August 26, 2025 • 20 mins
1st witness - Jeff Lacasse - dated Wendi leading up to Dan's Murder
2nd witness - June Umchinda - dated Charlie before and after the bump
3rd witness - Ryan Fitzpatrick - Charlie's close friend
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2nd witness - June Umchinda - dated Charlie before and after the bump
3rd witness - Ryan Fitzpatrick - Charlie's close friend
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What you know, Ali Byers. Welcome to another episode of
Pretty Lies and Alibis. I'm Jigi. It's Tuesday, August twenty
sixth Hope you guys are having a good morning so far.
I'm going to break today into two different episodes. I'm
supposed to be on Banfield at ten tonight, so if
you have News Nation, check it out at ten eastern.
The plan is to talk about this case. Don't forget
(00:22):
to hit subscribe if you're watching on YouTube and like
the video. If you want notifications of when I post
new content, click that little bell icon. Appreciate all y'all,
let's jump in. First up on the stand was Jeff Lacasse,
Wendy's X. He started dating Wendy in late September twenty thirteen.
(00:43):
It was casual and not exclusive, but late February into
early March of twenty fourteen, they became exclusive. The relationship
ended July fourteenth, just before Dan's murder. He knew of
her divorce and it was a constant topic of conversation.
The relocation motion had just been denied right before they
(01:04):
started dating, and so she talked about that a lot,
as well as the custody issues between her and Dan.
He did meet Dan briefly a couple of times when
they would exchange the kids. He met Dan at swimming
lessons once, and the interactions were polite and cordial, but
he said he did adopt the Adelson family narrative about
(01:26):
Dan and believed their side. Wendy very badly wanted to
relocate to South Florida to be with her family. He
said she hated Tallahassee and that was a daily topic
of conversation with her. On their second date, she busted
out into tears about the denial of the relocation, which
ended their date. He knew Dan was filing for supervised
(01:48):
visits with Donna and the boys because Wendy talked about
it a lot. He said she would forward him emails
and motions regarding the case, and Wendy took that fire
very seriously and was upset when the judge denied it.
Time motions were filed. It disrupted their relationship because she
would cancel dates and the whole family would be upset.
(02:12):
He said. He told law enforcement that the family just
didn't have boundaries. He had met the Adelsons. He had
dinner with Donna in mid November twenty thirteen for the
first time, and then several times after for things like
celebrating Hanukkah or a holiday, and he met Charlie once.
That was in March of twenty fourteen. Donna was in
(02:32):
Tallahassee frequently between September twenty thirteen and early May twenty fourteen,
mainly to be with the grandkids. Now. He and Wendy
went to an alternative spring break in twenty fourteen and
spent one night with Charlie. So an alternative spring break.
Normally college kids go to Cabo or the Caribbean or Miami,
(02:54):
but an alternative spring break is where students go and
do community service as oppost to go out and partying.
His interactions with Donna were quick. They would have dinner
and talk a bit just to try to get to
know each other, but Donna would excuse herself from the
table after about ten minutes or so. He met Katie
at the dinner he went to with Wendy and Charlie.
(03:16):
His impression was this dinner was the first time Wendy
met Katie. There was lots to talk about Wendy's books
she had written, and Dan also came up in their conversation.
Sigfredo also was talked about. Katie said her children's father
was always in trouble with law enforcement for violent things.
After that dinner, he and Wendy went back to Charlie's
(03:39):
house to get in the hot tub and the pool,
but Katie did not go. He said it was a
very nice house. Charlie didn't like Danny, and he said
that is understating it. Charlie was fired up and he
was in this protective big brother mode. Charlie made a
comment about him knowing people on the wrong side of
the tracks with that criminal element, and he said Charlie
(04:00):
said this in a very braggy way. Wendy was looking
to get her older son tested to see if he
could get placed in a gifted school, and Jeff was
helping her with that. She asked him when do kids
develop an autobiographical memory, and this falls within his career training.
He told her at age two kids have amnesia, and
(04:20):
by three to four they start to develop the ability
to retain memories. He started to go into the ages
of five and six, but there were lots of objections
by the defense and the judge has to get very assertive.
Telling Donna's counsel to sit down. They approach the bench
and then we take a break. When they come back,
they talk about a discovery violation with Jeff in asking
(04:44):
about this stuff. Donna's former attorney, Dana Rashbaum, did not
depose him as to the child's memories, so the jury
has given instruction to disregard all that. He met Wendy
at a coffee shop on June fourth, twenty fourteen. They
they were supposed to take a trip together, and she
called to talk and abruptly canceled the trip. That trip
(05:06):
was scheduled from June eleventh through the seventeenth, and they
would have returned home the day before Dan was murdered.
Wendy's reasoning for canceling is that she was worried they
would not be home in time to pick up the
kids around five pm. Even though they would have landed
the day before coming from California going to Atlanta. There
shouldn't have been any weather issues that would have delayed
(05:29):
them a day, and it made no sense. Later that evening,
they had plans to hang out with the kids, but
Wendy told Jeff that she wasn't feeling well and asked
him to come over quickly, so he went. While he
was on his way, he called to ask if he
could get her something for her stomach, and she said no.
But once he got there, he realized it wasn't anything
(05:50):
like a stomach bug, but it was more than Wendy
was anxious and a nervous wreck, and that was what
was affecting her stomach. He ended up and went to
a convenience store to buy her some peptiae. She just
didn't say what the problem was. They move on to
the TV and he saw the broken TV. He said
that happened around June eighteenth. Wendy told him there was
(06:10):
a problem, so he turned the TV on. The screen
was partially shattered and it had been struck by an object.
From what he could tell, he thought it was impossible
the kids could have done that to him. It seemed
like a grown person stood in front of that TV
and hid it, and there was a crater there. It
made the pixels distorted. You could still sort of see
(06:32):
what was on the TV, but it's nothing you would
want to watch. They were going to have a special
date the day before her birthday. He waited for hours,
didn't hear from her, and he was worried, so he
drove to her house. He knocked on the door for
a while, and eventually she came to the door. He
said she was intoxicated and it seemed like she was
(06:52):
under the influence of more than alcohol. She wanted him
to stay, but he decided to leave. He's handed a
text said he's only just recently seen this last week
for the first time. It was from Wendy to Rob Adelson,
her brother. But it concerns Jeff. He's asked, is there
anything factually incorrect in this text? And Jeff says, according
(07:15):
to Wendy. In this text, it says he had not
met Donna or Harvey, and Jeff said it was impossible
that they didn't know about me. In fact, Donna wasn't
thrilled that Jeff wasn't Jewish. Wendy told Rob he was
a secret boyfriend, and Jeff said no, In fact, he
had met Donna and Harvey several times, and also Wendy
(07:35):
said the kids would talk about Jeff constantly when they
were in South Florida with Donna and Harvey. He and
Wendy had an argument on June twenty ninth, twenty fourteen,
and they were into Gainesville, Florida. He confronted Wendy about
suspicions that she was seeing other men. He had also
spent a few months worried she was just stringing him along,
(07:57):
and he said the ride back to Tallahassee was pretty hence,
and his impression after getting back was that things might
be okay. But he also knew that exchange they had
wasn't a great thing for them. But over the next
few weeks they did call and text and did video
chats with the kids. He next saw her in person
on July thirteenth, That's the Sunday before Dan was murdered.
(08:21):
They went to dinner, in a movie, and then back
to Wendy's house. He said they just had conversations and
the kids were not there. He said relocation would come
up when Wendy would return from visits to Miami, because
she was still upset it had been denied and she
was nowhere near over it. At this point, he was
wondering if it was worth pursuing the relationship, but Wendy
(08:43):
did say the only way she could move to South
Florida is if something happened to Danny. He said he
was getting so tired of this relocation drama, and he
told Wendy, you got to make some peace with this.
You are linked to Dan for life. Wendy said, can
I tell you something confidentially? Last summer, Charlie looked into
all options to take care of the Danny Markell problem,
(09:04):
including hiring a hitman, which would cost fifteen thousand dollars.
Jeff was aware of the TV joke made by Charlie,
but he said this was different. It was disturbing because
Wendy was dead serious. On June fourteenth, the day before
the murder, they talked throughout the day to arrange a date,
and she said she was excited to see him, so
(09:26):
that afternoon she suggested they meet at yoga. He said
Wendy was acting strange and he really just thought the
relationship was over. After yoga, they barely spoke and he
kind of just was getting the vibe it's done. They
both drove themselves there and they're walking to their cars,
and as they get about fifteen feet apart, Wendy specifically
(09:48):
asked what he would be doing Friday as far as
his planned trip to Tennessee, like what route would he take?
Why would you not go? He didn't know why she
wanted to know because they had no play to spend
time together on Friday. Now, Dan was killed on Friday
and that route that he would have normally taken put
(10:08):
him leaving around eleven am, and Wendy knew that he
needed to get to Atlanta and that would have put
him close to Danny's house and consistent in the same
location where the killers fled. Now, after all this, he
got an email from Wendy. At this point, he thinks
the relationship is over any new Wendy didn't like confrontation,
so he told her, if you want to break up,
(10:30):
just send me an email. She's asking for another week
of just no contact. That would bring them to July thirty. First,
he said he didn't respond because she asked for no
contact for a week. They show a photo they showed
yesterday of the inside of Wendy's residence with the kid's
faces blurred. There was a photo wall and nothing ever
(10:52):
came off the wall. But July thirteenth, he noticed Wendy
was pulling art off of the wall and he had
never seen her that. They move on to the celebration
dinner that Wendy and Charlie had during that dinner, Charlie
said something to her which he does not know what,
but she spontaneously vomited on the table. Now, Jeff was
(11:13):
listed as a potential suspect, but he was in Tennessee
at the time Dan was murdered. He actually left for
the trip the night before at the very last minute.
He provided receipts of his trip to law enforcement, and
also he got a flat tire, so he was seen
on surveillance at kmart and they excluded him as a suspect.
(11:33):
He later learned the killers came to Tallahassee in both
June and July. He started putting the facts together about
his travel plans that would have made him a suspect.
He said twice in twenty fourteen, he leaves town on
a trip alone, and both times the hitmen are in
town to try and kill Dan. As far as the
cars they rented, they got a great Ultima on that
(11:55):
first trip, and he said it was as close to
his car as you could get as far as a rental.
And they show a photo if you're looking on YouTube,
very very similar. On cross You testified Donna was aware
of the grandmother's motion. Do you know how she took that.
He said the family was upset over all the motions,
(12:15):
but he did not hear Donna's reaction firsthand. Aside from
hearing Charlie in the hot tub. All the information he
heard was through Wendy. He's asked if he referred to
Wendy as being deeply deceitful, and he said yes, with
certain topics. You only had limited small talk with Donna,
and he says yes. As far as the TV damage,
(12:37):
Jeff said, it was kind of a spiderweb pattern in
the middle of the screen and that spread it out
and it was pixelated. There was a TV in another
room that he wanted to watch, but Wendy made a fuss,
and he said he respected that was her home, but
also the kids were whining about the TV. The defense
says Wendy said to you on July thirteenth, twenty fourteen,
(12:58):
that she wanted to tell you things in confide, and
it was that Charlie looked into hiring a hit man.
He says, that's correct, and that is the end of
his testimony. The next witness, June Chinda, she dated Charlie.
She knows Donna from dating Charlie. They dated from October
of twenty fifteen through June of twenty seventeen. They actually
(13:18):
met after the murder. At the beginning of the relationship,
which she called a fairy tale, Charlie and the family
were not under investigation, so everything was great. She met
Donna five or six times at family events or weekends
or just dinners together. She noticed Donna was very involved
with her grandkids and she and Charlie were also very close.
(13:40):
She did meet Wendy and the boys, and she had
a key to Charlie's place. She said they were together
twenty four to seven, and even though she had her
own place, essentially she was living with him. She said
at that time Charlie had work stressed in the beginning
of the relationship, but nothing crazy, and he didn't seem angry.
When she asked about his family. In the beginning, Charlie
said his brother in law was murdered and they don't
(14:02):
know who did it, but that topic never came up again.
Before the investigation started. She did a law enforcement interview,
and she says she didn't know she was being recorded.
She said in that interview that Adelson's weren't ever curious
about who killed Dan or even upset about it. Charlie
did not tell her about the bump, and she said
she may have learned about it on an episode of
(14:24):
twenty twenty, or maybe he told her after the fact.
Around that time, Charlie wasn't sleeping, He was up all night,
seemed extra stressed, anxious, and overtime became depressed. She learned
Charlie was under investigation from a reporter that came to
his house. This was in May or June of twenty sixteen,
(14:44):
and that would have been after Sigfredo was arrested. She
also learned from the media something that stood out. The
hitman said they were paid with stacks of one hundreds
that were stapled together. There's some confusion on Direct and
Cross about whether or not she knew about the staple
money before or after, but on Direct she said that
after she found out, she noticed Charlie staples money. In
(15:07):
the time between the weeks before the article was published,
she saw on some episode that Charlie started to communicate
more with Katie. They were going back and forth, so
she asked Charlie why they talk so much. She said,
you never talked to me like that, so why her
She told law enforcement Charlie didn't wake up early, and
he would be on the phone with Katie at seven am.
(15:30):
He was very paranoid in this timeframe, and around this
time too, he talked a lot about his phone possibly
being tapped. She actually met Katie before she met Charlie.
Katie worked at a dermatologist's office that she went to,
and then she's asked who is Charlie's most recent girlfriend
before her, and that was Whitney. She never knew of
(15:52):
Katie working for Charlie or the Agleson Institute. His erratic
behavior got worse after Katie's arrest and their relatedationship took
a really big turn. He would go to his friend's
house more often and their whole routine got disrupted. She
just didn't know exactly why he was angry and short fused,
(16:12):
but when the investigation came up, he would have very
different emotions, ranging from anger. He would get red, he
would scream, He would take random walks, acting like a
crazy person. He got another phone, which disappeared shortly after
he got it. He also started talking to her through WhatsApp.
That started when he went to Asia, but they kept
(16:34):
that habit when he got back. He also started keeping
a bag of clothes by his bed, and she knew
he had guns all over the place. She's asked about
an argument between Wendy and Charlie. He told her it
was over the case. Around this time, Donna's behavior also
was more upset, and she said to law enforcement that
(16:55):
Donna was a mess, just not her usual self. And
she talked about one time Donna was crying and Charlie
told her Donna was taking pain pills for stress. There
was one time on the balcony of Donna and Harvey's place,
they were talking about Dan because the case had blown up.
Donna said their lives were crumbling down and it felt
(17:15):
like Dan was haunting her or them from the grave.
Charlie told her after the twenty twenty episode that he
joked about Katie's boob job, saying they think he paid
for all of it. When Charlie said he only paid
for one, he was laughing, so she just took it
as a joke. On Cross, when you gave your law
(17:35):
enforcement interview, you and Charlie were going through a rough patch.
She told law enforcement that Charlie was good at persuading
people and makes it believable. She's asked about the cash
she saw at Charlie's place, and you said, Rivera said
he was paid in staple cash, and a light bulb
went off in your head. Charlie stapled his money and
(17:56):
also kept that money in a large safe which was
about the size of a refeator, and there were also
guns in there. The defense mentions she has testified in
four trials, including this one. But on direct you said
you didn't think that Adelson's were curious about who killed Dan.
Then you later say you were speculating about that. Yes,
(18:17):
you testified in Katie's second trial about Donna saying that
Dan was haunting her, but you came off this statement.
You said it wasn't the exact word. She said that
Donna was upset and it just came out like that.
The defense reads from Katie's trial transcript, which says, I
don't know. I think she was so stressed and that's
how it came out, and that was the end of
her testimony. Next up Ryan Fitzpatrick. He was good friends
(18:41):
with Charlie from twenty thirteen to twenty twenty ish. He
said Charlie was close with Wendy and Donna did not
like Dan. Charlie had a lot of girlfriends and he
had met Katie once or twice in passing, and she
didn't stand out to him. He said she looked like
the others he dated, but just didn't stand out. Knows
Charlie Staples's money ten one hundreds equals one thousand, and
(19:04):
he has been paid by Charlie with the Staple cash. Now.
The murder happened prior to them getting closer as friends.
Charlie never discussed Dan, and he said it was odd
because it wasn't being discussed. As far as the bump,
Charlie talked to him about that. He had never mentioned
being harassed or extorted before the bump. After the bump,
(19:25):
Charlie became agitated, nervous, anxious, and he says, looking back now,
guilty and just abnormal. Charlie told Ryan he could get
away with anything if you keep your mouth shut, including murder.
The arrests that were happening caused Charlie's behavior to increase.
He became more needy, and he said Charlie talked a lot,
(19:46):
and he would say things repeatedly to maybe help himself
believe something, or to get you tired enough of hearing it,
that you would just believe it. He said, Charlie was
not stressed about the murder before the bump, but afterwards
that changed. On Cross, when you gave your deposition, you
said you barely knew Donna, that she was always nice
(20:06):
to you, and her and Harvey were pleasant to be around,
and he says yes. The defense points out that the
friendship had a very ugly ending, and they ask about
the stapling of the money again and he confirms it.
They say, in the deposition, you said it was known
that Adelson's didn't like Dan, but you couldn't come up
with a specific statement, and he said no, but it
(20:28):
was implot And that's where we left off before at lunch,
So look for part two recap in the afternoon session
later this evening. That is it for now. Hope you
guys have a good rest of your afternoon. We will
see us soon.
What you know, Ali Byers. Welcome to another episode of
Pretty Lies and Alibis. I'm Jigi. It's Tuesday, August twenty
sixth Hope you guys are having a good morning so far.
I'm going to break today into two different episodes. I'm
supposed to be on Banfield at ten tonight, so if
you have News Nation, check it out at ten eastern.
The plan is to talk about this case. Don't forget
(00:22):
to hit subscribe if you're watching on YouTube and like
the video. If you want notifications of when I post
new content, click that little bell icon. Appreciate all y'all,
let's jump in. First up on the stand was Jeff Lacasse,
Wendy's X. He started dating Wendy in late September twenty thirteen.
(00:43):
It was casual and not exclusive, but late February into
early March of twenty fourteen, they became exclusive. The relationship
ended July fourteenth, just before Dan's murder. He knew of
her divorce and it was a constant topic of conversation.
The relocation motion had just been denied right before they
(01:04):
started dating, and so she talked about that a lot,
as well as the custody issues between her and Dan.
He did meet Dan briefly a couple of times when
they would exchange the kids. He met Dan at swimming
lessons once, and the interactions were polite and cordial, but
he said he did adopt the Adelson family narrative about
(01:26):
Dan and believed their side. Wendy very badly wanted to
relocate to South Florida to be with her family. He
said she hated Tallahassee and that was a daily topic
of conversation with her. On their second date, she busted
out into tears about the denial of the relocation, which
ended their date. He knew Dan was filing for supervised
(01:48):
visits with Donna and the boys because Wendy talked about
it a lot. He said she would forward him emails
and motions regarding the case, and Wendy took that fire
very seriously and was upset when the judge denied it.
Time motions were filed. It disrupted their relationship because she
would cancel dates and the whole family would be upset.
(02:12):
He said. He told law enforcement that the family just
didn't have boundaries. He had met the Adelsons. He had
dinner with Donna in mid November twenty thirteen for the
first time, and then several times after for things like
celebrating Hanukkah or a holiday, and he met Charlie once.
That was in March of twenty fourteen. Donna was in
(02:32):
Tallahassee frequently between September twenty thirteen and early May twenty fourteen,
mainly to be with the grandkids. Now. He and Wendy
went to an alternative spring break in twenty fourteen and
spent one night with Charlie. So an alternative spring break.
Normally college kids go to Cabo or the Caribbean or Miami,
(02:54):
but an alternative spring break is where students go and
do community service as oppost to go out and partying.
His interactions with Donna were quick. They would have dinner
and talk a bit just to try to get to
know each other, but Donna would excuse herself from the
table after about ten minutes or so. He met Katie
at the dinner he went to with Wendy and Charlie.
(03:16):
His impression was this dinner was the first time Wendy
met Katie. There was lots to talk about Wendy's books
she had written, and Dan also came up in their conversation.
Sigfredo also was talked about. Katie said her children's father
was always in trouble with law enforcement for violent things.
After that dinner, he and Wendy went back to Charlie's
(03:39):
house to get in the hot tub and the pool,
but Katie did not go. He said it was a
very nice house. Charlie didn't like Danny, and he said
that is understating it. Charlie was fired up and he
was in this protective big brother mode. Charlie made a
comment about him knowing people on the wrong side of
the tracks with that criminal element, and he said Charlie
(04:00):
said this in a very braggy way. Wendy was looking
to get her older son tested to see if he
could get placed in a gifted school, and Jeff was
helping her with that. She asked him when do kids
develop an autobiographical memory, and this falls within his career training.
He told her at age two kids have amnesia, and
(04:20):
by three to four they start to develop the ability
to retain memories. He started to go into the ages
of five and six, but there were lots of objections
by the defense and the judge has to get very assertive.
Telling Donna's counsel to sit down. They approach the bench
and then we take a break. When they come back,
they talk about a discovery violation with Jeff in asking
(04:44):
about this stuff. Donna's former attorney, Dana Rashbaum, did not
depose him as to the child's memories, so the jury
has given instruction to disregard all that. He met Wendy
at a coffee shop on June fourth, twenty fourteen. They
they were supposed to take a trip together, and she
called to talk and abruptly canceled the trip. That trip
(05:06):
was scheduled from June eleventh through the seventeenth, and they
would have returned home the day before Dan was murdered.
Wendy's reasoning for canceling is that she was worried they
would not be home in time to pick up the
kids around five pm. Even though they would have landed
the day before coming from California going to Atlanta. There
shouldn't have been any weather issues that would have delayed
(05:29):
them a day, and it made no sense. Later that evening,
they had plans to hang out with the kids, but
Wendy told Jeff that she wasn't feeling well and asked
him to come over quickly, so he went. While he
was on his way, he called to ask if he
could get her something for her stomach, and she said no.
But once he got there, he realized it wasn't anything
(05:50):
like a stomach bug, but it was more than Wendy
was anxious and a nervous wreck, and that was what
was affecting her stomach. He ended up and went to
a convenience store to buy her some peptiae. She just
didn't say what the problem was. They move on to
the TV and he saw the broken TV. He said
that happened around June eighteenth. Wendy told him there was
(06:10):
a problem, so he turned the TV on. The screen
was partially shattered and it had been struck by an object.
From what he could tell, he thought it was impossible
the kids could have done that to him. It seemed
like a grown person stood in front of that TV
and hid it, and there was a crater there. It
made the pixels distorted. You could still sort of see
(06:32):
what was on the TV, but it's nothing you would
want to watch. They were going to have a special
date the day before her birthday. He waited for hours,
didn't hear from her, and he was worried, so he
drove to her house. He knocked on the door for
a while, and eventually she came to the door. He
said she was intoxicated and it seemed like she was
(06:52):
under the influence of more than alcohol. She wanted him
to stay, but he decided to leave. He's handed a
text said he's only just recently seen this last week
for the first time. It was from Wendy to Rob Adelson,
her brother. But it concerns Jeff. He's asked, is there
anything factually incorrect in this text? And Jeff says, according
(07:15):
to Wendy. In this text, it says he had not
met Donna or Harvey, and Jeff said it was impossible
that they didn't know about me. In fact, Donna wasn't
thrilled that Jeff wasn't Jewish. Wendy told Rob he was
a secret boyfriend, and Jeff said no, In fact, he
had met Donna and Harvey several times, and also Wendy
(07:35):
said the kids would talk about Jeff constantly when they
were in South Florida with Donna and Harvey. He and
Wendy had an argument on June twenty ninth, twenty fourteen,
and they were into Gainesville, Florida. He confronted Wendy about
suspicions that she was seeing other men. He had also
spent a few months worried she was just stringing him along,
(07:57):
and he said the ride back to Tallahassee was pretty hence,
and his impression after getting back was that things might
be okay. But he also knew that exchange they had
wasn't a great thing for them. But over the next
few weeks they did call and text and did video
chats with the kids. He next saw her in person
on July thirteenth, That's the Sunday before Dan was murdered.
(08:21):
They went to dinner, in a movie, and then back
to Wendy's house. He said they just had conversations and
the kids were not there. He said relocation would come
up when Wendy would return from visits to Miami, because
she was still upset it had been denied and she
was nowhere near over it. At this point, he was
wondering if it was worth pursuing the relationship, but Wendy
(08:43):
did say the only way she could move to South
Florida is if something happened to Danny. He said he
was getting so tired of this relocation drama, and he
told Wendy, you got to make some peace with this.
You are linked to Dan for life. Wendy said, can
I tell you something confidentially? Last summer, Charlie looked into
all options to take care of the Danny Markell problem,
(09:04):
including hiring a hitman, which would cost fifteen thousand dollars.
Jeff was aware of the TV joke made by Charlie,
but he said this was different. It was disturbing because
Wendy was dead serious. On June fourteenth, the day before
the murder, they talked throughout the day to arrange a date,
and she said she was excited to see him, so
(09:26):
that afternoon she suggested they meet at yoga. He said
Wendy was acting strange and he really just thought the
relationship was over. After yoga, they barely spoke and he
kind of just was getting the vibe it's done. They
both drove themselves there and they're walking to their cars,
and as they get about fifteen feet apart, Wendy specifically
(09:48):
asked what he would be doing Friday as far as
his planned trip to Tennessee, like what route would he take?
Why would you not go? He didn't know why she
wanted to know because they had no play to spend
time together on Friday. Now, Dan was killed on Friday
and that route that he would have normally taken put
(10:08):
him leaving around eleven am, and Wendy knew that he
needed to get to Atlanta and that would have put
him close to Danny's house and consistent in the same
location where the killers fled. Now, after all this, he
got an email from Wendy. At this point, he thinks
the relationship is over any new Wendy didn't like confrontation,
so he told her, if you want to break up,
(10:30):
just send me an email. She's asking for another week
of just no contact. That would bring them to July thirty. First,
he said he didn't respond because she asked for no
contact for a week. They show a photo they showed
yesterday of the inside of Wendy's residence with the kid's
faces blurred. There was a photo wall and nothing ever
(10:52):
came off the wall. But July thirteenth, he noticed Wendy
was pulling art off of the wall and he had
never seen her that. They move on to the celebration
dinner that Wendy and Charlie had during that dinner, Charlie
said something to her which he does not know what,
but she spontaneously vomited on the table. Now, Jeff was
(11:13):
listed as a potential suspect, but he was in Tennessee
at the time Dan was murdered. He actually left for
the trip the night before at the very last minute.
He provided receipts of his trip to law enforcement, and
also he got a flat tire, so he was seen
on surveillance at kmart and they excluded him as a suspect.
(11:33):
He later learned the killers came to Tallahassee in both
June and July. He started putting the facts together about
his travel plans that would have made him a suspect.
He said twice in twenty fourteen, he leaves town on
a trip alone, and both times the hitmen are in
town to try and kill Dan. As far as the
cars they rented, they got a great Ultima on that
(11:55):
first trip, and he said it was as close to
his car as you could get as far as a rental.
And they show a photo if you're looking on YouTube,
very very similar. On cross You testified Donna was aware
of the grandmother's motion. Do you know how she took that.
He said the family was upset over all the motions,
(12:15):
but he did not hear Donna's reaction firsthand. Aside from
hearing Charlie in the hot tub. All the information he
heard was through Wendy. He's asked if he referred to
Wendy as being deeply deceitful, and he said yes, with
certain topics. You only had limited small talk with Donna,
and he says yes. As far as the TV damage,
(12:37):
Jeff said, it was kind of a spiderweb pattern in
the middle of the screen and that spread it out
and it was pixelated. There was a TV in another
room that he wanted to watch, but Wendy made a fuss,
and he said he respected that was her home, but
also the kids were whining about the TV. The defense
says Wendy said to you on July thirteenth, twenty fourteen,
(12:58):
that she wanted to tell you things in confide, and
it was that Charlie looked into hiring a hit man.
He says, that's correct, and that is the end of
his testimony. The next witness, June Chinda, she dated Charlie.
She knows Donna from dating Charlie. They dated from October
of twenty fifteen through June of twenty seventeen. They actually
(13:18):
met after the murder. At the beginning of the relationship,
which she called a fairy tale, Charlie and the family
were not under investigation, so everything was great. She met
Donna five or six times at family events or weekends
or just dinners together. She noticed Donna was very involved
with her grandkids and she and Charlie were also very close.
(13:40):
She did meet Wendy and the boys, and she had
a key to Charlie's place. She said they were together
twenty four to seven, and even though she had her
own place, essentially she was living with him. She said
at that time Charlie had work stressed in the beginning
of the relationship, but nothing crazy, and he didn't seem angry.
When she asked about his family. In the beginning, Charlie
said his brother in law was murdered and they don't
(14:02):
know who did it, but that topic never came up again.
Before the investigation started. She did a law enforcement interview,
and she says she didn't know she was being recorded.
She said in that interview that Adelson's weren't ever curious
about who killed Dan or even upset about it. Charlie
did not tell her about the bump, and she said
she may have learned about it on an episode of
(14:24):
twenty twenty, or maybe he told her after the fact.
Around that time, Charlie wasn't sleeping, He was up all night,
seemed extra stressed, anxious, and overtime became depressed. She learned
Charlie was under investigation from a reporter that came to
his house. This was in May or June of twenty sixteen,
(14:44):
and that would have been after Sigfredo was arrested. She
also learned from the media something that stood out. The
hitman said they were paid with stacks of one hundreds
that were stapled together. There's some confusion on Direct and
Cross about whether or not she knew about the staple
money before or after, but on Direct she said that
after she found out, she noticed Charlie staples money. In
(15:07):
the time between the weeks before the article was published,
she saw on some episode that Charlie started to communicate
more with Katie. They were going back and forth, so
she asked Charlie why they talk so much. She said,
you never talked to me like that, so why her
She told law enforcement Charlie didn't wake up early, and
he would be on the phone with Katie at seven am.
(15:30):
He was very paranoid in this timeframe, and around this
time too, he talked a lot about his phone possibly
being tapped. She actually met Katie before she met Charlie.
Katie worked at a dermatologist's office that she went to,
and then she's asked who is Charlie's most recent girlfriend
before her, and that was Whitney. She never knew of
(15:52):
Katie working for Charlie or the Agleson Institute. His erratic
behavior got worse after Katie's arrest and their relatedationship took
a really big turn. He would go to his friend's
house more often and their whole routine got disrupted. She
just didn't know exactly why he was angry and short fused,
(16:12):
but when the investigation came up, he would have very
different emotions, ranging from anger. He would get red, he
would scream, He would take random walks, acting like a
crazy person. He got another phone, which disappeared shortly after
he got it. He also started talking to her through WhatsApp.
That started when he went to Asia, but they kept
(16:34):
that habit when he got back. He also started keeping
a bag of clothes by his bed, and she knew
he had guns all over the place. She's asked about
an argument between Wendy and Charlie. He told her it
was over the case. Around this time, Donna's behavior also
was more upset, and she said to law enforcement that
(16:55):
Donna was a mess, just not her usual self. And
she talked about one time Donna was crying and Charlie
told her Donna was taking pain pills for stress. There
was one time on the balcony of Donna and Harvey's place,
they were talking about Dan because the case had blown up.
Donna said their lives were crumbling down and it felt
(17:15):
like Dan was haunting her or them from the grave.
Charlie told her after the twenty twenty episode that he
joked about Katie's boob job, saying they think he paid
for all of it. When Charlie said he only paid
for one, he was laughing, so she just took it
as a joke. On Cross, when you gave your law
(17:35):
enforcement interview, you and Charlie were going through a rough patch.
She told law enforcement that Charlie was good at persuading
people and makes it believable. She's asked about the cash
she saw at Charlie's place, and you said, Rivera said
he was paid in staple cash, and a light bulb
went off in your head. Charlie stapled his money and
(17:56):
also kept that money in a large safe which was
about the size of a refeator, and there were also
guns in there. The defense mentions she has testified in
four trials, including this one. But on direct you said
you didn't think that Adelson's were curious about who killed Dan.
Then you later say you were speculating about that. Yes,
(18:17):
you testified in Katie's second trial about Donna saying that
Dan was haunting her, but you came off this statement.
You said it wasn't the exact word. She said that
Donna was upset and it just came out like that.
The defense reads from Katie's trial transcript, which says, I
don't know. I think she was so stressed and that's
how it came out, and that was the end of
her testimony. Next up Ryan Fitzpatrick. He was good friends
(18:41):
with Charlie from twenty thirteen to twenty twenty ish. He
said Charlie was close with Wendy and Donna did not
like Dan. Charlie had a lot of girlfriends and he
had met Katie once or twice in passing, and she
didn't stand out to him. He said she looked like
the others he dated, but just didn't stand out. Knows
Charlie Staples's money ten one hundreds equals one thousand, and
(19:04):
he has been paid by Charlie with the Staple cash. Now.
The murder happened prior to them getting closer as friends.
Charlie never discussed Dan, and he said it was odd
because it wasn't being discussed. As far as the bump,
Charlie talked to him about that. He had never mentioned
being harassed or extorted before the bump. After the bump,
(19:25):
Charlie became agitated, nervous, anxious, and he says, looking back now,
guilty and just abnormal. Charlie told Ryan he could get
away with anything if you keep your mouth shut, including murder.
The arrests that were happening caused Charlie's behavior to increase.
He became more needy, and he said Charlie talked a lot,
(19:46):
and he would say things repeatedly to maybe help himself
believe something, or to get you tired enough of hearing it,
that you would just believe it. He said, Charlie was
not stressed about the murder before the bump, but afterwards
that changed. On Cross, when you gave your deposition, you
said you barely knew Donna, that she was always nice
(20:06):
to you, and her and Harvey were pleasant to be around,
and he says yes. The defense points out that the
friendship had a very ugly ending, and they ask about
the stapling of the money again and he confirms it.
They say, in the deposition, you said it was known
that Adelson's didn't like Dan, but you couldn't come up
with a specific statement, and he said no, but it
(20:28):
was implot And that's where we left off before at lunch,
So look for part two recap in the afternoon session
later this evening. That is it for now. Hope you
guys have a good rest of your afternoon. We will
see us soon.
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