August 28, 2025 • 49 mins
Donna Adelson, accused mastermind in the shooting death of her former son-in-law, Dan Markel, was arrested at Miami International Airport in an alleged attempt to flee to a non-extradition country. Investigators believe Adelson had Markel killed after a failed push by ex-wife Wendi to move their children to South Florida, closer to her family.
Donna Adelson is the fifth person charged in the murder-for-hire plot of her former son-in-law, a Florida State University Law Professor and well-known throughout Tallahassee. The first person brought to justice Luis Rivera, agreed to a plea deal. Rivera testifies he and his lifelong friend, Sigfredo Garcia, drove from Miami to Tallahassee to carry out the hit and Garcia was the triggerman. Rivera, once a Latin Kings gang leader, accepted a 19-year prison sentence in exchange for flipping on his close friend.
This week, in Donna Adelson's trial, some of the most dynamic pieces of evidence is the money changing hands and the wiretaps. Mary Hull, from Florida Department of Financial Services, breaks down financial records before and after the murder of Dan Markel. Rivera admits on the stand he received over $33,000 for the hit. Also, the jury hears the feds wiretaps, Charlie and Donna Adelson talk in code and the bump which was orchestrated to trap the co-conspirators into a phone frenzy.
Joining Nancy Grace today,
Eric Faddis - Trial Lawyer and TV Legal Analyst, Founding Partner of Varner Faddis Elite Legal, former felony prosecutor and current criminal defense and civil litigation attorney
Dr. Shari Schwartz - Forensic Psychologist (specializing in Capital Mitigation and Victim Advocacy), www.panthermitigation.com, Twitter: @TrialDoc, Author: "Criminal Behavior" and "Where Law and Psychology Intersect: Issues in Legal Psychology"
Ron Bateman - Former Sheriff for Anne Arundel [AIR -un-dull] County, Maryland - Former Homicide and undercover narcotics detective, Author of his crime trilogy "Silent Blue Tears" and he is currently directing and producing a film documentary on the murders at the Capital Gazette Newspaper in Annapolis. Website: Ronbatemanbooks.com , TikTok: @Ron.Bateman.655
Dr. Kendall Crowns - Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County (Ft Worth), NEW Podcast "Mayhem in the Morgue” launched last week, Lecturer: Burnett School of Medicine at TCU (Texas Christian University)
Gigi McKelvey -) Journalist, Host of the podcast “Pretty Lies and Alibis” prettyliesandalibis.org, Facebook, IG, TikTok: @PrettyLiesAndAlibis, Twitter: @PrettiesLiesAlibi
Dave Mack - Crime Stories Investigative Reporter
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, the so called killer mother
in law, suspect Premps fixing her hair as she goes
to trial, and a murder case where the state alleges
(00:21):
she masterminded an execution, a paid hit on her own
son in law, the law professor. That's right, a so
called killer mother in law. But for real, I'm Nancy Grace.
This is crime Stories. I want to thank you for
being with us. A loving father and esteemed law professor
(00:46):
is gunned down at his own home in his own vehicle.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
We heard it looked in that Roger Gore was up there,
and I thought the gentleman was backing out, and I
went back to my house. But he never backed out,
and I came back over breathing. I can't tell that.
I'm assuming he's breathing if he's moving his head around.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Did you ever hear him talk or anything?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
No?
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Okay, Now that's a great place to launch a trial.
Playing for the jury the nine to one one call.
In most cases, that is the closest thing we have
to what really happened.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
So let's start right there. Listen, no one want to
see address of your emergency.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Okay, okay, tell exactly what happened?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
We heard it looked in the garage goal was up,
and I thought the gentleman was backing out, and I
went back to my house. But he never backed out.
And I came back over and his wind his driver's
side window is shattered, and he's moving his head around,
but he's not responding. I've called his name, asked what's
going on. And I call his name, asking what's happening.
(01:53):
He's not responding to that, but his head's kind of
rolling around.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Okay, is he conscious?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Well, I can't tell.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Okay, is he breathing.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
I can't tell that. I'm assuming he's breathing if he's
moving his head around.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Did you ever hear him talk or anything?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
No, okay, he said. He's sitting in the car right correct,
on the driver's seat.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Oh my stars.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
When I hear about the execution style hit on a
loving dad of two little boys, a loving dad devoted
to his children. When I hear that, it just pounds
it in. He was alive. He didn't get shot and
just die instantly. He was still trying to speak, he
(02:40):
was still moving his head around. Professor Dan Markel I
had heard of him as being a renowned law professor,
just crackling with legal intelligence, totally devoted to his family.
(03:01):
There's his wife, Wendy, also a lawyer, one of the
only remaining members of the family that has not been
implicated in his murder.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Wow. Okay, hearing that nine one one call and.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Realizing that he's moving his head around trying to speak
to a neighbor is excruciating. I've thought it through myself.
Did the victim die immediately? Did they know what was
happening to them? What were their last moments on earth?
Was he thinking about his children? Will I ever see
(03:41):
them again? Am I going to live or die? Let's
listen to more of that nine to one one call.
We're going to hear it just like the jury.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
So you're saying his head.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Is bloody, now, yes, some bloody. I mean it's the
window shattered. I don't know if he's tried to shoot himself.
I don't know what the situation is as the driver's
side window career. That's correct, we're still moving around. Who's alive?
Speaker 5 (04:05):
Okay, looks like I should have an auscar coming.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Up the roadway. Okay, well we need the mpen.
Speaker 6 (04:13):
Well, the officer's going to be there, first, they're not
going to come until we figure out what's going on.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
But they're on the way as well. Okay, you'd better
be if this guy's got to shut This trial is happening,
and it is hot and heavy in the courtroom. In
the last hours, the jury is hearing more about wire taps.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
And let me tell you something.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
When the state goes to the effort, they're very, very
difficult to get. I've gotten them. You have to go
through a lot of constitutional hoops to prove to a judge,
and judges don't really like to give you a wire tap.
It's so invasive. A wire tap on your phone. Yes,
you can wiretap a cell phone your home. I've even
had cemetery sites and porches bugged, So a wire tap
(04:58):
is very invasive. You got to go through a lot
to get a wire tap. That's what the jury heard
about in the last hours. But I want to take
you to the beginning of this case. How in the
hay did a mild mannered law professor end up dead
execution style and his own garage in his own car.
(05:20):
I mean, he's pulling in home to see his children
and his wife, and bam, he shot dead.
Speaker 7 (05:28):
Listen to this, and Markell comes home to find the
house empty, his wife and two boys gone, and divorce
paper is left on a bed. Dan Markel describes the
day as his pearl harbor without warning, life as he
knew it was gone for six weeks. Dan Markel says
he doesn't know where his children are, much less as
soon to be ex wife. Markel claims Aidolson is getting
(05:50):
held from mother Donna Adelson and brother Charles Adelson, keeping
her location secret. Their divorce order is for them to
share joint custody of the children.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
My stars, the whole family is in on keeping the children,
the two little boys away from daddy. Let me tell
you something, Dave Mack joining me along with GG McKelvey.
First of you, Dave matt Crime Stories investigative reporter Dave Mack.
There was never an allegation that Professor Markel beat the children,
(06:24):
abused the children, starved the children. In fact, if anything,
he indulged them. He petted them too much. They were
his mini means. He adored them.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
So the whole.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Family gets in league with the wife, Wendy Adelson to
hide the children from the dad.
Speaker 8 (06:45):
What it's so shocking, Nancy that okay, the marriage is
at that point where Wendy wants out. Now, you've got
to remember that Wendy Adelson's family is all in South Florida,
and that's where she wants to go with her children.
We're talking an eight hour difference between where the where
(07:06):
the Markel's live in the northern part of Florida and
where the Adolson family lives in southern Florida rather and
when Wendy doesn't get that approval to move with that's it.
That's where everything begins. Nancy. They actually, I say they
the Adlson family. You mentioned Dan Markel comes home to
(07:27):
an empty house, right, Well, he had gone to a
convention and he was like the keynote speaker at this
big event. They made sure that he got the message
that Wendy wanted a divorce right before he went on stage.
They played it out perfectly, and there was some crowd
of damaging him like that. It was amazing what they
did to this man.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Oh my stars, you know, hold on GG when I
got Eric Fattus really quickly, guys. Eric Fattus vetter on
trial lawyer or TV legal analyst, founding partner Varner Fattus
Elite Legal former felony prosecutor. That's important. Now, Defense attorney Eric,
when you are about to go to trial, strike a jury,
(08:09):
give a legal presentation in front of hundreds of lawyers
who are going to be as firing legal questions at you,
you got to be sharp. It's like a Wimbledon tennis match.
You can't miss a thing. I remember thinking in court,
I'd be watching the witness and watching the jury. Watch
the witness, watch the jury as questioning. We take place
(08:32):
like a tennis match, because if you miss one word,
one sentence, legal term, you're screwed.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Anything could go wrong.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
And so right before he takes the stage in front
of hundreds of lawyers, that's when he gets hit with
the knees. Your wife wants a divorce, and he comes home,
the house is picked clean and screw the furniture.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
The children are gone.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Oh I can't even imagine that, faddest you come home
and your children are gone.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
That is what happened to him. Oh go, I mean that.
Speaker 9 (09:07):
Is going to shake anybody have, let alone someone who
is preparing for a big professional presentation.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
You've got to be on your game.
Speaker 9 (09:14):
You've got to be listening. There are details you've got
to take in. You got to make sure you don't
miss anything. This is a high stakes presentation.
Speaker 6 (09:22):
For him, and they did this in a calculated.
Speaker 9 (09:24):
Fashion, intentionally to shake him up as much as they could.
And really, you know, his life is crashing in upon
him immediately before he's about to give this kind of speech,
I mean, clearly problematic and shows some malice on their part.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Well, I'm going to tell you something, Fattest. I don't
know about you, but when I would go into try case,
I would wait until everyone was ready, And I had
a reason for this, the jury. I wouldn't come in
after the jury, that's rude, but I would wait till
the defense was in place. They defendant made it from jail,
round was in place, everybody was seated.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Why then I'd go in because.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
I did not want them speaking to me and throwing
off my concentration. Before I went and waited for the
jury coming out, I didn't want to think about anything
at all other than what I was about to do.
Tunnel vision has to be that way, and I can
just imagine him going to take the podium and going, hey,
here's the divorce papers. Anyway, back to what happened to
(10:30):
Gigi McKelvey, investigative journalist, host of podcasts A hit podcast,
Pretty Lies and Alibis. Gigi, I want to get back,
not from the speech that got totally ambushed. I want
to get to the day he was murdered. So he's
(10:51):
coming home and what he drives in does the garage,
and the garage goes up and he goes into the garage.
What happened then, Well.
Speaker 10 (11:00):
We know that Dan was on the phone with a
special school that Wendy wanted to enroll their oldest son,
and so he was actively talking to somebody as this happened.
He told the person on the phone, there's someone unfamiliar
to me in my driveway and he needed to see
who that was. The person on the other end heard
maybe a struggle, heard some loud noises and was asking
(11:23):
you okay, and he could hear groans, and so he
tried to call in text and no response. Obviously, So
Gg McKelvey, isn't it true that the killer apparently followed
markel into or right behind him, basically trapping him in
the garage. That's correct, pulled up to where he would
(11:45):
not have been able to back out or move in
any way or get out of his car without being
face to face with somebody who was going to kill him.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Ron Bitman joining me, former sheriff and Arundel County, Maryland,
former homicide undercover, a narcotics detective, and author of crime
trilogy Silent Blue Tears. Ron, this is a hit. There's
no two ways about it. There's no sex attack, nothing
is stolen, there's not a carjack nothing. They come up,
(12:12):
bam right in the head and leave.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
That's a hit.
Speaker 6 (12:17):
That's an execution, premature, with malice, the forethought. Absolutely first
degree murder one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Now another thing, Dave Mack joining me, Crime Stories, investigative reporter.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Isn't it true that.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Just before he was murdered, Professor Markel was on the
phone with the wife again basically the only person left
standing that hasn't been formally accused of murder. They have
been talking that whole morning, and Markel had left her
(12:54):
a voicemail about wanting to talk about the boys, and
she texted him his plans won't work. Then they argued
about when Wendy could get the children. She was saying
he could keep them a little bit longer, and then
he's dead. Isn't that the scenario they're arguing about the children.
Speaker 8 (13:18):
That morning, it was a constant discussion between Dan Markel
and Wendy about the children and about when Dan would
have time with them, when he would see them, where
he would see them was a big part of this.
Geography really plays into this entire case. But yes, Nancy,
she kept him on the phone and distracted all morning.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Okay, guys again, Wendy Adelson.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Has not been charged and has not.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Been named as a person of interest in her ex
husband's murder. She is a lawyer, a very good lawyer.
She has not been named a POI or suspect. Okay,
what more do we know?
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Listen?
Speaker 7 (14:02):
After the court prevents Wendy Aedelson from moving to South
Florida with the children, Adelson's mother, Donna, suggests the family
offer Markel one million dollars to allow the children to
relocate to South Florida. Donna and husband Harvey will contribute
a third. Charlie Aedelson, Wendy's brother, will contribute a third.
Wendy will pay a third. Donna Adelson also suggests telling
(14:22):
Markel that Wendy Aedelson is going to have the boys
converted to Catholicism. Knowing Markell and his family are strict
to Jewish faith, Donna Adelson believes the mere thought of
his children being raised Catholic would convince him to let
the boys move to Miami.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Man talk about down and dirty to doctor Sherry Schwartz
joining us out of this jurisdiction, I might add forensic
psychologists specializing in capital mitigation and victim advocacy. She has
written multiple books, the one Unlike the Best Criminal Behavior
and the other one where law and psychology intersect. Sherry,
(15:00):
Thank you for being with us. Docter Sherry number one.
They try to bribe Markell, the mother he's on trial
right now for having her son executed. The mother in
law literally from the gates of Hell.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Of course. Oh yeah, don't.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Be fooled by that, right there. We'll just wait till
you hear what we found on those wiretaps. She's presumed
innocent until proven guilty. Doctor Sherry number one trying to
bribe Markel, offering him a million dollars a cool meal
if he would let the boys relocate from Tallahassee hours
(15:39):
away to Miami. He's like, hell, no, I want to
be with my children.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
I don't even want this divorce.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Then after the bribe didn't work, she allegedly decides to
torture him by telling him he is a about and strict.
Speaker 11 (16:03):
Jew.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
They're going to tell him that they are having the
boys baptized and converted to Catholicism.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Don't you know? He did a backflip.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Generally speaking, when you're talking about this level of cruelty
where it's very similar to characteristics that we see in
narcissistic parents, it's all about power, manipulation and control, and
when the person, the target in this case, mister Marcall,
doesn't go along with what the narcissist wants, there's a
state of narcissistic rage where they will engage in acts
(16:36):
of extreme cruelty, such as not just bribery, but threatening
that they're going to convert the children to a different religion.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Doctor Kendall Crowns is joining me. Chief Medical Examiner Terran County,
that's Fort Worth. He is the esteemed lecturer at the
Burnett School of Medicine, that is at TCU, and he
is a star of a brand new hit.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Podcast, Mayhem in the Morgue.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Doctor Kendall Crowns, I want you to hear the trajectory
path of the bullet.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
That tore through Dan Markell's face.
Speaker 7 (17:13):
Listen, the Florida criminal law professor was pulling into his
driveway and on his cell phone when he was fatally shot.
The killer was waiting for Markel outside his home in
Tallahassee's Been Hills Section, then followed Markel into the garage.
When he opened it, Markell was shot in the side
of the head through the window of his car. The
bullet entered just beneath Markell's jawline.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Doctor Kendall crowns, I'm having my hot tea, but I
think I need something a little stronger than that. Did
you hear what was just said?
Speaker 3 (17:42):
That the bullet entered just beneath.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Markel's jaw line. Now let's think this through. So he's
driving on the left side of his vehicle, so it
would have been the left jawline just below it and
rips through his face and neck.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
And he lived. He lived.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
He was trying to talk say something to the neighbor,
and his head was moving around.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
What happened?
Speaker 1 (18:10):
And how long could he have endured that before he died?
Speaker 12 (18:15):
So the gunshown wound of entrance going under his left
jawline would be you'd have in this area of your
neck the crowded artery, the jugular vein, but if it's
a little interior it may miss those, then continue through
into the mid section of his neck, which would hit
his trachea, his thyroid, and then continue out the right
(18:36):
side of his neck again possibly hitting the jugular and crowded.
If those two vessels are hit, he's going to survive
for minutes. If those two vessels are not hit, he's
going to sit there inhaling blood through his damage trachea,
unable to speak because the area could involve his vocal cords,
and then sucking in blood and he could survive for
(18:58):
quite a while with that end. Uh, But if it
hits the major vessels, he's going to go Wait.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
A minute, what did you say about sucking in blood?
Speaker 12 (19:07):
So if he had, if it hits the trachea area,
it'll it'll cause blood to go into the airway or
mainsteam broncos and you'll be sucking in that blood, kind
of gasping in the blood. Not able to talk, but
just making a noise because your vocal cords are damage,
but you're sucking in the blood.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Doctor Kendall Crowns. Do you know what you're saying?
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Do you ever think about it?
Speaker 1 (19:31):
I mean, when I think about Markel, I immediately think
about as two boys, because one day, whenever they can
mentally and emotionally take it, they're going to find out
the details about how their dad died, and they're going
to have to find out that their dad was sitting
(19:52):
in his car, had been arguing about how much he
wanted to see them and be in their lives and
be the primary caregiver, and then he ends up with
this horrendous injury, pain beyond excruciating to the neck and
(20:13):
the face, the head, and he's sucking in his own blood.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
I mean, do you ever.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Think about what you're saying or is this like just
a clinical analysis for you?
Speaker 12 (20:24):
Well, of course I think about what I'm saying, But
the emotionality of thinking about the individual's life outside of him,
of the injuries that I see at autopsy, I try
not to think about because if I get wrapped up
in the emotion of all of it, I wouldn't be
able to do my job. So in a way, yes,
it's very clinical to me. You ask me a question,
(20:45):
I will give you a clinical answer describing what's injured,
not thinking about him, his family, the pain and suffering, etc.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Crime stories with Nancy Grace. Doctor Kendall Crown's question, You
have children, right? A lot of them do? Yes, Doctor
Kendall Crown's isn't it your dearest wish? I mean it's mine?
Maybe I'm true projecting, but your dearest wish is to
be there for your children's lives, not only for you
(21:22):
to see them unfold, but to be there to help
them in any little way you can, small or great.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
And just imagine, with those hopes.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
And dreams in your mind and in your heart, you
are sitting in your front seat of your car, sucking
in blood, wondering will you ever see them again? The
answer is no. I mean did he have time to
have those thoughts?
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Could he have?
Speaker 12 (21:52):
Depending on if it's just the gunshot wind of the neck,
he could have had time to think about what's happening,
trying to yell for help. Can't yell for help and
it's just inhaling in the blood. But it just depends
on what the areas get hit. But yes, he could
be consciously thinking about what's going on at that present time.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Why is law Professor Dan Markel dead. Why was he murdered?
Speaker 2 (22:15):
He's not responding to that, but his head's kind of
rolling around. Okay, is he conscious? Well, I can't tell.
Speaker 5 (22:21):
He heard the snoring respirations. He's not talking, he's mumbling.
He has no idea what happened. And he's bleeding out
and he's going into death as his blood jeeps out
of his body.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
You know, I've asked us a million times, fattest, I
know you're dying in the world defense attorney, But does
it ever strike you? Why is it always the good,
the pure of the innocent, the decent people to get slaughtered,
and then the dope dealers and the child molesters and
the drug lords, the bad guys, they just have a
field day. They somehow survive like roaches. But a loving dad,
(22:57):
brilliant lawyer, which to me, as a side issue, the
fact that he's such a loving dad is what matters
to me.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Why do they have to die?
Speaker 9 (23:05):
You know, it's an incalculable loss. We're talking about the
trial of Donna Aedelson.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
You know what fatis. You're absolutely right. This is the
trial of the monster in law, the suspect who ordered
the hit. According to prosecutors to murder her son in
law because he would not let his children move eight
hours away to live by her. Wow, I wonder why
after trying to bribe him for a million dollars for
(23:30):
Thretten to indoctrinate the boys in another religion, a plot unfold.
I haven't even gotten to.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
All the wire. Chaps. You know what. You're gonna totally
wig when you hear this.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
But let's take a step by step because it can
get complicated.
Speaker 7 (23:46):
Listen, Charlie Aedelson, brother of Wendy Edelson, uses his girlfriend
Katherine mcmanawah to arrange a murder for hire, using the
father of her two children, Sigredo Garcia, and his friend
Louis Rivera, to kill Dan Mark. The end result that
Wendy Aedelson can move her two children too South Florida
near her family. Exactly what happened when Dan Markel was killed?
Speaker 3 (24:09):
What happened when you got to the driveway of dan Mark.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Hill right behind him, and of course he jumped out
and shot him.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
How many times did Garcia shoot Mark? Mister Moyle cold blood?
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Cold blood GG McKelvey joining US investigative journalists star a
pretty lies and Alibis podcast. Gigi's been on the case
from the very very beginning.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Gg cold, what I mean?
Speaker 1 (24:42):
He just rattled off, how many times you shoot twice?
He doesn't care about the children, He doesn't care about
Mark Hill's family, devastated family twice. Okay, forget about that.
Let me talk to you about the plot. Let me
understand Wendy Adelson, the mother of the children, the one
(25:03):
that got the divorce, the lawyer her, Wendy Adelson's brother,
Charlie Aidelson. And let me just tell everybody, this is
great for the shrink to figure out on his car
tag he paid for a vanity tag that said, Maestro
really Okay, isn't he basically a dentist?
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (25:26):
That said, he decides to intervene, and he gets his girlfriend,
Katherine Magwana.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
To arrange a hit. And the hit men are the.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Father of her children, Sigfredo Garcia and his friend Louis Rivera. Okay,
there is Catherine Magbanua and the father of her children,
Sigfreda Garcia and his buddy Luis Rivera.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Okay, tell me how that whole.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Thing went down, Gigi, And isn't it quite the coincidence?
Isn't it odd that everybody around Wendy Adelson is dropping
like flies? Now her mother is on trial, but she
is unscathed. Neither person of interest or assessment tell me
how this whole thing went down with the girlfriend. With
Charlie Adelson's girlfriend. Man, she must have been a piece
(26:23):
of work, because when I think of hitman, I don't think, hey,
I'll ask my husband to get some of his low
life friends to pull off a hit. You know, they're
not all as in priests and virgins, gg, birds of
a feather, you know the rest. So he thinks his
girlfriend can arrange a murder and guess what she does?
Speaker 10 (26:41):
Yeah, I mean that's essentially what happened. And it was
pretty soon after they started seeing each other at Halloween
party where they're getting in their car to leave, and
he just asked her, Hey, do you know anybody that
would hurt somebody? And she said yes and left it there.
And it wasn't until later on when and the relocation
(27:01):
was a big issue with Donna, And we're going to
hear that on these wiretap calls as this trial progresses.
It was getting fever pitch. I don't think Charlie cared
where Wendy and the boys lived. He's a playboy making
millions of dollars every year, but it was important to Donna.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
And as time went on and.
Speaker 10 (27:21):
Donna got more frantic and more obsessed with the location issue,
he finally went to her and said, we need to
get this done. That is when she went to her
baby daddy, Sigfredo Garcia, and proposed, would you like to
make some money to take care of somebody?
Speaker 3 (27:37):
And he said yes.
Speaker 10 (27:39):
After that he got his childhood friend Luis Rivera, who
was the leader of the Miami sector of the Latin Kings,
to come along as a ride along essentially, and that's
where the plot started.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
So Charlie Adelson aka the Maestro, who was Wendy Alson.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Ah there he is.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
What a fine figure of a man, vanity plate maestro?
Okay whatever, So how is he making so much money?
Hand over fishgg how much money are we talking about?
Speaker 3 (28:14):
What did he do for a living.
Speaker 10 (28:15):
He's a periodontist, so that's a dental surgeon. Harvey the
father was only a dentist and owned the Adolson Institute,
which is their family dental practice. But Charlie would also
travel around South Florida and do day work at these
other dental offices, and he got paid a lot of money. Also,
the family preferred cash payments as opposed to credit card payments.
(28:40):
Charlie was notorious for having a safe with stacks of
one hundred bills in there. But Charlie, yeah, he was
driving around supercars. He had a boat throwing money out
left and right, and he.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Happened to me a supercar. The last thing I want
is a man pulling up and an expensive car. I
mean a guy pulls up in a Lamborghini, I'm like,
bye bye.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
You know what that means to me?
Speaker 1 (29:08):
That means he's having a midlife crisis, or he feels
like he's got to have a really expensive car to
impress people, because obviously his personality and intellect don't cut it.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
So not interested. My husband drives a beat up SUV
meet up, totally meat up, and he doesn't care.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
That's what I like about him. So this guy, what
kind of car is a supercar? Charlie Adelson, I believe
he had a Lamborghini.
Speaker 10 (29:38):
If I recall correct it, it must have been why
I said Lamborghini.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Oh, I could just see him driving up and down
the strip in Miami and his Lamborghini and Maestro on
his vanity to So.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Who's doctor Bubner?
Speaker 1 (29:53):
Bob ne r Who, Dave mac Who's doctor Bubner? I
notice you, Dave matt keep talking about doctor Bubner, and
I'm wondering why you just love to say Bubner?
Speaker 3 (30:06):
Who is that?
Speaker 8 (30:09):
Doctor Bubner is a Miami doctor who is a breast
augmentation specialist, and he refers to himself first as doctor Bubner,
and then of course his patients are so happy with
the results that they in turn call him doctor Bubner.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
And uh, okay, great, what does he have to do
with this case?
Speaker 8 (30:31):
He's like the missing link in the Dan Markel murder mystery,
if you want to call it. That the prosecutors that
were investigating the case, they actually were able to tie
in doctor Bubner between Katherine Macbanawa and Charlie Adelson, and
(30:53):
that he did Katherine Macbanawa's breast augmentation surgery as art
of the payment she got from Charlie Adelson for helping.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Star's wait stop stop stop stop stop place place speak
no more.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Are you hearing this, Fattus?
Speaker 1 (31:10):
I assume, Fatus, you've seen the series of moodies called
the Apple Dumpling gang. Okay it Scott don Nott's and
others in it. Yeah, you need to see that. I
showed it to the children. But I think the title
says it all. So the go between Katherine mcbatoir, who
set up the hit for Charlie Adelson for his mother
(31:34):
or the monster in law got paid with a breast
lift implants I'm so happy right now because that's not
hard to trace.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
Right, he paid her with knee breasts A and me.
Speaker 9 (31:50):
Right right, Nancy. But the key there is Charlie paid her.
Charlie paid her, not Donna. It's not Donna fronting the
bill for these new rest at least that hasn't been
proven in courtA.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
And so what we're talking.
Speaker 9 (32:03):
About is is certainly this uh you know, court of
folks who are.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Conspiring with one another.
Speaker 9 (32:09):
And then we have Donna Adelson, who, according to the fence,
is just kind of a protective grandma.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
Protective mother tried the million dollar bribe.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Did you not hear you need to turn up your
hearing aids. Did you not hear? Jj McKelvey just say,
Charlie Adelson didn't give a flying fig where those boys lived.
He only did it because his mother drove him insane
to do it. He doesn't care. He didn't have a
dog in that fight and no skin in the game.
He did it because his mother would not leave him alone.
(32:40):
He didn't care about the boys.
Speaker 9 (32:42):
But but to say that that cause this murder for
higher plot is a logical leap that I'm not sure
the evidence has supported yet, And so, uh, you know,
I just think that's a bit of a stretch. The prosecutor,
they've already got there pound of flesh with the four
other convictions, and in defense is saying, Okay, wait a minute.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
You're talking about the conviction of the brother, the playboy,
Lamborghini Brother aka Maestro, the girlfriend with the breastlift, Katherine
may Banoi, the hit man, and his gang cohort. Those
four have been convicted. None of them.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
Care about where the boys live.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
The only one that cares is Donna aight old son
who's on trial right now. Katherine mcbanoi testifies under oath
about how Charlie Adelson couldn't take a link without Mommy
saying okay, you can go. So this was like a
(33:48):
regular part of the way this worked. Whenever this conversation
came up yes, we consult his mother and come back.
Speaker 11 (33:55):
And speak to you and Jack.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
Crime stores with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 7 (34:09):
Investigators use an undercover agent to make contact with Donna Adelson.
The agent hands Donna Adelson a press release of Markel's murder,
asks Adelson for five thousand dollars and provides a phone number.
Investigators interceptor called Donna Adelson makes to Charlie asking him
to meet with her about paperwork hand delivered to her
outside her condo. Charlie asks if it involves him, and
(34:31):
Donna says probably both of us. Donna says she doesn't
want to discuss this on the phone. Investigators continue to
intercept calls, this time Charlie tells mom not to talk
about things in the apartment. Adelson asks his mother what
the letter asked for. Donna says this TV is probably
about five. Charlie asks if they ask for five thousand dollars.
(34:53):
Donna Adelson responds affirmatively. Adlson calls Katherine mag Banawa and
explains someone approached his mother, guarding her son and his
ex girlfriend and asking for money. Investigators record Adolson saying
to mac Baniwa, my mom doesn't know these guys. He
says paying someone off is not an admission of guilt.
(35:13):
Conversations continue between Charlie Aedelson, Donna Adelson, Catter Macbanawa, and
Sigfredo Garcia, all monitored by investigators.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
You know, Eric Fattus's worst nightmare is a wire tab
hey or.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
An undercover agent.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Eric Fattus, did you hear that an undercover agent approaches
Adolson on the street He's got a press release or
an article about Markel's murder and says, hey, you owe
me five thousand dollars. I have info on you and
your son.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
What does she do? John?
Speaker 1 (35:48):
Call police? She calls her son and goes, don't talk
on the phone and makes us some crazy jargon to
tell him a bribe of five thousand dollars been put
to her, and they go, don't When somebody says don't
talk on the phone, you know it's something bad, or
don't put it in writing.
Speaker 3 (36:07):
You don't want to leave a trail, And that's what
she says, Well, hey, what it could be. It sounds
a little bit like entrapman.
Speaker 9 (36:14):
It sounds a little bit like government overreach. It sounds
a little bit like Charlie Edelson was involved in some
misdeeds and the government's trying to rope in somebody who
did not have any direct involvement. Look, the mother may
have known that Charlie Adamson did what he did and
may have wanted to talk with him about that.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
None of that is criminal.
Speaker 9 (36:32):
And the fact that she says, oh, it involves both
of us, well, she's someone who received the document and
received the bump, which was this surreptitious encounter. And so hey, look,
you know calling your son to talk about it is
not crime.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
You know what when you say things like Ron Bateman
come out.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
You know, let's school Eric Fattis.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
If it's possible Bateman, former sheriff for anne Arundel County
author homicide undercover, you name it Bateman. When I hear
the words don't talk on the phone or don't.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
Talk in the apartment, why not talk in your apartment?
Speaker 1 (37:11):
If some guy I don't know literally bumps into me
on the street and tries to extract five grand from me,
I'm calling police. But neither one of them call police.
In fact, they don't talk on the phone.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
All that started.
Speaker 6 (37:29):
Let me talk about that for one second. I've been
in those positions. I have been the undercover guy. I
have been the hit guy for a relationship that went bad,
and I was the guy on the phone during the
undercover call in this case with a wife, and it
is so funny. And I'm being undercovered narcotics detector for
a long time and got into this role as a
(37:52):
hit man. People always talk on the phone, they try
to talk in code, and I was talking in code
to this one particular lady. It's just so funny. They
are not as diabolical with their planning of a murder
like people think they should be. I had Maryland's first
life without parole case ever happened, and it was a
(38:13):
contract murder involving a wife and a husband. Totally different
case where I was the undercover hitman. But again, it's
just so funny how just things just crumple down. And
the worst thing that you can have in any kind
of crime is another person. And if there's another person,
which in this case there are several, they'll altern on
(38:35):
each other, which obviously in this case, they have what
I call in this case, and I don't know if
I've coined this, if it's my own thing or not,
but it's relationship terrorism, like that bomb that was dropped
on the husband before he went for the speaking engagement.
And then these guys here, the Garcia and Rivera. I mean,
(38:57):
come on, you think there's no ring cameras loss the
streeter or at the front of the house. I mean,
come on, it's just just it's so.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
And now it culminates from the hitmen to the breastlift
as payment for setting up the hit, to the son,
the brother, Charlie Adelson, to the mother Donna Adelson on trial.
Now the only one unscathed is Wendy Adelson, and all
(39:30):
of this, according to prosecutors, was for her. She says
she knew nothing of it. And speaking of Donna Adelson,
she came this close, this close to getting out of
the country and going to a non extradition jurisdiction, specifically
(39:53):
the Nam caught at the airport.
Speaker 3 (39:56):
Listen, it is a sweetheart.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
Let's just get away. We're just get away somewhere.
Speaker 11 (40:01):
So we could have sometimes to think.
Speaker 9 (40:06):
Okay, So your testimony is that you weren't trying to
go to Vietnam because you wouldn't be able to be.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
Extradited from there.
Speaker 11 (40:14):
So my husband actually had said, you know, we've been
to Vietnam, before with friends, we run vacation and it
really was like a place of peace. And so he said,
if we go to a non extradition country, then if
(40:35):
the law enforcement decided that they wanted to arrest you,
or maybe whatever both he said, then he said, we
won't be sitting in a foreign prison waiting months to
go back. We could buy a ticket and we could
go home. And my understanding was that I could go
home and I could turn myself in if that's what
they wanted.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
Yeah, that's how it typically does not work.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
You go to a non extradition country and then when
the cops want to arrest you, you just come home.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
Okay. That is what we.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Call in the law flight as evidence of guilt. You
leave the scene of the crime, or you leave before
you can get caught. Everyone is wondering what else was
heard on those tapped phone calls to gg McKelvey. We
(41:30):
have been listening to Ellie on the stand now going
on two days.
Speaker 3 (41:36):
What did they say yesterday?
Speaker 10 (41:39):
They pretty much went through a couple of calls, initially
about Wendy and I think what the prosecution was trying
to do was show that Donna was complaining about relationships
and jobs that Wendy had chosen, and she was having
Charlie do her bidding for her. You need to talk
to your sister, talker out of this. You need to
(41:59):
talk her in to this. So I think the first
couple of calls, that's what that was for. Then we
get into those bump calls that we've been talking about,
where there's panic.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
You know, Donad's not wanting to say much.
Speaker 10 (42:10):
Charlie notoriously repeats himself in these wiretap calls that we
will hear throughout today. But it's what we're hearing is
the absence of the question, which, ex Girlfriend, what is
five thousand dollars? Why is this random guy handing me
some article about Dan on the street?
Speaker 1 (42:30):
What is going on?
Speaker 10 (42:32):
No police called nothing at all except that phone call
right after that, Charlie, we need to have dinner. This
involves the two of us. The TV was about five
and they have determined over the course of these wiretaps,
TV is code for murder.
Speaker 7 (42:48):
Jeffery Lecash was dating Wendy Agelson around the time of
dan murder and says he felt like he was being
framed as the possible killer. Lacas says Wendy pushed for
details about an upcoming trip to Atlanta on July eighteenth,
when he was leaving direction of travel. Turns out the
killers rented a car similar in color and style to
(43:08):
La cass gray Nissan Sentra and travel in the same
direction as La Cass as they had out of town.
He also notes he had plans to travel that route
the same morning in June twenty fourteen that the hitman
arrived in Tallahassee during their first attempt to kill Markel.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
JJ mccalveny joining US investigative journalist. So Wendy Adelson's boyfriend
thought her family, including her, was trying to set him
up to take the fall for the murder.
Speaker 10 (43:40):
Absolutely, and he told a story that would support that.
He and Wendy actually were on a break at her request.
She had just got back from a ten weeks day
in Miami, and they met up and she said, look,
you know, I really just want some days alone. And
this is at the time that the actual murder happened.
They met up one last time and as they're going
(44:03):
to their car, she turns and asks him about his
trip that was happening the next day. Hey, what would
cause you not to go on your trip, Which way
are you going?
Speaker 1 (44:13):
And he thought it was odd.
Speaker 10 (44:14):
And so he goes on about his day and come
to find out both times, the first attempt that happened
in June, that law enforcement did not know about, in fact,
until Luis Rivera told them in his profer they ranted
a car very similar to Jeff Lacass's. And I don't
think it's much of a coincidence that on two separate
(44:35):
trips in two separate months, when the killers are in town,
that's when Jeff Lacass scheduled to go out. He would
have taken a route that would have went very near
Dan Markel's house about the same time that the two
hitmen would have been fleeing the area after the shooting.
Speaker 3 (44:52):
I absolutely think they tried to set Jeff up because
it would be easy.
Speaker 10 (44:56):
He disliked Dan because he adopted the Adelson way of
thinking about Dan at the time, he was with Wendy.
That's what you do sometimes when you're in relationships, So
it could have been the perfect storm for him, but
thank goodness, he was able to person.
Speaker 1 (45:10):
Isn't there other than brainwashing the boyfriend Dave mac I'm interested,
I'm curious about a conversation. According to the boyfriend, Jeffrey
La Cass, he says, Wendy Adelson, the mom of the boys,
(45:31):
Dan Markel's wife.
Speaker 3 (45:32):
That wanted the divorce and moved the boys away.
Speaker 1 (45:36):
Wendy Adelson, according to Lacas, says, and I'm reading it verbatim,
can I tell you something confidentially? Last summer, my brother
looked into all options possible to take care of the
Danny Markel problem, including hiring a hitman, and it would
cost about fifteen thousand dollars.
Speaker 3 (45:57):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
Then there was a question, is this some kind of
joke Charlie made? And the boyfriend says, this was no joke.
Did that happen? Has the jury heard that evidence of
(46:19):
the conversation with Wendy Adelson?
Speaker 12 (46:23):
They have.
Speaker 8 (46:25):
Jeff Lecash actually has already testified Nancy, and he broke
this all out Georgia Kapelman when the prosecutors actually was
able to bring this out of him, and she even
went back to, what was this a joke? Kind of
like how Charlie blew off the TV as a divorced
president kind of thing as a joke, And he was like, no,
this is not a joke, because think about it in context, Nancy,
(46:48):
You've got Wendy Adelson volunteering that Charlie came up with
a plan and it would cost fifteen grand. That's beyond joking.
That's not an off handed comment. Is a very firm
I got to get this off my chest kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (47:03):
And she did, you know what. And I don't care
how angry I get at my husband. If someone said, hey,
I'm gonna give you a TV as a divorce present,
it's cheaper than a hitman, they would get a total
knuckle sandwich. Okay, But according to what the boyfriend says,
this was no joke. And let me remind everyone, Wendy Adelson.
Speaker 3 (47:26):
Has not been charged.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
She is not a person of interest in the murder
of Dan Markel. Everyone in our country is innocent. They
are presumed innocent until and unless the state pierces that
presumption of innocence with guilt to prove the incident actually.
Speaker 3 (47:49):
Happened and the defendant is guilty.
Speaker 1 (47:53):
Wendy Adelson, as of tonight, has not been charged as
a suspect or person of interest in this case, and
we wait as justice unfolds for the so called monster
in law, Donna Adelson. We remember an American hero, Detective
Irving Calendar, Newark PD, killed in the line of duty.
(48:17):
Survived by grieving wife Melissa, two sons, Irving and Robert,
and beautiful niece Zenaiah. American hero Detective Irving Calendar, Nancy
Gray signing off goodbye friend,
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, the so called killer mother
in law, suspect Premps fixing her hair as she goes
to trial, and a murder case where the state alleges
(00:21):
she masterminded an execution, a paid hit on her own
son in law, the law professor. That's right, a so
called killer mother in law. But for real, I'm Nancy Grace.
This is crime Stories. I want to thank you for
being with us. A loving father and esteemed law professor
(00:46):
is gunned down at his own home in his own vehicle.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
We heard it looked in that Roger Gore was up there,
and I thought the gentleman was backing out, and I
went back to my house. But he never backed out,
and I came back over breathing. I can't tell that.
I'm assuming he's breathing if he's moving his head around.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Did you ever hear him talk or anything?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
No?
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Okay, Now that's a great place to launch a trial.
Playing for the jury the nine to one one call.
In most cases, that is the closest thing we have
to what really happened.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
So let's start right there. Listen, no one want to
see address of your emergency.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Okay, okay, tell exactly what happened?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
We heard it looked in the garage goal was up,
and I thought the gentleman was backing out, and I
went back to my house. But he never backed out.
And I came back over and his wind his driver's
side window is shattered, and he's moving his head around,
but he's not responding. I've called his name, asked what's
going on. And I call his name, asking what's happening.
(01:53):
He's not responding to that, but his head's kind of
rolling around.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Okay, is he conscious?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Well, I can't tell.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Okay, is he breathing.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
I can't tell that. I'm assuming he's breathing if he's
moving his head around.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Did you ever hear him talk or anything?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
No, okay, he said. He's sitting in the car right correct,
on the driver's seat.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Oh my stars.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
When I hear about the execution style hit on a
loving dad of two little boys, a loving dad devoted
to his children. When I hear that, it just pounds
it in. He was alive. He didn't get shot and
just die instantly. He was still trying to speak, he
(02:40):
was still moving his head around. Professor Dan Markel I
had heard of him as being a renowned law professor,
just crackling with legal intelligence, totally devoted to his family.
(03:01):
There's his wife, Wendy, also a lawyer, one of the
only remaining members of the family that has not been
implicated in his murder.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Wow. Okay, hearing that nine one one call and.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Realizing that he's moving his head around trying to speak
to a neighbor is excruciating. I've thought it through myself.
Did the victim die immediately? Did they know what was
happening to them? What were their last moments on earth?
Was he thinking about his children? Will I ever see
(03:41):
them again? Am I going to live or die? Let's
listen to more of that nine to one one call.
We're going to hear it just like the jury.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
So you're saying his head.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Is bloody, now, yes, some bloody. I mean it's the
window shattered. I don't know if he's tried to shoot himself.
I don't know what the situation is as the driver's
side window career. That's correct, we're still moving around. Who's alive?
Speaker 5 (04:05):
Okay, looks like I should have an auscar coming.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Up the roadway. Okay, well we need the mpen.
Speaker 6 (04:13):
Well, the officer's going to be there, first, they're not
going to come until we figure out what's going on.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
But they're on the way as well. Okay, you'd better
be if this guy's got to shut This trial is happening,
and it is hot and heavy in the courtroom. In
the last hours, the jury is hearing more about wire taps.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
And let me tell you something.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
When the state goes to the effort, they're very, very
difficult to get. I've gotten them. You have to go
through a lot of constitutional hoops to prove to a judge,
and judges don't really like to give you a wire tap.
It's so invasive. A wire tap on your phone. Yes,
you can wiretap a cell phone your home. I've even
had cemetery sites and porches bugged, So a wire tap
(04:58):
is very invasive. You got to go through a lot
to get a wire tap. That's what the jury heard
about in the last hours. But I want to take
you to the beginning of this case. How in the
hay did a mild mannered law professor end up dead
execution style and his own garage in his own car.
(05:20):
I mean, he's pulling in home to see his children
and his wife, and bam, he shot dead.
Speaker 7 (05:28):
Listen to this, and Markell comes home to find the
house empty, his wife and two boys gone, and divorce
paper is left on a bed. Dan Markel describes the
day as his pearl harbor without warning, life as he
knew it was gone for six weeks. Dan Markel says
he doesn't know where his children are, much less as
soon to be ex wife. Markel claims Aidolson is getting
(05:50):
held from mother Donna Adelson and brother Charles Adelson, keeping
her location secret. Their divorce order is for them to
share joint custody of the children.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
My stars, the whole family is in on keeping the children,
the two little boys away from daddy. Let me tell
you something, Dave Mack joining me along with GG McKelvey.
First of you, Dave matt Crime Stories investigative reporter Dave Mack.
There was never an allegation that Professor Markel beat the children,
(06:24):
abused the children, starved the children. In fact, if anything,
he indulged them. He petted them too much. They were
his mini means. He adored them.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
So the whole.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Family gets in league with the wife, Wendy Adelson to
hide the children from the dad.
Speaker 8 (06:45):
What it's so shocking, Nancy that okay, the marriage is
at that point where Wendy wants out. Now, you've got
to remember that Wendy Adelson's family is all in South Florida,
and that's where she wants to go with her children.
We're talking an eight hour difference between where the where
(07:06):
the Markel's live in the northern part of Florida and
where the Adolson family lives in southern Florida rather and
when Wendy doesn't get that approval to move with that's it.
That's where everything begins. Nancy. They actually, I say they
the Adlson family. You mentioned Dan Markel comes home to
(07:27):
an empty house, right, Well, he had gone to a
convention and he was like the keynote speaker at this
big event. They made sure that he got the message
that Wendy wanted a divorce right before he went on stage.
They played it out perfectly, and there was some crowd
of damaging him like that. It was amazing what they
did to this man.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Oh my stars, you know, hold on GG when I
got Eric Fattus really quickly, guys. Eric Fattus vetter on
trial lawyer or TV legal analyst, founding partner Varner Fattus
Elite Legal former felony prosecutor. That's important. Now, Defense attorney Eric,
when you are about to go to trial, strike a jury,
(08:09):
give a legal presentation in front of hundreds of lawyers
who are going to be as firing legal questions at you,
you got to be sharp. It's like a Wimbledon tennis match.
You can't miss a thing. I remember thinking in court,
I'd be watching the witness and watching the jury. Watch
the witness, watch the jury as questioning. We take place
(08:32):
like a tennis match, because if you miss one word,
one sentence, legal term, you're screwed.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Anything could go wrong.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
And so right before he takes the stage in front
of hundreds of lawyers, that's when he gets hit with
the knees. Your wife wants a divorce, and he comes home,
the house is picked clean and screw the furniture.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
The children are gone.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Oh I can't even imagine that, faddest you come home
and your children are gone.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
That is what happened to him. Oh go, I mean that.
Speaker 9 (09:07):
Is going to shake anybody have, let alone someone who
is preparing for a big professional presentation.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
You've got to be on your game.
Speaker 9 (09:14):
You've got to be listening. There are details you've got
to take in. You got to make sure you don't
miss anything. This is a high stakes presentation.
Speaker 6 (09:22):
For him, and they did this in a calculated.
Speaker 9 (09:24):
Fashion, intentionally to shake him up as much as they could.
And really, you know, his life is crashing in upon
him immediately before he's about to give this kind of speech,
I mean, clearly problematic and shows some malice on their part.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Well, I'm going to tell you something, Fattest. I don't
know about you, but when I would go into try case,
I would wait until everyone was ready, And I had
a reason for this, the jury. I wouldn't come in
after the jury, that's rude, but I would wait till
the defense was in place. They defendant made it from jail,
round was in place, everybody was seated.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Why then I'd go in because.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
I did not want them speaking to me and throwing
off my concentration. Before I went and waited for the
jury coming out, I didn't want to think about anything
at all other than what I was about to do.
Tunnel vision has to be that way, and I can
just imagine him going to take the podium and going, hey,
here's the divorce papers. Anyway, back to what happened to
(10:30):
Gigi McKelvey, investigative journalist, host of podcasts A hit podcast,
Pretty Lies and Alibis. Gigi, I want to get back,
not from the speech that got totally ambushed. I want
to get to the day he was murdered. So he's
(10:51):
coming home and what he drives in does the garage,
and the garage goes up and he goes into the garage.
What happened then, Well.
Speaker 10 (11:00):
We know that Dan was on the phone with a
special school that Wendy wanted to enroll their oldest son,
and so he was actively talking to somebody as this happened.
He told the person on the phone, there's someone unfamiliar
to me in my driveway and he needed to see
who that was. The person on the other end heard
maybe a struggle, heard some loud noises and was asking
(11:23):
you okay, and he could hear groans, and so he
tried to call in text and no response. Obviously, So
Gg McKelvey, isn't it true that the killer apparently followed
markel into or right behind him, basically trapping him in
the garage. That's correct, pulled up to where he would
(11:45):
not have been able to back out or move in
any way or get out of his car without being
face to face with somebody who was going to kill him.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Ron Bitman joining me, former sheriff and Arundel County, Maryland,
former homicide undercover, a narcotics detective, and author of crime
trilogy Silent Blue Tears. Ron, this is a hit. There's
no two ways about it. There's no sex attack, nothing
is stolen, there's not a carjack nothing. They come up,
(12:12):
bam right in the head and leave.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
That's a hit.
Speaker 6 (12:17):
That's an execution, premature, with malice, the forethought. Absolutely first
degree murder one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Now another thing, Dave Mack joining me, Crime Stories, investigative reporter.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Isn't it true that.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Just before he was murdered, Professor Markel was on the
phone with the wife again basically the only person left
standing that hasn't been formally accused of murder. They have
been talking that whole morning, and Markel had left her
(12:54):
a voicemail about wanting to talk about the boys, and
she texted him his plans won't work. Then they argued
about when Wendy could get the children. She was saying
he could keep them a little bit longer, and then
he's dead. Isn't that the scenario they're arguing about the children.
Speaker 8 (13:18):
That morning, it was a constant discussion between Dan Markel
and Wendy about the children and about when Dan would
have time with them, when he would see them, where
he would see them was a big part of this.
Geography really plays into this entire case. But yes, Nancy,
she kept him on the phone and distracted all morning.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Okay, guys again, Wendy Adelson.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Has not been charged and has not.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Been named as a person of interest in her ex
husband's murder. She is a lawyer, a very good lawyer.
She has not been named a POI or suspect. Okay,
what more do we know?
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Listen?
Speaker 7 (14:02):
After the court prevents Wendy Aedelson from moving to South
Florida with the children, Adelson's mother, Donna, suggests the family
offer Markel one million dollars to allow the children to
relocate to South Florida. Donna and husband Harvey will contribute
a third. Charlie Aedelson, Wendy's brother, will contribute a third.
Wendy will pay a third. Donna Adelson also suggests telling
(14:22):
Markel that Wendy Aedelson is going to have the boys
converted to Catholicism. Knowing Markell and his family are strict
to Jewish faith, Donna Adelson believes the mere thought of
his children being raised Catholic would convince him to let
the boys move to Miami.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Man talk about down and dirty to doctor Sherry Schwartz
joining us out of this jurisdiction, I might add forensic
psychologists specializing in capital mitigation and victim advocacy. She has
written multiple books, the one Unlike the Best Criminal Behavior
and the other one where law and psychology intersect. Sherry,
(15:00):
Thank you for being with us. Docter Sherry number one.
They try to bribe Markell, the mother he's on trial
right now for having her son executed. The mother in
law literally from the gates of Hell.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Of course. Oh yeah, don't.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Be fooled by that, right there. We'll just wait till
you hear what we found on those wiretaps. She's presumed
innocent until proven guilty. Doctor Sherry number one trying to
bribe Markel, offering him a million dollars a cool meal
if he would let the boys relocate from Tallahassee hours
(15:39):
away to Miami. He's like, hell, no, I want to
be with my children.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
I don't even want this divorce.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Then after the bribe didn't work, she allegedly decides to
torture him by telling him he is a about and strict.
Speaker 11 (16:03):
Jew.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
They're going to tell him that they are having the
boys baptized and converted to Catholicism.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Don't you know? He did a backflip.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Generally speaking, when you're talking about this level of cruelty
where it's very similar to characteristics that we see in
narcissistic parents, it's all about power, manipulation and control, and
when the person, the target in this case, mister Marcall,
doesn't go along with what the narcissist wants, there's a
state of narcissistic rage where they will engage in acts
(16:36):
of extreme cruelty, such as not just bribery, but threatening
that they're going to convert the children to a different religion.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Doctor Kendall Crowns is joining me. Chief Medical Examiner Terran County,
that's Fort Worth. He is the esteemed lecturer at the
Burnett School of Medicine, that is at TCU, and he
is a star of a brand new hit.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Podcast, Mayhem in the Morgue.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Doctor Kendall Crowns, I want you to hear the trajectory
path of the bullet.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
That tore through Dan Markell's face.
Speaker 7 (17:13):
Listen, the Florida criminal law professor was pulling into his
driveway and on his cell phone when he was fatally shot.
The killer was waiting for Markel outside his home in
Tallahassee's Been Hills Section, then followed Markel into the garage.
When he opened it, Markell was shot in the side
of the head through the window of his car. The
bullet entered just beneath Markell's jawline.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Doctor Kendall crowns, I'm having my hot tea, but I
think I need something a little stronger than that. Did
you hear what was just said?
Speaker 3 (17:42):
That the bullet entered just beneath.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Markel's jaw line. Now let's think this through. So he's
driving on the left side of his vehicle, so it
would have been the left jawline just below it and
rips through his face and neck.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
And he lived. He lived.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
He was trying to talk say something to the neighbor,
and his head was moving around.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
What happened?
Speaker 1 (18:10):
And how long could he have endured that before he died?
Speaker 12 (18:15):
So the gunshown wound of entrance going under his left
jawline would be you'd have in this area of your
neck the crowded artery, the jugular vein, but if it's
a little interior it may miss those, then continue through
into the mid section of his neck, which would hit
his trachea, his thyroid, and then continue out the right
(18:36):
side of his neck again possibly hitting the jugular and crowded.
If those two vessels are hit, he's going to survive
for minutes. If those two vessels are not hit, he's
going to sit there inhaling blood through his damage trachea,
unable to speak because the area could involve his vocal cords,
and then sucking in blood and he could survive for
(18:58):
quite a while with that end. Uh, But if it
hits the major vessels, he's going to go Wait.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
A minute, what did you say about sucking in blood?
Speaker 12 (19:07):
So if he had, if it hits the trachea area,
it'll it'll cause blood to go into the airway or
mainsteam broncos and you'll be sucking in that blood, kind
of gasping in the blood. Not able to talk, but
just making a noise because your vocal cords are damage,
but you're sucking in the blood.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Doctor Kendall Crowns. Do you know what you're saying?
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Do you ever think about it?
Speaker 1 (19:31):
I mean, when I think about Markel, I immediately think
about as two boys, because one day, whenever they can
mentally and emotionally take it, they're going to find out
the details about how their dad died, and they're going
to have to find out that their dad was sitting
(19:52):
in his car, had been arguing about how much he
wanted to see them and be in their lives and
be the primary caregiver, and then he ends up with
this horrendous injury, pain beyond excruciating to the neck and
(20:13):
the face, the head, and he's sucking in his own blood.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
I mean, do you ever.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Think about what you're saying or is this like just
a clinical analysis for you?
Speaker 12 (20:24):
Well, of course I think about what I'm saying, But
the emotionality of thinking about the individual's life outside of him,
of the injuries that I see at autopsy, I try
not to think about because if I get wrapped up
in the emotion of all of it, I wouldn't be
able to do my job. So in a way, yes,
it's very clinical to me. You ask me a question,
(20:45):
I will give you a clinical answer describing what's injured,
not thinking about him, his family, the pain and suffering, etc.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Crime stories with Nancy Grace. Doctor Kendall Crown's question, You
have children, right? A lot of them do? Yes, Doctor
Kendall Crown's isn't it your dearest wish? I mean it's mine?
Maybe I'm true projecting, but your dearest wish is to
be there for your children's lives, not only for you
(21:22):
to see them unfold, but to be there to help
them in any little way you can, small or great.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
And just imagine, with those hopes.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
And dreams in your mind and in your heart, you
are sitting in your front seat of your car, sucking
in blood, wondering will you ever see them again? The
answer is no. I mean did he have time to
have those thoughts?
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Could he have?
Speaker 12 (21:52):
Depending on if it's just the gunshot wind of the neck,
he could have had time to think about what's happening,
trying to yell for help. Can't yell for help and
it's just inhaling in the blood. But it just depends
on what the areas get hit. But yes, he could
be consciously thinking about what's going on at that present time.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Why is law Professor Dan Markel dead. Why was he murdered?
Speaker 2 (22:15):
He's not responding to that, but his head's kind of
rolling around. Okay, is he conscious? Well, I can't tell.
Speaker 5 (22:21):
He heard the snoring respirations. He's not talking, he's mumbling.
He has no idea what happened. And he's bleeding out
and he's going into death as his blood jeeps out
of his body.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
You know, I've asked us a million times, fattest, I
know you're dying in the world defense attorney, But does
it ever strike you? Why is it always the good,
the pure of the innocent, the decent people to get slaughtered,
and then the dope dealers and the child molesters and
the drug lords, the bad guys, they just have a
field day. They somehow survive like roaches. But a loving dad,
(22:57):
brilliant lawyer, which to me, as a side issue, the
fact that he's such a loving dad is what matters
to me.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Why do they have to die?
Speaker 9 (23:05):
You know, it's an incalculable loss. We're talking about the
trial of Donna Aedelson.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
You know what fatis. You're absolutely right. This is the
trial of the monster in law, the suspect who ordered
the hit. According to prosecutors to murder her son in
law because he would not let his children move eight
hours away to live by her. Wow, I wonder why
after trying to bribe him for a million dollars for
(23:30):
Thretten to indoctrinate the boys in another religion, a plot unfold.
I haven't even gotten to.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
All the wire. Chaps. You know what. You're gonna totally
wig when you hear this.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
But let's take a step by step because it can
get complicated.
Speaker 7 (23:46):
Listen, Charlie Aedelson, brother of Wendy Edelson, uses his girlfriend
Katherine mcmanawah to arrange a murder for hire, using the
father of her two children, Sigredo Garcia, and his friend
Louis Rivera, to kill Dan Mark. The end result that
Wendy Aedelson can move her two children too South Florida
near her family. Exactly what happened when Dan Markel was killed?
Speaker 3 (24:09):
What happened when you got to the driveway of dan Mark.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Hill right behind him, and of course he jumped out
and shot him.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
How many times did Garcia shoot Mark? Mister Moyle cold blood?
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Cold blood GG McKelvey joining US investigative journalists star a
pretty lies and Alibis podcast. Gigi's been on the case
from the very very beginning.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Gg cold, what I mean?
Speaker 1 (24:42):
He just rattled off, how many times you shoot twice?
He doesn't care about the children, He doesn't care about
Mark Hill's family, devastated family twice. Okay, forget about that.
Let me talk to you about the plot. Let me
understand Wendy Adelson, the mother of the children, the one
(25:03):
that got the divorce, the lawyer her, Wendy Adelson's brother,
Charlie Aidelson. And let me just tell everybody, this is
great for the shrink to figure out on his car
tag he paid for a vanity tag that said, Maestro
really Okay, isn't he basically a dentist?
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (25:26):
That said, he decides to intervene, and he gets his girlfriend,
Katherine Magwana.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
To arrange a hit. And the hit men are the.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Father of her children, Sigfredo Garcia and his friend Louis Rivera. Okay,
there is Catherine Magbanua and the father of her children,
Sigfreda Garcia and his buddy Luis Rivera.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Okay, tell me how that whole.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Thing went down, Gigi, And isn't it quite the coincidence?
Isn't it odd that everybody around Wendy Adelson is dropping
like flies? Now her mother is on trial, but she
is unscathed. Neither person of interest or assessment tell me
how this whole thing went down with the girlfriend. With
Charlie Adelson's girlfriend. Man, she must have been a piece
(26:23):
of work, because when I think of hitman, I don't think, hey,
I'll ask my husband to get some of his low
life friends to pull off a hit. You know, they're
not all as in priests and virgins, gg, birds of
a feather, you know the rest. So he thinks his
girlfriend can arrange a murder and guess what she does?
Speaker 10 (26:41):
Yeah, I mean that's essentially what happened. And it was
pretty soon after they started seeing each other at Halloween
party where they're getting in their car to leave, and
he just asked her, Hey, do you know anybody that
would hurt somebody? And she said yes and left it there.
And it wasn't until later on when and the relocation
(27:01):
was a big issue with Donna, And we're going to
hear that on these wiretap calls as this trial progresses.
It was getting fever pitch. I don't think Charlie cared
where Wendy and the boys lived. He's a playboy making
millions of dollars every year, but it was important to Donna.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
And as time went on and.
Speaker 10 (27:21):
Donna got more frantic and more obsessed with the location issue,
he finally went to her and said, we need to
get this done. That is when she went to her
baby daddy, Sigfredo Garcia, and proposed, would you like to
make some money to take care of somebody?
Speaker 3 (27:37):
And he said yes.
Speaker 10 (27:39):
After that he got his childhood friend Luis Rivera, who
was the leader of the Miami sector of the Latin Kings,
to come along as a ride along essentially, and that's
where the plot started.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
So Charlie Adelson aka the Maestro, who was Wendy Alson.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Ah there he is.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
What a fine figure of a man, vanity plate maestro?
Okay whatever, So how is he making so much money?
Hand over fishgg how much money are we talking about?
Speaker 3 (28:14):
What did he do for a living.
Speaker 10 (28:15):
He's a periodontist, so that's a dental surgeon. Harvey the
father was only a dentist and owned the Adolson Institute,
which is their family dental practice. But Charlie would also
travel around South Florida and do day work at these
other dental offices, and he got paid a lot of money. Also,
the family preferred cash payments as opposed to credit card payments.
(28:40):
Charlie was notorious for having a safe with stacks of
one hundred bills in there. But Charlie, yeah, he was
driving around supercars. He had a boat throwing money out
left and right, and he.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Happened to me a supercar. The last thing I want
is a man pulling up and an expensive car. I
mean a guy pulls up in a Lamborghini, I'm like,
bye bye.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
You know what that means to me?
Speaker 1 (29:08):
That means he's having a midlife crisis, or he feels
like he's got to have a really expensive car to
impress people, because obviously his personality and intellect don't cut it.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
So not interested. My husband drives a beat up SUV
meet up, totally meat up, and he doesn't care.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
That's what I like about him. So this guy, what
kind of car is a supercar? Charlie Adelson, I believe
he had a Lamborghini.
Speaker 10 (29:38):
If I recall correct it, it must have been why
I said Lamborghini.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Oh, I could just see him driving up and down
the strip in Miami and his Lamborghini and Maestro on
his vanity to So.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Who's doctor Bubner?
Speaker 1 (29:53):
Bob ne r Who, Dave mac Who's doctor Bubner? I
notice you, Dave matt keep talking about doctor Bubner, and
I'm wondering why you just love to say Bubner?
Speaker 3 (30:06):
Who is that?
Speaker 8 (30:09):
Doctor Bubner is a Miami doctor who is a breast
augmentation specialist, and he refers to himself first as doctor Bubner,
and then of course his patients are so happy with
the results that they in turn call him doctor Bubner.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
And uh, okay, great, what does he have to do
with this case?
Speaker 8 (30:31):
He's like the missing link in the Dan Markel murder mystery,
if you want to call it. That the prosecutors that
were investigating the case, they actually were able to tie
in doctor Bubner between Katherine Macbanawa and Charlie Adelson, and
(30:53):
that he did Katherine Macbanawa's breast augmentation surgery as art
of the payment she got from Charlie Adelson for helping.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Star's wait stop stop stop stop stop place place speak
no more.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Are you hearing this, Fattus?
Speaker 1 (31:10):
I assume, Fatus, you've seen the series of moodies called
the Apple Dumpling gang. Okay it Scott don Nott's and
others in it. Yeah, you need to see that. I
showed it to the children. But I think the title
says it all. So the go between Katherine mcbatoir, who
set up the hit for Charlie Adelson for his mother
(31:34):
or the monster in law got paid with a breast
lift implants I'm so happy right now because that's not
hard to trace.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
Right, he paid her with knee breasts A and me.
Speaker 9 (31:50):
Right right, Nancy. But the key there is Charlie paid her.
Charlie paid her, not Donna. It's not Donna fronting the
bill for these new rest at least that hasn't been
proven in courtA.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
And so what we're talking.
Speaker 9 (32:03):
About is is certainly this uh you know, court of
folks who are.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Conspiring with one another.
Speaker 9 (32:09):
And then we have Donna Adelson, who, according to the fence,
is just kind of a protective grandma.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
Protective mother tried the million dollar bribe.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Did you not hear you need to turn up your
hearing aids. Did you not hear? Jj McKelvey just say,
Charlie Adelson didn't give a flying fig where those boys lived.
He only did it because his mother drove him insane
to do it. He doesn't care. He didn't have a
dog in that fight and no skin in the game.
He did it because his mother would not leave him alone.
(32:40):
He didn't care about the boys.
Speaker 9 (32:42):
But but to say that that cause this murder for
higher plot is a logical leap that I'm not sure
the evidence has supported yet, And so, uh, you know,
I just think that's a bit of a stretch. The prosecutor,
they've already got there pound of flesh with the four
other convictions, and in defense is saying, Okay, wait a minute.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
You're talking about the conviction of the brother, the playboy,
Lamborghini Brother aka Maestro, the girlfriend with the breastlift, Katherine
may Banoi, the hit man, and his gang cohort. Those
four have been convicted. None of them.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
Care about where the boys live.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
The only one that cares is Donna aight old son
who's on trial right now. Katherine mcbanoi testifies under oath
about how Charlie Adelson couldn't take a link without Mommy
saying okay, you can go. So this was like a
(33:48):
regular part of the way this worked. Whenever this conversation
came up yes, we consult his mother and come back.
Speaker 11 (33:55):
And speak to you and Jack.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
Crime stores with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 7 (34:09):
Investigators use an undercover agent to make contact with Donna Adelson.
The agent hands Donna Adelson a press release of Markel's murder,
asks Adelson for five thousand dollars and provides a phone number.
Investigators interceptor called Donna Adelson makes to Charlie asking him
to meet with her about paperwork hand delivered to her
outside her condo. Charlie asks if it involves him, and
(34:31):
Donna says probably both of us. Donna says she doesn't
want to discuss this on the phone. Investigators continue to
intercept calls, this time Charlie tells mom not to talk
about things in the apartment. Adelson asks his mother what
the letter asked for. Donna says this TV is probably
about five. Charlie asks if they ask for five thousand dollars.
(34:53):
Donna Adelson responds affirmatively. Adlson calls Katherine mag Banawa and
explains someone approached his mother, guarding her son and his
ex girlfriend and asking for money. Investigators record Adolson saying
to mac Baniwa, my mom doesn't know these guys. He
says paying someone off is not an admission of guilt.
(35:13):
Conversations continue between Charlie Aedelson, Donna Adelson, Catter Macbanawa, and
Sigfredo Garcia, all monitored by investigators.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
You know, Eric Fattus's worst nightmare is a wire tab
hey or.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
An undercover agent.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Eric Fattus, did you hear that an undercover agent approaches
Adolson on the street He's got a press release or
an article about Markel's murder and says, hey, you owe
me five thousand dollars. I have info on you and
your son.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
What does she do? John?
Speaker 1 (35:48):
Call police? She calls her son and goes, don't talk
on the phone and makes us some crazy jargon to
tell him a bribe of five thousand dollars been put
to her, and they go, don't When somebody says don't
talk on the phone, you know it's something bad, or
don't put it in writing.
Speaker 3 (36:07):
You don't want to leave a trail, And that's what
she says, Well, hey, what it could be. It sounds
a little bit like entrapman.
Speaker 9 (36:14):
It sounds a little bit like government overreach. It sounds
a little bit like Charlie Edelson was involved in some
misdeeds and the government's trying to rope in somebody who
did not have any direct involvement. Look, the mother may
have known that Charlie Adamson did what he did and
may have wanted to talk with him about that.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
None of that is criminal.
Speaker 9 (36:32):
And the fact that she says, oh, it involves both
of us, well, she's someone who received the document and
received the bump, which was this surreptitious encounter. And so hey, look,
you know calling your son to talk about it is
not crime.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
You know what when you say things like Ron Bateman
come out.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
You know, let's school Eric Fattis.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
If it's possible Bateman, former sheriff for anne Arundel County
author homicide undercover, you name it Bateman. When I hear
the words don't talk on the phone or don't.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
Talk in the apartment, why not talk in your apartment?
Speaker 1 (37:11):
If some guy I don't know literally bumps into me
on the street and tries to extract five grand from me,
I'm calling police. But neither one of them call police.
In fact, they don't talk on the phone.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
All that started.
Speaker 6 (37:29):
Let me talk about that for one second. I've been
in those positions. I have been the undercover guy. I
have been the hit guy for a relationship that went bad,
and I was the guy on the phone during the
undercover call in this case with a wife, and it
is so funny. And I'm being undercovered narcotics detector for
a long time and got into this role as a
(37:52):
hit man. People always talk on the phone, they try
to talk in code, and I was talking in code
to this one particular lady. It's just so funny. They
are not as diabolical with their planning of a murder
like people think they should be. I had Maryland's first
life without parole case ever happened, and it was a
(38:13):
contract murder involving a wife and a husband. Totally different
case where I was the undercover hitman. But again, it's
just so funny how just things just crumple down. And
the worst thing that you can have in any kind
of crime is another person. And if there's another person,
which in this case there are several, they'll altern on
(38:35):
each other, which obviously in this case, they have what
I call in this case, and I don't know if
I've coined this, if it's my own thing or not,
but it's relationship terrorism, like that bomb that was dropped
on the husband before he went for the speaking engagement.
And then these guys here, the Garcia and Rivera. I mean,
(38:57):
come on, you think there's no ring cameras loss the
streeter or at the front of the house. I mean,
come on, it's just just it's so.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
And now it culminates from the hitmen to the breastlift
as payment for setting up the hit, to the son,
the brother, Charlie Adelson, to the mother Donna Adelson on trial.
Now the only one unscathed is Wendy Adelson, and all
(39:30):
of this, according to prosecutors, was for her. She says
she knew nothing of it. And speaking of Donna Adelson,
she came this close, this close to getting out of
the country and going to a non extradition jurisdiction, specifically
(39:53):
the Nam caught at the airport.
Speaker 3 (39:56):
Listen, it is a sweetheart.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
Let's just get away. We're just get away somewhere.
Speaker 11 (40:01):
So we could have sometimes to think.
Speaker 9 (40:06):
Okay, So your testimony is that you weren't trying to
go to Vietnam because you wouldn't be able to be.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
Extradited from there.
Speaker 11 (40:14):
So my husband actually had said, you know, we've been
to Vietnam, before with friends, we run vacation and it
really was like a place of peace. And so he said,
if we go to a non extradition country, then if
(40:35):
the law enforcement decided that they wanted to arrest you,
or maybe whatever both he said, then he said, we
won't be sitting in a foreign prison waiting months to
go back. We could buy a ticket and we could
go home. And my understanding was that I could go
home and I could turn myself in if that's what
they wanted.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
Yeah, that's how it typically does not work.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
You go to a non extradition country and then when
the cops want to arrest you, you just come home.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
Okay. That is what we.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Call in the law flight as evidence of guilt. You
leave the scene of the crime, or you leave before
you can get caught. Everyone is wondering what else was
heard on those tapped phone calls to gg McKelvey. We
(41:30):
have been listening to Ellie on the stand now going
on two days.
Speaker 3 (41:36):
What did they say yesterday?
Speaker 10 (41:39):
They pretty much went through a couple of calls, initially
about Wendy and I think what the prosecution was trying
to do was show that Donna was complaining about relationships
and jobs that Wendy had chosen, and she was having
Charlie do her bidding for her. You need to talk
to your sister, talker out of this. You need to
(41:59):
talk her in to this. So I think the first
couple of calls, that's what that was for. Then we
get into those bump calls that we've been talking about,
where there's panic.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
You know, Donad's not wanting to say much.
Speaker 10 (42:10):
Charlie notoriously repeats himself in these wiretap calls that we
will hear throughout today. But it's what we're hearing is
the absence of the question, which, ex Girlfriend, what is
five thousand dollars? Why is this random guy handing me
some article about Dan on the street?
Speaker 1 (42:30):
What is going on?
Speaker 10 (42:32):
No police called nothing at all except that phone call
right after that, Charlie, we need to have dinner. This
involves the two of us. The TV was about five
and they have determined over the course of these wiretaps,
TV is code for murder.
Speaker 7 (42:48):
Jeffery Lecash was dating Wendy Agelson around the time of
dan murder and says he felt like he was being
framed as the possible killer. Lacas says Wendy pushed for
details about an upcoming trip to Atlanta on July eighteenth,
when he was leaving direction of travel. Turns out the
killers rented a car similar in color and style to
(43:08):
La cass gray Nissan Sentra and travel in the same
direction as La Cass as they had out of town.
He also notes he had plans to travel that route
the same morning in June twenty fourteen that the hitman
arrived in Tallahassee during their first attempt to kill Markel.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
JJ mccalveny joining US investigative journalist. So Wendy Adelson's boyfriend
thought her family, including her, was trying to set him
up to take the fall for the murder.
Speaker 10 (43:40):
Absolutely, and he told a story that would support that.
He and Wendy actually were on a break at her request.
She had just got back from a ten weeks day
in Miami, and they met up and she said, look,
you know, I really just want some days alone. And
this is at the time that the actual murder happened.
They met up one last time and as they're going
(44:03):
to their car, she turns and asks him about his
trip that was happening the next day. Hey, what would
cause you not to go on your trip, Which way
are you going?
Speaker 1 (44:13):
And he thought it was odd.
Speaker 10 (44:14):
And so he goes on about his day and come
to find out both times, the first attempt that happened
in June, that law enforcement did not know about, in fact,
until Luis Rivera told them in his profer they ranted
a car very similar to Jeff Lacass's. And I don't
think it's much of a coincidence that on two separate
(44:35):
trips in two separate months, when the killers are in town,
that's when Jeff Lacass scheduled to go out. He would
have taken a route that would have went very near
Dan Markel's house about the same time that the two
hitmen would have been fleeing the area after the shooting.
Speaker 3 (44:52):
I absolutely think they tried to set Jeff up because
it would be easy.
Speaker 10 (44:56):
He disliked Dan because he adopted the Adelson way of
thinking about Dan at the time, he was with Wendy.
That's what you do sometimes when you're in relationships, So
it could have been the perfect storm for him, but
thank goodness, he was able to person.
Speaker 1 (45:10):
Isn't there other than brainwashing the boyfriend Dave mac I'm interested,
I'm curious about a conversation. According to the boyfriend, Jeffrey
La Cass, he says, Wendy Adelson, the mom of the boys,
(45:31):
Dan Markel's wife.
Speaker 3 (45:32):
That wanted the divorce and moved the boys away.
Speaker 1 (45:36):
Wendy Adelson, according to Lacas, says, and I'm reading it verbatim,
can I tell you something confidentially? Last summer, my brother
looked into all options possible to take care of the
Danny Markel problem, including hiring a hitman, and it would
cost about fifteen thousand dollars.
Speaker 3 (45:57):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
Then there was a question, is this some kind of
joke Charlie made? And the boyfriend says, this was no joke.
Did that happen? Has the jury heard that evidence of
(46:19):
the conversation with Wendy Adelson?
Speaker 12 (46:23):
They have.
Speaker 8 (46:25):
Jeff Lecash actually has already testified Nancy, and he broke
this all out Georgia Kapelman when the prosecutors actually was
able to bring this out of him, and she even
went back to, what was this a joke? Kind of
like how Charlie blew off the TV as a divorced
president kind of thing as a joke, And he was like, no,
this is not a joke, because think about it in context, Nancy,
(46:48):
You've got Wendy Adelson volunteering that Charlie came up with
a plan and it would cost fifteen grand. That's beyond joking.
That's not an off handed comment. Is a very firm
I got to get this off my chest kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (47:03):
And she did, you know what. And I don't care
how angry I get at my husband. If someone said, hey,
I'm gonna give you a TV as a divorce present,
it's cheaper than a hitman, they would get a total
knuckle sandwich. Okay, But according to what the boyfriend says,
this was no joke. And let me remind everyone, Wendy Adelson.
Speaker 3 (47:26):
Has not been charged.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
She is not a person of interest in the murder
of Dan Markel. Everyone in our country is innocent. They
are presumed innocent until and unless the state pierces that
presumption of innocence with guilt to prove the incident actually.
Speaker 3 (47:49):
Happened and the defendant is guilty.
Speaker 1 (47:53):
Wendy Adelson, as of tonight, has not been charged as
a suspect or person of interest in this case, and
we wait as justice unfolds for the so called monster
in law, Donna Adelson. We remember an American hero, Detective
Irving Calendar, Newark PD, killed in the line of duty.
(48:17):
Survived by grieving wife Melissa, two sons, Irving and Robert,
and beautiful niece Zenaiah. American hero Detective Irving Calendar, Nancy
Gray signing off goodbye friend,
Host
Nancy Grace
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