Dan Markel was a Canadian-born attorney and a FSU law professor. He dropped off his two sons at school and then had a quick workout before heading back to his home in Tallahassee, Florida. Markel was heading up the driveway when he got a call on his cellphone. He told the man on the phone that there was someone unfamiliar in his driveway. While still in his car in the garage, Markel was shot twice in the head, shortly before 11 a.m. on July 18, 2014, on Friday, and left for dead. He died in a hospital about 15 hours later. The emergency medical response was delayed because a dispatcher classified the call as less serious than it was.
Caller: (redacted)
Dispatch: “Okay. And tell me exactly what happened.”
Caller: “Uh, we heard… (redacted)… looked in, the garage door was up and I thought the gentleman was backing out and I went to my house, but he never backed out and I came back over and his driver’s side window is shattered and he’s spattered and can’t answer. He’s inside. I don’t know if somebody tried to shoot him or he shot himself or what. I don’t know. You need to send an ambulance in a hurry, an EMT. He’s still alive. He’s moving.”
Dispatch: “Okay. What’s going on with him?”
Caller: “I don’t know. The driver’s side window is all bashed in and he’s got blood all over his head. He’s not responding to me. I think you need to hurry.”
Dispatch: “Yeah, I’m gonna get them on the way to you. I just want to ask you a few questions, okay?”
Caller: “Go ahead, but send them as you’re asking me.”
Dispatch: “Yes, sir, they’re already on the way, okay? Are you with him now?”
Caller: “I’m standing right outside the garage door.”
Dispatch: “Can you tell me how old he is?”
Caller: “I don’t know. He looks like maybe 35 or 40.”
Dispatch: “Hang on one second for me, okay?”
Caller: “Okay.”
Dispatch: “Alright, sir, I apologize about that. What was the… How old was the patient again? I’m sorry.”
Caller: “I can’t tell. He looks maybe 35 or 40. I don’t know.”
Dispatch: “Okay. And is he awake?”
Caller: “He’s moving his head around, but he’s not responding. I’ve called his name and asked what’s going on… Not call his name, but asked him what’s happening. He’s not responding to that, but his head is kind of rolling around.
Dispatch: “Okay. Is he conscious?”
Caller: “Well, I can’t tell.”
Dispatch: “Okay. Is he breathing?”
Caller: “I can’t tell that. I’m assuming he’s breathing if he’s moving his head around.”
Dispatch: “Did you ever hear him talk or anything?”
Caller: “No.”
Dispatch: “Okay. You said he’s sitting in the car, right?”
Caller: “Correct, in the driver’s seat.”
Dispatch: “Okay. Where exactly is he? In the driver’s seat
Caller: “In the driver’s seat.”
Dispatch: “Is he in the garage or?”
Caller: “In the garage.”
Dispatch: “Okay. Can you direct the emergency crews to him, sir?”
Caller: “Sure, sure.”
Dispatch: “Okay. Alright, I’m sending the paramedics to help you now. Just stay on the line, I’ll tell you exactly what to do next.”
Caller: “Okay.”
Dispatch: “If it’s safe to do so, see if he is conscious and breathing or moving at all, okay?”
Caller: “It’s not safe for me to do. I don’t want to put my hand in here.”
Dispatch: “Okay. Well, help is on the way.”
Caller: “Okay. I’ll be standing by.”
…
Caller: “And I’ve heard about break-ins in the area and so I decided to walk over and take a look, and the garage door was (redacted)… Ask him what was happening and then I saw the window was shattered and he’s got blood (redacted). I’m gonna be over here waiting for the EMT, honey. Okay, go ahead, but just tell the kids to just hold on inside. They’re okay. Tell them I’m out here.”
Dispatch: “Alright, just stay on the line with me for now. Okay, sir?”
Caller: “Okay. I’m here.”
Dispatch: “I got ‘em on the way to you.”
Caller: “Very good. I’m standing at the street so if I see them coming down the street, I can direct them right in.”
Dispatch: “So he won’t respond to you at all?”
Caller: “Not to me.”
Dispatch: “Did you holler at him or anything?”
Caller: “*inaudible* windows, yeah. He didn’t respond but his head’s kind of moving around.”
Dispatch: “Okay.”
Caller: “I’ve walked away from the car right now. I’m standing at the street so…”
Dispatch: “And he (redacted)”
Caller: “No, he’s inside. The window is shattered. The garage door was up. Where is the vehicle dispatched from?”
Dispatch: “Um, I’m not sure. Give me a second, I’ll try to see where they are, okay. Is he still moving around?”
Caller: “I don’t know. I’m standing at the street now, trying to wait for your vehicle. Did you say you were checking on where it was?”
Dispatch: “Yes, sir.”
Caller: “Or where it’s coming from?”
Dispatch: “Mm hm.”
Caller: “Where is it coming from?”
Dispatch: “I’m checking.”
Caller: “Okay.”
Dispatch: “Got several people on the way. Looks like one person is coming from Maclay Road.”
Caller: “Okay. It may take them awhile to get here then. We’re close to the hospital so…”
Dispatch: “Mm hm.”
…
Dispatch: “So you’re saying his head is bloody now?”
Caller: “Yeah, it’s been bloody. I mean, it’s (redacted). The window is shattered. I don’t know if he’s tried to shoot himself. I don’t know what the situation is.”
Dispatch: “It’s the driver’s side window, correct?”
Caller: “That’s correct. He’s still moving around, so he’s alive.”
Dispatch: “Okay. Looks like I should have officer coming up the roadway.”
Caller: “Okay. Well… We need EMT.”
Dispatch: “The officer is gonna be there first. They’re not gonna come until we figure out what’s going on, but they’re on the way as well, okay?”
Caller: “They better be if this guy’s got a shot living.”
Dispatch: “Yes, sir. They’re on the way as well, okay?”
Caller: “Yep. It looks like here could be an officer now.”
Dispatch: “Is he there?”
Caller: “Yeah, he’s just coming up right now.”
Dispatch: “Okay. I’m gonna go ahead and let you go, sir, okay?”
Caller: “Okay.”
Dispatch: “Thank you. Bye.”
Neighbor noticed a greenish-gray color Toyota Prius backing out of Dan’s driveway and speeding off down the road. Dispatcher incorrectly entered the emergency as a traffic accident, causing first responders to take their time getting to Dan’s house. It took over 20 minutes for anyone to arrive, which at first was only a single officer, Sergeant Sims who called for backup and EMS services. Markel was rushed to a local hospital. Dispatch Tallahassee police officers located Markel’s ex-wife Wendi Adelson early that afternoon at a local restaurant, where she was having lunch with friends, and drove her to the police station without explaining the details of the shooting.
The videotape of Wendi Adelson’s police interview opens with her sitting alone in a white-walled room. When an investigator enters, she tells him a friend just called to tell her there had been a shooting on the block where Markel lived.
“Oh, my God,” Adelson says, sobbing throughout. “What happened… I just don’t understand? How could this happen?” Investigator: “Well before we get into everything, I have to establish where you were and who you were with and so forth, okay?” Adelson: “Okay.” Investigator: “Can you tell me what time you left your house this morning?” Adelson: “Yeah. I was there, um… I didn’t leave this morning. I didn’t leave until noon. Oh my, God, and I tried to drive up Trescott and I saw that it was blocked! Investigator: “It was blocked at some point. I’m not sure what time it was.” Adelson: “I just thought ‘Oh, there’s maybe some trees down or something’.” Investigator: “Are you saying as you drove down which one of the side roads?” Adelson: “When I… I’m going to a friend’s party tonight and it’s a, it’s a… it’s a… um, oh my, God, what am I even talking about? I needed to buy, it’s a stock, the stock, the shelf engagement party and so I went to buy bourbon, so I went to drive from my place, a Trescott to get to ABC Liquor and it was blocked, so I just turned around. I was on the phone at the time. I wasn’t paying a lot of attention and I, so I just turned around and drove up the other way. I just thought ‘Oh sometimes there’s…’ When I lived there, there were electrical things that would happen, um. I left my house around 12:15 cause I thought, I’ll get the bourbon and then I’ll get some gas for the car and I need superglue for one of the boys toys, and I was trying to do all I can before meeting my two friends at one.” Investigator: “Okay. Who was at your house this morning?” Adelson: “The only person that was at my house this morning was a guy from Best Buy cause my TV was broken and it’s under warranty. He called me at around 8. He was probably there until around 10. After he left I, um… I kept working on a paper and I… um, I emailed the paper to a librarian at school to work on some of the citations. I don’t think I talked to anyone else, but I was just working for an hour or so from the house. I was going to take a shower but I didn’t. I ran out of time. I did laundry and then I left the house around noon.” Investigator: “I’m a little confused, you’re up on up on Centerville Road. What’s your purpose of driving down Trescott?” Adelson: “It’s usually the shortcut to get to Monroe.” Investigator: “To get to Monroe?” Adelson: “I usually take it as a cut through to get to Thomasville or Monroe. I don’t know why I said Monroe, I was thinking Mosaic, Monroe, Thomasville. I do it as a way of like coming to terms with a divorce, but yeah sometimes I drive there. If I’m too sad, I drive around.” Investigator: “Do you know anybody that would have a beef against your ex-husband?” Adelson: “He’s, um, oh God… I mean he had friends. He was, um… He always meant well, but he would sometimes rub people the wrong way. But not anyone to do something like this… I know a lot of people didn’t really love him, but I don’t know anyone who would even do something like this. He wouldn’t do this to himself. He was a very positive person. We’ve been separated for two years, so I don’t know like right, you know, if he had something going on, I wouldn’t know about it, but I mean… I had lost my voice earlier this week and so we had put off this conversation about, um, our son’s school and where he was going to go, and he, um, I can’t… I know a lot of people didn’t love him, but not anyone who would, like, hate him. He’s just, he can be a little like argumentative, but not, um, he didn’t owe anyone money. He didn’t do anything, except work and take care of his kids. He wasn’t involved in anything bad…” Investigator: “Your divorce has been 2 years or the total separation I’m assuming?” Adelson: “Total separation has been 2 years, um, our divorce just finalized last summer around this time. He wouldn’t do this to himself, he has a girlfriend… If you’re going to think of someone who’s not thrilled with Danny, I don’t know how happy her husband or ex-husband is with the situation.” Investigator: “It appears from what we’ve seen so far that someone intentionally hurt Daniel, okay? The boys are going to stay with you.” Adelson: “I don’t know if I can take care of them like this.” Investigator: ‘Where’s your closest family at?” Adelson: “I actually just talked to my brother this morning… My parents are in Coral Springs. I have two brothers but I’m very close to one of them who is in, um…” Investigator: “We have to find out why and who did this. Can you help with that?” Adelson: “I will try… I have a lot of friends. What I meant by it is that Danny didn’t treat me very well and I’m so scared that maybe someone did this, not because they hate Danny but because they thought this was good somehow…” Investigator: “Do you think someone would do this for your benefit without asking you?” Adelson: “No.” Investigator: “What good does it deserve?” Adelson: “I made my brother, um, the one, his name is Charlie, the one I’m really close to. He makes a lot of jokes in bad taste and it was a joke he made, he bought the TV for me, this morning that got broken, and I was talking to him about whether it made sense to pay to fix it or whether I should get a new one, and it was always his joke that like, he knew Danny treated me badly, and it was always his joke. He said ‘I, I, you know, I looked into hiring a hitman and it was cheaper to get you this TV, so instead I got you this TV. Um, I mean, he would never… He’s my big brother and he’s taking care of me since I was little, but he would never… And I, I said… I told that to the repair guy this morning… But even my family who felt like I had been mistreated would never do something like this. Never…” Investigator: “You guys, have been divorced for over a year, has there been any type of abuse in that time?” Adelson: “No, no. He’s litigious and we have an ongoing case because the house. It shouldn’t be, I don’t know, it shouldn’t be in my name anymore, but, um, when we got, when we, when we… We settled the case of our divorce, he said or one of the agreements the court said was Danny wanted to stay in the house. They said ‘you can have the house, but you need to pay her half of the amount of what the house is worth’, and he agreed to it and then months passed and he just never paid me and so we have ongoing litigation, um, where he, um, I filed a motion in the court to have him pay me what he said he would, and he filed a counter motion for sanctions against my attorney, because he thought that she did something wrong, which she didn’t. Um, but so, I mean, she, you know, she withdrew from the case and was going to serve as a witness. I mean, she’s not, she’s not going to lash out at him for it. She’s using the legal process to do it. Um, you know, my, my parents are, you know, very angry towards him. Um, but even when they’re around my kids, they would never say a bad word about my kid’s father. They’re really, really careful about that…” Investigator: “I need to ask you, was your divorce, did you said before had nothing to do with infidelity, no extra marital affairs or anything like that? It was just simply the fact that you all just didn’t get along anymore or was it just the fact that he was belligerent to you.” Adelson: “He never hurt me physically but he was he was emotionally abusive, and I didn’t tell most people that, so all most people know is ‘we, it just didn’t work out’. And it’s just the kids are young and this is just better this way. Um, so other than my family who saw the way he treated me. Most people were, well I think, his family was very surprised. Um, he told everyone around the community that I was mentally ill cause only a crazy person would leave him. …After we got divorced I wanted to move to South Florida and I filed a petition to relocate in the court, um, and the court said no.” Investigator: “Let me ask you if you found out that this was someone that you personally know, would that change your mind about what should happen to that person?” Adelson: “About what should happen to that person for prosecution purposes? Um, no. Is somebody tried to kill my ex-husband, they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.” Investigator: “Regardless of who it is.” Adelson: “I mean, it would be different if I thought it were my brother, but I don’t think it was my family. Anyone outside my immediate family… That’s a tough one, but I don’t think my immediate family did this, so if it’s anybody else, yeah.” Friend Jane: “My thought was that Danny had probably assaulted you. That was my thought.” Adelson: “I think that was Lisa’s thought when she’s like ‘I heard there was a shot on Trescott and so I hope you’re okay…’” Jane: “Is Jeff (Jeffrey Lacasse) this much of a lunatic?” Adelson: “I don’t even think of Jeff. I hope to God not.” Victim advocate: “Let ask who Jeff is?” Adelson: “Yeah, of course.” Jane: ‘I think you should, I think… Wendi’s been seeing a guy called Jeff who’s a friend of James (Jane’s friend), um, and who’s jealous yeah.” Victim advocate: “Are you still currently seeing him or is just something you, kind of, let…” Jane: “It’s been a bad week…” Adelson: “Jane and I actually went for a walk together Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, early this week…” Jane: “…earlier this week, but you’ve taken a one-week break.” Adelson: “I took a one-weak break from communication with Jeff to figure out what to do, cause we, we’ve been dating for like a year, 9 months 10 months, a year, um…” Victim advocate: “And when you use the word dating to you, is that that’s my boyfriend or is it more of just dating, like the casual.” Adelson: “No, he was my boyfriend and, um, involved with the kids, and I mean, yeah. Um, and we had kind of a fight recently, um, and he’s been trying to get back together and I didn’t know if I wanted to. And so he actually the morning that I gave that talk, my boys were there and Jeff was watching them, so I could give the talk like he’s, um… Jane, do you think… Have to tell them about him? The only thing I could come up with was like his girlfriend Amy is recently divorced, separated, not really divorced, so either of those people like the jealous boyfriend types like, what if the ex-husband…” Jane: “This divorce has been very stressful and Jeff has been very stressed out by the stressfulness of your divorce. Um, you know it.” Adelson: “I mean… What am I… I mean, I’ll tell them this.” Jane: “I think you do have to tell them about him.” Adelson: “I wasn’t thinking of it. I just kept thinking like who in the world…” Victim advocate: “Is he someone that has, um… you know, access to…” Jane: “He’s a professor of social work. He’s former military. But I mean, you wouldn’t, you don’t think about this guy as like ‘oh there’s the kind of guy’. I mean, I would more just like… And he’s jealous.” Adelson: “Do you want to give them his number?… It was, kind of, one of the reasons why we got divorced, as I just like, I’m reform, I’m kind of, culturally Jewish, like we just had really different religious, um, perspectives…” Jane: “I mean, I would, you mean, Jeff would be my vote…” Investigator: “I didn’t know earlier, but apparently you got a guy in your life named Jeff.” Adelson: “Yeah.” Investigator: “Okay. Tell me about Jeff.” Adelson: “Um, I’m sorry I wasn’t trying to hide anything. Investigator: “No, I know you weren’t.” Adelson: “I just didn’t think to tell you about him. Um, so he’s been my boyfriend, we’ve been dating since, um, end of October. Jane actually set us up which is why Jane thought of him first, and Jane and I had a long talk earlier this week. We went on a walk together and talked about, I wasn’t really sure I wanted to continue dating him. We had like a fight at the end of June and it was weird, and then I went away for two weeks and just got back, and we’ve been… I asked him to just no contact for a week, just so I could kind of figure out whether I wanted to be with him or not. Investigator: “When did you ask him that.” Adelson: “Monday night, after yoga. I sent him an email Monday night…” Investigator: “Yours or his yoga or both?’ Adelson: “Um, I don’t know what that means. I went to a yoga class.” Investigator: “Who went to yoga together or?” Adelson; “Like together… I just sent him an email, said, you know ‘my heart is really heavy, and I’m having trouble figuring out what to do. It’ be a lot easier if I just, like, didn’t have any contact from you for one week and then we’ll kind of figure out where to go from there. And so I haven’t had any contact from him.” Investigator: “Was he amicable to that or did he?” Adelson: “I mean, he didn’t respond to it. I said I’m going to take your silence as acceptance and…” Investigator: “Oh, okay. You were in person telling…” Adelson: “No, I emailed him after yoga. He’d been like ‘let’s go out tomorrow, let’s go out the next day’, and I felt I have a hard time saying no, and so I didn’t say no in person. And then later I wrote him and said ‘I really just need like a week of silence to get some clarity on where we are.” Investigator: “Okay. So he never responded? Still has not responded?” Adelson: “The only response I had is that I’d bought some presents for Ben for his birthday when Jeff and I went to Destin one time and he had him at his house. And so he brought them. I came to work and there was a bag of the presents from his house, but I had asked him at yoga, said ‘oh when you get a chance, I’m really going to need you to bring those presents, because I don’t have the boys this week and I could wrap them, and so he just brought the presents, so I could wrap them.” Adelson: “When did he bring them?” Um, it must have been Tuesday morning at some point. I think, I got to the, I’m not in the office like 9 to 5 right now, because I just finished teaching and students are out of session, and so I have writing deadlines so I work sometimes from home or from a coffee shop. And so I got in, I rolled into work sometime mid-morning. Um, and they were there, so I don’t know what time he was there, but I could ask my assistant.” Investigator: “How long have you been seeing Jeff?” Adelson: “Since the end of September. In the fall I was dating someone else too and the relationship really evolved around February, um, you know, I, post- divorce I was kind of slow to like, um… But so I jokingly used to call him my special man friend and around February, he started being more like my boyfriend. He started spending some time with the kids and, um, they really adore him. And I introduced him as mommy’s friend, not as mommy’s boyfriend, so they just think of him as Jeffrey and he plays Star Wars with them and, um, yeah. So he and I would spend time together on the nights or the days I didn’t have the boys, and then when I had the boys he never stayed over, but he would sometimes join us for dinner and play with the kids and then go home. Um… And things actually were great and I was very happy, um… And then we went to Gainesville together. He’s a, um, social work professor at FSU and he was teaching a class at Gainesville. And so I didn’t have the voice that weekend, I went with him to work on some writing, and, um… And we had a great weekend until Saturday night. We went out to dinner. We came home and he just like was convinced that I’d been cheating on him for months, and like had kept track of it. And was just absolutely convinced that I was cheating on him. And I kept telling him I wasn’t and he just was, I felt like not very trusting of me and it just made me feel really uncomfortable. And after that happened I wasn’t sure that I wanted to be with him anymore.” Investigator: “I’m wondering what brought this on the whole not trusting thing?” Adelson: “I mean, I’d been dating someone else in the fall and so he knew. He had asked me did you see someone else in the fall, kind of once things were good with us maybe around April and I said I did. And I told him about it and he felt like, um, I don’t know, he, you know, he was jealous of him and he was like ‘I don’t want you to see him’. And he was, the guy I was dating, was leaving town and so I said ‘well I want to, you know, go get coffee for him, with him before I leave town and he said like ‘I really, you know, I don’t want you to do that’. And we had an argument about it and I went and had coffee with him anyway. And he ended up at the same coffee shop at the same time and saw us having coffee and got really angry and…” Investigator: “When was that?” Adelson: “That was May. Like, mid to late May.” Investigator: “Do you think it was a coincidence or you think he intentionally went…? Adelson: “I think it was a total coincidence. I was there for like 30 minutes and yeah, I think it just is a small town…” Investigator: “What kind of car Jeff drive?” Adelson: “Um, I’m really bad with this. It’s silver colored, I think it’s a Nissan. It’s very old and very rundown.” Investigator: “What sparked that?” Adelson: “That was what was really sort of surprising is Daniel had been gone, we’d had a month of like really, really great times, very happy month. And we went out to a nice dinner with friends and then got back to the hotel room and he… I could just tell he was upset, um, and so for me it kind of came out of nowhere.” Investigator: “That was when Jeff wanted to look at your phone or something?” Adelson: “Yeah. Did Jane tells you that?” Investigator: “Yeah.” Adelson: “He didn’t… It wasn’t that time, but he had said, um. you know, I, you know, like if Jeff would be over and I was doing something, I would leave my phone out. I have this like old agenda book, I’d leave that out. And basically he said that he like saw that I had called Daniel Sack. I’m sorry, that’s why I say Dan and Daniel. So, yeah… So it had really upset me that he had gone through my phone, and that he had, I mean… I was just the whole time I was just kind of crying. I was just really sad. I felt like we had a great relationship and his behavior made me think that I couldn’t really be with someone like that, and I didn’t really say much other than I was just really like… ‘No, I didn’t cheat on you.’ Like, ‘yes, I saw Daniel in the fall’, like ‘no, I haven’t seen him more than as a friend since February, and like ‘if you don’t trust me, we can’t really do this’. So, um, and then he was, you know, really sad and apologetic and was like ‘oh my God’, you know, ‘you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I’m going to lose you’. And I never really thought I would be in a police station talking about my relationship. We drove back that Sunday morning and I cried the whole way. We drove back to the house and I told them like… My parents were actually… My parents don’t believe that I can drive the boys down to South Florida by myself. So they like to drive up and help me drive down with them. So my folks were coming up that Sunday. Um… So Jeff left. I had a couple of hours. My parents came up and then Monday morning I went and picked up the kids and that was the weekend that Amy was visiting, Danny’s girlfriend. So that was my first time meeting Amy. So I went to to our former house and I, um, I was really, you know, anxious to meet Amy. And kind of sad about, um, sad about the whole thing. And so my dad was like ‘well I’ll stand with you’. So my dad stood next to me on the doorbell and Amy was perfectly lovely and I picked up the kids and they seemed really happy and got the car and said goodbye. Then I was in Coral Springs or Miami with my folks and my brother, and my other brother came down. It was my dad’s 70th birthday on July 5th so we had a party for him. And I had Skype contact with Danny and the boys and so. After we left the next day, he flew up to New York and was in New York that whole time (Danny). So Amy went back and the next day Danny went back to join her.” Investigator: “Let’s get back to Jeff after you come back to Tallahassee?” Adelson: “So I had lost my voice, um, so I got back to Tallahassee. My parents came with us, and then Saturday morning I took my folks to get the rental car. They left and I frankly I had a cold and I, uh, wasn’t feeling well so I kind of just was in my house all day Saturday. Sunday Jeff and I made plans to go see, so Sunday the 11, 12, Sunday the 13th. So July 13th I saw him. We went to a movie and then got some dinner and we’re talking. And it was confusing because I missed him and it was nice to be with him, but I also felt kind of like uncertain given his behavior and I just… I have kids. I feel really protective of, you know… And then the 14th was the night I went to yoga. And he came and seemed to want to, like, go out a lot the rest of the week, and I just knew I needed some head space to figure out what to do.” Investigator: “Is Jeff a violent person?” Adelson: “No, not at all.”
Police found no evidence of a break-in at Markel’s home and swiftly determined that the shooting was no random act and that someone wanted him dead. During her interview, Adelson told police about Jeffrey Lacasse (her ex-boyfriend), who was a fellow FSU professor and had been dating Adelson for nine months at the time. She said Lacasse “didn’t like Danny because Danny hurt me.”
Police verified that Lacasse had been hundreds of miles away at the time of the murder, but over the course of three lengthy interviews, Lacasse gave police his theories about the crime. Two nights after questioning Adelson, police called Lacasse and he came in the station on July 21 for the first time. Lacasse told police to focus on Adelson family. “I would be investigating Charlie Adelson… They hate Danny in a way. I have never seen this kind of obsession. I mean, their hobby is hating Danny.”
On July 23, five days after Markel’s murder, investigators released a grainy surveillance photo of a light-colored Toyota Prius and called it a “vehicle of interest” in the homicide. In their investigation, police found clear signs that Markel was stalked by two men in a Prius before the murder. In July 2015, on the one-year anniversary of Markel’s murder, the Tallahassee Police The police got a big break from surveillance footage from Markel’s gym, a city bus and street cameras from the day he died that showed a green Toyota Prius following him as he made his way home. Department released a new photo of the Toyota Prius that they believe was driven by whoever murdered Markel.
Using the listed cellphone number, police were quickly able to confirm Rivera’s identity. Rivera is a leader in the notorious Latin Kings gang, which has an especially strong presence in Miami. A second telephone number was also written on the rental contract with the word “Brother” written beside the number.
Garcia is a childhood friend of Rivera’s who also has a felony record and numerous run-ins with the law. Using cellphone data and GPS info, police were able to trace the trail of Rivera and Garcia in that Prius in the vicinity of Markel’s home at the time of the murder. Police announced first-degree murder charges against Rivera and Garcia in May 2016, for Markel’s murder. Rivera and Garcia were indicted in June 2016 and are facing the death penalty, if convicted. Both have entered not guilty pleas.
Court documents made public in June linked Garcia, one of the alleged hit men, to Wendi Adelson’s brother Charlie Adelson: his former girlfriend was also the mother of Garcia’s children.
Police looked into Katie Magbanua, who has two children with Garcia. In the months after the murder, investigators found Magbanua collected regular paychecks from the Adelsons’ family dental practice, Adelson Institute, signed by Donna Adelson, Wendi and Charlie Adelson’s mother.
Rivera was in prison on another charge when prosecutors offered him a plea deal: If he would describe his role in the murder of Dan Markel, he could plead guilty to second-degree murder but avoid the possibility of the death penalty.
Garcia was convicted on Oct. 11, 2019, of first-degree murder and later sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The same jury that convicted Garcia couldn’t agree on a verdict for Magbanua, resulting in a mistrial. After years of pandemic-related delays, Magbanua was retried and convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation to commit murder in May 2022. She was sentenced to life in prison and two additional 30-year sentences, to be served concurrently.
Charlie Adelson pleaded not guilty. His defense attorney Daniel Rashbaum contended his client wasn’t the mastermind, but instead was being extorted by Dan Markel’s convicted killers. Precisely, they murdered Dan Markel and then threatened him to pay or they would murder him as well. Magbanua testified as a prosecution witness and, for the first time under oath, testified that Adelson orchestrated the plot and that she was involved with paying off the two men.
In 2023, Charlie Adelson was found guilty of concocting a plot with a former girlfriend and hiring two men to kill his former brother-in-law Dan Markel in 2014 and sentenced to life in prison.
In September 2024, Donna Adelson trial was set to begin. Charlie Adelson was going to be transferred to testify in his mother’s trial. There was a waiver he needed to sign because his attorney Dan Rashbaum was also his mother’s attorney. Attorney Dan Rashbaum: “Judge, with this surprised issue of the last couple of days. I have asked for my prior client’s waiver again (Charlie Adelson) and with the change of circumstances, he has decided not to give it. Let’s be clear. I had a waiver in the past, it’s in December 12th, 13th and independent lawyer spoke to him as well, although did not get the signature on the waiver. So we had a waiver. We thought we had a waiver. We didn’t think there was an issue. But, giving the events of the last few days, I approach to appellate counsel to get a new waiver. That was the right thing to do obviously and the cleanest thing to do. And I am not able to obtain that waiver at this point. As a result, I need to withdraw from the case.” Charlie Adelson’s appellate attorneys filed a notice with the court, saying he is invoking his Sixth Amendment right to have his previous attorney-client communications with Rashbaum kept private and will not waive it because his case is still being appealed. Actually, the attorney cannot cross-examine Charlie Adelson. Appellate lawyers Michael Ufferman and Laurel Cornell Niles argued: “Mr. Adelson would assert that his privilege, and the conflict of interest, applies to the entire defense team in Mrs. Adelson’s case, and Mr. Adelson should not be subject to cross-examination by any member of the defense team who has been tainted by Mr. Rashbaum’s knowledge and information.” Donna Adelson began to cry as the judge left the courtroom. The 100 potential jurors who reported for jury duty never made it into the courtroom. Donna Adelson wanted a speedy trial, but the judge postponed the trial.
Donna Adelson’s murder trial is scheduled to begin in June, 2025.
Wendi Adelson, whom the state considers an uncharged co-conspirator, will return to the stand and testify, under a limited immunity deal, as she has in all the previous trials. She has long denied any involvement or knowledge of the murder conspiracy in sometimes testy exchanges with prosecutors.
Tim Jansen, a prominent Tallahassee defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor said her testimony will become more important in her mom’s trial as prosecutors show jurors texts and emails between them dating back to before Markel was murdered.
“All that’s going to become relevant to show motive for Donna,” Jansen said. “It’s going to be really difficult for Wendi to testify against her mother. She testified against her brother, but now she’s testifying against her mother, and they’re going to show her these documents that are all very inflammatory toward her mother. That’s not going to be good for her at all.”
In one email from June 26, 2013, more than a year before the hit, Donna Adelson wrote her daughter a lengthy email about her court battle with her ex-husband, whom she derisively called “Jibbers.” She mentioned a plan to offer Markel a $1 million bribe and coached her daughter on how to negotiate with him, suggesting she convert the children from their Jewish faith to Catholicism, among other things. “If you dressed your kids up in Hitler Youth uniforms and brought them down here I could care less if it was an act of defiance and would show Jibbers that he’s NOT IN CONTROL,” Donna Adelson wrote. “If your children are baptized, it doesn’t make them Christian. It’s an act.”
There are indications that her oldest brother, Rob Adelson, who has been listed before as a state witness, will be called to the stand in his mother’s trial. The defense filed a motion under seal, likely seeking to limit or preclude his testimony, and the matter was apparently dealt with during a closed-door hearing in Judge Everett’s chambers.
Meanwhile, Charlie Adelson, who’s serving a life sentence, is expected to take the stand. He testified in his own defense last year that he was being extorted by the killers, Sigfredo Garcia and Luis Rivera, through his then-girlfriend Katie Magbanua, and that his mom was subsequently the victim of a ruse blackmail operation by the FBI. “They might try to call Charlie to the stand and see if he can get out the double extortion theory without the mother having to testify,” Jansen said. “But she’s going to have to explain the flight. Charlie can’t explain that.”
