Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - 'KILLER MOTHER-IN-LAW' SUSPECT TRIES TO WALK FREE BECAUSE OF EARWAX

Episode Date: March 10, 2025

A circuit judge ordered Donna Adelson to remain in jail until her trial this summer. Judge Stephen Everett denied her bond request in a three-page ruling. Her attorneys argued that the 76-year-old felt unsafe in jail, citing alleged assaults, threats, and extortion. Adelson is charged with murdering her son-in-law, Florida State University law professor Dan Markel. Police found him shot in his garage on July 18, 2014. Her son, Charlie Adelson, along with his ex-girlfriend Katherine Magbanua and hitmen Sigfredo Garcia and Luis Rivera, have been convicted in the case. Markel was married to Adelson’s daughter, Wendi Jill Adelson, who has not been accused of involvement or prior knowledge of the plot. Miami International Airport police arrested Adelson in November 2023 as she and her husband, Harvey, prepared to board one-way flights to Vietnam via Dubai—two countries without extradition treaties with the U.S. In the bond ruling, Everett found prosecutors had presented enough evidence to keep her in jail. He acknowledged that courts have discretion in detaining defendants but said her case did not warrant release. He cited her arrest as a key factor in the decision. Joining Nancy Grace today Dave Aronberg - Friend of Dan Markel, Palm Beach County State Attorney Tim Jansen - Criminal defense lawyer and former Federal Prosecutor, Legal Analyst for Tallahassee Democrat’s Newspaper Dr. Judy Ho - Clinical and Forensic Neuropsychologist, Author of 'The New Rules of Attachment'; and 'Stop Self-Sabatoge;' IG & X: @drjudyho; FB: doctorjudyho Robert Crispin - Private Investigator with “Crispin Special Investigations," Former Federal Task Force Officer for the United States Department of Justice [DEA and Miami Field Division], and Former Homicide and Crimes Against Children Investigator; Facebook: Crispin Special Investigations Inc. Dr. Eric Eason - Board-Certified Forensic Pathologist, Consultant;Instagram: @eric_a_eason, Facebook: Eric August Eason, LinkedIn: Eric Eason, MD  Joel Waldman - Co-host of "Surviving the Survivor," Author of "Surviving the Survivor: A Brutally Honest Conversation about Life (& Death) with My Mom: A Holocaust Survivor;" Therapist & My Podcast Co-Host, Co-Founder and Creative Director at Content Product Media Dave Mack - CrimeOnline Investigative Reporter     See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. The so-called killer mother-in-law suspect to walk out of jail because of, wait for it, earwax. Yes, earwax. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. A Florida grandmother arrested for plotting the death of her former son-in-law, now begging a judge to let her out of jail as she waits for her trial to start. A loving father and esteemed law professor is gunned down at his own home in his own vehicle. Why? Now you see the banner below me that the alleged mastermind of the murder plot, his own mother-in-law wants out of jail for many,

many reasons, most notably because she has earwax. I couldn't even make that up. But let's have a little reality check about what this case is all about. Not the mother-in-law's symptoms she's dreamed up behind bars. This is what it's about. 911, what's the address of your emergency case? Okay, tell me exactly what happened. We heard and looked in. The garage door was up, and I thought the gentleman was backing out, and I went back to my house, but he never backed out. And I came back over, and his driver's side window is shattered. He's moving his head around, but he's not responding. I've called his name, asked what's going on, and I called his name,

asking what's happening. He's not responding to that, but his head's kind of rolling around. Okay, is he conscious? Well, I can't tell. Okay. Is he breathing? I can't tell that. I'm assuming he's breathing if he's moving his head around. Did you ever hear him talk or anything?

No. Okay. You said he's sitting in the car, right? Correct, in the driver's seat. Okay, where exactly is he? In the driver's seat? In the driver's seat. Is he in the garage? In the garage. Okay. In the car, in his own garage, the window shattered to his vehicle, a young dad, a loving dad, a doting dad, and by all accounts a brilliant lawyer could have been in a think tank that smart. Dead. Why? This as the monster-in-law, the mother-in-law, claims she needs to be out of jail, walk free because of earwax.

You know, straight out to Robert Crispin joining me from this location, investigator at Crispin Special Investigations, former federal task force in this jurisdiction with the DEA and the Miami Field Division, former homicide detective. Robert, thank you for being with us. First of all, where are you? So actually, Nancy, I am literally right behind where Ms. Ellison's condo is. It's actually those two aqua green glass buildings. They sit 40 stories above the ground and they overlook Key Biscayne. They overlook to my left all the cruise ships and they have great views of the beach and pretty much a 180 span of everything

around. It's a beautiful condominium building. And back in 2022, she paid a million seven for this place. Today, it's about two million bucks. It's a beautiful place and quite the place that I certainly wouldn't think that she would trade for an eight foot jail cell. What was she thinking? Well, Robert Crispin, although I appreciate everything that you just said, we just heard about her living in the lap of luxury and that turquoise high rise behind you now valued over two million dollars. Of course, she wants out of jail. It's yet to be proven, by the way, that she is in fact the murder mastermind. We're waiting on that. But what I'm coming to you for, Crispin, is this is your jurisdiction. You were homicide

investigator before you went with DEA. He was alive and conscious, moving his head, trying to figure out what happened to him. He was ambushed when 911 was called. Professor Dan Markle was still alive. Yeah, he was in his last final moments and he was displaying. He was displaying actions of a person who's dying there, probably had snored respiration, which I'm sure if we interviewed that guy who made that call, he heard the snoring respirations. He's not talking. He's mumbling. He has no idea what happened. And he's bleeding out and he's going into death as his blood seeps out of his body. He can't tell anybody anything. And he gives the detectives quite the job. Well, Robert Crispin, you're talking about snoring are you talking about a death rasp is that what you're talking about the death rattle the death snore you know i think uh

anybody who's seen somebody shot or dying in front of them that's one of the signs exhibited they call it the death rattle or the death snore you know speaking of to dr eric eason joining me in addition to robert crispin on the scene dr Dr. Eason, thank you for being with us, board certified forensic pathologist. What is that? The death rattle? What does that mean? I mean, you and I are familiar with it, but for those of lucky people that haven't heard it before, explain what was happening as Professor Markle died, a father of two very young little boys. It's just agonal respirations is what we call it when someone has sustained an injury and they're going through the dying process and just a reflect activity will keep you breathing.

Part of the problem or part of the issue with this case here is that he was shot in the head. So there's probably a big chance that there was a fracture of the base of the skull, which would have led to a blood entering into the oral cavity and being aspirated. So it's probably a combination of the agonal reflect respirations combined with aspirating his own blood is probably what was going on here. I mean, this is so much to take in. We need to shrink. To Dr. Judy Ho joining me, clinical and forensic neuropsychologist, author of The New Rules of Attachment and Stop Self-Sabotage at drjudyho.com. Dr. Judy, thank you for being with us. I'm having a hard time getting my arms around what we're hearing because the mother-in-law, who is yet to be proven to be part of the murder of Professor Markell.

I had such a great mother-in-law and father-in-law. Believe it or not, we never had a single crossword ever. And now the mother-in-law is accused of murder and she is coming up with one cockamamie excuse after the next to get Bond like Diddy for Pete's sake. She claims she has an earwax problem. She claims she can't sleep. She claims she doesn't get enough exercise. So, but I think it's really going to be hard if this thing goes to trial for a jury to understand that a mother-in-law would do this to her own grandchildren, even if she doesn't like the son-in-law. Dr. Judy? Exactly, Nancy. I mean, I get that she's presumed innocent until she's proven guilty. But with all of these excuses, she's really playing the sympathy card hard. And I think the jury is going to have a really hard time because it's like,

hello, your son-in-law is dead and you are being accused of being the mastermind behind his murder. You seem really obsessed with all these things from really tiny, small complaints to the bigger ones. What about the fact that you might want to be lamenting the death of your son-in-law and the loss of a father figure for your grandchildren? Joining me right now is a special guest, Dave Ehrenberg, a very dear friend, Professor Dan Markell, Palm Beach County State Attorney. Dave, thank you for being with us. Do you recall when you learned Dan not only had passed away, but was murdered? Yeah, it's good to be with you, Nancy. When I first heard about Dan's murder, I was shell-shocked because here's a guy who didn't have any known enemies. He was someone who cared deeply about his family, as you correctly said, and he made an impact on his

students. He could have made a lot more money in the private sector, but he cared deeply about educating future generations. And who would want to kill someone like that? I had no answers. And it really is still a shock that you have someone without any previous criminal record, Donna Adelson, who obviously thought she was above the law, allegedly, but she is someone who there's a growing evidence that she was the mastermind. And it's unbelievable how you have someone who previously has not had a life of crime to think that they could get away with first degree murder. But on the other hand, that is the type of person who would try to say earwax means she needs to get out of jail pending trial when no one accused of first degree murder has ever been allowed out of jail pretrial because of earwax.

I don't think it's ever happened in the history of the country. I want to follow up on what you're saying, Dave, and I want to circle back to you regarding how you learned that your longtime friend, Dan, had been murdered. That, I mean, just the complaint of the mother-in-law that she should get bond and walk free because of earwax, because she can't hear, because people are too loud behind bars, because she's not getting a good night's sleep. Jelaine Maxwell said the same thing. That didn't work because she's not. Oh, yes. She's not getting enough exercise. I mean, that just shows what a pampered and privileged life she has led. I mean, she's not thinking anything about Dan. How many times have we seen in these homicide cases, and Dave Ehrenberg, he'll tell you,

these domestic related homicide investigations, they always filter back. They go to the top of the food chain, the grandmother. The grandmother's funding the litigation because the person can't afford it. That's all right. I'll fund it. I don't like him. I love those kids. I'm going to get you your kids. These things are not uncommon. Murder is uncommon. And the way this went down is really uncommon, but it's not uncommon for someone like Donna Allison to get involved, fund it and try to do any vindictive way to get those kids to her daughter and get them down to South Florida in Miami. I mean, come on. Who wouldn't? You know, Dave Ehrenberg joining us out of West Palm Beach, former Palm Beach County state attorney, now private attorney. Dave, tell me how you discovered Dan

had been murdered. A good friend of mine called me, who was also close with Danny, and told me this had happened. And it was just, you never expect to get that phone call that a friend of yours had been murdered, especially one like Danny, who did not engage in any high risk behavior. You know, he wasn't a drug user. He didn't do things that put him in bad situations. He was a loving dad. And ironically, that's the behavior that led to this tragedy is that he loved his kids so much that he wasn't about to let them go down to South Florida without a fight.

But he believed in the system. He believed that you could go to the courts and the person who wins in the courts wins, as opposed to taking matters into your own hands. So it was shocking, Nancy. I still can't believe that this actually happened to someone I know. And no one deserves this fate, but especially not someone who gave his life to others like Danny did. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

To Joel Waldman, joining me now, co-host of Surviving the Survivor, author of Surviving the Survivor. You know, I'm just very curious, Joel, you have been investigating this ever since it first happened. Now, we heard Robert Crispin talking about potential motive for murder. Now, explain to me, Joel, the goings on leading up to Dan's murder regarding custody of the two little boys. Yeah, so that's really at the crux of all this. And thank you for having me, Nancy. Great to be here.

The marriage, like many marriages, began to go south. And Wendy Adelson, Wendy with an I, and Dan, the marriage was beginning to crumble. They get a divorce. And then at the center are these two beautiful kids, Benjamin and Lincoln. And Mama Donna Adelson, she jumps in, according to all reports and according to all accounts, at Wendy's behest and basically starts tearing apart Dan Markell saying, look, you can't stay up in Tallahassee. I want my kids down here in Miami. I happen to live myself in Miami Beach and I know that condo. And it is absolutely stunning to think of the contrast now with her being in the Leon County Jail. Donna Adelson arrested trying to board a flight to Vietnam tells a judge she was just looking for a little peace before turning herself in on murder charges. Will the court buy her excuse? Why is law professor Dan Markell dead?

Why was he murdered? What, if anything, does his mother-in-law, a multimillionaire, have to do with it? As you heard, shared custody, joint custody was ordered by the court. But that wouldn't do for the mother-in-law. Listen. After the court prevents Wendy Adelson from moving to South Florida with the children, court records indicate that Wendy Adelson's mother, Donna, suggests the family offer Markell $1 million to allow the children to relocate to South Florida.

Donna and her husband Harvey will contribute a third. Charlie Adelson, Wendy's brother, will contribute a third. Wendy will pay a third. Donna Adelson also suggests telling Markell that Wendy Adelson is going to have the boys converted to Catholicism. Knowing Markell and his family are strict in the Jewish faith, Donna Adelson believes the mere thought of his children being baptized and raised Catholic would convince him to let the boys move to Miami. Wendy Adelson rejects her mother's ideas, making Donna Adelson very mad. Straight back out to longtime friend, Professor Markell's Dave Ehrenberg.

Dave, now normally I would not suspect a family member of orchestrating a murder, basically hiring a hitman. But now that I hear a bribe was to be offered to your friend in order to relinquish his visitation with the children. Did you know about the bribe mother-in-law came up with? I did not. But there is still a big step between offering a bribe, a settlement amount, and trying to kill Dan Markell. And I think the difference is that the maestro got involved. And that was Donna's son, Charlie, who thought he could wave a magic wand and make all Wendy's problems disappear. And you don't have to trust me on the fact that he's the maestro.

He called himself that. That was his license plate on his Lamborghini. So it's just who he is. And his mother went along and now she's paying the price. To Tim Jansen joining me, veteran criminal defense attorney, former federal prosecutor, legal analyst for the Tallahassee a newspaper. Tim, thank you for being with us. A million dollar bribe to make Dan Markell give up custody. That's evil. She couldn't get the grandkids to come down there. So they offer him money, thinking that he would give money up for his children, thinking he's that shallow. He would take money. Well, when that didn't work, Plan B went into effect,

and she left the maestro, Charlie, to hire these people to commit these crimes. This is what the allegations are, and that these people who couldn't even do it right the first time shot the car the first time. Then they came back up here and committed this crime, and then we have the bump, and we have this secret coded calls between the grandmother and Charlie. Everything is giving you a clear picture of what was happening. Grandma wanted the kids and Wendy.

She didn't care what she was going to do to get it. But yet, Tim Jansen, the daughter, Markel's wife, now ex-wife, has not been charged. But she was. Go ahead. You know, she hasn't been charged yet. And the problem you have is a couple of the recordings. They had the title three wires. There's some exculpatory statements made by Charlie and Donna that this involves the two of us, only us, or she doesn't realize how lucky she is, what we did for her. And then they gave her immunity, which you've got to

get around that. She's testified for the state. Trust me, if Georgia and Jack Campbell, the state attorney, thought they had enough evidence to charge Wendy, they would have. I just believe the evidence. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Robert Crispin joining me there on the scene, private investigator, former Fed, Crispin. So let me understand this. The mother-in-law and her son, the maestro, I believe he was a dentist. They go to great pains on the phone to say,

she knows nothing about this. She's not part of this. What? I've never heard anything like that. Why would you go out of your way to say, now remember, I know you and I are in this, but nobody else is part of this. Right, mom? Of course. I mean, you have to start covering is part of this. Right, mom? Of course. I mean, you have to start covering the other family members. Who's going to take care of the kids if everyone goes to prison? So she's going to cover it for her daughter. And they're going to throw these little tidbits out thinking they're throwing law enforcement off.

Oh, she said nobody else is involved. So let's not follow anybody. Yeah, right. I don't think so. I'm glad she said that because as an investigator, I'm looking at every single thing that she's saying. And I'm like, oh, so she is potentially involved. Let's look into this. So those statements that she made during that call, they're priceless for an investigator. Dave Aronson will tell you that those are great statements.

Yeah, I'm thinking through everything. And I mentioned that the mother-in-law thinks she should get out of jail because she's got earwax, but she also wants to get out of jail because she says the jail food is making her gain weight. Okay. She says the diet behind bars is just all carbs like spaghetti and mashed potatoes, cornbread. That's your dinner. Those are her words, not mine. Okay, so she's gaining weight and she has earwax. Ergo, she deserves bond. No way, granny. Not when you listen to this. So you're saying his head is bloody now? Yeah, it's been bloody. I mean, it's the window shattered. I don't know if he's tried to shoot himself. I don't know what the situation is.

And it's the driver's side window, correct? That's correct. He's still moving around, so he's alive. Okay. Looks like I should have an officer coming up the roadway. Okay, well, we need amt well the officer's going to be there first they're not going to come until we figure out what's going on but they're on the way as well okay you better be if this guy's got a shot a shocking recorded jail call between a florida grandmother and her convicted killer son could be thrown out will the judge suppress the recorded call? I would say that there's certainly good information and indications that, you know,

since there's no known relationship between Mr. Rivera or Mr. Garcia and Professor Markell, that obviously there was not a random act that they came up here for him. Straight out to Joel Wallman joining me, co-host of an incredible podcast called Surviving the Survivor. Joel, where are the two little boys now? Who has them? Yeah, well, this is very interesting. So according to all reports, Wendy Adelson has now moved from South Florida. She was living right near her mother in that really nice area of South Beach, but is now reportedly moved to Austin, Texas. She has a new boyfriend. All we know about him, his first name is George, J-O-R-G-E.

And he is living with them apparently in Austin. But what's interesting, of course, which I think you'll get into, is that Donna Adelson, who we've been talking about, the reason she is now behind bars is that she had purchased a one-way ticket to Vietnam via Dubai and was arrested at the airport. So many people, and I've had Tim on my show many times, as well as Dave Ehrenberg, they believe that the feds, at the very least, have eyes on Wendy. But some are wondering, is she kind of inching further south to maybe make a run for it herself? Her time could be coming up or it's questionable, but Georgia Kaplan,

who is the prosecutor in this case, her father played football at FSU. He's very competitive as she is. And there's a personal animus, I think, from her toward Wendy. And I think that they personally are going to go after Wendy. They've been going in order here, one by one by one. Donna is up next and then maybe Wendy. But she is in Austin, Texas, by all accounts. Yeah, I'm going to get to the mother-in-law trying to flee to Vietnam, which, by the way, does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S. And the mother-in-law confesses that she knew that, that she studied it before she planned to go to Vietnam to get peace.

OK, speaking of the reasons, it's Diddy all over again. I'm referring to Sean Combs, a.k.a. Diddy, a.k.a. Puff, Puffy, Puff Daddy, Love, it goes on and on, who insists that he should be out from behind bars awaiting trial, just like Adelson. Just recently, Sean Combs claiming he had a knee problem. Really? From what? Now, listen to this complaint from the mother-in-law. I've gained more than a third of my body weight here. The diet is all carbs, no protein.

And, you know, when you get spaghetti with mashed potatoes, cornbread and white bread, that's your dinner. It's very typical of what we get. And we have had no exercise at all. Oh, Crispin, help me. Of all the people on our panel, and they're all experts in their own right, she is complaining about spaghetti. Nobody's fixing me spaghetti tonight. If I want dinner, I'm cooking it myself. Wait, let me understand this. She doesn't want spaghetti. She doesn't want mashed potatoes. She doesn't want cornbread. What? Well, so I'll put it nicely. Where she lives has the most amazing restaurants in the country. As a matter of fact, some of the restaurants here

in Miami are the best in the world. So her dining that way is out. The a matter of fact, some of the restaurants here in Miami are the best in the world. So her dining that way is out. The carbs, the spaghetti, the mashed potatoes. Hey, that's jail. Sorry, suck it up. You're gaining weight. Guess what? Weight keeps you warm. Jails are ice cold. Okay, I'll pass that along. It's not just complaining about her gaining weight. There's so much more. But the irony, Joel Wallman, the irony, her son-in-law, Dan, well-known in the legal community, brilliant, right? Brilliant legal scholar, was murdered, was still moving around trying to communicate in the front seat of his car in his own garage. A hit man has been hired and has turned over and is testifying a hit man, all of this. And she's whining about the spaghetti. The boys will never know their father. My father, the closest person in

the world to me, my father, they'll never know their father, Joel. And she's whining about the marinara. Yeah, this was really tough to watch. This was a hearing that went on for about four hours. And there's a laundry list. You mentioned the earwax. She was complaining that her ear canals are smaller than a typical human. So she needs them washed out. But to your point, I mean, Dan is no longer with us. Some of her other complaints include that the mattress is too thin. And like you just heard that she put on a third of her body weight behind bars and that poor old Donna has to go to the commissary now to buy cans of tuna so she gets enough protein. I mean, talk about a person that is not aware of the story surrounding her.

I mean, she just has either her head in the sand or is just so self-centered that it's of epic proportions. I think most people who watched this were just incredulous at some of these comments that she was making. But the bottom line is she doesn't like jail. She wants to get out. Maybe she should have thought about this

before she allegedly set up this murder for hire plot. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. crime stories with nancy grace dr judy ho joining me clinical forensic neuropsychologist and author what does narcissism mean well i think we're possibly seeing some displays of that right here, Nancy. I don't think she has too much self-awareness. And narcissism traits would include thinking that your problems are more important than other people's, having very low insight into how your behaviors affect others, seeing people as essentially pawns to further your own agenda. And most of all, narcissism, when attacked directly or indirectly, that person will lash out. If you try to call them out on any of their

behaviors that are unseemly, they will react in an extremely negative way. And it might become a vendetta for them to start to shoot you down and to make you feel horrible about yourself. Dr. Judy, narcissism is named after the mythical creature, person, personality, Narcissus, who was so in love with himself. He spent days and days staring at his own reflection in a pool of water until he fell in and died. That's who Narcissus is. It's all about her. And that bears out here, Crispin, you were saying earlier, Robert Crispin, PI in this jurisdiction, former Fed, joining us there on the scene at a beautiful view of those high rises behind you. It's amazing to me that she, instead of trying to work out a solution or have her

daughter for Pete's work out a solution, I believe the daughter's a lawyer, work out a solution to custody. It was a better idea to just murder the dad. And you know, these children will never have a recollection of the father, but wait for it, Crispin. Not only is she whining about the spaghetti, listen. So I have, I have a hearing issue. Okay. I have a problem. I evidently have very narrow ear canals. And so doing, get the wax builds up in my ears to the point that I mean I have officers

that say to me are you deaf Adelson when I don't respond to them it's because I don't hear them very narrow ear canals crispin she wants bond not just a murder not just i get mad in a bar and pull a gun boom boom over a very well thought out murder for hire which is an aggravating circumstance under which death penalty can be sought murder for hire it's not just premeditated it's murder for hire. It's not just premeditated. It's murder for hire. And she is whining about her earwax. Yeah, she's definitely grasping at straws, isn't she? But that's not going to happen in this particular case. Not with these alleged set of circumstances. And Nancy, right over my shoulder where her two million dollar condo is, if I go on the roof and I look, I could probably throw a rock and hit the runways of the Miami International Airport. So by the time she got here, if she did, got that

ankle bracelet off, it's already wheels up and she's gone. And we all know, sadly enough, how easy it is to get fake passwords, fake ID and flee. She's not getting out and she's making herself look worse by not addressing what really happened. The Florida State University criminal law professor was pulling into his driveway and talking on his cell phone when he was fatally shot. News reports say the killer was waiting for Markell outside his home in Tallahassee's Baton Hill section, then followed Markell into the garage when he opened it. Markell was shot in the side of the head through the window of his car. The bullet entered just beneath Markell's jawline.

Police also released a photo of a car they are calling a vehicle of interest. It's a silver Prius-like car seen in the area. It's Sean Combs, Diddy, and the real estate bros charged with sex trafficking all over again. Millionaires who are so arrogant, they think they should be out on bond. Forget about the crimes in this case, an alleged murder for hire. That's right. The millionaire monster-in-law accused of masterminding the murder of her son-in-law when custody became an issue claims earwax, bad spaghetti, and lack of exercise are reasons enough for her to get bond. Wait a minute. Didn't she try to flee to Vietnam? Listen.

So my husband actually had said, you know, we've been to Vietnam before with friends. We were on vacation, and it really was like a place of peace. And so he said, if we go to a non-extradition country, then if the law enforcement decided that they wanted to arrest you or me, whatever, both, he said, then he said, we won't be sitting in a foreign prison waiting months to go back. We can buy a ticket and we can go home. And my understanding was that I could go home and I could turn myself in if that's what they wanted. What is she talking about, Joel Waldman? It's a great question, and I have no idea.

I wish I could answer that one for you. But again, she buys this. And by the way, for the life of me, I mean, these are people with a lot of financial means. They're taken off one week to the day after their son is convicted on these first-degree murder and conspiracy charges. And they buy a one-way ticket. I mean, the jurors are going to hear this, and it is just consciousness of guilt ringing and a dinging. I mean, she should have at least bought a two-way ticket, but there is absolutely no way a jury is going to buy that she went to a non-extradition country just for the fact that

it would make it easier for herself to turn herself into officials back here stateside. It's such BS, technical legal term. You know, let's get real. Dr. Eric Eason with me, board certified forensic pathologist. Dr. Eason, we know that Dan, the father of these two little boys, dearly loved his children. He would not, even for a million dollars, give up custody or let them move. He was very much 50-50 a part of their lives. Okay. We know he was alive when the neighbors came over. He was moving around trying to communicate. What would he be, what would he have known of? What would he be aware at the time of his death? I mean, he would have likely been aware that he sustained some type of trauma. You know, apparently it was two men who came up and

fired two shots into his car. And then he would have sustained the injuries and, you know, he lived for a couple of hours. But from what I was seeing in the articles, I just don't think that he was very conscious at the time. I think he was just like barely alive, just kind of barely hanging on. So he may not have. Hanging on and trying to say something to the neighbor, moving around. And after all that, the mother-in-law goes to court and starts crying about her own release over the pasta and the earwax. I mean, that is a nerve. And the trip to Vietnam to seek peace. Listen. Listen, when you were looking at places to go those couple of days after Charlie Adelson's trial, you were specifically looking for countries that did not have extradition with the U.S. For the reason I just told you.

Right. And the reason that you're saying that you were looking for countries with no extradition was so that you could get back faster in order to be arrested in the U.S. Wait a minute, granny. Uh-uh. Listen. It's because, I don't know, maybe we watch too much TV or too many movies, but I've seen movies where people are stuck in like third world prisons and waiting and waiting and waiting. And my feeling was this is not what we want to happen. If we, if, if the state says they want us to come back, we'll buy a ticket. We'll

come back on our own terms. We don't have to be sitting in a jail somewhere. We'll come back home and turn ourselves in. To Robert Crispin, have you ever heard anything like it? And when you're watching somebody lie, she's like blinking her eyes and looking around and pausing, trying to explain why she had a one-way ticket to Vietnam. She's trying to make it believable to the prosecutor, but that's just not happening. It's just not happening. A tearful Donna Adelson begs a judge for bond, alleging inmate assaults and extortion during her time so far behind bars. If we were asking for something lenient, I could see the state's opposition. But we're not.

We're asking for you to hold her outside of the jail in the most stringent conditions she could possibly be monitored just to allow her to be with her attorneys, get her doctor's appointments, and get ready for the trial that her entire life depends upon. In her high-rise luxury condo worth $2 million, this is Diddy all over again. Remember, he wants out of MDC Metropolitan Detention Center on a slew of federal sex trafficking charges and wanted to be bucked up in his old digs, luxury digs, with an ankle monitor, promising, I won't contact any

women. Okay, that was denied. So let me understand this. The defense attorney is asking for basically house arrest. We're waiting to see where that ultimately lands as this goes to trial. But to Joel Waldman joining us, co-host Surviving the Survivor, what is the strongest evidence against the mother-in-law? I mean, there's a bunch, you know, she's caught on the so-called bump tape. That is a FBI undercover who meets her in front of that building. And basically, after that call, the bump is executed perfectly. She contacts Charlie. And this is what Tim Jantzman was talking about earlier. And she refers to them being on to the two of us.

So that implies that she is part of this. Now, back to Vietnam for a moment, there are WhatsApp messages. And by the way, when she was arrested at the airport with her husband, they also seized some cell phones and iPads. So we don't know exactly what's on there, but some WhatsApp messages have been revealed to a company called Sun China Indo Travel. And she was essentially asking this travel agency. She was saying, hey, I need to get to Vietnam as fast as possible. This is right after the conviction of her son. She says in a series of messages that get more and more frantic, I need a visa. I need an expedited

visa. How do I get an expedited visa? Get me this visa. These things are not going to look well for her. Joining me, Dave Mack, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. What is the strongest evidence against the mother-in-law? Actually, it's a phone call that was made when Charlie Adelson was convicted of the crime of murder. He was on the phone talking to his mother, and that's where she is going off the deep end, suggesting a couple of different things she needs to do. One of those, commit suicide. The other, leave the country and get to a place where she cannot be extradited. That's the big piece of evidence they've got, Nancy. Okay, so wait a minute, Dr. Judy Ho, forensic neuropsychologist, when your grandchildren are down a dad, the dad's murdered,

why would you commit suicide instead of rushing to their aid and helping them? Exactly. That doesn't make any sense. And this is just another example of just coming up with ideas that clearly don't have any factual basis, no experiential basis. This is not what a normal person would be expected to do in a crisis like this. And it's just all part of the ploy to say, hey, look, we have nothing to do with this. This has nothing to do with us. Okay, to you, Joel Wallman, co-host of Surviving the Survivor, what is the strongest evidence against the mother-in-law?

Yeah, I mean, collectively, I would say what your previous guest just said, these jailhouse calls. After Charlie's conviction, which was November 6th of 2023, Charlie and Donna speak for something like four or five hours a day for the next seven days until she is ultimately arrested. And they're talking about what happened. A lot of that is incriminating. They're talking about their disgust at Wendy for not giving and showing more support during the trial. But then, as I mentioned previously, there is something very well known within this case called the bump where an FBI undercover basically approaches Donna Adelson pretending to be

these hitmen that she hired or at least friends of these hitmen. And she just takes it, you know, hook, line ander, and then is immediately on the phone with Charlie, basically saying at that point, they're onto the two of us, essentially. And then after her arrest, they have WhatsApp messages. And Donna is WhatsAppping a place called Indo-Sun China Travel, Indo-Sun China Travel. And she is asking for preparations to go to Vietnam. She wants a visa. Then she messages again and says she wants an expedited visa. And how does she even expedite it beyond that? So the urgency, and this is all happening in the week after Charlie's convicted until she is ultimately arrested. And then, of course, it's that one way ticket to Vietnam.

You weren't planning to come back. But now she's making the case that she picked that non extradition country so she could turn herself in. I'd like to see a jury of her peers by that. We wait as justice unfolds. And now we remember an American hero trooperoper Tamar Bucci, Massachusetts State Police, passed away in the line of duty, survived by Mother Meryl, Stepfather Jim, Father Anthony. American hero, Trooper Tamar Bucci. Nancy Grace signing off.

Goodbye, friend.