Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Donna Adelson Trial Begins With Battle Over Snitch Testimony

Episode Date: August 19, 2025

The trial for Donna Adelson, the grandmother from Miami, accused of conspiring to murder Florida State University Law Professor Dan Markel is beginning. Dan was in the middle of a bitter custody battle with Donna's daughter, Wendi Adelson. Donna's trial was supposed to begin in September 2024 but was delayed. Now jury selection is underway and Donna is trying to keep jailhouse snitches from testifying against her. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes over the case in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://www.forthepeople.com/CrimeFixHost:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Producer:Jordan ChaconCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Donna Aedleson, the Florida grandmother, accused of hatching a plot to murder her ex-son-in-law, is going to trial after a full start last year. I take a look at everything that's been happening in Donna Aidelson's case and why she doesn't want jailhouse snitches testifying against her. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Annionette Levy. Donna Aedelson's trial is happening.

Jury selection is underway in Tallahassee, and the wealthy grandmother from Miami is in for the fight of her life. She's accused of orchestrating the murder of her ex-son-in-law, Dan Markell, with her son, Charlie Edelson. Now, Charlie, as you know, has already been convicted for his role in. the conspiracy and he's serving a life sentence. Charlie arrived in Tallahassee over the weekend because prosecutors planned to call him to testify. Now for her part, Donna says she's not guilty despite her hatred for Dan Markell and we know just how much she hated Dan. Donna said she didn't take part in the plot to murder the ex-husband of her daughter, Wendy. Prosecutors call Wendy Edelson an unindicted co-conspirator and she maintained she did not take part in a conspiracy

to murder Dan and she says her family didn't either. Wendy is again being granted immunity to testify against her mother by the state. But her lawyers have asked to quash the subpoena issued to her by her mom's lawyers because she doesn't get any form of immunity testifying for the defense. Judge Everett held a hearing on this Monday afternoon. Take a look. The defense cannot give the witness immunity as it relates to any matters in which she would testify under and could properly invoke the Fifth Amendment privilege. No witness can be called to the stand simply to invoke the Fifth Amendment, as there would be no basis for this witness to take the stand and give testimony on a relevant matter

that also could not affect her ability to also endanger her own Fifth Amendment right. I am going to grant the relief that is requested. If we need to revisit this issue for any purpose where the defense, believes there is a line of questioning that will not go to the Fifth Amendment privilege of the witness. We will at the appropriate time, but I do believe it is the proper ruling at this point to quash the subpoena. So there you go. Wendy basically can't be called as a witness by Donna's defense team. And there's another issue that was heard behind closed doors on Monday afternoon. Donna Edelson's defense says inmates at the jail were acting as agents of law enforcement when they

asked her questions back in 2024. So that testimony, they say, shouldn't be allowed from those inmates. Now, inmates can listen to what someone has to say, but the cops can't ask an inmate to go into the jail and ask Donna questions because that would violate her rights. Those inmates, according to a defense motion, were told by detectives to not initiate conversations with Donna Adelson and to only listen if she said something first. The trial of Donna Adelson for the conspiracy to murder Dan Markell has been more than 10 years in the making. So let's take a closer look at just how we got here. Florida State University professor Dan Markell was murdered on July 19th, 2014 after he pulled into his garage. His family and friends called him

Danny. First of all, he's Canadian and nobody really knows that he's Canadian. But he always wanted to go to Harvard, Yale or Princeton. And he ended up, he went to Harvard, Harvard undergrad. And later on, he went and he took a year off and he went to Cambridge, England, and one year he studied also in Israel. And then he came back. He did Harvard Law School. And then he clerked. And then he worked in Washington. So that was his first job. But of all his accomplishments, the thing I'm the most proudest of, he was a great father. And he always attended his children's day center and would go there early in the morning and have breakfast with him. them on many occasions. He had very strong interest in Jewish life and the Jewish community. He was very, very family-oriented and always planned a long visit back to Canada or Israel, for that matter, every year several times. When Dan was shot and killed, he had just returned

home from the gym after dropping off his two beloved sons at preschool. When he pulled into his driveway, he was executed. This was incredibly unusual and frankly shocking. Who would want to gun down a law professor in his driveway? Police started investigating and they immediately spoke to Dan Markell's ex-wife, Wendy Adelson. Your husband, your ex-husband, excuse me, Daniel, has been taken to the hospital. He's not going to survive. There's a reason crime fix is one of the top-ranked shows on YouTube right now,

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Morgan and Morgan makes it truly so easy. You can start a claim from your phone and just eight clicks. So if you're ever hurt, you can easily start a claim at for the people.com slash crime fix by clicking the link below or scanning that QR. code that you see on your screen. Police discovered that Dan Markell was in the middle of a bitter custody battle with Wendy Adelson, his ex-wife, who wanted to move with their sons to Miami. Prosecutors would later say Wendy's family, particularly her mother, Donna Adelson, hated Dan Markell. Do you think someone would do this for your benefit without asking you?

No. What good does it deserve? made my brother, the one his name is Charlie, the one I'm really close to you, he makes a lot of jokes and 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, you know, I looked into hiring a hitman, And it was cheaper to get you this TV. So instead, I got you this TV.

I mean, he would never. Now, some time passed. And fast forward to 2016. In May of that year, two Miami gang members who were lifelong friends, Sigfrido Garcia and Luis Rivera, were charged with murdering Dan Markell. But why? What did these two have against Dan Markell?

Five months later, Katie Magbanwa, the mother of Sigfrato Garcia's children, was arrested and charged for her part in the conspiracy to murder Dan Marquale. Prosecutors said Katie was the connection between the two hit men, Garcia and Rivera, and the Adelson family. Katie had dated Wendy Adelson's brother, Charlie Adelson, a successful periodontist. Luis Rivera pleaded guilty and testified against Garcia and Meg Banwa at their trial in 2019. Was money discussed as far as how you'd be compensated for this job? Yeah

Tell us about that He was going to give me some money He said take a ride with me of Tallahassee I'll give you some money Did he say how much At that moment Yeah he did 35

All right 35 what 35,000 You were going to get $35,000 for this job Yes ma'am All right And Did you have another conversation in the car

on the way to Tallahassee? Yes, ma'am. How many trips did you make to Tallahassee? Like, twice. All right, and were both trips with Mr. Garcia? Yes, ma'am. Was anybody else in the car

on either of those trips? Not at all. All right, tell us about the conversation on the way to Tallahassee. Was this the first trip or the second trip? This is the first trip. All right, tell us about that. He was just taking a ride up there.

Michael Sanata was going to go robbing. Say that he was going to go robbing. again? In my concern, I thought we were going to go rob them. You thought you were coming to Tallahassee to do a robbery? Yes, ma'am. Did you assume that, or did somebody tell you that? No, I assumed them, like, you know, it was just a job. All right. So you knew it was a job in Tallahassee, and you assumed it was a robbery. Did you learn something additional about what it was on the way to Tallahassee? Yeah, and the way coming up, like halfway there, we just, he said we're going to have to kill the man. So you're going to have to kill the man? Yeah. And what was

the second part of what you said? For some kids. For some kids. All right. Anything else? What did that mean to you? Kill the man for some kids? That's for a lady. I guess the lady wanted her kids back. All right. So is this Garcia telling you this? Yeah. Sigfrido Garcia was found guilty. The jury came back hung on Katie Magbanwas charges, but she was later convicted at a second trial in 2022. Then came the arrest of Charlie Edelson for his role in the conspiracy later that year. Charlie Adelson pleaded not guilty and went to trial in October of 2023. A review of Wendy Adelson's emails revealed that her mother, Donna Adelson, hated Dan Markell and was desperate to find a way for Wendy and her children, who were Donna

Adelson's grandchildren, to be able to move to Miami. Donna Adelson suggests in these emails that y'all will hear about several ways that Wendy Adelson could threaten or bully Dan Markell into submission into getting what she wanted him to do. Donna Adelson even suggested offering Dan Markell a $1 million bribe to allow the relocation and even said that this defendant, Charlie Adelson, would pay a third of that million dollar bribe to Dan Markel. to make that happen. The evidence in this case will show that Donna Adelson's closest confidant was her son, the defendant.

She and the defendant talked multiple times a day, every day. He was the person with whom she would constantly vent and complain to about Wendy's situation. The defendant was also the person that Donna Adelson relied on to solve her problems. And this was a big, big problem for Donna Adelson. And she made it the defendant's problem to solve. The defense said Charlie was innocent. The murder of Professor Markell was a tragedy. The world lost a brilliant legal mind.

His family lost. lost a son and a brother. This community lost its sense of security and lost a good citizen. And his two boys, the nephews of Charlie Aylton, lost a loving father. You will see,

that Charlie Edelson had nothing to do with the murder of Professor Marquell. You will see that the state cannot come close to meeting its burden. Why? Because Charlie Edelson is innocent. Throughout Charlie Adelson's trial, evidence came out showing just how much much Donna Adelson hated Dan Markell. Emails from Donna Adelson to Wendy Adelson showed Donna called Dan gibbers and gave Wendy a plan of action to get under his skin.

It included Wendy telling Dan she was going to have their sons baptized in the Catholic church. Dan Markell was a devout Jew. Wendy Adelson wanted to move the son she shared with Dan Markell to Miami and Donna Adelson wanted that too. But Dan Markell, he was not having any of it. Wendy testified under immunity agreements at all of these trials, including Charlies. What about the idea that you could try to threaten Dan to convert the kids to Christianity

so that they can fit into the Bible Belt here in Tallahassee? Is that something your mom suggested in these emails? My mom did suggest that. Okay. And specifically, this is on page 7 of the exhibit. Let Jibbers know that your children will be baptized in the Catholic Church, have a picture made of them in front of the church, all that kind of thing. That's what your mom suggested at one time?

She did, yes. Okay, and did you do any of those things? No, I don't even think I responded to it. Do you know whether the... defendant your brother Charlie was supportive of the plan to convert them or pose as converting them to Christianity I don't think he was particularly involved in this round of my mom's emails page 11 of the exhibit there's an indication from your mom that Charlie at least has discussed this with her and maybe as somewhat

supportive Charlie brought up a good point when he said that Americans were drop behind enemy lines during World War II wearing Nazi uniforms to get what they wanted. They had a job to get done, and they did what they needed to do to accomplish it. You have a job to get done in a very short time frame to accomplish it. 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 that would show gibbers that he's all caps and bold, not in control. So it just seems like your mom was pretty extreme about this situation of getting you relocated.

Can you agree with that? Yeah. All right. And Charlie was at least consulted on it or had offered some information about it. Well, that was my mom's rendition, so I don't know if that's what actually happened or that was her perception. And guess what? Someone else had a change of heart and testified at Charlie's trial. Katie Meg Banwa decided that she would finally admit to her role in the consulting.

to murder Dan Markell. Did you have a trial in your case? Yes, ma'am. Did you testify? Yes, ma'am. You testified on your own behalf? Yes, ma'am. All right, and when you testified, were you truthful with the jury?

No, ma'am. I was not. Did you take the same oath that you just took today in your own trial? Yes, ma'am. What was your defense when you were tried? That I had nothing to do with it. All right. That we got it right. in reference to Charlie Adelson, and we got it right in reference to the killers, but you weren't

in the middle. Yes, ma'am. Was that true? No, ma'am. It was not. Were you in the middle? Yes, ma'am, I was. And didn't you also testify in the trial in which Sigfrido Garcia was convicted of murder? Yes, ma'am, I was. And what was his defense? That he had nothing to do with it. that we got it right in reference to Charlie Adelson and we got it right in reference to the killers, but he had nothing to do with it, right? Yes, ma'am. Injection, Your Honor, beat.

Overruled, Ms. Calvillan, make sure you use having any questions. And was that defense truthful? No, ma'am, it was not. So Siegfredo Garcia was involved. Yes, ma'am, he was. So why tell the truth

now? I believe that the truth needed to come out now so that the family can get some type of closure. Why didn't the truth need to come out last year or the year before or the year before that? I was trying to defend myself. You were trying to get off? Yes, ma'am. Did you think you'd be successful in your trial with that defense? I thought so.

And in Charlie's trial, there were wiretapped conversations between Donna and Charlie prompted by an encounter called The Bump, where undercover agents approached Donna on the street. Excuse me, Mrs. Adelson? Hey, go. I just want to give you this. Oh, listen, you. Don't be scared. Listen, so I'll let you know that you know that your family

has been taking care of Pady and her friend, Buckel, for quite some time, after your problem of North had to be off. And I want to let you know that my brother, he's incarcerated. He helped your family with this problem you guys had, got his head up north and we want to make sure that he's going through some rough times and we want to make sure that you take care of what he's going through the way you're taking care of katie

and uh two dogs well this will explain it thank you after the bump police listened as donna and charlie spoke in code on wiretapped phone calls charlie took the stand at his trial and he claimed that they were actually discussing a double extortion plot and that Katie Magbanwa was extorting him because she was being extorted by Rivera and Garcia. I want to go through some of that. You claim that you were extorted on July 18th, 2014 by Catherine Magbanoa and also in the background,

some Latin Kings, probably Garcia and Rivera, right? Is that accurate? No, I wasn't extorted by Catherine Magbanya. You weren't. That's not what I believed in 2014. Okay, I'm sorry. I understood you to say you believe that today. Today I do, yes. All right. So who extorted you? I believe that it was Catherine McBindez's friend that she ran her mouth to. There was also a recording at the Dolce Vita restaurant where Katie Megbanwa and Charlie Adelson discussed the man in the bump who claimed to be a friend of Rivera's approaching Donna Adelson.

In the end, the jury did not believe Charlie Adelson. Florida, the state of Florida versus Charles Adelson. Case number 2016, CF 3036B, verdict. Count one. We, the jury, find as follows as to count one of the indictment, first-degree murder. The defendant is guilty of first-degree murder. Jail phone calls following the verdict in Charlie Adelson's trial captured Donna and Harvey Adelson's shock. You can do breath, Charlie, please. But honestly, I'm like, I don't know if I'm in shock. Yeah, you're in shock.

We're all in shock. Yeah. Donna Adelson is concerned that prosecutors are coming for her next. Police moved in quickly after Donna was caught on a hot Mike jail call. We've been looking it up over and over. If things change, if there is extradition from Vietnam. Because we've looked at all the places. I mean, I could go to Korea and China, but there's no extradition.

But we're looking for places where there's no extradition. extradition. In 15 minutes. Who? Really? Good. Maybe she knows about it. Maybe she can look up the expedition issue before we go.

We go take that's high. Donna Edelson was taken into custody as she and Harvey tried to board a plane for Vietnam days after Charlie's trial with one-way tickets. Donna Adelson pleaded not guilty to the charges, alleging she was the mastermind in her son-in-law's murder. She's been in jail in Tallahassee for many, many months since November 2023. Now, before she was arrested in Miami, she also had a phone call with her son, who's obviously in jail here, 25-minute phone call. I personally listened to it. She very clearly spoke about a plan to kill herself using sleeping pills. One moment, Ms. Edelson, please keep your

comments to yourself, let your lawyer argue on your behalf. Now, Donna Adelson's trial, it was actually supposed to start in September of 2024, but then there was a twist. It was determined her lawyer Dan Rashbaum, who represented Charlie at his trial, could not represent Donna too because Charlie hadn't waived a conflict. Donna could not have been more disappointed. Since that time, she has retained new lawyers, but then there was another twist. A new secret investigation started last year involving new wiretaps. Donna's attorneys demanded information about it earlier this year. So looking at the reply and the motion to compel, all of those, the things that they're

requesting here as far as the minimization instructions, all the logs, all of those things, once the order to unseal has been signed, those can all be disclosed. The only thing that I saw that would be additional, that they're not. they are asking for is surveillance video, which is surveillance video from the jail, which I've been told has already been disclosed to the defense. They also asked for the financial records that are mentioned in the application.

I was told that we subpoenaed Harvey Adelson's Zell account. I found that Zell records and had it sent to the defense this afternoon. So once those I was, items are unsealed and they can be disclosed to the defense that should be all of the discovery that pertains to the to the wire please provide the order has the defense been able to take a look out no sir um let me show them what i have and if i need to change anything i'll help me too both the prosecution and the defense they were very very careful about what they said about

this investigation but it definitely involved wiretaps There was one issue that we, Ms. Dugan and I address concerning the motion and order, and it has to do with a discrepancy with Investigator Newland's memorandum, the 17-page memorandum. The memorandum that he authored indicated that the wire went down February 24th. Ms. Dugan is telling me that the wire actually went down on February 21st. So we can just make sure that that's accurate. Yes, this is one of the paragraphs in the defense's reply. That was just a mistake on the memo.

The wire came down on the 21st. I believe the significance of the 24th was that was when the order was signed. And I think Mr. Newland's memo said the 24th, but it is the 21st, which is reflected in the order the court's looking at now. We're still wondering what that's all about and who it involves. We do know that Wendy Adelson and her father, Harvey Adelson, are still considered unindicted co-conspirators in this case. So now that Donna's trial is going to get underway, the same cast of characters will be

testifying, Luis Rivera, Catherine Meg Banwa, Wendy Adelson, and now Charlie Adelson is also expected to take the stand. And some are wondering what a woman named Sarah Yusuf will testify to. She's on the witness list for the state. she's an attorney and former friend of Wendy Adelson. That could be very, very interesting. There have been questions about whether Wendy Adelson will face charges in this case. Prosecutors won't say, but she's been given immunity in each trial in which she has testified.

Wendy also maintains she and her family had nothing to do with Dan's murder. Dan Markell's family will be watching closely and waiting for the outcome. We're moving at a pace that's fast, considering we're waiting for nine years. And here's our real score here. I hate to put it that way. Well, I've done three trials, four convictions, and an arrest in this last little while. So it's been a very busy journey. The sad part of all this, of course, is there's two adolescent boys, Danny's boys,

Benjamin and Lincoln, who are now 14 and 13, and probably really just learning about most of the horrific situation. Law and Crime will have Donna Adelson's trial covered for you, Gaville, and so will I. So stay tuned. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time. Thank you.