Charlie's situation. I am not guilty because I did not do anything wrong. I was not involved in any way in Danny's death. So she was probably putting that on the record because she's saying, no, I'm not going to fall into this. I didn't know about this. You had no right to protect me in this way. I had nothing to do with this. And I do want to play, like, a brief clip from another call with Charlie, because in the. In the call where you overhear what Donna is saying, it's really muffled. But here's. Here's kind of how they sounded on the phone.

[Guest or Additional Commentator]

You don't have to. No, honestly, the only thing I really wanted to be is just to have in my life. Just to be a dad. I know. Believe me, I know. I always wanted to be a dad. I mean, when I was with Brie, I mean, I was. I mean, I dated for six weeks. I found out she was pregnant six weeks after we'd broken up, and I was like, no, I want to keep it. I want to be a dad. I don't used to. Yeah, I know. Trolling. I know, I know. Take a breath, trolley. You could do breath trolling, please. But honestly, I'm like. I don't know if I'm in a state of shock. Yeah, you're in shock. We're all in shock. Yeah, all in shock. I had a. I had a feeling, though. So it's not like, listen, I've been up in Tallahassee for a year and a half. I got a taste for how big this case was. I had no idea there was no way to help. I was never gonna get a fair trial up here. No, that's true. No such a. Such a joke. With no evidence, what she could pull off, it's just because that's what they wanted. Listen, these people didn't deliberate. We know what happened. They were decided before they went back, filled out their papers and came out. That's not a deliberation. They look a Couple things. God only knows. They probably ate for an hour. Something happened to you guys. Yeah. Well, we'll be. We'll be fine. We'll stay tough for you, Charlie. We'll stay tough. I love you very much. I love you too, Charlie. You know I've always loved you. I've always loved you. We'll take care of this. Trust. Work through it. Okay.

[Daphne]

It's just so messed up that in their attempt to save one child, I say they. Let's say Donna, to save one child, destroyed the life of her other child. Obviously, Charlie chose to do this because he was proven to have orchestrated all this and been a major part of the entire planning and plotting of this hit for hire thing. Like, you know, the fact that he says, I just wanted to be a dad, like Dan was a dad. Dan might not have been the brother in law that you wanted or the man that you wanted for your sister or for your child, but that's how it was. And he was minding his own business, and he was at the gym and he came home and he just wanted to have custody of his kids and share it with Wendy. And they were working things out. They had been divorced for a year.

[Heath]

They were already seeing other people. It seemed like this was going to, like, end amicably. Like somehow they were gonna just figure out how to co parent.

[Daphne]

It's like you said earlier, Heath, so you didn't say this part, but you said. You said there are so many other ways to go about this, Right?

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

And not murder somebody. Because so many people have to deal with really atrocious custody battles. And that's horrible. Absolutely. What, what she was dealing with and what this family as a whole was dealing with was really difficult. But the way that they handled this is asinine.

[Heath]

Yeah. It's just too insane.

[Daphne]

And the fact that they're crying on the phone and making all these comments. Do you guys remember that you chose to do this? This was your idea, by the way.

[Guest or Additional Commentator]

Yeah.

[Heath]

You used your free will to plot and plan a murder.

[Daphne]

Yes. Well, on November 13, 2023, the FBI issued a warrant for Donna's arrest. Here they come. And she was apprehended at the very last minute while actively boarding a one way flight to Vietnam with her husband Harvey. I want to play the video as well of her. The audio is really muffled, so we'll play it over this. But you guys can also see it on our socials if you want. And she is just. She is. She says that she can't believe that they're Doing this and that. It's not right, Girl, come on. You know, like, she's basically saying, wait, you're arresting me for murder? What do you mean? You can't do that. That's not fair.

[Heath]

One other thing to note real quick before we move on is the fact that Harvey is going along with this. He's just gonna take a one way plane trip to Vietnam with his wife Donna. And he doesn't question it. He's not like, why are we going to Vietnam?

[Daphne]

No, this is a huge question because. Yeah, then it makes us wonder, what does he know?

[Heath]

Yeah. Does Harvey know? Or did Donna play it up as something different? Like, how much did Harvey know? Also, by the way, Harvey has never been charged with anything in this murder plot as well.

[Daphne]

But. Right. So did. Did Donna say, I'm afraid that they're going to arrest me for what Charlie did or what these people did? And. And so we have to leave, and you have to come with me because you're my husband and you love me. Or was he like, oh, shoot, she's gonna get caught. We're going because he knows because he was a part of the plan. We don't know.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

Well, just so you guys know, Vietnam, notably, does not have an extradition treaty with the United States. So she actually could previously be heard on the phone with Charlie in prison telling him that they were looking for a destination that did not have an extradition treaty. This is on the phone because, remember, a girl doesn't know that the calls are being recorded.

[Heath]

And it's recorded. Girl, come on.

[Daphne]

So, right. So they're listening and being like, holy. She's trying to get away.

[Heath]

Yeah. She's about to leave. Yeah.

[Daphne]

She's literally telling Charlie that they're trying to find somewhere that they. That they can live forever and not worry about having to be extradited back to the US for their crimes.

[Heath]

You told on yourself.

[Daphne]

You told on yourself. So again, Donna is just in disbelief while this arrest is happening at the airport. She's probably so embarrassed. This is a whole debacle at the airport in public with all these people watching. And so they're trying to take her phone away from her, and she snatched it back from an officer who announced that he had a warrant and attempted to take it away from her again. And at the same time, she's pleading, well, my husband's like, 80 years old, and he has to come with me. What do you mean he can't come with me? No, she's fighting them. She is. She's like, fully Karening out on them. Yes, she's donning out. My husband's almost 80 years old.

[Guest or Additional Commentator]

Old.

[Daphne]

He can't.

[Heath]

Yeah, I can't. Please, can I?

[Guest or Additional Commentator]

No.

[Daphne]

Oh, don't you just.

[Heath]

Please, please.

[Daphne]

Got to help him get home. Terrible.

[Heath]

Okay with you?

[Guest or Additional Commentator]

Please.

[Daphne]

On December 11, 2023, Donna pleaded not guilty to the same charges that both Catherine and Charlie faced. First degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and solicitation of murder. The very next day, 46 year old Charlie was sentenced for his crime and given life in prison. Plus 60 years for solicitation and conspiracy. That is a hefty sentence.

[Heath]

Yeah, probably. You're never getting out.

[Daphne]

Never. On New year's Eve of 2023, he did, of course, attempt to appeal his conviction, but his request to appeal was denied.

[Heath]

Well, Donna attempted to get the judge to allow her to await her trial on house arrest. Girl, you just tried to flee. They're not giving you house arrest while you wait for your trial.

[Guest or Additional Commentator]

She's.

[Daphne]

She's ridiculous.

[Heath]

She's. She's trying. But of course I will say this request was denied. And Donna actually claimed. Claimed that she was being unfairly targeted by her fellow prisoners while she was in jail awaiting her trial. And also complained about the prison food, stating that she had gained a third of her body weight because they were fed all carbs and no protein. Girl, you're in prison, People are dying. So Donna's trial began on August 19, 2025. And Robert, the oldest of the three Adelson children, actually testified against his mother.

[Daphne]

God, that says a lot.

[Heath]

Yeah. Claiming that he was estranged from the family. So he's like, I'm the black sheep. Like I'm just gonna. I'm just gonna tell it like it is. He called his mother controlling and said that in their last phone call, he confirmed that he had spoken with the authorities. And Donna snapped at him saying quote. Well, you don't know anything anyway.

[Daphne]

Does give controlling. Which is why it makes sense that she's at the top of the food chain and she is letting all of her minions do everything for her. All because she wants her daughter and her grandkids to live near her.

[Heath]

Yep.

[Daphne]

Which is just like again, like we said earlier, let it go. Like this is wild.

[Heath]

Well, Robert also claimed that no one in the family seemed curious or concerned about what happened to Dan and that Donna would shut it down each time he brought it up, Claiming that it just really didn't concern her.

[Daphne]

Because they knew because they did it.

[Heath]

On October 13, 2025, 75 year old Donna was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. But unfortunately for both families, the legal woes were not over just because the trial was. Ruth and Phil Markell accused Wendy of withholding holding their grandchildren from them in the aftermath of their son's death, leading them to pass Florida's Markell act, which makes grandparent visitation rights mandatory following murders where the opposite side of the family is given custody. Now, so far, like I said, Wendy and Harvey have managed to avoid arrest and both deny knowledge of any involvement in the murder of Dan Markell.

[Daphne]

Again, I just wonder. I really. I really wonder who. Who else knew? It's very possible that they didn't know, but I would have a hard time believing that Donna did not talk to her husband about it.

[Heath]

Yeah, I would have a hard time believing that as well.

[Daphne]

I would say maybe more so if they wanted to leave Wendy out of it. We know that there were so many conversations between Wendy and Donna about the custody battle and all that kind of stuff. You know, the. The Hitler costumes, all that. But it's very possible that she was like, we're gonna do this for Wendy, and we're just not gonna tell her, and we're just gonna. We're just gonna deal with it. We're just gonna help her out.

[Heath]

But I also think it's really interesting that when she was first interrogated, she was the one that started, like, placing those little breadcrumbs about her own family, saying, oh, yeah, my brother made this comment one time. My family says that they hate Dan enough to want him killed, but they could never do it.

[Daphne]

You know, why would she say that if she knew? If anything, she would try to, say, steer the police away from them. That's another good point.

[Heath]

Seems very suspicious to me. Well, Wendy changed her children's surnames to adelson in the aftermath of the murder, claiming that she did so to protect them from public scrutiny by giving them

[Daphne]

the name of the killers.

[Heath]

Yep.

[Daphne]

Thank you so much, everybody, for listening to this episode of Going West.

[Heath]

Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this twisted tale on Going West. Hopefully you guys have subscribed to us on YouTube. If you want to see us visually and hear these stories and see the maps and all the photos associated with it. If not. And you still want to listen on wherever you get your podcasts, that's great as well. And we will post all those photos and maps on our socials. We're on Instagram oingwestpodcast. We are also on TikTok as well as Facebook. Facebook, yes.

[Daphne]

Thank you. Again to Sarah, Jennifer and Dulce for recommending this wild, wild case. I mean, I just, it's, it's so disturbing, this whole, this whole thing again. Especially because, you know, when, when we first were reading these emails and we looked into this case, my mind was thinking, oh, I wonder if Dan was threatening Wendy's life and if he was physically abusive and coming after her and if things were really bad and they were like, it's him or our daughter. But that's really not how it was.

[Heath]

No, it really did seem like Dan was just moving on with his life. He wanted to be the best father that he could be. And Wendy's family just, they could not let it go.

[Daphne]

And at the end of the day, like, we're not in their marriage. We don't know exactly what, what Wendy dealt with and everything like that. But yeah, they were seemingly both moving forward, which makes everything so much more disturbing. So thank you guys so much for tuning into this episode with us. Don't forget my new lakeside thriller novel, the Season of Sinking is out. Now, if you're not a huge reader but you like listening to stories, obviously listening to Going west, you can also get the audiobook on Audible or Google Books or Spotify or Apple Books or wherever you listen to audiobooks. So please check it out and mean the world to me. Thank you guys so much and we will see you back here on Tuesday.

[Heath]

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[Daphne]

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[Daphne]

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[Daphne]

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[Heath]

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[Daphne]

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[Heath]

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