January 9, 2025 • 48 mins
On July 18, 2014, around 11 am, Dan Markel was driving home, after dropping his two children off at preschool, and visiting the gym for a morning workout. Dan, a law professor at Florida State University, was in the middle of a bitter divorce and custody battle with his wife, Wendy Adelson (who ALSO was a law professor at FSU). Distracted because he was on a phone call while driving home, Dan didn't notice the silver-green Prius following him home. After pulling into his driveway, his neighbor heard a gunshot. Listen to this week's episode to hear what happened to Dan Markel and who was behind it (and it may not be who you think!)
SOURCES:
1) The 911 Call
2) Wendi Adelson’s First Reaction to Dan Markel Murder: Police Interview
3) The interrogations of Sherlock-Holmes-Like Professor Jeffrey Lacasse
4) Memorial Held for Slain FSU Law Professor Dan Markel
5) How Police Tracked Down and Caught 2 Suspected Hit Men in FSU Professor Murder Case
6) Documents detail potential links to Markel's in-laws
7) FSU professor Dan Markel's killing: Everything to know about the murder-for-hire case
8) More Disturbing Details About The Dan Markel Murder Case
9) New Suspect Arrested in 2014 Murder of Florida Professor Dan Markel
10) Who was Dan Markel? The Murder Victim at the Center of "Over My Dead Body"
11) FSU "About" page for Professor Jeffrey Lacasse
12) Mother accused of murder plot with son puts on shrieking show in court: ‘Oh my god’
13) See a timeline of key dates in the Dan Markel murder case
14) Hidden: A True Crime Podcast--"The Adelson Family & Murder of Dan Markel: FULL STORY & CASE UPDATE"
SOURCES:
1) The 911 Call
2) Wendi Adelson’s First Reaction to Dan Markel Murder: Police Interview
3) The interrogations of Sherlock-Holmes-Like Professor Jeffrey Lacasse
4) Memorial Held for Slain FSU Law Professor Dan Markel
5) How Police Tracked Down and Caught 2 Suspected Hit Men in FSU Professor Murder Case
6) Documents detail potential links to Markel's in-laws
7) FSU professor Dan Markel's killing: Everything to know about the murder-for-hire case
8) More Disturbing Details About The Dan Markel Murder Case
9) New Suspect Arrested in 2014 Murder of Florida Professor Dan Markel
10) Who was Dan Markel? The Murder Victim at the Center of "Over My Dead Body"
11) FSU "About" page for Professor Jeffrey Lacasse
12) Mother accused of murder plot with son puts on shrieking show in court: ‘Oh my god’
13) See a timeline of key dates in the Dan Markel murder case
14) Hidden: A True Crime Podcast--"The Adelson Family & Murder of Dan Markel: FULL STORY & CASE UPDATE"
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
This episode maintained content of a graphic nature, including descriptions
of physical and sexual violence against adults, children, and animals.
Listener discretion is advised. Hi, this is Tanya.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Hi this is Shannon, and we are Crimes.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
And Consequences, a hardcore true crime podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Hey Shannon, Hey Tanya, how you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
I am good. How are you doing today?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
I am doing pretty good? How about you?
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Life is a sweet fruit?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yes, it is in family. Oh bring the flavor, don't
they yell?
Speaker 1 (01:06):
It's that time of year, right, You're subjected to your
family and yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
And surround and enjoy and love and other things too.
So but yeah, you know, but I do. I have
a funny story I want to tell you. Okay, let's
hear it, all right. So Brooke and I Brooke is
my twenty two year old daughter for those of you
who don't know, and she is eighteen and a half
weeks pregnant. So yes, I'm going to be a grandma. Randy,
(01:34):
you know, it's going to create. And we know he's
a boy. We call him beans. So anyway, Brook and
I so Brooke, we were talking about how like herreditary,
our rage seems to be her hereditary. Just your common
conversation over breakfast, and she goes, it was just so
(01:55):
funny because you know, there's that formality of oh hey mom,
oh hey honey, blah blah blah. And once she was like, oh,
I remember this one time when you got mad, and
just her inflection, I was like, Oh my gosh, she's
gonna be this sounds like I might have left something
that needs therapy or that's this sounds like cor bevery.
So I was like, oh exactly. She goes, Oh, yeah,
(02:17):
I remember you were looking for your ATM card. She goes,
I don't remember the bank. It was Huntington. She goes,
we pulled over. You had been digging her out out
of the side frantically, and you were getting mad and mad,
and she goes, and then we pulled over and you
got out. You started looking all over the car. It
was went under the seat and you grabbed it and
you put it right in your face and you yelled
(02:38):
cut except that I really laid on the oud like
and I said, Brooklyn, you know that's me mad at
the universe. Yeah, yelling at the universe, not the card.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
You know, just Sat eighty eight.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
She can't put anything away. It's not normal, it's not
natural to do so, so just for her to share
it as a I remember this rage story. I can
you know? What? Is she ten? And I'm all like, motherfucker,
where is this card?
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yes, my daughter has a core memory of me screaming
at her. She was probably five or six, and she
was either at Brownies or what is it when they're
like before Brownies?
Speaker 2 (03:31):
I forget, Yes, I know what you mean, at the
Little Blue.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Best right, and she was running around and running around.
I had told her to stop it, and she's running,
running running. When we got in the car, I fucking unleashed.
I like screamed at her and everything. So she says,
you know, it's a core memory of mine, and I said,
I'm sorry. It was before I was medicated.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I'd like to point out the importance of mental health, yea,
all of us.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah, before I rested my health. And I do apologize
for that, and I'm sorry that I've scarred you for
life with that.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
But I love it that He's like, yeah, mom, and
it's a core memory.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
So now you know, I'm like, oh great, Oh we
do our best. I know. So, yeah, it was. It
was fabulous, you know. So we've started our children. But anyway, yes,
all right, well I'll get into the episode now, yeah,
I'm ready, Yes, before I started, just remind everyone to
hit subscriber or follow. And our story takes place on
(04:37):
July eighteenth, twenty fourteen, and it's around eleven am. A
man named Dan Markle was driving home. He had dropped
his kids off at preschool and then he went to
the gym for a workout before driving to his house,
which was in Benton Hills, which is a suburb of Tallahassee, Florida.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Okay, Dan had i'd been in.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
The midst of a bitter divorce and custody battle with
his wife, whose name was Wendy Adelson. Both Dan and
Wendy were law professors at Florida State University. Dan's family
lived in Canada, and so he had an agreement with
his mom that when he was driving he would call
her to decompress. So on this date, he also had
(05:24):
an arranged phone call with a teacher at a potential
school for one of his sons. His soon to be
ex wife wanted to change the school their children would
be going to the following year because like she had
enrolled them without discussing it.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
With Dan.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Oh, and so the phone call with the teacher was
meant to discuss what had happened and why the school
would be a good fit. So after hanging up with
his mom, he called the teacher. As he continued his drive.
With so much going on, Dan didn't notice that there
was a silver green Prius that was following him. But
when Dan pulled into his driveway in front of his house,
(06:00):
he told the teacher that he was talking to you know,
hold on, he said, there's someone in my driveway that
is unfamiliar to me. Then Peter heard a loud grunt,
muffled voices, and labored breathing. He asked if Dan was okay,
but Dan never returned to the call. Okay, So I
don't know. I'm guessing the teacher hung up. Yeah, so
(06:22):
you know, something's happening, and one of Dan's neighbors heard
a gunshot. He looks in the direction of Dan's house
and he sees the garage door was up and thought
Dan was backing out, but instead he sees this silvery
green Prius leaving the driveway. So after a while he's
noticed that Dan's car hasn't moved, and so he went
(06:43):
to go check on Dan. Looking in the driver's side window,
he saw his neighbor. Dan had been shot in the
head through the glass. Window was shattered and there was blood,
but Dan was still alive and moving.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
He called the police and unfortunately, though the dispatcher made
an error in the prioritization of the call and categorized
it as a traffic accident. So the first mobitter arrived
at the house expecting to see like a fender bender,
but you know no, and ambulance arrived nineteen minutes after
(07:17):
the initial phone call. Dan was transported to Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare.
After the shooting, the police set up crime scene tape
to keep drivers and pedestrians from going down the road.
When this had been done, one of the officers noticed
a maroon Honda Odyssey that had tried to make a
turn onto the street soon after the shooting, and this
(07:40):
fan ended up belonging to Wendy Adelson, Dan's ex wife
or soon to be ex wife, who lived a short
distance away from Dan. Wendy Adelson was found the afternoon
of the shooting at a local restaurant where she was
having lunch with friends. The police drove her to the
station about two point thirty. They didn't hear any details
(08:01):
about why she was being brought in during the drive there.
When she sat down with an officer after they arrived
at the station, she was told that Dan had been
shot and he wasn't likely to survive. As soon as
she heard this news, she burst into tears, and she
began to sob uncontrollably. They inquired about her plans for
(08:21):
the day, you know, They were like, where what are
you been?
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Right, She said she'd been home earlier in the day
waiting for a TV repairman. One of her sons had
thrown a toy into their new flat screen TV, and
the TV was a divorce gift from Wendy's older brother, Charlie,
and they were trying to see if it was worth fixing.
After the repairman left, she got ready for lunch with
(08:45):
her friends, and then she ran to the liquor store
to buy a bottle of bourbon for a stock the
bar wedding party that evening. During the highly emotional interview,
Wendy was asked if there was anyone she knew who
would want to get killed Dan. She said no. However,
later in the interview, she spoke of a bad joke
(09:05):
that her brother Charlie had made about the television he'd
given her. He said, I looked into hiring a hit
man and it was cheaper to get you the teeth.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Hah yeah yeah, real nee slapper right.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Even after disclosing this to police, Wendy doubled down that
her brother would never have actually hired anyone to kill
her husband. Going on to further explain, Wendy detailed that
she was involved in ongoing litigation regarding the split of
financial assets and connection with her divorce. Said that her
parents were extremely angry with Dan, but they would never
(09:40):
say a bad word about her children's father in front
of the kids. When the police asked about Charlie, they
inquired into what type of car he drove. Describing her
brother as a bit of a character, Wendy told him
that Charlie is a periodontist who owns several cars, including
an unmarked police car. I told them that he's a
(10:01):
workaholic who starts early in the morning and goes until
late at night, so if they wanted to find him,
they could look at one of the many offices he
worked in throughout South Florida. The interview with Wendy lasted
five hours.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Wendy expressed concern that whoever had been after her husband
would probably be coming for the kids next which I
don't know why to sleep but right, you know. And
the police hadn't found any evidence of a break in
and determined that the shooting wasn't random and somebody wanted
Dan dead. Wendy had been asked about being seen trying
(10:37):
to turn onto the road that Dan lived on with
her kids, and she said she drove by regularly to
help her like herself, process like her feelings about the divorce.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Oh okay.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
However, it was mentioned later that it was strange she
didn't call or reach out to anyone with concern about
the crime scene tape surrounding live in. Right right after
they were done questioning her, she asked the police if
she should get a sitter for her children while she
was going out that night at the stock the bar party.
(11:10):
Oh wow, And this seems kind of weird because it
was her week to have the kids. She was supposed
to pick them up from preschool that afternoon, and she
had these plans for this party. So if she was
going to get a sitter. You think she would have
had one by then, right right?
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (11:26):
And unless the party was family friendly, but a stock
the bar party really does.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Dream doesn't sound bring your kids.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Yeah, it doesn't say all age is fun, right.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Kids welcome? That means get a sitter, No kids please,
That's just desire.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
So let me tell you a little bit about Dan.
He was born October ninth, nineteen seventy two, making him
a Libra libra, libra mail, libra mail. He achieved a
mastery in political theory from Cambridge, and he went on
to earn a law degree from Harvard in nineteen ninety.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
I know la la.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
He was active in the Jewish faith, and after he graduated,
he won a prestigious fellowship that allowed him to spend
a year's studying philosophy at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Oh my gosh, how what an opportunity, What a great
life experience, right exactly.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
In two thousand and five, Dan began teaching at Florida
State University's College of Law, where he grew into a
respected expert in criminal law and generously gave of his
time and energy to be well connected in that field. Dan,
who was thirty three years old at the time. He
and Wendy met on jay Date, which is a niche
(12:45):
dating website for people of the Jewish faith. If you
didn't know, Wendy was an attractive twenty six year old
law student at the University of Miami who had earned
a master's degree in international relations at Cambridge. Her family
ran a successful dental practice in Tamarack, and the two
got married in two thousand and six. Wendy was offered
(13:07):
a job as a clinical professor at Florida State University
as a spousal hire. I had no idea that that
was a thing me either, but my nice and her
focus was on human trafficking issues between Dan and the Addlsons.
Wendy's family began right away. While both the Markles and
(13:28):
the Addlsons were Jewish and both families were each paying
for half of the wedding, the Adelsons purchased catering that
didn't follow Kosher guidelines. Yeah, that seems weird.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
It does.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
After guests had already begun eating, Dan was put in
the unfortunate position to announce to his guests that the
food was not kosher, which upset several people. I got,
I know Additionally, Dan was told by the Adelsons to
downplay his accomplishments so as not to overshadow Wendy during
the wedding.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Oh my gosh, so you don't provide culture food at
your Jewish wedding, and then you got a downplay so
someone else can feel good. Are you kidding me? Oh
my gosh, yeah, Dan, yeah, I just I don't get it,
so I don't either.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
During their marriage, they welcomed two boys, Benjamin and Lincoln.
Dan was an exceptional father. He was tremendously proud, and
he was heavily involved in his son's lives. As time passed,
he decided he would like to immerse his boys in
their faith, and he made an effort to begin observing
some of the more orthodox beliefs in the Jewish faith.
(14:42):
While he had wanted to begin observing Kosher meals, Wendy
didn't desire to make this change. This led to her
having to prepare meals in her home separately. Dan began
traveling for work, leaving Wendy at home to care for
the kids alone. She would often make trips to southern
Florida to spend time with her her parents and brothers.
When Dan was gone, and it was clear she was
(15:04):
unhappy living in Tallahassee and she wanted to move back
to Miami where that had more of like an urban feel.
In twenty eleven, This is Our Story, which was a
novel that was self published by Wendy Adelson. It came
out and side note It received a three point three
out of five on Goodreads Okay. The novel told the
(15:27):
story of a human trafficking attorney, Lily. Lily's character was
in a very unhappy situation after moving to a rural
town in Florida with her husband, Josh. Josh professor. Yes,
sound familiar.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
I was gonna say, they always say write what you know?
Speaker 1 (15:44):
What you know? His character was made out to be
disrespectful to his wife and dismissive of her accomplishments. In
the novel, Lily's character ended up leaving suddenly. She left
behind worse papers for Josh to sign and moved away
with a child she secretly adopted from a client who
wasn't able to take care of the infant. Wendy admitted
(16:05):
that Lily was somewhat quote unquote autobiographical character.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Yeah, loosely based my life, yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Saying in the afterward of the novel. Quote, I selfishly
wanted you to know a bit about my story, which
has much, but not all, in common with Attorney Lily
end quote. Apparently Dan never read his wife's novel, because
if he had, he maybe wouldn't have been so surprised
when on September tenth, twenty twelve, just over a year
(16:38):
after the novel was released, Wendy left. Dan returned home
from a business trip and discovered that his wife had
taken the two kids, most of the household possessions, and
she left with no clue as to where they'd gone.
Divorce papers were lying on the bed in the master bedroom.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Wow, no right, So the.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Divorce between the law professors to be very messy. For weeks,
Wendy refused to tell him where she and their sons
had gone. Dan made efforts to reconcile with his wife,
even telling her that he would move to Miami immediately
to keep their family together. My poor Wendy, it was
too little, too late. Wendy had taken her children from Tallahassee,
(17:20):
seven hours south to her parents' home in Coral Springs,
which is one of the suburbs between Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
I'm sorry, I just wise. I do know where Coral
Spriggs is because on my Zillow list of homes I'll
buy when I hit the lottery, Coral Sprigs looked like
a lovely suburb of Miami, just well located. I've got
a couple condos.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Well there you go.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Oh yes, well you said carl I was like, I
know where that it is place. Thank you Zillow. Yes.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
She was relieved to have been able to return to
her parents and brother, Charlie, with whom she had a
close relationship with. Her older brother, Robert, lived in New
York and didn't communicate with any of the members of
the family in Florida. Robert Adelson was the oldest child
of the family. After leaving home, Robert began college, eventually
becoming a successful sinus surgeon. He had met and fallen
(18:21):
in love with an Indian woman and made plans to marry.
His parents didn't approve of her because she was Hindu,
and they had wanted their children to meet and marry
someone of the Jewish faith, which is ironic considering they
didn't serve Kosher meals.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
A right's wedding.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Buried the pressure of this you know between his family
that led Robert to break up with his girlfriend. He
quickly met and married a Jewish woman after that, but
realized he had made a mistake, so within the marriage
it was annulled and he went back to his former
girlfriend and they got married. The ceremony was a mix
of both Hindu in Jewish traditions. Robert's parents saved face
(19:03):
during the ceremony, but seemed to have cut him off
after the marriage. So back to Dan and Wendy. Dan
had established a life in Tallahassee. Wendy was making efforts
to develop a home in Miami. The main issue of
contention in their divorce was where the boys were going
to live. On June twentieth, twenty thirteen, the judge denied
Wendy's motion for relocation with her children. The following month,
(19:27):
a divorce settlement was agreed upon. Dan would make a
lump sum payment of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars
and pay eight hundred and forty one dollars a month
in support. On top of it, custody the children would
be fifty to fifty and Dan would keep the family
home in Benton Hills, Wow. Although the settlement was made,
the legal battles continued. Constant disputes were filed regarding everything
(19:52):
from school plans to skyping with the kids. This sounds
like my.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Worst client magic, Yes it does.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
During the separation, Dan had been told by his sons
that Donna, Wendy's mother, was making disparaging remarks about him
to his children, calling him stupid and saying that Dan
was trying to keep her from her sunshines, which I
guess is what she called the grandkids. After hearing one
of the comments himself during one of the skyping calls
(20:23):
between Dan and the boys, Dan asked the judge to
no longer allow unsupervised visitation between Donna and her grandchildren.
Fearing parental alienation. Dan informed the judge that Wendy's parents
were aggressive in controlling the hearing for the motion to
prohibit Wendy's mother from unsupervised visitation with her grandchildren was scheduled,
(20:44):
but would never be heard because Dan Markle would have
passed away before it reached the courtroom. In the early
hours of the morning on Saturday, July nineteenth, twenty fourteen,
Dan succumbed to his injuries. Investigators immediately began looking into
every possible ability of who could have wanted Dan dad
and why. During Wendy's interview, she told the officers not
(21:06):
just about her brother Charlie, but also about her former boyfriend,
Jeffrey Laus. Jeffrey was also a professor at FSU working
in the College of Social Work. Wendy claimed that Jeffrey
didn't like Dan because Dan Hurtney. So Jeffrey was brought
in for questioning on July twenty first, twenty fourteen. Police
(21:28):
were able to verify that Jeffrey wasn't a suspect, as
he'd been hundreds of miles away at the time of
the murder. During the course of three long interviews with police,
Jeffrey gave the officers several theories he had about the murder,
stemming from his nine month long relationship with Wendy. This
is getting juicy right. During his first police interview on
(21:50):
July twenty first, Jeffrey informed them that Wendy had disclosed
to him that the Addisons were desperate to get Wendy
back to Miami. He felt like Wendy's family infant tialized
her and she wasn't treated like an adult. He claimed
that he'd heard during a discussion the previous summer between
Wendy and her mom, Donna, that they've been thinking about
(22:11):
converting the children to Catholicism. Kind Dan's back, just to
hurt him. After the petition to relocate the boys was denied,
Wendy told Jeff, Charlie hates Danny. That's her brother, Charlie, okay,
and it seriously looked into all the options possible to
take care of this.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Problem in my little right.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
In one chilling statement, Wendy made clear Charlie had looked
into how much it would cost to have someone killed.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Another you know. So they just cracked me up, Like,
are you gonna look on the public library? You know
what I'm saying, because you're gonna leave a trail, uh
whether unless you get a burner phone you're gonna afford
people will look you know, You're they're gonna look at
your history. This is you know, how do you make poison?
(23:01):
How do you do this? It's all right there of
your history.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Right Like okay, yeah, your history is going to be
looked at. If you fucking talk to one person that
one person's going to tell another person's day.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Well, dude, people are just so stupid. I looked at
the hiring a hit man. What's the first step in that?
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Google, That's what the first step is.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Yeah, Facebook, marketplace, Yeah, Craig Let's Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
What do you do you ask around?
Speaker 2 (23:30):
What do you do you yourself?
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Hit men in my area?
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Exactly crazy? Oh, people are stupid, and he's a periodontist.
I expect more from a white collar. That's sloppy. That's
just sloppy.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Jeff also referenced a conversation he'd had with Charlie when
they'd been first introduced around mid March of that year.
Charlie shared that there were some financial irregularity, and Jeff
told the police they should be looking into the Addison's
dental practice. There might be tax fraud happening, and they
should look at the movement of assets between members of
(24:11):
the family. This is a fact that was grasped onto
as a part of the motive. So if Wendy was
to be found out having participated in illegal acts in
order to evade taxes, she could lose her job and
possibly hard Additionally, in that same conversation between Jeff and Charlie,
Charlie had been discussing in front of Wendy and Jeff
(24:34):
sex acts he'd performed on his girlfriend to quote punish
her for her behavior. End quote.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Jeff said, whoa, whoa, whoa whoap did you read say
that Charlie is telling me stories? Yes, okay, he's telling
his sister, okay about punishing her. Okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
So Jeff said, Charlie reeks of anti so social behavior,
and that quote his social radar is way off.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
To say the least. Yeah, read the room. Yeah, read
the room, Charlie.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
And you know Jeff's opinion. You got to remember he
was a professor in social work with a focus in
mental health and psychiatric medications. Oh, probably kind of knew
what he was talking about.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Yeah, yeah, a little very good. Yeah, very He wasn't
just armchairing it like I would, right.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
That I read or.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Whatever the articles from years gone by.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Yeah, I'd be like, he's very antisocial.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
He was like, no clue, what right, that's typical antisocial
behavior right there. Yeah, because my years of doctor still
and for Google.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Yeah, so Jeff told the police quote Charlie popped into
my head within thirty seconds of hearing about Dan being shot.
He didn't think Charlie would have done it himself, but
he had friends on both sides of the track, and
there's a possibility that he would hire someone from the
quote Cuban neighborhood end quote.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
He said too that the Adelsons hated Dan in a way.
He said he'd never seen this kind of obsession and
like basically their hobby was hating Dan.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Wow. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
And he's also heard on the police video during his
interview saying, quote, I would just say I would be
investigating Charlie Adelson. I don't know if he did this,
but if you're looking at someone, don't miss him.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Nice right.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Just two days later, on July twenty third, grainy surveillance
footage of the silvery green priess that had been seen
in Dan's driveway was released and called a vehicle of interest.
There was clear evidence of Dan being stalked by two
men in the priests before the murder. A resident of
an apartment complex called police to inform them that they'd
(27:02):
seen a priest in the parking lot and two men
got out of it and started walking down by a
nature trail by Dan's house. On August twelfth, twenty fourteen,
Jeff went in to the police department. He had been
going through old text messages and had put together that
he and Wendy had made plans to go to California
on July eleventh through seventeenth, and Dan was shot on
(27:26):
the eighteenth. He said that they had made the reservation
four months prior, and Wendy later canceled them a month
before they were supposed to leave. He also said that
he'd heard from Wendy and some mutual friends that Wendy's
brother Charlie, had texted her in the beginning of August,
asking if she'd like to go celebrate. Jeff was later
(27:46):
told that during the dinner that Wendy was at that
she'd pamited at the dinner table. Jeff said he believed
that Wendy may have been indirectly responsible for Dan's murder,
and the police informed him that Wendy wasn't a sign aspect,
to which he replied, quote, well she should be, and.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Yeah, I don't understand with them going through a divorce,
and as soon as you hear spouse or recent acts,
a number one suspect, you know can't be weird.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
He's like a college professor, like, who's going to fucking
just shoot him, right, Yeah, this not Robin. I mean
he didn't get robbed, they didn't steal his car, they
didn't take no, none of that happens. And he was
shot in his driveway. So like, I don't know, it
just doesn't seem like it's a random.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
No, not at all. In the Prius number one when
you first said the model was like, oh, Priuses have
been around that long twenty fourteen PRIs, Oh my goodness. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
In mid September twenty fourteen, as the investigation continued, Florida
State University had a memorial service. Hundreds packed the hall
while people stood up one by one to honor their colleague, friend, teacher,
and family member. In January twenty fifteen, investigators caught up
to a key witness, a self confessed drug dealer, who
(29:12):
told police he sold cocaine to one of their suspects.
This was a man named Sigfrido Garcia. This suspect also
claimed to have runted a hotel room in his own
name and another suspect, Louis Riviera. The witness gave the
police an hour long interview in which he claimed that
Sigfriedo had flagged him down just after midnight. On July sixteenth,
(29:35):
outside of a cheap motel to ask where he could
get some drugs. Cecredo bought some cocaine from the man
and the two hung out for several hours before he left.
The witness told the police that while he and Sigfrido
snorted the coke, Lewis sat on a bed with a handgun.
He saw Sigfrido and Louis the next day standing next
(29:55):
to the rented Prius, which had broken down. The witness
gave the a ride to buy parts to fix the car,
and then rented them a hotel room in his name.
They paid them back in cash.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Wow. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
In July twenty fifteen, police, so this is like a
year later. Police came across a video from a city
bus showing that same Prius. From the angle the video
was taken out, they were able to see a toll
transponder in the window. This made investigators believe that the
killers weren't from Tallahassee due to the few toll roads
(30:30):
in the area. Police then went and pulled the toll
records for all priuses hiding into Tallahassee around the time
of the murder. The records led them to a car
runtal agency in Miami. It turned out that there were
fewer than ten Priuses rented during the span of time
in the state of Florida. It could have been the
same car. Looking at the runnal agreement, the vehicle had
(30:53):
been rented to Louis Riviera, who was a leader in
the Latin Kings Gang.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Ooh yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
The second phone number on the rental contract was traced
to Sigfriedo Garcia, who was Lewis's childhood friend and he
had a colorful felony record. Please were able to ping
both cell phones within the vicinity of Dan's home at
the time of the murder. When Dan was shot, Charlie
Adelson was dating a woman named Katherine Magnanua. She had
(31:24):
been working off and on at the dental practice and
was also the mother of children of Sigfriedo Garcia. She's
Sigfredo's baby mama.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
That's right. She can help you out right.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
When police looked into the phone records of Catherine and Charlie,
they noticed a pattern of contact that took place in
the weeks leading up to the murder. When a phone
call would take place between Catherine and Charlie, there would
be another phone call right after between Catherine and Secriedo,
and another between Charlie and Donna his mom.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Immediately after the murder, Donna Adelson talked to Charlie on
the phone for seven minutes, and then Charlie made two
calls to Catherine, with one of those calls lasting five minutes.
An hour later, Secreto called Catherine. This was the first
phone call he made after the shooting. After the murder,
Lewis and Secreto purchased several cars and motorcycles. Around that
(32:18):
same time, Catherine began receiving paychecks from the Adelson's dental office.
The found that Catherine had deposited more than forty one
thousand dollars in cash and more than seventeen thousand dollars
in checks from the Addelson Institute into her bank account
between July twenty fourteen and November twenty fifteen. The checks
(32:39):
were signed by Donna Adelson. Dude, this is such a
fucking paper trail.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Like it is. It's so good. I mean, once you
hit the vein, man, you really hit it. I am not.
I love how they've been like tracking the phone calls. Okay,
once Catherine speaks to what chuck.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Yeah, Charlie yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Charlie yeah. And then Charlie mother and she calls Sigtredo.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
I like that they could pick up those patterns. Yeah,
the trail, right, yeah, the trail for sure.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
The Addison family claimed Catherine was employed by the clinic. However,
the police Affidavid states that Catherine was only found to
be working at the dental practice one time during the
length of the investigation. The police believe Charlie was financially
supporting Catherine in payment for Dan's murder after she and
Charlie had broken up. He had even paid for her
(33:31):
post breakup glow up in the form of a boob job.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Oh my gosh. So then she leaves Scredo, what does
she leave Sigfredo and glows up or makes herself new?
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Yeah, makes herself new?
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Right. I can't let you know what. I can't say.
I wouldn't do the same. I mean, I do have
some Pinterest pictures in my own special file of work
I'd like done. But so, yeah, she does the glow
and I'm imagining, you know, if he's a dentist, you're
going to get the pills involved. So the's payments of
(34:05):
pills prime making that up. Yeah, that's not in the story.
That's just my life observation. Adding to the story.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
In early twenty sixteen, the FBI arranged to have an
undercover officer bump into Donna Adelson posing as Lewis's brother.
The officer handed Donna a news article referencing Dan's murder
with five thousand dollars and a phone number written on it.
In the conversation, the officer told Donna that he knows
(34:39):
that the Adelsons are taking care of Catherine and Sigfriedo.
He said that Lewis is in prison now and that
he'd also helped with their quote problem up North End
quote and they needed to take care of him too.
The purpose of this operation was to get the suspects
talking to each other, and it worked. In April twenty sixteen,
(35:02):
Charlie met his ex girlfriend Catherine at Hilchi Vita restaurant
in Miami. The FBI got a forty minute long recording
at this restaurant about how to deal with someone they
believed to be either a blackmailer or police. Charlie suggested
making a one time charity payment to the blackmailer or
else killing him end quote. And so help me God,
(35:25):
if they fuck with my family, it's gonna be like
fucking the Nazi shit, because this will be done. You
know what I'm saying. I mean, Katie, I don't care
what I spend. Okay, I swear to God, Katie, Katie,
the person doesn't know end quote.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
Wow. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
In May twenty sixteen, police announced first degree murder charges
for Dan's murder against Siegfrido and Lewis the rest Fi.
David alleges that Charlie Adelson quote reportedly did not like
Dan and did not get along with him end quote.
A probable cause Affidavid alleges that the two men were
(36:03):
enlisted to commit this egregious act, and police believe the
motive for the killing stemmed from the desperate desire of
the Addison family to relocate Wendy and the children to
South Florida, along with the pending court hearing that might
have impacted their access to the grandchildren because remember Dan
had filed that motion to supervised grandparent time.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
Right. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
In June, both men were indicted. Court documents made public
that month link Secrito to Charlie Adelson, Charlie's former girlfriend,
Catherine was also the mother I told you of Sircrito's children,
and Sigrido pleaded not guilty, and the state informed him
they planned to seek the death penalty. His trial was
set for November fourteenth, twenty sixteen. Louis Rivera was extradited
(36:53):
to a federal prison to remain incarcerated on unrelated charges.
Because he was incarcerated that the undercover officer had told
Donna remember right ye on September eighth, Lewis chose to
demand a speedy trial, which was set for October twenty fourth,
twenty sixteen, so before Cifrito's setded up, leading guilty to
(37:14):
second degree murder on October fourth, twenty sixteen, and ultimately
was sentenced to nineteen years in prison. The sentence would
run concurrently with a federal sentence in an unrelated case
for his statements and cooperation with prosecutors so he is
going to snitch. Evidence from the recording the FBI had
gotten of Catherine's meeting with Charlie at the dolci Vita
(37:34):
restaurant was used to arrest Catherine on charge of the
first degree murder on October first, twenty sixteen. She was
offered immunity in exchange for cooperation, but she refused.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
I know that is ballsy, right, that is balzy.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
Catherine in Cifriedo would be tried together in October twenty nineteen.
In trial, Sigfriedo was found guilty of first degree murder,
in which sentenced to life in prison. Catherine's first trial
was ruled a mistrial. She was scheduled to be tried
again in April twenty twenty, which was eventually delayed due
to the pande and then come up again until the
(38:13):
spring of twenty twenty two. During the long break between trials,
the prosecution found an audio forensic expert to enhance the
recording of the Dulce Vita meeting between Catherine and Charlie.
Because of the audio enhancement, Charlie Addison was arrested on
April twenty first, twenty twenty two, and charged with first
degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation of murder in connection with
(38:37):
the shooting of Dan Markle.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Finally get to the I know, I mean you have
the two trigger guys or you know, the trigger guy,
and then the domino effect to the fiery you know,
the hired money, great money behind the operation yes.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Catherine's retrial began March sixteenth, twenty twenty two. On May
twenty seventh, the jury returned after eight hours of deliberation
and with a guilty verdict of first degree murder, conspiracy,
and solicitation of murder. She was sentenced to life in prison.
Charlie Andelson's trial was to begin in the spring of
twenty twenty three, but was delayed. On September twenty ninth,
(39:14):
twenty twenty three, Catherine turned state's witness oh he expected
to testify against her ex boyfriend. Charlie's trial began on
October twenty third, twenty twenty three. Jeffrey La case Lacas
took this early in the trial and detailed everything that
he told the police throughout their investigation. Louis Rivera took
(39:36):
the stand the following day. He detailed for the jurors
how he was enlisted to go to Tallahassee to murder Dan.
He described tailgating Dan with Sigfrido Garcia. They followed him
when he dropped off his kids at their preschool and
watched as he drove to the gym then back to
his house. Lewis told the court room how when they
(39:56):
pulled into the driveway, Sigfrido had jumped out, gone behind
Dan's car to the driver's side window and shot him twice.
Wow Lewis admitted that he and Secrito had driven from
Miami to Tallahassee on two separate occasions in the summer
of twenty fourteen. He stated how he didn't know that
he was going to participate in murder until he was
(40:17):
in the car on the way to Tallahassee. He took
him Initially, he thought he was going up north to
up North Florida to commit a rock. Sigfriedo told him
during the car ride that he'd been hired to kill Dan.
He included the fact that Catherine was involved. Lewis stated, quote,
he said, we were going to kill the man for
some kids, for a lady, because the lady wanted her
(40:39):
kids back.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
End quote.
Speaker 1 (40:40):
He told jurors he knew Wendy Adelson was paying for
the hit job.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
Oh my gosh. No, right, that's a big finger pointer
right there, I know.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
In opening statements, the prosecution stated that Lewis and Sopriedo
were hired by the Andilson family and a murder for
hire plot posed and paid for by Charlie, Wendy and
Donna Adelson. Lewis stated that Catherine was the first person
Secreto called on the ride back to Miami after the shooting.
When they returned, Sigcredo, Lewis and Catherine split one hundred
(41:15):
thousand dollars between them for the hit. Lewis said he
got thirty five, Cicrido got forty, and Catherine took the rest.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
Which wow, like twenty five yeah, thirty wait, thirty five yeah,
thirty five, seventy five yeah yeah wow.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
On November sixth, twenty twenty three, Charlie Addilson was found
guilty a first degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and
solicitation of murder. On December twelfth, he was sentence to
life in prison plus sixty years.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
Wow. He really he won't be a free man.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
Oh he's not going new way noe.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
A week after Charlie was sound guilty, his parents, Donna
and Harvey Addelson, were stopped in Miami in a national
airport trying to board a flight with one way tickets
to Vietnam. Non is a country with no extradition treaty
with the US.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
Wow. That speaks volumes come on, don't hopeful, Jesus, I
know now you're gonna don't even deny you know, you
know right.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
Donna Addison was arrested two days later. She was indicted
for Dan Marko's murder. In the beginning of December. She
was placed in solitary confinement. I'm not sure why. When
her attorneys brought up that she was facing cruel and
unusual punishment. Her jaw dropped when a jail official explained
that she had allegedly made comments that she wanted to die,
(42:41):
and she'd made suicidal statements on jail house calls, which
had been recorded and monitored. Pleeted not guilty in December.
The trial was scheduled for the spring of twenty twenty four,
but has been delayed and seventeenth, twenty twenty four, her
trial was ended before it even began when, on the
(43:01):
first day of jury selection, her defense attorney withdrew due
to conflict of interest concerns. He had also been Charlie's
defense attorney, and the plan was for Donna was that
Charlie was going to take the stand, which would force
his own defense attorney to cross examine him, so he
couldn't be Donna's attorney because he would have xamine Charlie,
(43:24):
which is a huge conflict of interest. Right, Wendy who,
So the trial.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
Hasn't began yet, Right, Donna's.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
Still in prison. Wendy, who has denied involvement with the
murder and testified under immunity at several trials, has not
been charged. Neither has her father, Harvey Adelson. Wendy Edison
had her son's last name changed to Addison, and she
totally cut off the Marco family visitation with the kids.
(43:53):
In twenty sixteen, after Lewis Garcia's arrest, Affi David named
her family members as cocon spiras in the Yeah. In
twenty twenty, Ruth and Phil Markle began pushing for legislation
to give grandparents in Florida more rights to visit their
grandchildren after the death of a parent. Markel Act was
(44:13):
passed in twenty twenty two and signed into law by
Governor DeSantis.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
Wow, and that's the end.
Speaker 1 (44:20):
Of what I have. Michigan has grandparent rights.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
Doing good.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
You have to meet like certain criteria, but one of
them is if like your child is deceased. One of
the reasons why you can petition for grandparents visiting.
Speaker 2 (44:36):
Well, for sure, grandparents are very important. Healthy grandparents are
very important, and you know the childhood development, absolutely, you're specialthy.
Healthy grandparents are very much And you know, I was
thinking about, you know, their Jewish faith in their life,
and now I know. On Facebook, I follow this woman.
(45:00):
Her name's Miriam, and she always and I love her
because she started, Hi, I'm Mariam, I'm an Orthodox Jew,
and I'm going to show you a little bit what
it's like in my day. So like she goes over
what makes food kosher and not. You know, it's very
and within a minute of a real I love her.
You know about just everything you want to know about
being Orthodox to you and I want to say I remember,
(45:23):
I want to say that she said that her family
growing up didn't turn Orthodox until she was older, so
they were always you're always Jewish, but Orthodox is that's
when you're really aware of the Jewish laws regarding all things,
but especially food. So I think maybe the Orthodox has
something a great deal to do with the kosher, you know,
(45:46):
observing just from my little I know she's she's just
a bundle of wonderful information.
Speaker 1 (45:55):
I know nothing about Judaism. I mean the closest I've
learned is Netflix has a show called Nobody Wants This's
watched it. No, it's adorable. You should watch it. It's
good and it is about a Jewish rabbi who falls
in love with.
Speaker 2 (46:13):
A shiksa oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (46:16):
Like a non Jewish woman. The rabbi is played by
Adam Brody and he's adorable. Yeah. The woman is Kristen Bell.
Speaker 2 (46:25):
Okay, I will check that out Netflix, youseud Netflix.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
And they're only half hour episodes. I mean you will
fly through them because the story is so fucking cute.
I can't.
Speaker 2 (46:36):
I really I can't wait.
Speaker 1 (46:38):
Like, you know, there's problems because he's a rabbi and
you know, blah blah blah.
Speaker 2 (46:42):
So anyway, now yeah, Netflix, love it.
Speaker 1 (46:46):
I want to thank you Shannon for listening, and thank
you core one for listening to this week's episode.
Speaker 2 (46:53):
Yeah we go.
Speaker 1 (46:55):
I just want to remind everyone to hit subscriber follow
and whatever app you're listening to. If if you would
like to join our patrion or a members only group,
you can go to Patreon p A t r e
o n dot com slash t nt crimes. You can
sign up there, or you can sign up through the
(47:15):
podcast app on your iPhone and what that is. What
you get is we publish an extra episode a week
that's not published to the general public. That is a
pay only episode. And you know, if you want to
do that, check that out. You could go to our
website Crimes and Consequences dot com. You can listen to
episodes there. Shannon got the website all caught up.
Speaker 2 (47:36):
Because she wants looking.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
Chris, I think that's everything.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
Yeah, I think that's.
Speaker 1 (47:43):
All the business. So until our next.
Speaker 2 (47:45):
Episode, Yes, until next time you guys, take care. We
love you, Tanya, I love you, I love you, and
I love you guys.
Speaker 1 (47:52):
Everyone.
Speaker 2 (47:53):
It's a big love fest, so it always ends. Yeah,
So I'll see you bye bye.
Speaker 1 (48:00):
Don't pop, don't people
This episode maintained content of a graphic nature, including descriptions
of physical and sexual violence against adults, children, and animals.
Listener discretion is advised. Hi, this is Tanya.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Hi this is Shannon, and we are Crimes.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
And Consequences, a hardcore true crime podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Hey Shannon, Hey Tanya, how you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
I am good. How are you doing today?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
I am doing pretty good? How about you?
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Life is a sweet fruit?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yes, it is in family. Oh bring the flavor, don't
they yell?
Speaker 1 (01:06):
It's that time of year, right, You're subjected to your
family and yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
And surround and enjoy and love and other things too.
So but yeah, you know, but I do. I have
a funny story I want to tell you. Okay, let's
hear it, all right. So Brooke and I Brooke is
my twenty two year old daughter for those of you
who don't know, and she is eighteen and a half
weeks pregnant. So yes, I'm going to be a grandma. Randy,
(01:34):
you know, it's going to create. And we know he's
a boy. We call him beans. So anyway, Brook and
I so Brooke, we were talking about how like herreditary,
our rage seems to be her hereditary. Just your common
conversation over breakfast, and she goes, it was just so
(01:55):
funny because you know, there's that formality of oh hey mom,
oh hey honey, blah blah blah. And once she was like, oh,
I remember this one time when you got mad, and
just her inflection, I was like, Oh my gosh, she's
gonna be this sounds like I might have left something
that needs therapy or that's this sounds like cor bevery.
So I was like, oh exactly. She goes, Oh, yeah,
(02:17):
I remember you were looking for your ATM card. She goes,
I don't remember the bank. It was Huntington. She goes,
we pulled over. You had been digging her out out
of the side frantically, and you were getting mad and mad,
and she goes, and then we pulled over and you
got out. You started looking all over the car. It
was went under the seat and you grabbed it and
you put it right in your face and you yelled
(02:38):
cut except that I really laid on the oud like
and I said, Brooklyn, you know that's me mad at
the universe. Yeah, yelling at the universe, not the card.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
You know, just Sat eighty eight.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
She can't put anything away. It's not normal, it's not
natural to do so, so just for her to share
it as a I remember this rage story. I can
you know? What? Is she ten? And I'm all like, motherfucker,
where is this card?
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yes, my daughter has a core memory of me screaming
at her. She was probably five or six, and she
was either at Brownies or what is it when they're
like before Brownies?
Speaker 2 (03:31):
I forget, Yes, I know what you mean, at the
Little Blue.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Best right, and she was running around and running around.
I had told her to stop it, and she's running,
running running. When we got in the car, I fucking unleashed.
I like screamed at her and everything. So she says,
you know, it's a core memory of mine, and I said,
I'm sorry. It was before I was medicated.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I'd like to point out the importance of mental health, yea,
all of us.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah, before I rested my health. And I do apologize
for that, and I'm sorry that I've scarred you for
life with that.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
But I love it that He's like, yeah, mom, and
it's a core memory.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
So now you know, I'm like, oh great, Oh we
do our best. I know. So, yeah, it was. It
was fabulous, you know. So we've started our children. But anyway, yes,
all right, well I'll get into the episode now, yeah,
I'm ready, Yes, before I started, just remind everyone to
hit subscriber or follow. And our story takes place on
(04:37):
July eighteenth, twenty fourteen, and it's around eleven am. A
man named Dan Markle was driving home. He had dropped
his kids off at preschool and then he went to
the gym for a workout before driving to his house,
which was in Benton Hills, which is a suburb of Tallahassee, Florida.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Okay, Dan had i'd been in.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
The midst of a bitter divorce and custody battle with
his wife, whose name was Wendy Adelson. Both Dan and
Wendy were law professors at Florida State University. Dan's family
lived in Canada, and so he had an agreement with
his mom that when he was driving he would call
her to decompress. So on this date, he also had
(05:24):
an arranged phone call with a teacher at a potential
school for one of his sons. His soon to be
ex wife wanted to change the school their children would
be going to the following year because like she had
enrolled them without discussing it.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
With Dan.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Oh, and so the phone call with the teacher was
meant to discuss what had happened and why the school
would be a good fit. So after hanging up with
his mom, he called the teacher. As he continued his drive.
With so much going on, Dan didn't notice that there
was a silver green Prius that was following him. But
when Dan pulled into his driveway in front of his house,
(06:00):
he told the teacher that he was talking to you know,
hold on, he said, there's someone in my driveway that
is unfamiliar to me. Then Peter heard a loud grunt,
muffled voices, and labored breathing. He asked if Dan was okay,
but Dan never returned to the call. Okay, So I
don't know. I'm guessing the teacher hung up. Yeah, so
(06:22):
you know, something's happening, and one of Dan's neighbors heard
a gunshot. He looks in the direction of Dan's house
and he sees the garage door was up and thought
Dan was backing out, but instead he sees this silvery
green Prius leaving the driveway. So after a while he's
noticed that Dan's car hasn't moved, and so he went
(06:43):
to go check on Dan. Looking in the driver's side window,
he saw his neighbor. Dan had been shot in the
head through the glass. Window was shattered and there was blood,
but Dan was still alive and moving.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
He called the police and unfortunately, though the dispatcher made
an error in the prioritization of the call and categorized
it as a traffic accident. So the first mobitter arrived
at the house expecting to see like a fender bender,
but you know no, and ambulance arrived nineteen minutes after
(07:17):
the initial phone call. Dan was transported to Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare.
After the shooting, the police set up crime scene tape
to keep drivers and pedestrians from going down the road.
When this had been done, one of the officers noticed
a maroon Honda Odyssey that had tried to make a
turn onto the street soon after the shooting, and this
(07:40):
fan ended up belonging to Wendy Adelson, Dan's ex wife
or soon to be ex wife, who lived a short
distance away from Dan. Wendy Adelson was found the afternoon
of the shooting at a local restaurant where she was
having lunch with friends. The police drove her to the
station about two point thirty. They didn't hear any details
(08:01):
about why she was being brought in during the drive there.
When she sat down with an officer after they arrived
at the station, she was told that Dan had been
shot and he wasn't likely to survive. As soon as
she heard this news, she burst into tears, and she
began to sob uncontrollably. They inquired about her plans for
(08:21):
the day, you know, They were like, where what are
you been?
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Right, She said she'd been home earlier in the day
waiting for a TV repairman. One of her sons had
thrown a toy into their new flat screen TV, and
the TV was a divorce gift from Wendy's older brother, Charlie,
and they were trying to see if it was worth fixing.
After the repairman left, she got ready for lunch with
(08:45):
her friends, and then she ran to the liquor store
to buy a bottle of bourbon for a stock the
bar wedding party that evening. During the highly emotional interview,
Wendy was asked if there was anyone she knew who
would want to get killed Dan. She said no. However,
later in the interview, she spoke of a bad joke
(09:05):
that her brother Charlie had made about the television he'd
given her. He said, I looked into hiring a hit
man and it was cheaper to get you the teeth.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Hah yeah yeah, real nee slapper right.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Even after disclosing this to police, Wendy doubled down that
her brother would never have actually hired anyone to kill
her husband. Going on to further explain, Wendy detailed that
she was involved in ongoing litigation regarding the split of
financial assets and connection with her divorce. Said that her
parents were extremely angry with Dan, but they would never
(09:40):
say a bad word about her children's father in front
of the kids. When the police asked about Charlie, they
inquired into what type of car he drove. Describing her
brother as a bit of a character, Wendy told him
that Charlie is a periodontist who owns several cars, including
an unmarked police car. I told them that he's a
(10:01):
workaholic who starts early in the morning and goes until
late at night, so if they wanted to find him,
they could look at one of the many offices he
worked in throughout South Florida. The interview with Wendy lasted
five hours.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Wendy expressed concern that whoever had been after her husband
would probably be coming for the kids next which I
don't know why to sleep but right, you know. And
the police hadn't found any evidence of a break in
and determined that the shooting wasn't random and somebody wanted
Dan dead. Wendy had been asked about being seen trying
(10:37):
to turn onto the road that Dan lived on with
her kids, and she said she drove by regularly to
help her like herself, process like her feelings about the divorce.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Oh okay.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
However, it was mentioned later that it was strange she
didn't call or reach out to anyone with concern about
the crime scene tape surrounding live in. Right right after
they were done questioning her, she asked the police if
she should get a sitter for her children while she
was going out that night at the stock the bar party.
(11:10):
Oh wow, And this seems kind of weird because it
was her week to have the kids. She was supposed
to pick them up from preschool that afternoon, and she
had these plans for this party. So if she was
going to get a sitter. You think she would have
had one by then, right right?
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (11:26):
And unless the party was family friendly, but a stock
the bar party really does.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Dream doesn't sound bring your kids.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Yeah, it doesn't say all age is fun, right.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Kids welcome? That means get a sitter, No kids please,
That's just desire.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
So let me tell you a little bit about Dan.
He was born October ninth, nineteen seventy two, making him
a Libra libra, libra mail, libra mail. He achieved a
mastery in political theory from Cambridge, and he went on
to earn a law degree from Harvard in nineteen ninety.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
I know la la.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
He was active in the Jewish faith, and after he graduated,
he won a prestigious fellowship that allowed him to spend
a year's studying philosophy at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Oh my gosh, how what an opportunity, What a great
life experience, right exactly.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
In two thousand and five, Dan began teaching at Florida
State University's College of Law, where he grew into a
respected expert in criminal law and generously gave of his
time and energy to be well connected in that field. Dan,
who was thirty three years old at the time. He
and Wendy met on jay Date, which is a niche
(12:45):
dating website for people of the Jewish faith. If you
didn't know, Wendy was an attractive twenty six year old
law student at the University of Miami who had earned
a master's degree in international relations at Cambridge. Her family
ran a successful dental practice in Tamarack, and the two
got married in two thousand and six. Wendy was offered
(13:07):
a job as a clinical professor at Florida State University
as a spousal hire. I had no idea that that
was a thing me either, but my nice and her
focus was on human trafficking issues between Dan and the Addlsons.
Wendy's family began right away. While both the Markles and
(13:28):
the Addlsons were Jewish and both families were each paying
for half of the wedding, the Adelsons purchased catering that
didn't follow Kosher guidelines. Yeah, that seems weird.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
It does.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
After guests had already begun eating, Dan was put in
the unfortunate position to announce to his guests that the
food was not kosher, which upset several people. I got,
I know Additionally, Dan was told by the Adelsons to
downplay his accomplishments so as not to overshadow Wendy during
the wedding.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Oh my gosh, so you don't provide culture food at
your Jewish wedding, and then you got a downplay so
someone else can feel good. Are you kidding me? Oh
my gosh, yeah, Dan, yeah, I just I don't get it,
so I don't either.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
During their marriage, they welcomed two boys, Benjamin and Lincoln.
Dan was an exceptional father. He was tremendously proud, and
he was heavily involved in his son's lives. As time passed,
he decided he would like to immerse his boys in
their faith, and he made an effort to begin observing
some of the more orthodox beliefs in the Jewish faith.
(14:42):
While he had wanted to begin observing Kosher meals, Wendy
didn't desire to make this change. This led to her
having to prepare meals in her home separately. Dan began
traveling for work, leaving Wendy at home to care for
the kids alone. She would often make trips to southern
Florida to spend time with her her parents and brothers.
When Dan was gone, and it was clear she was
(15:04):
unhappy living in Tallahassee and she wanted to move back
to Miami where that had more of like an urban feel.
In twenty eleven, This is Our Story, which was a
novel that was self published by Wendy Adelson. It came
out and side note It received a three point three
out of five on Goodreads Okay. The novel told the
(15:27):
story of a human trafficking attorney, Lily. Lily's character was
in a very unhappy situation after moving to a rural
town in Florida with her husband, Josh. Josh professor. Yes,
sound familiar.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
I was gonna say, they always say write what you know?
Speaker 1 (15:44):
What you know? His character was made out to be
disrespectful to his wife and dismissive of her accomplishments. In
the novel, Lily's character ended up leaving suddenly. She left
behind worse papers for Josh to sign and moved away
with a child she secretly adopted from a client who
wasn't able to take care of the infant. Wendy admitted
(16:05):
that Lily was somewhat quote unquote autobiographical character.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Yeah, loosely based my life, yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Saying in the afterward of the novel. Quote, I selfishly
wanted you to know a bit about my story, which
has much, but not all, in common with Attorney Lily
end quote. Apparently Dan never read his wife's novel, because
if he had, he maybe wouldn't have been so surprised
when on September tenth, twenty twelve, just over a year
(16:38):
after the novel was released, Wendy left. Dan returned home
from a business trip and discovered that his wife had
taken the two kids, most of the household possessions, and
she left with no clue as to where they'd gone.
Divorce papers were lying on the bed in the master bedroom.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Wow, no right, So the.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Divorce between the law professors to be very messy. For weeks,
Wendy refused to tell him where she and their sons
had gone. Dan made efforts to reconcile with his wife,
even telling her that he would move to Miami immediately
to keep their family together. My poor Wendy, it was
too little, too late. Wendy had taken her children from Tallahassee,
(17:20):
seven hours south to her parents' home in Coral Springs,
which is one of the suburbs between Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
I'm sorry, I just wise. I do know where Coral
Spriggs is because on my Zillow list of homes I'll
buy when I hit the lottery, Coral Sprigs looked like
a lovely suburb of Miami, just well located. I've got
a couple condos.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Well there you go.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Oh yes, well you said carl I was like, I
know where that it is place. Thank you Zillow. Yes.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
She was relieved to have been able to return to
her parents and brother, Charlie, with whom she had a
close relationship with. Her older brother, Robert, lived in New
York and didn't communicate with any of the members of
the family in Florida. Robert Adelson was the oldest child
of the family. After leaving home, Robert began college, eventually
becoming a successful sinus surgeon. He had met and fallen
(18:21):
in love with an Indian woman and made plans to marry.
His parents didn't approve of her because she was Hindu,
and they had wanted their children to meet and marry
someone of the Jewish faith, which is ironic considering they
didn't serve Kosher meals.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
A right's wedding.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Buried the pressure of this you know between his family
that led Robert to break up with his girlfriend. He
quickly met and married a Jewish woman after that, but
realized he had made a mistake, so within the marriage
it was annulled and he went back to his former
girlfriend and they got married. The ceremony was a mix
of both Hindu in Jewish traditions. Robert's parents saved face
(19:03):
during the ceremony, but seemed to have cut him off
after the marriage. So back to Dan and Wendy. Dan
had established a life in Tallahassee. Wendy was making efforts
to develop a home in Miami. The main issue of
contention in their divorce was where the boys were going
to live. On June twentieth, twenty thirteen, the judge denied
Wendy's motion for relocation with her children. The following month,
(19:27):
a divorce settlement was agreed upon. Dan would make a
lump sum payment of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars
and pay eight hundred and forty one dollars a month
in support. On top of it, custody the children would
be fifty to fifty and Dan would keep the family
home in Benton Hills, Wow. Although the settlement was made,
the legal battles continued. Constant disputes were filed regarding everything
(19:52):
from school plans to skyping with the kids. This sounds
like my.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Worst client magic, Yes it does.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
During the separation, Dan had been told by his sons
that Donna, Wendy's mother, was making disparaging remarks about him
to his children, calling him stupid and saying that Dan
was trying to keep her from her sunshines, which I
guess is what she called the grandkids. After hearing one
of the comments himself during one of the skyping calls
(20:23):
between Dan and the boys, Dan asked the judge to
no longer allow unsupervised visitation between Donna and her grandchildren.
Fearing parental alienation. Dan informed the judge that Wendy's parents
were aggressive in controlling the hearing for the motion to
prohibit Wendy's mother from unsupervised visitation with her grandchildren was scheduled,
(20:44):
but would never be heard because Dan Markle would have
passed away before it reached the courtroom. In the early
hours of the morning on Saturday, July nineteenth, twenty fourteen,
Dan succumbed to his injuries. Investigators immediately began looking into
every possible ability of who could have wanted Dan dad
and why. During Wendy's interview, she told the officers not
(21:06):
just about her brother Charlie, but also about her former boyfriend,
Jeffrey Laus. Jeffrey was also a professor at FSU working
in the College of Social Work. Wendy claimed that Jeffrey
didn't like Dan because Dan Hurtney. So Jeffrey was brought
in for questioning on July twenty first, twenty fourteen. Police
(21:28):
were able to verify that Jeffrey wasn't a suspect, as
he'd been hundreds of miles away at the time of
the murder. During the course of three long interviews with police,
Jeffrey gave the officers several theories he had about the murder,
stemming from his nine month long relationship with Wendy. This
is getting juicy right. During his first police interview on
(21:50):
July twenty first, Jeffrey informed them that Wendy had disclosed
to him that the Addisons were desperate to get Wendy
back to Miami. He felt like Wendy's family infant tialized
her and she wasn't treated like an adult. He claimed
that he'd heard during a discussion the previous summer between
Wendy and her mom, Donna, that they've been thinking about
(22:11):
converting the children to Catholicism. Kind Dan's back, just to
hurt him. After the petition to relocate the boys was denied,
Wendy told Jeff, Charlie hates Danny. That's her brother, Charlie, okay,
and it seriously looked into all the options possible to
take care of this.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Problem in my little right.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
In one chilling statement, Wendy made clear Charlie had looked
into how much it would cost to have someone killed.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Another you know. So they just cracked me up, Like,
are you gonna look on the public library? You know
what I'm saying, because you're gonna leave a trail, uh
whether unless you get a burner phone you're gonna afford
people will look you know, You're they're gonna look at
your history. This is you know, how do you make poison?
(23:01):
How do you do this? It's all right there of
your history.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Right Like okay, yeah, your history is going to be
looked at. If you fucking talk to one person that
one person's going to tell another person's day.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Well, dude, people are just so stupid. I looked at
the hiring a hit man. What's the first step in that?
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Google, That's what the first step is.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Yeah, Facebook, marketplace, Yeah, Craig Let's Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
What do you do you ask around?
Speaker 2 (23:30):
What do you do you yourself?
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Hit men in my area?
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Exactly crazy? Oh, people are stupid, and he's a periodontist.
I expect more from a white collar. That's sloppy. That's
just sloppy.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Jeff also referenced a conversation he'd had with Charlie when
they'd been first introduced around mid March of that year.
Charlie shared that there were some financial irregularity, and Jeff
told the police they should be looking into the Addison's
dental practice. There might be tax fraud happening, and they
should look at the movement of assets between members of
(24:11):
the family. This is a fact that was grasped onto
as a part of the motive. So if Wendy was
to be found out having participated in illegal acts in
order to evade taxes, she could lose her job and
possibly hard Additionally, in that same conversation between Jeff and Charlie,
Charlie had been discussing in front of Wendy and Jeff
(24:34):
sex acts he'd performed on his girlfriend to quote punish
her for her behavior. End quote.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Jeff said, whoa, whoa, whoa whoap did you read say
that Charlie is telling me stories? Yes, okay, he's telling
his sister, okay about punishing her. Okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
So Jeff said, Charlie reeks of anti so social behavior,
and that quote his social radar is way off.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
To say the least. Yeah, read the room. Yeah, read
the room, Charlie.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
And you know Jeff's opinion. You got to remember he
was a professor in social work with a focus in
mental health and psychiatric medications. Oh, probably kind of knew
what he was talking about.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Yeah, yeah, a little very good. Yeah, very He wasn't
just armchairing it like I would, right.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
That I read or.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Whatever the articles from years gone by.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Yeah, I'd be like, he's very antisocial.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
He was like, no clue, what right, that's typical antisocial
behavior right there. Yeah, because my years of doctor still
and for Google.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Yeah, so Jeff told the police quote Charlie popped into
my head within thirty seconds of hearing about Dan being shot.
He didn't think Charlie would have done it himself, but
he had friends on both sides of the track, and
there's a possibility that he would hire someone from the
quote Cuban neighborhood end quote.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
He said too that the Adelsons hated Dan in a way.
He said he'd never seen this kind of obsession and
like basically their hobby was hating Dan.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Wow. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
And he's also heard on the police video during his
interview saying, quote, I would just say I would be
investigating Charlie Adelson. I don't know if he did this,
but if you're looking at someone, don't miss him.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Nice right.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Just two days later, on July twenty third, grainy surveillance
footage of the silvery green priess that had been seen
in Dan's driveway was released and called a vehicle of interest.
There was clear evidence of Dan being stalked by two
men in the priests before the murder. A resident of
an apartment complex called police to inform them that they'd
(27:02):
seen a priest in the parking lot and two men
got out of it and started walking down by a
nature trail by Dan's house. On August twelfth, twenty fourteen,
Jeff went in to the police department. He had been
going through old text messages and had put together that
he and Wendy had made plans to go to California
on July eleventh through seventeenth, and Dan was shot on
(27:26):
the eighteenth. He said that they had made the reservation
four months prior, and Wendy later canceled them a month
before they were supposed to leave. He also said that
he'd heard from Wendy and some mutual friends that Wendy's
brother Charlie, had texted her in the beginning of August,
asking if she'd like to go celebrate. Jeff was later
(27:46):
told that during the dinner that Wendy was at that
she'd pamited at the dinner table. Jeff said he believed
that Wendy may have been indirectly responsible for Dan's murder,
and the police informed him that Wendy wasn't a sign aspect,
to which he replied, quote, well she should be, and.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Yeah, I don't understand with them going through a divorce,
and as soon as you hear spouse or recent acts,
a number one suspect, you know can't be weird.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
He's like a college professor, like, who's going to fucking
just shoot him, right, Yeah, this not Robin. I mean
he didn't get robbed, they didn't steal his car, they
didn't take no, none of that happens. And he was
shot in his driveway. So like, I don't know, it
just doesn't seem like it's a random.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
No, not at all. In the Prius number one when
you first said the model was like, oh, Priuses have
been around that long twenty fourteen PRIs, Oh my goodness. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
In mid September twenty fourteen, as the investigation continued, Florida
State University had a memorial service. Hundreds packed the hall
while people stood up one by one to honor their colleague, friend, teacher,
and family member. In January twenty fifteen, investigators caught up
to a key witness, a self confessed drug dealer, who
(29:12):
told police he sold cocaine to one of their suspects.
This was a man named Sigfrido Garcia. This suspect also
claimed to have runted a hotel room in his own
name and another suspect, Louis Riviera. The witness gave the
police an hour long interview in which he claimed that
Sigfriedo had flagged him down just after midnight. On July sixteenth,
(29:35):
outside of a cheap motel to ask where he could
get some drugs. Cecredo bought some cocaine from the man
and the two hung out for several hours before he left.
The witness told the police that while he and Sigfrido
snorted the coke, Lewis sat on a bed with a handgun.
He saw Sigfrido and Louis the next day standing next
(29:55):
to the rented Prius, which had broken down. The witness
gave the a ride to buy parts to fix the car,
and then rented them a hotel room in his name.
They paid them back in cash.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Wow. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
In July twenty fifteen, police, so this is like a
year later. Police came across a video from a city
bus showing that same Prius. From the angle the video
was taken out, they were able to see a toll
transponder in the window. This made investigators believe that the
killers weren't from Tallahassee due to the few toll roads
(30:30):
in the area. Police then went and pulled the toll
records for all priuses hiding into Tallahassee around the time
of the murder. The records led them to a car
runtal agency in Miami. It turned out that there were
fewer than ten Priuses rented during the span of time
in the state of Florida. It could have been the
same car. Looking at the runnal agreement, the vehicle had
(30:53):
been rented to Louis Riviera, who was a leader in
the Latin Kings Gang.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Ooh yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
The second phone number on the rental contract was traced
to Sigfriedo Garcia, who was Lewis's childhood friend and he
had a colorful felony record. Please were able to ping
both cell phones within the vicinity of Dan's home at
the time of the murder. When Dan was shot, Charlie
Adelson was dating a woman named Katherine Magnanua. She had
(31:24):
been working off and on at the dental practice and
was also the mother of children of Sigfriedo Garcia. She's
Sigfredo's baby mama.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
That's right. She can help you out right.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
When police looked into the phone records of Catherine and Charlie,
they noticed a pattern of contact that took place in
the weeks leading up to the murder. When a phone
call would take place between Catherine and Charlie, there would
be another phone call right after between Catherine and Secriedo,
and another between Charlie and Donna his mom.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Immediately after the murder, Donna Adelson talked to Charlie on
the phone for seven minutes, and then Charlie made two
calls to Catherine, with one of those calls lasting five minutes.
An hour later, Secreto called Catherine. This was the first
phone call he made after the shooting. After the murder,
Lewis and Secreto purchased several cars and motorcycles. Around that
(32:18):
same time, Catherine began receiving paychecks from the Adelson's dental office.
The found that Catherine had deposited more than forty one
thousand dollars in cash and more than seventeen thousand dollars
in checks from the Addelson Institute into her bank account
between July twenty fourteen and November twenty fifteen. The checks
(32:39):
were signed by Donna Adelson. Dude, this is such a
fucking paper trail.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Like it is. It's so good. I mean, once you
hit the vein, man, you really hit it. I am not.
I love how they've been like tracking the phone calls. Okay,
once Catherine speaks to what chuck.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Yeah, Charlie yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Charlie yeah. And then Charlie mother and she calls Sigtredo.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
I like that they could pick up those patterns. Yeah,
the trail, right, yeah, the trail for sure.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
The Addison family claimed Catherine was employed by the clinic. However,
the police Affidavid states that Catherine was only found to
be working at the dental practice one time during the
length of the investigation. The police believe Charlie was financially
supporting Catherine in payment for Dan's murder after she and
Charlie had broken up. He had even paid for her
(33:31):
post breakup glow up in the form of a boob job.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Oh my gosh. So then she leaves Scredo, what does
she leave Sigfredo and glows up or makes herself new?
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Yeah, makes herself new?
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Right. I can't let you know what. I can't say.
I wouldn't do the same. I mean, I do have
some Pinterest pictures in my own special file of work
I'd like done. But so, yeah, she does the glow
and I'm imagining, you know, if he's a dentist, you're
going to get the pills involved. So the's payments of
(34:05):
pills prime making that up. Yeah, that's not in the story.
That's just my life observation. Adding to the story.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
In early twenty sixteen, the FBI arranged to have an
undercover officer bump into Donna Adelson posing as Lewis's brother.
The officer handed Donna a news article referencing Dan's murder
with five thousand dollars and a phone number written on it.
In the conversation, the officer told Donna that he knows
(34:39):
that the Adelsons are taking care of Catherine and Sigfriedo.
He said that Lewis is in prison now and that
he'd also helped with their quote problem up North End
quote and they needed to take care of him too.
The purpose of this operation was to get the suspects
talking to each other, and it worked. In April twenty sixteen,
(35:02):
Charlie met his ex girlfriend Catherine at Hilchi Vita restaurant
in Miami. The FBI got a forty minute long recording
at this restaurant about how to deal with someone they
believed to be either a blackmailer or police. Charlie suggested
making a one time charity payment to the blackmailer or
else killing him end quote. And so help me God,
(35:25):
if they fuck with my family, it's gonna be like
fucking the Nazi shit, because this will be done. You
know what I'm saying. I mean, Katie, I don't care
what I spend. Okay, I swear to God, Katie, Katie,
the person doesn't know end quote.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
Wow. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
In May twenty sixteen, police announced first degree murder charges
for Dan's murder against Siegfrido and Lewis the rest Fi.
David alleges that Charlie Adelson quote reportedly did not like
Dan and did not get along with him end quote.
A probable cause Affidavid alleges that the two men were
(36:03):
enlisted to commit this egregious act, and police believe the
motive for the killing stemmed from the desperate desire of
the Addison family to relocate Wendy and the children to
South Florida, along with the pending court hearing that might
have impacted their access to the grandchildren because remember Dan
had filed that motion to supervised grandparent time.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
Right. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
In June, both men were indicted. Court documents made public
that month link Secrito to Charlie Adelson, Charlie's former girlfriend,
Catherine was also the mother I told you of Sircrito's children,
and Sigrido pleaded not guilty, and the state informed him
they planned to seek the death penalty. His trial was
set for November fourteenth, twenty sixteen. Louis Rivera was extradited
(36:53):
to a federal prison to remain incarcerated on unrelated charges.
Because he was incarcerated that the undercover officer had told
Donna remember right ye on September eighth, Lewis chose to
demand a speedy trial, which was set for October twenty fourth,
twenty sixteen, so before Cifrito's setded up, leading guilty to
(37:14):
second degree murder on October fourth, twenty sixteen, and ultimately
was sentenced to nineteen years in prison. The sentence would
run concurrently with a federal sentence in an unrelated case
for his statements and cooperation with prosecutors so he is
going to snitch. Evidence from the recording the FBI had
gotten of Catherine's meeting with Charlie at the dolci Vita
(37:34):
restaurant was used to arrest Catherine on charge of the
first degree murder on October first, twenty sixteen. She was
offered immunity in exchange for cooperation, but she refused.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
I know that is ballsy, right, that is balzy.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
Catherine in Cifriedo would be tried together in October twenty nineteen.
In trial, Sigfriedo was found guilty of first degree murder,
in which sentenced to life in prison. Catherine's first trial
was ruled a mistrial. She was scheduled to be tried
again in April twenty twenty, which was eventually delayed due
to the pande and then come up again until the
(38:13):
spring of twenty twenty two. During the long break between trials,
the prosecution found an audio forensic expert to enhance the
recording of the Dulce Vita meeting between Catherine and Charlie.
Because of the audio enhancement, Charlie Addison was arrested on
April twenty first, twenty twenty two, and charged with first
degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation of murder in connection with
(38:37):
the shooting of Dan Markle.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Finally get to the I know, I mean you have
the two trigger guys or you know, the trigger guy,
and then the domino effect to the fiery you know,
the hired money, great money behind the operation yes.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Catherine's retrial began March sixteenth, twenty twenty two. On May
twenty seventh, the jury returned after eight hours of deliberation
and with a guilty verdict of first degree murder, conspiracy,
and solicitation of murder. She was sentenced to life in prison.
Charlie Andelson's trial was to begin in the spring of
twenty twenty three, but was delayed. On September twenty ninth,
(39:14):
twenty twenty three, Catherine turned state's witness oh he expected
to testify against her ex boyfriend. Charlie's trial began on
October twenty third, twenty twenty three. Jeffrey La case Lacas
took this early in the trial and detailed everything that
he told the police throughout their investigation. Louis Rivera took
(39:36):
the stand the following day. He detailed for the jurors
how he was enlisted to go to Tallahassee to murder Dan.
He described tailgating Dan with Sigfrido Garcia. They followed him
when he dropped off his kids at their preschool and
watched as he drove to the gym then back to
his house. Lewis told the court room how when they
(39:56):
pulled into the driveway, Sigfrido had jumped out, gone behind
Dan's car to the driver's side window and shot him twice.
Wow Lewis admitted that he and Secrito had driven from
Miami to Tallahassee on two separate occasions in the summer
of twenty fourteen. He stated how he didn't know that
he was going to participate in murder until he was
(40:17):
in the car on the way to Tallahassee. He took
him Initially, he thought he was going up north to
up North Florida to commit a rock. Sigfriedo told him
during the car ride that he'd been hired to kill Dan.
He included the fact that Catherine was involved. Lewis stated, quote,
he said, we were going to kill the man for
some kids, for a lady, because the lady wanted her
(40:39):
kids back.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
End quote.
Speaker 1 (40:40):
He told jurors he knew Wendy Adelson was paying for
the hit job.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
Oh my gosh. No, right, that's a big finger pointer
right there, I know.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
In opening statements, the prosecution stated that Lewis and Sopriedo
were hired by the Andilson family and a murder for
hire plot posed and paid for by Charlie, Wendy and
Donna Adelson. Lewis stated that Catherine was the first person
Secreto called on the ride back to Miami after the shooting.
When they returned, Sigcredo, Lewis and Catherine split one hundred
(41:15):
thousand dollars between them for the hit. Lewis said he
got thirty five, Cicrido got forty, and Catherine took the rest.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
Which wow, like twenty five yeah, thirty wait, thirty five yeah,
thirty five, seventy five yeah yeah wow.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
On November sixth, twenty twenty three, Charlie Addilson was found
guilty a first degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and
solicitation of murder. On December twelfth, he was sentence to
life in prison plus sixty years.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
Wow. He really he won't be a free man.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
Oh he's not going new way noe.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
A week after Charlie was sound guilty, his parents, Donna
and Harvey Addelson, were stopped in Miami in a national
airport trying to board a flight with one way tickets
to Vietnam. Non is a country with no extradition treaty
with the US.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
Wow. That speaks volumes come on, don't hopeful, Jesus, I
know now you're gonna don't even deny you know, you
know right.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
Donna Addison was arrested two days later. She was indicted
for Dan Marko's murder. In the beginning of December. She
was placed in solitary confinement. I'm not sure why. When
her attorneys brought up that she was facing cruel and
unusual punishment. Her jaw dropped when a jail official explained
that she had allegedly made comments that she wanted to die,
(42:41):
and she'd made suicidal statements on jail house calls, which
had been recorded and monitored. Pleeted not guilty in December.
The trial was scheduled for the spring of twenty twenty four,
but has been delayed and seventeenth, twenty twenty four, her
trial was ended before it even began when, on the
(43:01):
first day of jury selection, her defense attorney withdrew due
to conflict of interest concerns. He had also been Charlie's
defense attorney, and the plan was for Donna was that
Charlie was going to take the stand, which would force
his own defense attorney to cross examine him, so he
couldn't be Donna's attorney because he would have xamine Charlie,
(43:24):
which is a huge conflict of interest. Right, Wendy who,
So the trial.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
Hasn't began yet, Right, Donna's.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
Still in prison. Wendy, who has denied involvement with the
murder and testified under immunity at several trials, has not
been charged. Neither has her father, Harvey Adelson. Wendy Edison
had her son's last name changed to Addison, and she
totally cut off the Marco family visitation with the kids.
(43:53):
In twenty sixteen, after Lewis Garcia's arrest, Affi David named
her family members as cocon spiras in the Yeah. In
twenty twenty, Ruth and Phil Markle began pushing for legislation
to give grandparents in Florida more rights to visit their
grandchildren after the death of a parent. Markel Act was
(44:13):
passed in twenty twenty two and signed into law by
Governor DeSantis.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
Wow, and that's the end.
Speaker 1 (44:20):
Of what I have. Michigan has grandparent rights.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
Doing good.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
You have to meet like certain criteria, but one of
them is if like your child is deceased. One of
the reasons why you can petition for grandparents visiting.
Speaker 2 (44:36):
Well, for sure, grandparents are very important. Healthy grandparents are
very important, and you know the childhood development, absolutely, you're specialthy.
Healthy grandparents are very much And you know, I was
thinking about, you know, their Jewish faith in their life,
and now I know. On Facebook, I follow this woman.
(45:00):
Her name's Miriam, and she always and I love her
because she started, Hi, I'm Mariam, I'm an Orthodox Jew,
and I'm going to show you a little bit what
it's like in my day. So like she goes over
what makes food kosher and not. You know, it's very
and within a minute of a real I love her.
You know about just everything you want to know about
being Orthodox to you and I want to say I remember,
(45:23):
I want to say that she said that her family
growing up didn't turn Orthodox until she was older, so
they were always you're always Jewish, but Orthodox is that's
when you're really aware of the Jewish laws regarding all things,
but especially food. So I think maybe the Orthodox has
something a great deal to do with the kosher, you know,
(45:46):
observing just from my little I know she's she's just
a bundle of wonderful information.
Speaker 1 (45:55):
I know nothing about Judaism. I mean the closest I've
learned is Netflix has a show called Nobody Wants This's
watched it. No, it's adorable. You should watch it. It's
good and it is about a Jewish rabbi who falls
in love with.
Speaker 2 (46:13):
A shiksa oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (46:16):
Like a non Jewish woman. The rabbi is played by
Adam Brody and he's adorable. Yeah. The woman is Kristen Bell.
Speaker 2 (46:25):
Okay, I will check that out Netflix, youseud Netflix.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
And they're only half hour episodes. I mean you will
fly through them because the story is so fucking cute.
I can't.
Speaker 2 (46:36):
I really I can't wait.
Speaker 1 (46:38):
Like, you know, there's problems because he's a rabbi and
you know, blah blah blah.
Speaker 2 (46:42):
So anyway, now yeah, Netflix, love it.
Speaker 1 (46:46):
I want to thank you Shannon for listening, and thank
you core one for listening to this week's episode.
Speaker 2 (46:53):
Yeah we go.
Speaker 1 (46:55):
I just want to remind everyone to hit subscriber follow
and whatever app you're listening to. If if you would
like to join our patrion or a members only group,
you can go to Patreon p A t r e
o n dot com slash t nt crimes. You can
sign up there, or you can sign up through the
(47:15):
podcast app on your iPhone and what that is. What
you get is we publish an extra episode a week
that's not published to the general public. That is a
pay only episode. And you know, if you want to
do that, check that out. You could go to our
website Crimes and Consequences dot com. You can listen to
episodes there. Shannon got the website all caught up.
Speaker 2 (47:36):
Because she wants looking.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
Chris, I think that's everything.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
Yeah, I think that's.
Speaker 1 (47:43):
All the business. So until our next.
Speaker 2 (47:45):
Episode, Yes, until next time you guys, take care. We
love you, Tanya, I love you, I love you, and
I love you guys.
Speaker 1 (47:52):
Everyone.
Speaker 2 (47:53):
It's a big love fest, so it always ends. Yeah,
So I'll see you bye bye.
Speaker 1 (48:00):
Don't pop, don't people
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