Hidden True Crime - The Adelson Family & Murder of Dan Markel: FULL STORY & CASE UPDATE

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Starting point is 00:01:52 Welcome to Hidden True Crime. If you're new to our channel, my name is Laura Matthias. I am a former TV reporter and an investigative journalist. I host Hidden True Crime with my co-host, Dr. John Matthias, a forensic psychologist. We cover the whys behind crimes and criminals. In this episode, we are doing a deep dive on the murder of Dan Markell. And to understand this story, we have to go back to the beginning, back to where it all began. And that is a divorce.

Starting point is 00:02:23 Divorces are often challenging and emotional, and they can certainly bring out the worst in a couple who once had a love and respect for one another. And if children are involved, custody battles can sometimes turn the most reasonable people into fierce competitors. And when family members from either side become involved, boundaries can blur and amplify tensions and negativity towards the ex-spouse. And that is exactly what happened during Wendy Adelson and Dan Markell's divorce. Wendy was miserable living in Tallahassee, Florida and wanted to move to be closer to her family in Miami. The only obstacle in the way was Dan because he wasn't keen on the idea of Wendy taking their children hundreds of miles away, especially since they shared 50-50 custody. Wendy's family was willing to go above and beyond to help her with this Dan problem, even if that meant eradicating it completely.

Starting point is 00:03:18 There have already been four convictions in this case, and matriarch Donna Adelson has been in custody since November of 2023, waiting for. her day in court. In this video, we'll be going over everything you need to know before her highly awaited a trial that was recently postponed so you can form your own opinion on what you think happened in this truly tragic case. On paper, Dan Markell and Wendy Adelson seemed to be the perfect couple. They were both from wealthy Jewish families, had law degrees, and were incredibly intelligent with long-term career aspirations and goals. However, as we know, just because two people have a lot in common, that doesn't necessarily mean they are meant to be together forever. Dan Markell was born on October 9th, 1972 in Montreal, Canada. His parents, Phil and Ruth,

Starting point is 00:04:12 ran two successful businesses, and they were able to create in a fluent life for Dan and his older sister Shelly. Dan's family was very involved in their local synagogue, making sure that they were emmashed in their Jewish heritage as much as possible. And from a young age, Dan had a passion for engaging in intellectual conversations and debating topics of interest with his peers. In high school, he excelled on the debate team, which would be a precursor for his career later on. He moved to Massachusetts to pursue his undergraduate degrees, doubling majors in politics and philosophy. at Harvard University. He graduated with magna cum laude honors and then relocated to Israel to further his studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He obtained a master's degree in political theory

Starting point is 00:05:04 from Emmanuel College in Cambridge before returning to Harvard to earn his law degree, graduating in 2001. Dan went on to become a criminal defense attorney in Washington, D.C., but in 2004, he decided that he wanted more out of life than just a successful career. He joined a website called J. Date, which is basically like a Christian mingle, but for people of the Jewish faith. On J. Date, he came across a beautiful law student from Miami, Florida, named Wendy Adelson, and the two quickly hit it off. Wendy was born on April 22, 1979, to parents Donna and Harvey Adelson in Miami, Florida. Wendy's parents met in New York City, but her parents, but her Her father Harvey went on to earn a degree in dentistry in Pennsylvania, while Donna earned her

Starting point is 00:05:53 degree in early childhood education. Soon after they got married and welcomed their first son, Robert, Donna decided to put her career on hold to focus on being a stay-at-home mom and raising their growing family. The Edelsoons were passionate about their Jewish faith and decided to move to Miami, Florida, where there was a large and growing Jewish population. They became heavily involved in their local synagogue and were developing close relationships with other Jewish families in the community. As Harvey's career was taking off in cosmetic dentistry, he and Donna welcomed another son named Charlie and then Wendy, three years later in 1979, and finally having a little girl completed the Edelson family. And Donna's sole focus going forward would be to make sure

Starting point is 00:06:36 that her children thrived and succeeded as much as possible. As the children got a little older, the family relocated about an hour north of Miami to a city called Whirl Springs, having a social life with other members of the Jewish community was very important to Donna. She volunteered at their new local synagogue and made sure the children always participated in programs so that they could grow strong ties with their fellow community members. Donna also loved to entertain in their beautiful home and presenting their family in the best light possible was one of her top priorities. More than just a housewife, Donna referred to herself as a domestic coordinator who saw to it that all of the children were in extensive extracurricular activities like sports, music, and art lessons.

Starting point is 00:07:24 She and Harvey wanted to give them the best chance to succeed as adults, and ultimately, all of the hard work Donna poured into them as children seemed to pay off. Their oldest son, Robert, would go on to earn a medical degree and became a doctor specializing in sinus surgery, as well as functional and cosmetic rhinoplasties. Charlie decided to follow in their father, Harvey's footsteps, earning a degree in dentistry and specializing in periodontics. Instead of settling down in one practice, Charlie traveled around to different offices around coastal Florida, performing surgeries wherever he was needed. He ultimately earned enough to actually purchase his father's practice and employed Harvey,

Starting point is 00:08:04 as well as other elite doctors who focused on dental aesthetics and implants. With so many successful people in one family, it is not hard to imagine. that the children were in constant competition with one another to earn their parents' favor. From a young age, it was obvious that Wendy was extremely intelligent and even graduated from her high school as valedictorian. She earned several full-ride scholarships, including the prestigious Bill Gates Scholarship, which is only awarded to about 1% of applicants. She earned her undergrad in peace and conflict studies, graduating Magna Commod, and then attended the University of Cambridge in England to earn her master's degree.

Starting point is 00:08:42 in international relations. In 2004, Wendy did an internship in Washington, D.C., before returning to Florida to attend law school at the University of Miami, again, on a full academic scholarship. With all of their accomplishments, Harvey and Donna could not have been more proud of their children. The only other thing they hoped for was that they would all settle down with a partner from the Jewish community. This isn't uncommon in many Jewish families, of course, and the desire is often rooted in their commitment to preserving their culture and traditions. However, when Robert went out of state to complete his medical residency, he ended up falling in love with an emergency medical physician named Haritha Chalopoli, even though Haritha was beautiful, an amazing doctor, and Robert was

Starting point is 00:09:27 head over heels for her. The Edelson's were not approving of the relationship. Baritha is of Indian descent and practiced Hindu, so she wasn't in line with the traditional Jewish wife that Donna and Harvey had in mind for their son Robert. And even though Robert was an adult and could make his own decisions, he was heavily pressured to please his family and decided to end his relationship with Ritha. He even went on to marry a woman his parents approved of. But just days after their wedding, he realized he made a big mistake and the marriage quickly was annulled. Robert decided that he wasn't going to let his parents' opinions dictate his happiness and quickly got back together with Haritha in spite of their cultural differences. They went on to get

Starting point is 00:10:12 married in 2005, and the first part of their wedding being traditionally Hindu and the second half reflecting Robert's Jewish traditions. And even though Donna and Harvey saved face for the wedding, it has been reported that afterwards they basically cut all ties with Robert. With Robert now out of the picture, Donna really began focusing her energy on making sure at least one of their children would fulfill the supposed obligations of settling down with a Jewish partner. Even though he was successful career-wise, Charlie had always been a little more difficult for Donna and Harvey to control. He saw himself as a playboy and cycled through countless women who were primarily interested in him for his money and lavish lifestyle. After Charlie purchased his father's dentistry practice,

Starting point is 00:11:00 the business was bringing in nearly $2 million a year on top of the money he was making by continuing to work as a traveling periodontist. It wasn't necessarily easy money, though, and Charlie did work extremely hard, long hours to get to this point in his business. He had very little time to settle down with a steady girlfriend, so he would just casually date and hook up with women, usually late at night or during the small amounts of free time he had. He also seemed to have a type. But for some reason, Harvey and Donna didn't pressure him nearly as much to find a traditional Jewish woman. It was kind of like they had higher standards for Robert and Wendy and basically just accepted that Charlie was going to do what he wanted to do. That's just a little bit ironic,

Starting point is 00:11:46 considering that they basically disowned Robert for marrying someone outside of their community. But for whatever reason, Charlie could do no wrong in their eyes. Some people believe that this leniency may have been because Charlie was benefiting the family financially. And extremely close with his parents, instead of going off and forging his own path, almost like they saw him as more loyal and devoted to the family than, say, Robert. Regardless, their only hope now was Wendy. And even though she was laser-focused on her career, Donna began pressuring Wendy to join the website J-Date, to hopefully find a suitable Jewish partner.

Starting point is 00:12:25 Now, I mentioned earlier that Wendy and Dan did meet on the J-Date website back in 2004. while Dan was living in Washington, D.C. Wendy was finishing her law degree from the University of Miami, but they began chatting back and forth and having deep conversations. It was obvious that Wendy was beautiful with her huge smile and striking blue eyes, but more than that, she could keep up with Dan's quick wit and had a great sense of humor as well. Both Dan and Wendy have been described as charismatic, but Wendy was able to bring Dan out of a serious and at times pretentious shell. Wendy confined in her mom that she wasn't actually physically attracted to Dan, but Donna convinced her that relationships go far beyond looks, and he was a perfect match for her.

Starting point is 00:13:14 They began visiting each other in Washington, D.C. and Miami, and as their long-distance relationship progressed, they began discussing their future together as a couple. Even though Dan was working as a lawyer at this time, he talked to Wendy about his long-term goals of becoming a law professor. In 2005, Dan and Wendy became engaged, and he relocated to Florida to be closer to his fiancé while she graduated from law school. Dan planned on getting another job working as an attorney, at least until Wendy was able to start her career, because becoming a professor would be a significant pay cut. However, when he was offered a job as an assistant professor at Florida State University, Dan couldn't pass it up. The only thing was that FSU College of Law was located in

Starting point is 00:14:03 Tallahassee about a seven-hour drive from Miami. He also made the decision to sign what is referred to as a 10-year contract, which meant he would have to spend several years on a probationary period before becoming promoted to a full-time high-salary professor. In his contract, Dan negotiated for the school to hold a position for Wendy to work as an adjunct professor after she graduated. And even though Wendy wasn't sure if she wanted this position, she got so wrapped up with the excitement that comes to planning a wedding. And she never really sat down and talked to Dan about this decision that he had pretty much made for the both of them. In fact, Wendy really didn't like Tallahassee at all and much more preferred living in the bustling city life of Miami. She was also nervous about moving so far away from her family and basically being out in a new town with no support system.

Starting point is 00:14:59 Regardless, the planning move forward and Wendy tried her best to just go with the flow. Wendy and Dan were married on February 26, 2006, and even though it was a beautiful and lavish ceremony, There were some hiccups that would later turn into red flags about the Adelson family. For starters, even though the Mark held Adelson families were Jewish, they didn't strictly follow most of the Orthodox doctrine such as eating kosher foods. However, Dan knew that many of the guests on his side of the family did and requested that the catering at the wedding be kosher. Donna originally agreed, especially since Dan's family was paying for half of the wedding.

Starting point is 00:15:41 Unfortunately, Dan was absolutely mortified at the reception when he found out that Donna had not ordered kosher catering and had to make an incredibly embarrassing announcement to the guests who were already in the middle of eating. Donna was very upset by this as well. And even though she had grown up Jewish and knew how important this was to many Orthodox Jews, she tried to say it wasn't a big deal and that Dan was overreacting. In addition, the Edelson asked Dan to tell his family not to mention that he attended Harvard or any other of his big accomplishments because they didn't want the shine to be taken away

Starting point is 00:16:16 from Wendy. These things started to show Dan that the Edelson's didn't necessarily care about him, his success or opinions, only how he made Wendy and her family look to other people. Once married and in Tallahassee, it became clear to Dan that Wendy had a complex about her getting the job at FSU as a spousal hire rather than on her own merit. She made it. constantly known that she hated Tallahassee, which had much more of a southern small town field than where she was from. Dan tried to assure her that he would eventually get a different job in another city, but wanted to make sure that they both had stable jobs for the time being while they tried to start having a family. Wendy and Dan went on to welcome two sons in 2009 and in

Starting point is 00:17:04 2010. They lived in a beautiful three-bredroom home in an upscale neighborhood. And from the outside, it seemed that they had it all. However, as Dan's career and popularity as a professor grew, so did Wendy's resentment towards him. In Wendy's opinion, she began taking on all the responsibility of taking care of their sons, and Dad would only see them for short periods in the evenings when he got home from work. And since Dan's family lived in Canada, and Wendy's were hours away in Miami, she felt like she had no real support.

Starting point is 00:17:39 And to Wendy, it felt like all of her career aspirations were being put on the back burner to Dan's. In a city, she hated living as a housewife while he fulfilled all of his dreams. The growth in his tenure at the college made it clear that he didn't have any plans of leaving soon, like he originally said. But Dan was changing in other ways as well. I mentioned how Dan had always been very involved in his Jewish culture. But now that they had children, he wanted to make sure he immersed them in it. as much as he could, he started observing many more Orthodox beliefs and changed his and his son's diet to strictly kosher. Wendy had no desire to do this, which meant that all of their meals

Starting point is 00:18:21 had to be prepared separately in the home, and they had to make special accommodations for the boys at school as well. Wendy started to feel like there was just a lot happening that she didn't sign up for, like her and Dan were on completely separate pages in what she thought life was going to look like. Dan's... career progressed to not only teaching, but also participating in out-of-town conferences. So Wendy began going to visit her family in Miami more often. With two toddlers, she had a hard time making the drive alone, and Donna would fly to Tallahassee and drive back down to Miami with her. Her parents never really liked the idea of Wendy being on the road alone

Starting point is 00:19:00 and wanted to do everything they could to help. In Miami, Wendy would open up about how she was feeling, living in Tallahassee, how she was feeling emotionally neglected. by Dan and just all over miserable. Resentment was starting to build with Wendy's family. So not just Wendy, but Wendy's family towards Dan for keeping her away from them. And more tension arose when Donna refused to stick to Dan's strict kosher diet for the boys while they were with her. Both sides were feeling disrespected and it was causing a major rift in Dan and Wendy's marriage. Given the fact that Dan was a lawyer and argumentative by nature, he remembered like to debate,

Starting point is 00:19:41 Wendy had a hard time even verbalizing her feelings to him. She started to become depressed and decided to write a book to have something else to focus on, besides her marriage that was crumbling behind closed doors. Even though her book was supposed to be a work of fiction, she titled it, quote, This is Our Story, end quote. And it had obvious parallels to her real life. In the book, one of the main characters was an immigration attorney named Lily, who hated having to move to a small town in Florida for her husband's job as a professor. I mean, she could have at least been a little more subtle.

Starting point is 00:20:15 And similarly in the book, Lily and her husband had marital problems. She went on to secretly adopt a baby from a client who could no longer care for it, left her husband and created a new life on her own. And even though the book did have some differences, it was obviously a way for Wendy to relay. to Dan how she was feeling without actually having to say it. Now, there are conflicting reports onto whether or not Dan took the time to actually read the book, but if he had, he may have noticed that it was almost like an omen of what was to come in their own marriage. Wendy began discussing with her family ways she could leave Dan and move to Miami with the boys, but knew that he loved their sons and would not go down without a fight. And even though they weren't the best

Starting point is 00:21:00 at communicating, Dan did begin to take notice that things were changing with Wendy. And they decided to go to couple's therapy. He thought they were working towards resolving their issues. But at home, Wendy just seemed to be becoming more depressed and withdrawn from him. In September of 2012, well, on a work trip in New York, Dan confided in a friend about the changes and said that Wendy actually hadn't been answering any of his calls the entire time that he had been away. The friend told him to consider taking a break from work and just to focus on rebuilding his marriage. However, what Dan didn't know was that it was already too late.

Starting point is 00:21:39 And the reason Wendy hadn't been answering is because she was busy packing. When she did finally call, Wendy advised Dan that she was leaving and their marriage was over. He made his way back to Tallahassee as quickly as possible, but by the time he got home, Wendy was already gone and a stack of divorced documents were laid out on their bed. Obviously, Dan knew that things were not the best in their relationship, but he never could have predicted that Wendy would just leave without warning. She had also taken half of all of their marital belongings, half of the money from their savings and from their investment accounts,

Starting point is 00:22:16 and it was clear this wasn't some spur of the moment decision. Wendy had been planning for him to go out of town again so that her parents could come to help her move back out behind his back without telling him. When Dan was able to get Wendy back on the phone, he found out that she had taken the boys to Miami. Dan did everything he could to convince Wendy to come back, that things would change. And even he said he would quit his job and move to Miami immediately if it meant that they could stay together. Unfortunately, Wendy was unmoved and had her mind long made up. In her eyes, these efforts were too little, too late. After months of trying to win Wendy back to no avail, Dan's desperation started to turn into anger,

Starting point is 00:23:05 primarily because she refused to tell him the address where she was staying with the boys. In the divorce, taking half of their assets was one thing, but taking their sons away was completely another, and it was not going to fly. Dan was ready to put up the least. legal fight of a lifetime. Divorce proceedings are never pleasant in anyone's lives, but for two attorneys who felt wrong by the other, things got nasty really quick. In Wendy's mind, she had already been the boy's primary parent with Dan constantly working and going out of town. She didn't see any problem with moving them to Miami and letting Dan see them here or there when he had time off. About four months after the initial split, Wendy filed a petition with the court asking for sole custody of the boys.

Starting point is 00:23:56 She cited that she had been offered a job at a law firm in Miami and wanted permission to officially move them into her parents' home. The Adelson's honestly had it in their minds that this petition would be granted and started making plans for where the boys would go to school. They talked about how great it was going to be living under one roof so that Donna and Harvey could, finally see their grandsons and daughter every day. They even mentioned that the boys would have a positive male figure in their lives, like their successful Uncle Charlie. Unfortunately for Wendy, four months later, the judge made his decision, which did not go according to any of these grand plans. Not only would Wendy not be receiving full custody, but she was also banned from moving the boys away from Dan until they turned 18. Basically, if DeVosy,

Starting point is 00:24:48 Dan was staying in Tallahassee, so was she whether she liked it or not. Edelson's, of course, were obviously livid with this ruling, which was made clear by multiple skating emails that Donna sent Wendy during this time. She described Dan as a narcissist who thought he was better and smarter than everyone else, and they felt like the only reason he was doing this to Wendy was to punish her for wanting a divorce. They didn't even consider that it was actually because Dan, loved his sons and wanted fair and equal time with them. But this decision only grew the family's

Starting point is 00:25:25 hatred. With Wendy being forced to move back to Tallahassee, Charlie was the one seeing the emotional and physical toll this was having on his parents not being able to fix the problem for Wendy. They tried offering to pay for weekly plane tickets so that Dan could come visit the boys every weekend if he agreed to let them move. When that didn't work, they even offered to pay him $1 million with Charlie, Wendy, and then Harvey and Donne each paying one third of that. But by that point, Dan was only starting to feel like Wendy was becoming unhinged and was really upset that they thought that he could just be bribed with money in exchange for full custody of his sons. Coming from wealth, the Edelson's were probably not used to their money,

Starting point is 00:26:12 not being able to fix all of their problems. And no was just not an answer that they'd ever be willing to accept. Donna even posed some cruel ideas to Wendy, thinking that if they couldn't get Dan to bend on the custody, they could at least do everything they could to make his life miserable, too. She said that since Dan was so invested in the boys, maintaining their Jewish heritage, that Wendy should just convert them to Catholicism and get them baptized in the Catholic Church. This just proves how low the Edelson's were willing to go to get under Dan's skin. It didn't appear like Dan was going to accept the Edelson's just walking all over him, though. And he decided to utilize litigation tactics to get back at Wendy. Throughout several court filings, Dan claimed that

Starting point is 00:27:00 Wendy had not been honest in her financial disclosure documents during the divorce, which is legally required when splitting up marital assets. His hope was to get Wendy and her attorney disbarred for committing what he believed to be fraud on their original divorce petition. Many people felt like this was going a little too far, and Wendy also claimed that Dan had created a hostile work environment amongst colleagues at the university who had taken his side during the divorce. After everything was finalized in 2013, Wendy rented a home on Aqua Ridge Road about 15 minutes away from where she had lived with Dan on Trescott Drive. They had 50-50 custody of the boys with one week on and one week off. They also had a midweek visit for dinner with the other parent and would

Starting point is 00:27:47 switch off on Friday afternoons at the boys' preschool. The Edelson's helped Wendy get the rest of the things she needed for her new house, and her brother Charlie even purchased her a really nice, large, flat screen TV. He would constantly make a joke saying, quote, well, I looked into hiring a hitman, but I got you this TV as a divorce president instead, end quote. Or, quote, I looked into a hitman, but this TV was cheaper, end quote. Obviously a joke, not that it's uncommon for a big. brother to say something maybe like this to a sister who he feels as being wronged by her ex.

Starting point is 00:28:22 But Charlie would go on to seriously regret ever making that, quote, joke. Over the next year, both Dan and Wendy started dating other people and trying to make their new life on co-parenting work. Dan began dating a woman named Amy Aldler, who was a law professor at NYU and recently divorced. Wendy played the field a little bit and started a relationship with a man named Daniel Sack. Yes, two Dan's back to back. Wendy really liked Daniel, but unfortunately he ended up having to move

Starting point is 00:28:54 for a new job as a professor out of state, and the two just decided to call it quits and remain friends. Around the same time, Wendy was introduced to a man named Jeff Lecas by her friend Jane from FSU. Jeff was a professor of social work at FSU when Jane was working towards her social work PhD, and she thought Jeff and Wendy would make a good couple. Jeff and Wendy dated for about nine months, and during that time, he experienced a lot of turmoil

Starting point is 00:29:21 Wendy was dealing with in regards to Dan. Jeff met Dan a few times during events for the boys and described him as a little arrogant and pretentious. That actually wasn't an uncommon way for people to describe Dan. And even though he had a lot of friends, he did seem to have a little bit of that intellectual elitist mentality. He was an amazing teacher, had a big heart, but we all know and love someone. who can be a little arrogant at times.

Starting point is 00:29:47 No one's perfect, plus a majority of Jeff's impression of Dan was obviously skewed, of course, because of what Wendy said about him. Other than her issues with Dan and constantly complaining about hating living in Tallahassee, Jeff and Wendy's relationship was supposedly pretty good up until around the summer of 2014. And during that time, they got into a few serious arguments stemming from Jeff accusing Wendy of cheating on him. And it seems like her feelings towards him were either hot or cold. Sometimes she'd be really attentive and loving and other times didn't want to give him the time of day. And being a social worker, Jeff was also noticing that Wendy seemed to be emmeshed with her family

Starting point is 00:30:32 back in Miami. He felt like they almost infantized her and they were way too involved in making decisions for her as a grown woman. After one of their last arguments in July of 2014, Wendy told Jeff that she wanted a week of no contact. She needed a time to decide if she wanted to move forward with dating. And so the status of their relationship was a little up in the air. And during this time, Wendy was dealing with more litigation from Dan. This time directed towards her mother, Donna, though, at the beginning of their divorce, so Wendy and Dan made an agreement that no parent would be allowed to make disparaging comments and to be made about the other in front of the children. You know, this is actually a really good strategy. You don't want parental alienation. Let's

Starting point is 00:31:19 not talk about the other parent in front of the children. However, while the boys were having a visit with Donna, Dan was talking to them over Skype and overheard Donna calling Dan stupid. The boys also apparently told Dan that Donna frequently said she hated him and told them that their dad was keeping her away from her sun shines. Obviously, this is completely inappropriate. Again, it's parental alienation. So Dan decided to file a motion requesting that Donna only be allowed to have supervised visits. Now, this hearing was pushed back several times and finally supposedly took place towards the end of July in 2014. However, due to some other events that took place, the hearing would never happen. As a busy mom and as a journalist, I need to make every minute count, whether that's working or creating more family time. And insomnia, when it comes to that, is not much. my friend, it can throw everything off. When it comes to work, I like my alone time before the sun is up. I like to be able to sit there and work so that as soon as the family wakes, I can focus on them. And so if I am dealing with insomnia the night before and I'm up until 3 a.m., fretting and

Starting point is 00:32:29 worrying and tossing and turning, I pretty much can kiss the next day, goodbye. And it's not just work the suffers, but the entire family. I used to try over-the-counter sleep aids, but those caused groginess like no other. It didn't matter how much caffeine I drank the next day. Groginess was part of daily life. And that is where Dream has been a game changer for me and for our entire family, honestly, so much so that that is why I am sharing the good news, because Dream is a revolutionary approach to sleep in the form of a guilt-free indulgent hot chocolate with natural sleep supportive ingredients. And get this, just so everybody is aware, because I'm sure many people are wondering, yes, it is gluten-free, it is dairy-free, it is vegan, it is non-GMO,

Starting point is 00:33:15 and it is keto-friendly. It allows me to fall asleep, stay asleep longer, and then I wake up refreshed without the groginess. I wake up, energize and ready to get to work. I actually feel less stress, so it helps my emotions. I feel completely rested and alert all day, even feeling like I can be more emotionally present as a parent. It is an amazing bedtime routine that I have now used for nearly a year. Our whole family has benefited and knows the routine. And mostly, uh, they've benefited because better sleep means a better you. It is a low calorie drink. I wind down each night, just 15 calories, no added sugar. I sip it about a half hour before bed, give or take. I've also made dream popsicles. Um, I've recently been loving the capsules.

Starting point is 00:34:00 Dream has given our gems an awesome deal for their first order. You can head to the website, shopbeam.com slash hidden true crime and enter the code true crime for up to 35% off your first order. You can also just click the link that's in the description of this video. That is there. Shopbeam.com slash hidden true crime or see this QR code. Hit that QR code or not hit it. But shine your phone on that QR code. Use that QR code for up to 35% off your first order. Just enter code true crime at checkout. out. July 18th, 2014, started off like any other Friday for Dan. He had his two sons and he dropped them off at preschool before heading to the gym. You may have been wondering where Dan's family has been, by the way, during this entire contentious divorce, but just remember that they lived in Canada.

Starting point is 00:34:52 His parents, Ruth and Phil had actually gone through their own divorce and they did their very best to support him as much as they could from afar. So part of Dan's routine was to call and talk to his mom whenever he was in the car, which was to ensure that they were always in touch and in the loop on what was happening in each other's lives. That being said, Dan completed his workout at the gym around 1038 a.m. and made his usual call to Ruth to talk to her while he drove home. He told his mom that he was a little annoyed because Wendy had tried to enroll their oldest son in a new school that he wasn't really a fan of. She had a teacher who worked at the school, reach out to him asking to call and talk about why it would be a good option. Dan agreed, but was still really

Starting point is 00:35:38 unhappy about it. He told Ruth that he needed to get off the phone to have the call with the teacher. So they said goodbye. Dan then placed the call to the teacher and they began chatting. The drive from the gym to his house on Triscott Drive was about 10 minutes away, so they were still on the call when Dan pulled into his garage. That's when Dan told the teacher to the teacher to hold on for a second because someone he didn't recognize was in his driveway. The teacher waited for a few moments, but became a little concerned when he started hearing strange noises. He described the sounds as a grunt, some voices, and then heavy, labored breathing. The teacher feared that Dan may have suffered a heart attack or some other emergency and tried yelling out at him to get a

Starting point is 00:36:26 response. The teacher hung up and tried to call back one more time before deciding to Google Dan, his address so that he could call 911 and report a potential emergency. During that same time, Dan's neighbor named James heard a loud, strange noise, and looked out his windows to see what it was. That's when he noticed a greenish, gray-colored Toyota Prius backing out of Dan's driveway and speeding off down the road. He saw Dan's car in his garage and decided to go over to make sure everything was okay. He noticed that the car was on and figured that Dan,

Starting point is 00:37:02 must have been getting ready to leave. However, when he got back to his house, he continued looking out the window, but Dan never pulled out of the garage. A few minutes later, something told James to go back over and check again. And this time, he stepped inside the garage and saw glass on the ground.

Starting point is 00:37:20 He approached the driver's side of the door and found Dan covered in blood. And at that point, he was still alive and moving his head slowly back and forth, but he was having trouble breathing. and James knew something terrible had happened. He tried to ask Dan what was wrong, but he was not able to answer. James ran back to his house to retrieve his cell phone, and he called 911.

Starting point is 00:37:46 911. 911. Once he addressed to your emergency, case, then? Okay, tell me exactly what happened. We heard, 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 and he's battered and can't answer. He's inside.

Starting point is 00:38:09 I don't know if somebody tried to shoot him or if he shot himself or what. I don't know. He didn't send an ambulance in a hurry in the MT. So you're saying his head is bloody now? Yes, 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.

Starting point is 00:38:28 So now, for some unfortunate reason, there was a mix-up at the call center, and the 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, thinking he was being sent out to investigate a fender bender, not a life or death situation. The officer's name was Sergeant Sims from Tallahassee Police department and he found Dan slumped over in the driver's seat bleeding severely from the head. The driver's window was partially shattered with what appeared to be a bullet hole in the glass. He opened the door and turned off Dan's car while also calling for backup and EMS services.

Starting point is 00:39:14 As he opened the door, Dan's phone fell out of his hand and onto the ground, as well as his glasses which were broken, clean in half. EMS got to the home and wrapped Dan's head before carrying him in the ambulance. He was still gasping for breath at this point, but it was not looking good. By 1130, more officers and investigators had arrived at the scene to begin trying to determine what happened to Dan while EMS rushed him to a nearby hospital. Crime scene tape was pulled up a few houses down to create a perimeter, and an officer named Bill Brandon arrived to start looking for any signs of forced entry.

Starting point is 00:39:52 It appeared as though Dan had been shot in the head. And based on their experiences, it was more likely a targeted attack. This was made more obvious when investigators looked inside Dan's wallet, where cash and cards were still there. There appeared to be no disturbance inside the house. And so clearly, this was not a robbery. They spoke to their neighbor James to gather as much information as possible, including trying to figure out if Dan had a spouse. They did not want to risk any family members coming to the scene

Starting point is 00:40:21 and panicking. But James told the officer, he believed Wendy and Dan were divorced. He said that they shared custody of the children, so Wendy would still stop by from time to time, and that she drove a maroon Honda Odyssey. Bill Brandon was put in charge of manning the edge of the perimeter closest to the main road called Centerville. And a little while later, he noticed that a car matching Wendy's description drove up toward the crime scene tape before quickly turning around and heading back towards Centerville. At the hospital, Dan was placed on life support and more investigators came to take photos and remove his clothing for evidence. The next thing police needed to do was locate Wendy to tell her the news, as well as to try to get in contact with Dan's other family members.

Starting point is 00:41:06 The boys had been with Dan this particular week, and since it was Friday, Wendy was supposed to pick them up from preschool at 4.30 for her week to begin. And earlier that morning, a geek squad repairman from Best Buy was scheduled to come to take a look at the TV that Wendy received from her brother Charlie. Apparently one of the boys had thrown a heavy toy and had cracked the screen. The repairman was supposed to evaluate it and see if it was worth fixing or if it needed to be replaced. Later in the day at one o'clock, Wendy had plans to meet up with some friends for lunch at a restaurant called Mosaic, which was about 10 minutes away from her house. She also had plans in the evening to attend, quote, stock the bar, end quote, party for some friends who were getting married.

Starting point is 00:41:52 Everyone who was sent an invitation was given a specific alcohol to stock the bar. And coincidentally, Wendy was supposed to pick up bullet bourbon. She would need to squeeze in a lunch and stop by the liquor store before getting the boys

Starting point is 00:42:06 and then heading to the party at 6.30. This wouldn't be too difficult, though, because there were several liquor stores in the area, including near the Mosaic restaurant, where she was meeting her friends. Around 2.30 p.m., Wendy and her friends were getting ready to wrap up lunch, when she was approached by a detective with the Tallahassee Police Department named Craig Isam.

Starting point is 00:42:27 He informed Wendy that there was an emergency and she needed to accompany him back to the station. Wendy was confused, but she did what the detective said and she rode with him to the station. When they arrived, she was placed in an interrogation room alone for a few minutes. She looked at her home and noticed that she had a voicemail from a real estate agent who she had previously worked with before. The agent said that she wanted to check in and make sure everything was okay. Because she heard there was a shooting on Trescott Drive. When Detective Isam came back into the room, Wendy played him the voicemail. He told her that that was the reason she had been called and brought to the station and explained to her what happened to Dan earlier that morning.

Starting point is 00:43:10 There was a shooting at your home or your ex-husband's home at 2116. trust guy, okay? Your husband, your ex-husband, excuse me, Daniel, all right, has been taken to the hospital. He's not going to survive. My God. Okay.

Starting point is 00:43:51 Wendy seemed completely shocked and distraught by the news and would be there for over five hours discussing her and Dan's relationship and trying to help figure out who would have wanted to hurt him. During the time of the station, Wendy seemingly needed to scramble to find someone to watch the boys. This was a little odd considering she was planning on going to that Stock the Bar Party and it seemed like she would have already had a babysitter lined up

Starting point is 00:44:15 to take care of them while she was out. Unless the Stock the Bar Party was a kid-friendly event, but that doesn't really seem likely, does it? Detective Isam asked Wendy if she would give permission to extract data from her phone so that they could corroborate her timeline of events that day with the data. That way they could easily rehearse. rule her out as a potential suspect or person of interest. And she agreed and they quickly did that extraction before coming back to get her version of events. Wendy explained that the repairman called her at

Starting point is 00:44:45 808 that morning and then she received a call from her mom. Since Charlie was the only one to purchase the TV, it seemed like he and or Donna were the ones to facilitate the repair service and Donna was calling to confirm about the appointment. She said the repairman came at around nine and left by 10. During that time, Dan tried to call Wendy, but she missed the call and left her a voicemail, letting her know that they could meet and discuss the new potential school for their son. He then sent Wendy a text, letting her know that he wanted to take the boy swimming until her normal pickup time at 4.30. And however, Wendy was apparently upset by this and wanted to pick them up from school early so that she would have more time to get ready for the party later on.

Starting point is 00:45:30 According to Wendy, she called and talked to Charlie about it, who told her. her to just let it go and not to argue with Dan about wanting to take the boy swimming. While the repairman was there, she made breakfast and then called Charlie back to let him know that the TV wasn't worth fixing and would need to be replaced. Wendy made a few more calls to some friends and did some work on her computer and then tried to call Dan back at about 1142. He didn't answer, but she left him a message saying that they could call to discuss the new school and that she would see him at 4.30 for pickup. Wendy said that she left her house at around noon and placed another phone call to a friend to congratulate him about his new baby.

Starting point is 00:46:11 She then explained the stock, the bar party, and how she needed to stop by the liquor store before meeting her friends for lunch. She said she was rushing and didn't even have time to take a shower before she left and decided to turn off Centerville Road to take Trescott over to an ABC liquor store. The store was off another road called Betten. And according to Wendy, cutting through Trescott was not. normal for her. She said she would often drive by her old house as a way to help her process the divorce. However, it's important to remember that there were several closer liquor stores Wendy could have gone to. And going down that road definitely wouldn't have cut down on her time. Trescott is a residential street and has a low speed limit compared to the Centerville and Benton

Starting point is 00:46:55 Road. It was also bizarre that when Wendy saw the crime scene tape so close to her old house, She didn't think to call and make sure Dan and her kids were okay, right? Her explanation for this was that Trescott experienced a lot of power issues, trees falling, and she figured it was blocked off due to something like that. However, usually there aren't ambulances, police and crime scene tape for a fallen down tree or other similar issues. And most people would at least be a little concerned, if not curious, seeing so much commotion, just houses down from where their ex and children lived, but apparently Wendy didn't think anything of it.

Starting point is 00:47:37 When Wendy was asked who she thought could have wanted to hurt Dan, she went a little further into the dynamics of their relationship, how their divorce had been pretty volatile, and how many people didn't seem to like Dan because of his abrasive personality. She also made a strange decision to mention the joke, her brother Charlie often made about getting a TV instead of a hitman. but was adamant about him not being capable of hurting Dan. She brought up her on and off again boyfriend, Jeff,

Starting point is 00:48:08 mentioning that he was jealous in the past and also knew how much grief Dan had been causing her. She talked about Dan's new girlfriend, having an ex-husband, who may have been jealous of their relationship. Despite all of this, she really couldn't think of anyone who could have a valid reason to shoot Dan.

Starting point is 00:48:27 Towards the end of the interview, police told Wendy that she needed to call and inform her family about what was going on. She was visibly nervous, probably because she knew they had hated Dan. When Wendy went to finally speak to Donna, she let her know what was happening and that they needed to make their way to Tallahassee as soon as possible. Hi, Mom, how's it going? Mom, I need you to sit down. I am fine. The boys are fine. I need to sit down. I'm fine and the boys are fine.

Starting point is 00:49:10 Danny has been... You can put me on speaker. Yeah. Danny has been shot. And I don't think he's going to make it. And so, I know, I know. She even said that she was relieved by her mom's reaction. Oh, my God.

Starting point is 00:49:41 and really surprised, so it's a least a relief. Wendy also said that she was starting to get the feeling that Dan's death was her fault somehow and that maybe someone in her life thought that killing him would benefit her. It took longer than anticipated for investigators to be able to contact Dan's side of the family because they were out of the country and also because Wendy had deleted all of their contact information out of out of her phone. I'm not sure why they couldn't get their contact numbers out of Dan's phone that was found at the scene, but regardless, his family was absolutely shocked and absolutely devastated,

Starting point is 00:50:20 especially because one day after the shooting, Dan did not survive his injuries. They made their way to Florida as quickly as possible, and his mother roof said that everything happened so fast and was like a blur. On Friday, Dan was shot. Saturday, he was dead. And by Sunday, they were already holding a memorial service for him. Hundreds of people attended at the last minute, which just goes to show how love Dan was in the community. Ruth described Wendy being distant at the service, but hoped that they could connect and grieve together in the upcoming days. The boys were still too little to fully understand

Starting point is 00:50:59 what was going on, but Ruth had not seen her grandsons in a while and she wanted to hold and comfort them. After the service, close family and friends made their way back to Wendy's house. And it was clear that she didn't want to interact too much with Dan's family. Ruth noticed that the inside of Wendy's house seemed almost empty. Most people don't realize how much their personal information is being bought and sold every day. Data brokers are making billions, pulling details about you from public records and the internet, and then packaging and selling it, usually without your consent. That's how your information lands in the hands of scammers, space, hammers, even stalkers. It's why you get endless robocalls and why ads seem to follow you everywhere.

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Starting point is 00:52:19 Which she found very bizarre. In the next couple of days, the Aidelsons were supposed to go to the police station to talk to detectives. And Wendy was also supposed to meet with Ruth and Phil so that they could see the children. However, when Ruth called Wendy on Sunday to ask what time they were going to get together so she could see her own grandsons, Wendy told her that she was sorry and that had actually, she had decided to take the children back to Miami for, unquote, safety reasons. What's one financial lesson you learned the hard way? I'll go first. It's not too late to start saving. Today's episode is sponsored by Acorns.

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Starting point is 00:55:50 Just use the code hidden true crime at checkout. That's code hidden true crime. with Happy Mammoth.com for 15% off today. She said that she didn't know if Dan's killer would be after her or the boys next. The investigators looking into Dan's death didn't have much to go off on at first and decided to ask the public for help. They offered an award that amassed over $100,000 for any information leading to an arrest. When speaking to potential persons of interest, they were able to talk to Wendy's boyfriend,

Starting point is 00:56:25 Jeff, who told police that they should be looking into her brother Charlie. He even told them that Wendy had confided in him in the past about Charlie looking into how much it would cost to hire a hitman to take care of Dan. Just chalk this up to things you regret saying. However, the Edelson's all had alibis, and they were back in Miami when the murder occurred. If they were going to go with the theory that someone in the family hired a hit, They'd need to gather much more evidence to even consider it. Detectives were sure that the Prius seen by James the morning of the murder was somehow connected,

Starting point is 00:57:04 but this was before the days of everyone having ringed doorbell camera. They would need to be a bit more crafty and trying to find information about this vehicle. They were able to trace Dan's footsteps the day he was shot and got surveillance footage from the preschool where he dropped off his sons and then the gym where he had the workout earlier in the morning. Investigators were able to see that it appeared, though, that Dan was being followed by a light colored Prius that matched the description given by James. It was obvious now that the Prius was involved, but the surveillance footage was too far away to get a license plate number or any identifiable information. They decided to take a creative approach in locating more footage of the V.

Starting point is 00:57:50 and utilize cameras fashioned to the front of city buses. As luck would have it, they were able to find footage from two buses that captured Dan leaving the gym and then being followed by the Prius, now being referred to as a, quote, silver pine mica, end quote, color. One bus just so happened to pull right beside and then behind the car, but they were still unable to make out a license plate. They noticed some distinct features about the car, however, including an aftermarket mirror and a missing toe cap on the front bumper. They also saw what appeared to be a sticker on the windshield, likely a Florida Sunpass. A Sun Pass, by the way, is a sticker used to prepay and pass through Florida toll roads quickly without having to stop and put in coins. And so during this time, investigators were also working on getting a cell tower dump, which would provide them with,

Starting point is 00:58:47 any phone numbers pinging in the area during the time frame of when Dan left the preschool and the gym. They decided to cross-reference the hundreds of phone numbers provided from the tower dump to see if they matched any numbers that had recently left out of Tallahassee and passed through the toll road. They were able to find a match with a number that pinged in the area on the day of the murder, and then later on that day at a toll road. The number also had a Miami area code. They gained access to GPS data connected to the number and were able to pull footage at the toll booth during the time the car was passing through. This was able to give them the serial number on the Sun Pass sticker.

Starting point is 00:59:29 However, they soon discovered that the car was actually registered to a rental agency rather than an individual. The rental company was also located in Miami and detectives traveled there to get past rental agreements, hoping that whoever rented the Prius also wrote down their name. Once at the rental company, they gained access to agreements for the Prius during the time frame when Dan was killed and found out that a man named Louise Rivera had signed the document. He also listed another man named Sigfrido Garcia as a second driver and they even provided their contact information, including their phone numbers and addresses. Not surprisingly, these phone numbers also matched up with the cell tower dump data, showing that the two men had been in the area during the time of. the murder, even though investigators knew the names of their potential suspects. They needed to figure out what, if any, connection these two had with Dan, or possibly anyone else who may have

Starting point is 01:00:28 wanted Dan killed. Given the fact that they lived in Miami, and since Jeff and even Wendy herself mentioned that Charlie spoke about hiring a hit, they were sure that the Edelson's had something to do with it. They were the only people who truly hated Dan. And every single thing, person they spoke to reiterated the fact that Wendy despise living in Tallahassee. Dan was her only obstacle in getting to move back to Miami with her boys to live closer to her family. And so there was a motive there. They just needed to find a connection between the men in the Prius and the Adelson's to prove their theory. They gained access to all of the Adelson's family's phone records to see if they could locate either Siegfriedo Garcia or Louise Rivera's, both

Starting point is 01:01:15 phone numbers in one of their call logs. And luckily, they were able to find that at some point, the number belonging to Siegfriedo Garcia called Harvey Adelson's number, proving that these two men did have ties with the Adelson family. The detectives still wanted more evidence to prove that it actually was Siegfriedo and Louise, who carried out the murder, because even though there was all of the cell phone data, rental agreement, et cetera, there, of course, is always a possibility of someone forging documents and using someone else's cell phone or even their names, right? So they decided to contact the company from the GPS system installed inside the Prius so that they could try to make an accurate timeline of the driver's movements that day.

Starting point is 01:01:59 Using this GPS data, they were able to see that the car had visited a bank in Tallahassee and the ATM captured these photos, proving that it was Siegfriedo and Louise in the car that day. With all of this information, investigators needed to find out of this information. Investigators needed to find out more about Sikfrido and Louise because they still didn't have enough proof that the family was involved. It was discovered that Louise Rivera was a prominent leader in the prolific street gang called the Latin Kings. He was given the nickname Tato and had been developing an extensive rap sheet with the law, spanning back to when he was only 13 years old. During high school, he became heavily involved in the gang lifestyle and began using and dealing drugs. He went on to have two children with his long-term girlfriend named Annie Diaz and decided to get a regular job to be able to support his family.

Starting point is 01:02:50 He worked for a masonry company for over 15 years and even though he was still involved with the Latin Kings, he reportedly took his role as a father very seriously. Louise's lifelong childhood friend was Thickfrido Garcia. Thickrido wasn't a formal member of the Latin Kings, but still lived a life of crime as well. Siegfriedo was taught by his own father how to break into cars and was involved in using and dealing drugs. Sigfrido began dating a woman named Catherine Magbanoa, who was originally from the Philippines. She grew up in the same neighborhood as Louise, aka Tato, and Sigfrido, who went by Tutu. Catherine, or Katie for short, had bigger aspirations than staying in the area and settling down with someone constantly in trouble with the law. She ultimately broke up with Siegfriedo before moving to Orlando to attend college.

Starting point is 01:03:42 However, after Siegfriedo got shot and almost killed, Katie realized that she really did love him. They got back together and moved back to Miami, where they had two children and remained a couple for several years. Even though Siegfriedo still struggled with using drugs and alcohol, it wasn't until Katie caught him cheating that she decided to end the relationship. She knew she deserved better and decided to take care of herself without his help. Katie ended up finishing her degree in Health Services Administration and got a job at an orthodontics office. And that's where she was first introduced to Charlie Adelson, thus making the connection between Sikfrido and Louise with the family. Even though she broke up with him, Sikfrido stayed in love with Katie and hoped that they could one day get back together and remain a family. And this caused him to become extremely jealous when Katie started dating this ultra-successful and flashy dentist named Charlie Adelson and wanted to make his feelings known.

Starting point is 01:04:46 He tried looking up Charlie's phone number, but ended up getting the two Adelson dentists confused. And he called Harvey by accident and left Harvey an angry voice meal, which explained why his number was found in Harvey's call log. Even though Siegfriedo and Katie shared children, the police found it interesting that in the month leading up to the murder, and soon after, there were thousands of calls between them. That seemed odd for a couple who were no longer together. They also couldn't find evidence that Siegfriedo and Louise had any other direct contact with Charlie and the rest of the family, but they didn't notice a consistent pattern of contact. There were also thousands of calls between Charlie Aylson and Katie during the family. time as well. And afterwards, Charlie would place calls to his mom and Katie would place calls to Siegfriedo. Sycfrito would then call Louise and it was like this chain of relaying some sort of information without any of the parties having to speak to each other. This pattern continued on the day of the murder with Siegfriedo calling Katie, Katie calling Charlie and then Charlie

Starting point is 01:05:54 calling Donna multiple times throughout the day. Investigators believe that it If Siegfriedo and Louise had been hired through Katie to kill Dan for the Ailsons, there would be some obvious form of payment. Even though neither of them ever made any large deposits into their bank, they did begin posting photos on Facebook with new motorcycles and cars. Katie, on the other hand, wasn't purchasing vehicles, but she did purchase a new pair of breasts. She also made suspicious cash deposits almost every day for months after Dan's murder.

Starting point is 01:06:28 investigators noticed that every two weeks, Katie was depositing a check from Charlie's dental practice, but didn't appear to actually be working there. There was no indication that her phone even ever pinged in the area of the dental office. So why would she be receiving checks as if she were an employee? These were also paper checks that were signed by the person who took care of the books at the office,

Starting point is 01:06:55 which just so happened. Are you ready for this? to be Donna Edelson. It's important to note that gathering all of this evidence took investigators a long time. And by the spring of 2015, it was clear that any romantic relationship between Katie and Charlie had ended.

Starting point is 01:07:14 Katie and Siegfriedo had surprisingly gotten back together. Are we shocked? But for some reason, she was still receiving those checks and even an older but nice car previously owned by, are you ready? The Adelson's.

Starting point is 01:07:29 If Charlie and Katie were broken up, it didn't make any sense, right? So if Charlie Adelson and Katie are broken up, it did not make any sense for Katie to still be receiving things from them unless there was a reason. And even though there were all of these suspicious monetary gifts, purchases, and the apparent chain of communication, investigators still felt like they needed more evidence to prove that the Adelson's were the ones. were the ones who planned to have Sikfrido and Louise kill Dan. The circumstantial evidence made it pretty obvious, but that wouldn't be enough proof in itself to actually show they were truly actually involved. They also didn't want to pin the entire murderer on just the shooters and Katie for being this middleman. So they devised a tactic to try to get Donna and Charlie to admit to having guilty knowledge

Starting point is 01:08:23 or at least rattled them up enough to begin talking amongst each other about what had taken place. The FBI was able to remotely tap the Adelson's phone so they could listen in on any conversations going forward. The FBI's now infamous plan had been referred to as, quote, the bump, end quote, and involved in undercover officer pretending to be a family member of Louise Rivera. During this long investigation, Louise had actually been arrested and put in prison on unrelated crimes, pertained to the Latin Kings. The officer was going to pretend to have spoken to Louise in jail, where he told him everything that happened because he wasn't being paid for his involvement.

Starting point is 01:09:03 The officer would, quote, bump into Donna outside of her condo to tell her he knew about everything and demand that they'd take care of Louise the same way they had taken care of Sofredo and Katie. To make things a little bit more believable, the officer referred to Louise and Sofrito by their street names, Tato and Tuto. He also handed her an article about Dan's murder with the amount of $5,000 written on it and a phone number. Excuse me, Mrs. Addison? Hey, doing, just want to give you this. Listen, don't. You're scared. You're scared. Listen, just want to let you know that we know that your family has been taken care of Katie and her friend, Luto, for quite some time. after your problem up north has been solved. And I want to let you know that my brother, he's incarcerated.

Starting point is 01:09:55 He helped your family with this problem you guys had up north. And we want to make sure that he's going through some rough times. And we want to make sure that he's taking care of what he's going through the way you're taking care of Katie and two-down. By this point, investigators were pretty good at predicting all of the player's behaviors. And sure enough, after the bump, Donna called. Charlie Adelson to tell him what happened. She used really covert language, and it was clear they were starting to get suspicious about law enforcement looking into them and listening in on their calls, which, to their credit,

Starting point is 01:10:32 was true. So, you know, if you had time tonight after work or some other time in the very near future, I need to speak with you. Okay. Did someone write a letter to you or something? I got some paperwork. hand delivered to me. You're being sued?

Starting point is 01:10:51 No, that's what I thought it was, but I'm going to need to talk to you. Okay. Okay. So, I mean, I could even have to figure out something. You can't tell late you'll be wherever you are. Well, I mean, I'm at Mitch Klein's office

Starting point is 01:11:04 on the Park Boulevard. Okay. So I'm right now, I'm in Skyline, Chile, and I'll be at his office in the afternoon. Okay. Does it involve me or other people? Well, probably both people. What's that?

Starting point is 01:11:19 Probably the two of us. So you probably have a general idea what I'm talking about. Right. So let's just find some time to talk to each other. It also became clear that Donna and Charlie genuinely seemed not to know the names Tato and Tudu, which indicated that Katie had in fact been the middleman. Katie likely didn't even tell Charlie who was going to carry out the murder, or tell Siegfriedo who the murder was for.

Starting point is 01:11:48 We already know that Siegfriedo was really jealous of Charlie, so it's unlikely that Sigfrido would want to help him out in any way, even for a lot of money. Katie probably told Charlie that she knew members of the Latin Kings, but didn't elaborate on the fact that it was her jealous ex. Charlie knew Siegfriedo hated him, and that would have been way too risky. The other interesting thing that was mentioned during this call was when Donna said, quote, this TV is about a five, end quote. And Charlie immediately knew that the person was requesting $5,000.

Starting point is 01:12:26 Hey, Charlie. Sorry about that. Quick question for you. Well, one thing I was going to tell you is obviously don't talk about things in the apartment or any place. Oh, obviously. The other thing is, was a person, black, white, Hispanic. White. And they just came up to you and they said your name and I handed you a piece of favor?

Starting point is 01:12:44 No. No. Didn't hand it right away first. Spoke to me for a while and then and then handed it to me. Really? Mm-hmm. And they were they wearing hat, sunglasses or? No, nothing.

Starting point is 01:12:55 Nothing. Nothing could describe them to a tee. What's that? You could describe them to a two. No, no, nothing. Was a person nervous or were they angry? No, calm as could be. Totally calm.

Starting point is 01:13:09 That's really crazy. Are they trying to ask for money or something? Yeah, yeah. But it's someone trying to, I mean, listen, if it's something like that, it sounds probably like to go to the police, but I may have to, but I'd rather talk to you first and then. Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't, I wouldn't, you know, you know, there's scumbags out there all the time that try to do stuff like that. Oh, I know. So, that's why, you know, I just want me to see because I don't want, you know, you don't want your father upset. Don't, you can you, don't see anything to that until I take a look at it, but that flies off the case.

Starting point is 01:13:43 Absolutely. on everything. That's what I suggested after he goes to work tomorrow. Did the person give you any kind of like time frame or anything? No. Okay. But it's clear. It's clear what's wanted.

Starting point is 01:13:58 Can I just ask you? What do they ask for? I don't know. This TV was probably about five. They asked you for $5,000? That's crazy. Yeah. I mentioned, you know, like,

Starting point is 01:14:14 An ex-girlfriend. Hi, Sandra. Come on in. Good. How are you? Okay. That's crazy. I don't, let me, let me take a look at it.

Starting point is 01:14:25 Mm-hmm. And then I'll go from there. Lincoln, you're too. Lincoln's going first. Okay, do that one. Yeah. Okay. Let me, let me take a look and then I'll, uh, and I'll go for that.

Starting point is 01:14:36 If you wanted to go to dinner, we, you know, we'll see what we'll go. Yeah, I'll go down in the afternoon and I'll take, I'll take a look at whatever. Yeah. whatever it's all going to say. Maybe we'll go for a walk on the beach or something. It's going to be nice tomorrow. All right. Sounds good. Okay.

Starting point is 01:14:50 All right. Sounds good. All right. Love you too, honey. Bye-bye. It was as if the word TV was some sort of code word between the two of them referring to murder and money, coinciding with this running joke of buying Wendy a TV instead of a hitman.

Starting point is 01:15:08 Per their normal chain of contact, as soon as Charlie got off the phone with Donna, he called Katie, who claimed to not know what the bump was about. She then called Siegfriedo, who was equally as confused. Police were now just waiting for either Donna or Charlie to call the number given to them on the paper during the bump, because if they agreed to pay the amount of $5,000 to help Tato, that was basically an admission of guilt for orchestrating the murder. It was clear that everyone involved was becoming scared,

Starting point is 01:15:40 and Charlie tried to get Katie, who, tried to get sick Frito to call the number to see what was going on. No one wanted to do it, but finally, after the undercover officers started calling Charlie's dental office and sending letters to Donna, they knew they had to take care of the problem fast. Investigators continued following Charlie and Donna to try to capture recordings of any of the conversations they were having in person. One followed him to a restaurant where he was meeting up with Katie to discuss the bump interaction, but it was hard to make out everything they were saying. They were able to hear a little bit of Charlie asking her questions like, quote, did you take any of the money, end quote,

Starting point is 01:16:19 imposing hypothetical situations of why someone in his current situation couldn't be charged with any crimes? Up until that point, they all felt like they had been careful enough to get away with conspiring to kill Dan. Now the walls were closing in and they were all getting nervous, especially since the undercover agent had threatened to go to police to collect the reward money if they didn't pay the $5,000. Donna tried to pretend that she wasn't involved in any of the things that the officer was claiming, but she and Charlie decided that it would be best to just give these people the money they were asking for as a one-time payment to make the situation go away. You handed me an article from the newspaper that's my ex-seller walk.

Starting point is 01:17:46 You told me I need to call you and help your friends who was in prison. Now, at the time you did that, I didn't understand what you were talking about. I didn't call you back. Then you mailed me a threatening letter. Then you send me a text message to my phone and says, I'm not taking you seriously. So I am taking you serious. and I really want you to listen to me. Most people don't realize how much their personal information is being bought and sold every day.

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Starting point is 01:19:27 I have spoken to 10 or 12 people who are close friends of mine telling them about this and basically picking their brains and asking them what I should do. because I don't know your friend who is in jail. I don't, I, you mentioned the name. I don't even know his name. I never spoke to him. I don't know what he looks like. I've never met him.

Starting point is 01:19:54 I'm sorry your friends in jail, but I don't know what that has to do with me. You know, you know exactly what it has to do with. You know what exactly what it. I know. I know. listen to me. You've got, you've just got to listen to me.

Starting point is 01:20:14 You need to ask your friend who this person looks like, what their name is something, because I know there's a big reward out there, and if you need money for your friends, that's the way to get. I mean, I'm asking you nicely. I don't know who he is. I am out of the loop.

Starting point is 01:20:34 It is not me. If I can help, I would help. I mean, I, that's what I'm just like I told you, listen to me, just like I told you that day, we know what we know that, that your family had a problem of north. We know that that problem was taking care of, but about a year and a half, two years ago. And we know that Katie has been taken care of it. It has been taken care of it. Now, now my brother, my brother in jail, he, we were in Broward together. He told me the whole thing.

Starting point is 01:21:07 And he hasn't been taken care of it. To put a little more pressure on everyone involved, FBI agents decided to confront Siegfriedo in person. They said they needed to discuss a situation from back in 2014 and asked if he knew of a man named Dan Markle. Siegfriede told the agents they needed to speak to his lawyer. But after the interaction, he immediately called Katie. They packed up all of their things and were planning to go into hiding. But just as Sikfrido was driving over to get Katie, he was arrested by the FBI and charged with first-degree murder. It had been nearly two years since Dan's murder.

Starting point is 01:21:47 And finally, all of the pieces were falling into place for the people involved to be held responsible. With Sikfrido now in custody, he was offered a deal in exchange for providing more information about who orchestrated the murder. But he refused. since Louise was already serving a 12-year sentence for gang-related crimes, they decided to pose a deal to him as well. He tried to deny ever being in Tallahassee during the time of the murder, but was confronted with the photo evidence of him in Siegfriedo at the bank. Not only that, but they both would have been eligible for the death penalty

Starting point is 01:22:23 if convicted in Dan's murder, and ultimately he and his attorney decided it would be best for him to make a deal. He would have to plead guilty to second-degree murder and describe everything else that happened and would only be given an extra seven years on his original sentence he was already serving. When giving his confession, Louise explained that he actually had no knowledge of the Edelson's.

Starting point is 01:22:46 Siegfriedo only told him that he needed help with a job and assumed that it was just going to be a robbery. It was after they were already on their way that Siegfriedo told him they were actually going to kill someone for Katie and that he would get paid to ride along. Does anyone else find themselves saying, I feel way older than I actually am or I feel way younger? Did you know there might be some truth behind that feeling? That's where true diagnostic comes in.

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Starting point is 01:24:52 intelligence with a new line on my plan. And iPad and Apple Watch Series 10. After all, you don't want your old phone to die on you. you when you're lost. Perfect. Or for your broken phone to glitch at the worst possible time. Hey, can I get your number? Oh.

Starting point is 01:25:07 Trade in your old phone for a brand new iPhone 16 Pro, iPad, and Apple Watch. Visit Verizon.com today. Additional terms apply. Service plan required for Apple Watch and iPad. He said that the reason for the killing was because, quote, a lady wanted full custody of her kids, end quote. And then went over the timeline of events. Now, were you the one that he was intending to go,

Starting point is 01:25:28 do the murder or why were you even involved? Because he told me he trusts me. He said, I trust you and you only want to trust. But were you the one he was hiring to do the murder? Because I don't understand why you need two people to commit a murder. They were hiring him. Okay. They were hiring him. They were hired him. He said he's going to pay me to go with him because he didn't want to go myself. They rented a Prius and traveled to Tallahassee and then stayed in a hotel before following Dan the next day. He said that after they had followed Dan to his house, Siegfriedo got out of the car and shot him with a Smith and Wesson revolver.

Starting point is 01:26:06 After the shooting, they ditched the gun over a bridge and drove back to Miami. The next day, Katie delivered the payment to Louise and Siegfriedo and noted that the money was in stacks, stapled together. Around the same time that Louise was giving his confession, Katie was arrested for her connection in the murder. The DA prosecuting the case was a woman. named Georgia Kaepleman, and she offered Katie a deal for immunity if she agreed to testify about what happened and the rest of the people involved. However, Katie refused the deal

Starting point is 01:26:38 and decided to plead not guilty. Since Siegfriedo and Katie were both refusing to cooperate, Kaplan men decided to try them together, and their trial was set to take place in September of 2019. The prosecution explained their theory that Charlie asked Katie if she knew anyone who could take care of Dan because the Edelson's hated him for not allowed to Wendy to return to Miami with their sons. Katie then recruited Zikfrido, who then recruited Louise, and they carried out the murder. They presented evidence of Donna talking to Wendy about her hatred for Dan, and just how before the murder, Dan was trying to get Donna banned from seeing the children unsupervised.

Starting point is 01:27:18 Sigfrido's offense argued that the Louise was lying and was actually the one who recruited him to go along to carry out the murder. They said that given the fact that Louise was a high-ranking member of the Latin Kings, he was probably a drug dealer for Charlie and got hired to kill Dan that way. However, there was no evidence showing that Louise ever had any direct contact with Charlie and that the only connection between Louise and Siegfriedo was the Edelson's, and that was through Katie. They tried to argue that all the contact between Katie and Siegfriede was just typical conversation discussing their children that they shared together.

Starting point is 01:27:54 Katie was brought to the stand and testified in her own defense and was asked why Charlie would continue giving her money and gifts after the relationship ended. He had many ex-girlfriends, and he never did that with anyone else. But when asked what made Katie so much more special, she did not have an answer. During the trial, Wendy Adelson was brought in as a state's witness and given an immunity deal. This deal said that anything Wendy testified to, on the stand couldn't be used against her at a later date. But it did not mean that she couldn't be charged if more evidence determined she was involved in the murder. Wendy discussed the difficulties she experienced during her and Dan's divorce,

Starting point is 01:28:39 but seriously downplayed her family's hatred towards him for not allowing her to move to Miami. Wendy's ex-Jeph was also brought on the stand and he described a conversation he had with her over the phone a few weeks after Dan's murder. She asked to speak to me confidentially in a very serious tone of voice told me that Charlie had investigated all possible options to take care of the problem of Danny Markell,

Starting point is 01:29:05 including hiring a hitman, which would cost about $15,000. And I later revised that and thought maybe it was $50,000, but the dollar amount was the only thing in question. She definitely said that Charles Eidelson had looked in the money. to hiring a hitman to kill Danny Markell.

Starting point is 01:29:23 According to Jeff, Wendy said she and Charlie went to a restaurant for what Charlie referred to as a celebration dinner. Wendy told him that she threw up in the middle of the restaurant during dinner and it was the prosecution's belief that it was because Charlie told her about the murder for hire scheme. However, Wendy said that the only reason she threw up was because she hadn't been eating a lot due to the grief of losing her children's father and drink alcohol on an empty stomach while waiting for their dinner. After Wendy's testimony, the public began speculating even more that Wendy could have been involved in the plot because some of her testimony seemed to be blatant lies. For example, when asked why she drove down to Trescott the day of the

Starting point is 01:30:06 murder, she contradicted what she said during her police interview about driving down the road, pulling right up to the crime scene tape and then turning around. Did you go to the crime scene or very near the crime scene on your way from your residence to, I guess, to lunch or to wherever you were going next? No, I did not. So you never turned on Trescott Drive that day? I went to turn on Trescott Drive, but I saw that it had been blocked off by some tape, and so I just kept driving on Sunderville. Okay, and when you, you had to turn around at the tape, right, to go back out. I think I tried to turn right, and it couldn't turn, so I would have made like a, the kind of turn, like a K-turn and kept going.

Starting point is 01:30:48 Was there a roadblock there with? There was tape. Yeah, and an officer was there? I didn't see an officer, but I did see a car. A law enforcement marked vehicle? Okay. Did you have any contact with the officer? No.

Starting point is 01:31:01 Okay. Did you do anything after that to try to find out what was going on down that roadway? No, I just assumed it was weather, maybe a tree fell. If you were just passing by Trescott, Road on Centerville Road, would you have been able to observe the crime scene tape? From Centerville Road? Yes, sir. No.

Starting point is 01:31:22 However, the perimeter within the crime scene tape was only a few houses down from Dan's home, and there was no physical way she could have seen the blockage from all the way from Centerville. The drive from there to Dan's house is about two minutes down along winding road, and the officer who was manning the perimeter said that he saw her. turn around right in front of the tape. So he saw Wendy turn around. It's not really clear why Wendy was lying about this aspect now, but many people believed it was because she had actually been going to check out the scene the day to make sure that the murder had been carried out as planned.

Starting point is 01:32:03 Wendy was also asked about changing their last name from Markell to Edelson after Dan's death, which she explained was a way to keep them safe due to all of the media attention, surrounding the investigation. However, the prosecution pointed out that she also made the choice to change their oldest son's middle name, which had been given to him in honor of Dan's late grandmother.

Starting point is 01:32:26 There was no reason to change his middle name for safety reasons and appeared as though Wendy was only doing it to be cruel and to separate her children as much as possible from Dan and his side of the family. It was also clear by Wendy's testimony that she felt she would never be charged

Starting point is 01:32:44 in connection with Dan's death. And many people think that her smug attitude shows how untouchable the Adelson's think that they are. Under a state subpoena, correct? Correct. And that state subpoena gives you immunity for your testimony, right? Yes. Can you explain to the jury,

Starting point is 01:33:01 since you're an attorney, what immunity is? Immunity is freedom from prosecution. So that means that anything you say today can't be used against you if the state decides to arrest you later on. The state isn't going to. decide to arrest me. Today, pursuant to a state subpoena. Yes, I am. And do all state subpoenas confer immunity? I don't know if all state subpoenas confer immunity, but this one does. Okay, and do you believe that your subpoena is special or different from other state subpoenas?

Starting point is 01:33:33 I don't believe it's special or different, so I suppose they all carry immunity. All right, and does the immunity conferred upon you by the subpoena mean that you can never be prosecuted? associated with this case. That's right. That's what you think it means? That's what I think it means. Okay. And do you think, isn't it true that it's use and derivative use immunity? Do you agree with that? Yes. Okay, but not complete immunity from prosecution. Do you agree with that? That's different than what you just asked before. So I'm sorry, can you repeat the question? All right. So what I'm trying to allow the jury to understand is what sort of immunity you have. What is your understanding of what it means for you to have immunity pursuant to the state's subpoena? So I have derivative and use immunity.

Starting point is 01:34:24 And so in the future, a prosecutor couldn't use what I say here today against me. Correct. But you could be prosecuted. Just nothing you said here today could be used against you in that prosecution. Do you agree with that? I suppose so. Okay. At the end of Katie and Zikfriya, trial. One member of the jury wasn't convinced that the state had proven Katie's involvement in the conspiracy to murder Dan. They ultimately found Siegfriedo guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, but they could not come to a decision about Katie. The judge had no choice but to declare a mistrial, and she would have to be retried all over again. Siegfriede was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, and Katie's retrial. And

Starting point is 01:35:10 Katie's retrial was scheduled to begin in the spring of 2020. However, due to the pandemic, this date got pushed back all the way to April of 2022, which gave the prosecution more time to gather additional evidence. They wanted to ensure that there would be no doubt in any of the New Jersey's minds that Katie was guilty. They believed that if they could enhance the audio from the conversation Katie and Charlie had at the restaurant after the bump, that they could prove both of their involvement beyond a reasonable doubt. By this point, Charlie was becoming increasingly paranoid about if and when he would be arrested. The stakes were even higher for him now because he had actually gone on to have a child of his own while his co-conspirators' trials were taking place.

Starting point is 01:35:59 His concerns were not entirely unfounded either, and after the prosecution showed the improved audio to a grand jury, they charged Charlie with first-degree murder, conspiring. to commit murder and solicitation of murder. He was arrested and awaited his trial while Katie's new one was taking place. The evidence and witnesses were primarily the same for the retrial, but the prosecution also had the enhanced audio to use to convince the jury of her involvement. And now that Katie and Sofredo weren't being tried together and he was already sentenced to life in prison, her defense had no problem throwing him under the bus.

Starting point is 01:36:38 They said that So Frito had actually conspired with Charlie without Katie's knowledge to kill Dan. But again, there was no evidence that they had ever spoken to each other directly. Ultimately, the new jury was able to come to the same conclusion that Katie was guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and solicitation of murder. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. And this was another step in getting justice for Dan. However, in order for the state to be able to find Charlie guilty, they needed to use some sort of leverage to get Katie to flip and testify against him. It's not been made public what type of deal the prosecution made with Katie, but it's likely that they told her that they would change the no possibility of parole aspect of her conviction so that at least there's a chance that she would get out of prison one day.

Starting point is 01:37:29 Whatever deal they made caused Katie to finally start telling some semblance of the truth. and even though it was obvious that she had no problem lying to protect herself in the past, the prosecution came back for Charlie's trial with their same argument that the Edelson family conspired with Katie to get Dan killed in order for Wendy to be able to return to Miami. However, Charlie's defense strategy was a little unexpected, and they claimed he was actually being extorted. Charlie got up on the stand to testify and said that during he and Katie's relationship, he talked about the issues Wendy was having with Dan.

Starting point is 01:38:05 He told her about all of the ways they tried to convince Dan to let her move to Miami, including offering him $1 million. Katie was apparently shocked that Charlie had that kind of money and supposedly went and told her ex-Fredo about the Aedelson's family's problem. According to Charlie, after he found out about Dan's murder, Katie came to his house and confessed that it was all her fault. She allegedly said that she had spoken too much about him having $1 million and that Siegfriedo took it upon himself to go and kill Dan and then extort the money out of Charlie.

Starting point is 01:38:42 They were apparently threatening to kill Charlie and come after the rest of his family if he didn't hand over the money. But all he had in his safe at the time was around $138,000, stapled together in stacks of $1,000. He said, Katie took the money, but told him he needed to find out a way to get the rest. Charlie said he could never discuss what happened with his parents because they would go to police. That's when Katie came up with a plan for him to continue paying her in small amounts from the dentist office. The prosecution, of course, pushed back on this new confession and brought out all of the old evidence that proved just how much the Adelson's hated Dan. And so they wanted to get rid of the problem.

Starting point is 01:39:23 They also introduced data showing that Donna and Harvey's phones had pinged in the area of Charlie's home the night. of the murder. The prosecution believed that the Aedlesons, or at least Donna, stopped by his house to drop off the money for the hit before heading to Tallahassee to be with Wendy. Even with Charlie's seemingly confident testimony on November 6th, 2022, it only took the jury three hours to find him guilty on all of the charges, and he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. After Charlie's conviction, Donna Aedelson started to fill the walls closing in on her as well. and knew that it was only a matter of time before she was arrested for her involvement in the murder. And recorded jailhouse phone calls between Donna and Charlie, it was obvious that she was becoming upset with Wendy, who had been pulling away from the family.

Starting point is 01:40:21 The whole point of getting rid of Dan was so that Wendy and the children could move to Miami. Now she wasn't even on speaking terms with any of them and had seemingly just moved on with her life ungrateful. for everything they had done for her. Donna didn't come right out and say that they had Dan killed, but she discussed taking her own life or even moving to a non-extradition country to prevent being arrested. When the prosecution heard these calls, they knew they needed to act to get Donna indicted before she had the opportunity to slip through their fingers. In all of this, it is believed that Donna, Charlie, and possibly even Wendy kept the majority of the information about this murder scheme from Harvey.

Starting point is 01:41:03 It's believed that if Harvey did have any knowledge, it wasn't until after the murder had already taken place. And since Donna had been discussing fleeing the country, the FBI kept close tabs on any activity with their passport so that they would be notified of travel plans. And it is a good thing they did because in November of 2023, Harvey and Donna purchased a one-way ticket to Vietnam. Police intercepted the couple right before they could board the plane.

Starting point is 01:41:30 and arrested Donna on charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Donna didn't go willingly, and due to threats she made on calls with Charlie, she was placed in a turtle suit and on suicide watch. Over the course of the next several months, Donna's attorneys claimed that she had been experiencing cruel and unusual treatment. They asked that she'd be taken off of suicide watch so that she could go, get out of solitary confinement, be given normal clothes, blanket and reading material. In regards to her legal team, Donna made the decision to be represented by Dan Rashbaum,

Starting point is 01:42:08 the same defense attorney who represented Charlie during his trial. It's not really clear why Donna wanted Rashbaum to represent her as well, but a waiver had to be signed due to complications that could arise in regards to attorney-client privilege. For example, if Charlie was subpoenaed to testify, there could be a conflict of interest with Rashbaum cross-examining him on the court. the stand after having represented him before and having knowledge protected by attorney-clan privilege. However, it turned out that only Donna had signed a waiver of the conflict of interest,

Starting point is 01:42:41 and Charlie only agreed verbally. Donna's trial was set for September of 2024. But unfortunately, these original conflicts would come back to bite everyone before it was supposed to begin. For months leading up to the trial, Circuit Judge Stephen Everett cautioned Dan Rashbaum several times about representing both Charlie and Donna, but he insisted that it wouldn't be a problem. However, it became a big problem when Charlie revoked his consent to be cross-examined by rash bomb at the last minute. He had apparently spoken up with his new appellate attorney who said that it could hurt his chances of an appeal. The prosecution extradited witnesses paid for experts and had been preparing to start in September.

Starting point is 01:43:30 So they were obviously annoyed, to say the least, that the trial was now up in the air. Rashbaum had no choice but to pull out from defending Donna and her new counsel would need time to properly prepare. Many people are blaming the delay of the trial on Rashbaum for choosing to defend Donna to begin with, because technically Charlie could have revoked his consent at any time, including during the middle of the trial.

Starting point is 01:43:57 Another Tallahassee defense attorney named Tim Jansen said that he believed Rashbaum completely mishandled the situation. He allowed himself to get too close to the Edelson's, but the prosecutors and the judge probably should have also taken a stronger position on the matter to prevent this from happening as well. When Rashbaum had to withdraw from the case, it was clear that Donna was extremely upset to lose him. She could be seen crying in the court, and it makes sense if he had gotten comfortable with their family and Donna felt like she could trust him. Some people believe that Donna probably feels betrayed by Charlie and may view it as his fault for taking away the attorney that she wanted while also prolonging the trial. Since Donna is being held without bond,

Starting point is 01:44:43 the longer it takes for trial, the longer she sits in jail. Her new attorney said in a statement that this continuance may open up more avenues in their defense, which some people took as Donna possibly choosing to point the finger at Charlie, especially since he has already been convicted. If she's willing to throw Charlie under the bus for doing her wrong, maybe she'd be willing to implicate Wendy, who Donna clearly feels doesn't appreciate what she and Charlie have done for her. Even if Donna or Charlie don't decide to turn on Wendy, many people, including attorneys from Tallahassee, believe that she will eventually be indicted for taking part in the conspiracy. When Donna was arrested, they seized her phone, which is probably a whole treasure trove of evidence.

Starting point is 01:45:29 Investigators also issued more sealed search warrant, so it's possible they're still building their case against her. It seems as though the state has been taken down each person involved one by one with Wendy being the next in line. And even though there weren't as many calls between Wendy, Charlie, and Donna during the time frame of the murder, there were some. Some people think that the whole TV repair man scenario was so that they would have an excuse to call each other back and forth that day and give Wendy an alibi for when the murder took place. She also testified to having WhatsApp in the past, which may be why more calls weren't found. Then there's the fact that she drove herself right up to the crime scene and wasn't at all concerned with what was going on. Like she was there just to make sure that the job was done. However, other people argue that it's just as likely that Wendy really wasn't involved and her family took it upon themselves to do this on her behalf.

Starting point is 01:46:30 With all of the facts, twists and turns of this case, it is easy to lose sight of what actually matters, getting Dan Markell, the justice he deserves. Dan was by no means a perfect person, but he did not deserve to die for going through a bitter divorce and custody battle where he wanted to be able to. to see his sons. And his sons certainly didn't deserve to lose their father. There are people that sympathize with Wendy, who seemed to have gotten wrapped up in a rushed marriage and had all her dreams put on hold for Dan. But regardless of who was the mastermind behind the plot, it resulted in Dan's children losing their father. And Louise, Siegfriedo, Katie, and Charlie's children having their parents spend the rest of their lives in prison. If Donna and Wendy end up going to prison for this too, those boys will have lost every sense of stability they have ever known.

Starting point is 01:47:29 It is so unfortunate that the actions of these people have destroyed so many lives, including Dan's family, who weren't even given the opportunity to see their boys, their grandchildren. Now that Donna's trial has been pushed back, it will be interesting to see the direction of her new defense strategy, and if anyone else ends up getting arrested along the way. Let me know if you think Wendy was involved, and if she was, will it be enough evidence to prove it? We'll have to keep an eye on any more information coming out in this tragic whirlwind of a case. And hopefully everyone who was involved ends up being prosecuted so that Dan Markell can get justice, and his family can finally begin to heal after all these years.

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Hidden True Crime - The Adelson Family & Murder of Dan Markel: FULL STORY & CASE UPDATE

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