On October 19th, 2025, the Louvre became the backdrop of something straight out of a heist movie. In this series, I'll take you inside the events of that day through the eyes of the people who live them. Then I'll join the International Hunt for the Louvre Jules. Heist at the Louvre, a new series from ABC Audio. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or your favourite podcast app, or subscribe to 2020 True Crime Plus on Apple Podcasts to listen ad-free.
Welcome back to the 2020 True Crime Vault. He says, are you sitting down and then you write away in his voice that this was not a good story? And what a story. Call this one a love-hate triangle, husband, wife, and wife's family. They hate it in a way.
I've never seen this kind of obsession. This wasn't a normal door-scakes. Did any of you ever think that it could get violent? Never. A murder mystery we've been following for years.
Someone killed the father of my children. First we got divorced, and then he got murdered. Now finally, a courtroom verdict. I don't want him to think I'm the one convicting him or something. If I'd say yes, I saw them, and then that puts him in prison for life.
The driver's side, window is all bashed in. He's inside the car is running, and he's got blood all over his head. It looks like he's been shot at a very close range. What did he do this? I don't know.
Would you ever ask someone to do something like this? I have something I want to tell you, because I'm going to tell you what I'm going to tell you. I do have some ideas. So who did it appear? Have a vote-up to want him or her or her or her dad?
His old family. They say the wheels of justice turn slowly. In this case, almost ten years. Of course, now it's session the young will judge even ever not without it. In many murder trials, there's been ceased and the defendant.
They say, I'll tell you what the details are. But this one is unusual, because this is a story about a family. They say and spell your name. Wendy Edelson, W.E.N. One that seemingly has everything, devotion, wealth, influence, and something else.
Back in 2014, the Edelson family had a big problem. And that so-called problem leads this family here. From the very outset, the state suspected, Edelson's, the family. While the defendant's choices helped solve a problem within his family, they came at a very high price. That price, prosecutors say, was murder.
In the Bible it says there's Exodus, the Jews left Egypt, and I always say the second exodus of the Jews was from New York to South Florida. Michael Weinstein is a criminal defense attorney who grew up in South Florida. My parents came out back in the 70s, and it was 30 degrees in New York and 70 degrees here, and that was a pretty easy decision for them. They settled in Coral Springs, a community about an hour north of Miami Beach. Coral Springs is kind of like a suburb of nowhere, but there wasn't really a big city that was attached to.
Among the Weinstein families, many friends were the Adelsons. Here's the major art, Donna Edelson appearing on Wheel of Fortune in 1989. I'm a domestic coordinator. I'm responsible for the activities, classes, and lessons of my son Robert who was 16. Charlie who was 12, Wendy who was 10, my husband Harvey who's in the audience.
Harvey Edelson is someone I've known my entire life. He's a dentist, and he's married to Donna. I only had three kids, Robert, Charlie, and Wendy. Harvey was extremely successful dentist. He runs at the Edelson Institute, dentistry.
Donna helped as the office manager. Donna was always a bright smile. You walk into the dental office and she was always warm. You know, walking to her home. It was always clean and immaculate.
And the kids were always well behaved and appropriate and dress well. And she was always a bright light to those children. By all accounts, the Edelson children are exceptional. They're smart, athletic, and driven to succeed. The three Edelson siblings. Rob goes to medical school and falls in love with a fellow student there.
Donna doesn't approve of him marrying her because she didn't have a Jewish background. Rob marries his girlfriend, falls out of favor with his mother, and becomes estranged from the Edelson. So, focus shifts to the younger children, Charlie and Wendy. They will be central to the story. They were closer in age, so I think Charlie and Wendy were a unit to a certain extent.
Charlie and Wendy were at high school at the same time. Charlie was class of 95 when he was class of 97, so two years apart. Darryl Gold went to high school with the Edelson siblings. Charlie was always kind of a goofy kid in high school. He was a jokester, and he was a social butterfly.
Charlie went to dental school, got his degree, came back, and then he was helping Harvey in his practice. So, it was a father in his son's practice. And Harvey was successful, but did Charlie help bring it to a new level? Wendy was always an all-star. She was incredibly bright as a child. She did phenomenally well in high school, incredibly smart, and gregarious, and well loved by everybody.
Friends say she isn't only smart, but also a lot of fun. Characteristics that were on display when she, like her mother, before her appeared on a game show. What have you always wanted to do? We kissed Link. What have you wanted to do with your ass?
Wendy Edelson does something little different than everyone in her family. She goes into law. Wendy has an internship in Washington, D.C., where another young lawyer is just starting out. Danny, he studied in Harvard undergrad. He went to Cambridge, England. He went to Israel for a year. And after that he finished law school, and he went to live in Washington.
Danny was a very warm person to start with with everybody. He never greeted people with a handshake. He was always a hug. Dan was raised in a conservative Jewish household in Toronto, Canada. So, we're in Yiddish. We would be a bench real guy with great character and great personality.
A young woman named Wendy Edelson, searched him on J.D.A.T. The Jewish dating service, and she was sitting with her mother Donna, searching for a candidate for her two meets. And so they're looking up Dan Markow. He and Wendy share a passion for the law and see like a great match. There was a really strong connection and she was really drawn to him.
And what did you think of this young woman? She was a very warm, she was a very attractive person. And we were so pleased that Danny was happy. Wendy's beautiful, she's adorable, she's right. And it was a beautiful thing to see Danny in love.
You must have been elated. Here is this beautiful, well-educated, bright, warm woman who comes from a great family who is in love with your son. They're going to make great-grand babies. Everybody should be happy. We were.
Wendy and Dan's relationship moved quickly and in less than a year, they're engaged. They decide to have their wedding in South Florida. Donna Edelson is very involved in the planning of this extravaganza for her only daughter. Danny Markel was devout in his Jewish faith. It was important for him to have a traditional Jewish marriage, specifically into the wedding of the entirely kosher.
He was very invested in it being a kosher wedding so that the rabbi would be comfortable being there. Dan's family and friends traveled down from Canada for a big day through import of surprise. Daniel Markel shows up at his own wedding and discovers that the catering is not kosher. I think he sort of had the rug pulled out from under him because in the rabbis were going to have to leave and I think that was a very devastating moment for him. Donna approached me and she said, why is Danny so kosher? You're not even that kosher.
And she already had started to move towards that as kind of a bit of a divisive issue. Do you think that this is malicious? I think that it was a bit of sabotage, a little bit of lack of respect. There was a third person in this relationship and that's what we have here. So Donna was the third person in a relationship between Wendy and Danny?
Absolutely. Lots of people who's in laws are paying for the wedding end up with not the wedding of their dream. It's only in retrospect that it looks like a harbinger of things to come. After their wedding, Wendy Adelson and Dan Markel settle into a life together. They move to Tallahassee, capital of Florida.
Both Dan and Wendy get jobs at Florida State University Law School. So if you're not from Florida, they're the same. The further north you go, the more styles you get. Northern Florida is really southern Georgia. When you think about Florida and maybe think about Disney World, do you think about Miami and what the beach is and then I life?
And Tallahassee is not seen as that sophisticated. It's a much slower pace here. Dan and Wendy start their life together in this neighborhood called Benton Hills. It is a kind of upscale neighborhood. This is a quiet place. This is where kids run around, you know, ride their bikes up and down the street.
And they have from the outside what seems like a pretty, a delicate life. They were very lovey, happy. We went to dinner once at their house and we left kind of going like, we're feeling adequate. Oh my god, like an adequate as a married couple because they were dancing and singing and... And they called me two other the bears.
The bears. Mr. Bear was Danny and Mrs. Bear was Wendy. And the leafy enclave filled with families, Wendy and Dan start one of their own and they have two boys within two years.
Danny was a great father with all his accomplishments. To me, I'm proudest of him as a father. His boys were the entire world to him. He was a professor in a demanding job. He traveled, but he managed to arrange his schedule as much as he could to spend a lot of quality time.
They would go to the local pool, they would go to the park. He was really invested in their early growing up years. Dan's career really takes off. He was like a star on the rise. Well, Dan Markel was a passionate guy who cared deeply about learning and teaching.
He's a criminal law specialist. Murder, for example, is a kind of law that I think everyone could talk for hours about, principles of justice and jurisprudence. Issues of the death penalty of criminal justice. Dan starts a blog for law professors and his friends say it might have made him some enemies. We're in a profession where most of the people are type A personalities.
Most people are a little aggressive. Dan is like to argue and he likes to make sure people understood his argument. Friends of Dan's, he'll tell you that he likes to needle people. He likes to push and poke and prod. Well, Dan is relishing life in Tallahassee. Wendy is not as content. She's longing for South Florida where her parents and brother live.
Under the old adage of Happy Wife, Happy Life, he tried to get a job in Miami, which would have been closer to Wendy's parents, and then was unsuccessful. That was very dispiriting for both I think him and Wendy. She was talking to him about being unhappy and he was insisting they had no problems. They had come into their marriage as equals, well-educated lawyers with ambition and promise. But over time, her friends say Wendy begins to feel a sense of imbalance in their relationship, something that she talks about openly on a podcast she does for a writing class.
Our marriage dissolved after the children arrived, as the loneliness of being married to someone that didn't view me as an equal crept in. Danny was brilliant. He was top-notch in his field, and I think she struggled with being in his shadow. And I think it was hard for her to navigate her role in the marriage. He was fairly controlling and pretty unkind to my friend. And I was around on a number of occasions when he put her down and it was really hard to be around for that.
Roughly six years into their marriage, Wendy writes a novel. It's called This is Our Story. It's a work of fiction, but those close to Wendy notice the parallels to her own life. In fact, Wendy Lament stands unwillingness to read her book in her podcast. I do believe you loved me the best way you knew how. I mean, you didn't like fiction, so why read my novel? It was logic, not a lack of love.
In the book, one of her characters was a woman who fell out of love. And perhaps that's why she wanted Dan to read it. My childhood friend Lisa told me this weekend that she never even knew I was unhappy in my marriage. I had no idea I hid it so well. At this point, Dan is travelling frequently for work while Wendy stays behind, literally and figuratively working and caring for their two young sons.
I see Dan in New York, and he's telling me that he thinks his marriage is unwinding. So I try to encourage him to just stick it out, stay home more, don't go to as many conferences, just try to work your way through it. It's during one of these trips to a conference in New York City that Wendy calls Dan to deliver some devastating news. She says, I'm leaving, it's over. Dan says, please don't do this, we can still work this out.
He calls him in New York, he changes all his plans, he cancels the lecture, and he gets on a flight to come back to Tallahassee. He walks into the bedroom, and there was divorce papers on the bed. Half the furniture is missing, even half the dining room chairs were gone. He came home to a house that was literally half emptied. Even though he was just filing for divorce, but she preemptively took everything, including the house that was empty.
And he called this Pearl Harbor. It was kind of shocking, all of a sudden he was sneak attacked on a Sunday morning essentially. Even in his wildest imagination when he's describing what he's taking to be his wife's disengagement, he doesn't think this is going to happen. Dan was devastated from the divorce. This wasn't a normal divorce case. It was incredibly litigious. You know, as you might expect that with two law professors.
The accusations are flying at this point. Wendy accuses Dan of hiding assets while Dan accuses Wendy of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars. He said that she stole assets, wouldn't give back a diamond ring from one of his aunts in the Holocaust. It was really acromoleaus. Wendy accuses Dan of emotional abuse and claims he tells their colleagues at FSU that she has, quote, mental health issues.
They each vehemently deny the claims of the other. It was almost like a tennis match, you know, going back and forth with these filings that only the two of them really were involved in the match at that point. And everybody else was just kind of standing on the outside watching. There was lack of communication. There was ranker. Did any of you ever think that it could get violent?
Never. But there was a third party involved in this divorce. Let's show this **** what will make him absolutely miserable. Wendy's mother, Donna. Debra hasn't beaten the Adelson family yet. Less than seven years after exchanging wedding vows, Wendy Adelson and Dan Markel are exchanging accusations in divorce court.
The divorce got really nasty. I think the boiling point was when Wendy couldn't leave Tallahassee, couldn't relocate to South Florida. Dan wouldn't agree to it. Wendy needed extremely clear to almost anyone who would listen that she did not like Tallahassee. She did not want to live here and she wanted to move to South Florida.
And the only way she could do that is if he agreed or he died. She's allowed to leave him, right? She's allowed to divorce. But she's not allowed to just take his kids and move them seven hours to South Florida. She found a motion to relocate the children and that was flatly denied.
The judge ruled over the protests of Wendy and Wendy's family that she could not move to Miami. Donna and Arvi, Wendy's parents had always been actively involved in Wendy's life and in the grandkids' life. It's like 700 miles a day drive. It was quite inconvenient for them. They have to keep going up to Tallahassee. And Donna will be back and forth quite often.
When the divorce happens, they maintain a closeness to the situation. They are extremely involved. And the news that Wendy and the kids will not be able to move to South Florida apparently does not sit well for Mother Donna. Donna began this campaign that she wrote, she's linked the emails to Wendy. Donna refers to Dan Marcalas gibbers, which is clearly a derogatory term.
It's time to take control of your life and not let gibbers think he's won anything by having you remain in Tallahassee. A month before their next court appearance, Donna sends Wendy a long email suggesting ways to needle her soon-to-be ex-husband. Remember, this is the woman who helped her daughter find Dan on Jay date eight years earlier. Now Donna says she wants that same man to suffer. Let's show this **** what will make him absolutely miserable. You know his weak points, money, religion, control.
Donna advocates using religion to pressure Dan. Let gibbers know that your children will be baptized in the Catholic Church. Donna even suggests paying Dan off. We plan to make a financial offer to him to allow this relocation. She suggested to Wendy that they should go three ways to pay Danny a million dollars, her and Harvey, Charlie and Wendy.
Donna reminds Wendy she's not alone in this one. Gibbers hasn't beaten the Adelson family yet. You have a very strong family behind you. Just remember that. I don't think at this point money, threats of Catholic school you name it, we're going to convince Dan to be separated from his kids.
Although their divorce is technically finalized in July 2013, things aren't over just yet. The following spring, old wounds reopened after the boys visit their grandma Donna. Donna was telling the boys how stupid their father was. How did Danny even find out that Donna was maligning him to his own children? They were always told them, he said, well, Danny, Grandma, Donna was saying that you're stupid.
And Danny was now getting agitated about the fact that there was this bad moment going on. That obviously infuriates him. Give ex-mother-in-law is trying to poison your kids against you. He felt like her family was alienating the children from him. So Dan files a motion that will take Wendy back to court.
If he was making the argument to the court, that Grandma should not be able to have the kids unsupervised. They had a lot of issues post-divorce, which made it even difficult to have smooth communications between them. There was lack of communication. Anger. Did any of you ever think that it could get violent?
Never. Despite the heated language in divorce court, in their personal lives, Dan and Wendy appeared to be moving on. Soon, there was a new man in her life. Wendy was introduced to a social work professor at FSU, Jeff LeCass. One of the first things that people point out about Jeff is that he looked a little like Dan.
Dan is dating as well, and they became relatively serious too. It was beautiful. He fell in love again. And that was a nice experience for us really to see him in a much better moment. After all of the other things that were going on.
It took a while, but I thought he was really regaining his footage. But that would all change on a hot July morning in 2014. Dan Markel is on summer break from FSU Law School. He drives the children to the preschool. He drives to premiere gym.
Dan Markel was coming back to his home from the gym. He's on the phone. I remember very specifically he says to me, I have to make one more call. Dan makes that call and is pulling into his driveway. When he notices something unsettling.
He says there's so many in my driveway that I don't know. And as a man is on the phone, he hears some exchange and hears a muffle, a sound, a grunt. He never hears Dan Markel again. This show is sponsored by Smile Set. We talk a lot about hard topics and heavy emotions on this show.
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Head to ABCSecretsavings.com and start sleeping easier today. That's ABCSecretsavings.com.com. At around 11 AM, shots ring out. A neighbor finds Dan Markale slumped over in the front seat of his Honda. Calls 911.
911. 911. That's right next door to my house. OK. What's going on with him?
I don't know. The driver's side window is all bashed in. He's inside the car's running and he's got blood all over his hip. He's not responding to me. And this phone call came in from the police. The Deming was shot. The hell isn't it? Shock.
Your mind goes blanky. It's not possible. They're making a mistake. All you could think about is your body's totally traumatized. It was horrific. It was just something that out of this world.
In the beginning, no one really knew what happened. Police asked Dan's ex-wife Wendy, what she knows. What does this... What does this... I don't know.
Would you ever ask someone to do something like this? Not a million years. Wendy does not hold back in a center view. Do you think someone would do this for your benefit without asking? No. Even my family who felt like I had been mistreated would never do something like this.
Never. It is perhaps the biggest mystery in this case, exactly what was going through Wendy's brain. And that interview really... Not one. One C's are your emergency.
It's right next door to my house. This was a horrifying scene for that neighbor who first walked over and looked and wasn't sure what had happened. Okay. What's going on with him? He's not responding to me.
The neighbor sees Dan Markel with a gunshot to the forehead to the face and his glasses are shattered. It looks like he's been shot at a very close range and Dan Markel is still breathing. Once the paramedics arrive, he's quickly rushed to the hospital. Police track down his ex-wife Wendy who is out to lunch with friends and bring her to the police station. There was a shooting at your ex-husband's home, Daniel.
All right. Has been taken to the hospital. He's not going to survive. Oh my God. Oh my God.
Well, before we get into everything, I have to establish where you were and who you were with and so forth. I just don't understand. Why did this happen? She sits down for hours and during that time the police look at her phone. They look at her ID.
They swab her for fingerprints. Everything that you would do with a potential suspect. They never call her a suspect and it's an interview not an interrogation, but she does provide all of this willingly. I understand why you think I'm a primary suspect. No, you're not a primary suspect.
My ex is causing a migraine. I would never do something like that. I understand why. I would be the person you would think. Well, we have to work just as hard to eliminate.
It's fine. I want to figure out who this is. Wendy does not hold back in this interview. She talks about how bad the divorce was. She talks about how Dan was emotionally abusive to her. She talks about how she wants to get down to Miami.
You never heard me physically, but he was emotionally abusive. Okay. And I didn't tell most people that. So all those people know is we just didn't work out. While Dan Markell claims to life, his parents are located and told the devastating news.
Phil, it was you who got the original call. I was visiting friends and this phone call came in from the police saying that Demi was shot and that somebody from the hospital doctor is going to call me. Phil called me. I got the call and he says, are you sitting down? And I knew right away in his voice that this was not a good story.
And then he told me that Danny was shot, which was horrific. Dan Markell died in the hospital less than 24 hours after he's been shot. I had wished that I could at least hold his hand before he passed away. Very good that very much. Dan's death was felt by so many. There were headlines all across Florida and that covered his death, his murder, and the memorial for him.
Because he touched so many lives, so many people came out to support his family, to remember him. I was unbelievably moved. Just the outpouring of love for him. I literally sat in my seat and cried because I found out things about Danny, my own son, that I didn't even know myself. Tell a Haci Police now scrambling to unravel the riddle of who killed Florida State University Professor Dan Markell.
This was the crime that sent shockwaves through the community. I just could not believe it because I know Danny. I know how he is. But who would shoot him really is what was going through my mind. The overall response was shock and horror. And a lot of questions. Why would anyone want to kill Dan Markell?
After Dan Markell is killed, it's a complete mystery as to who did this. No evidence seems to have been left behind. It's as if the murderer vanished into the air. With him being so prominent in the legal world, there was a lot for investigators to chew on. One theory is that Dan made enemies over his provocative legal blog that he founded and wrote for.
And he'd recently received online threats. So my first thought was, and I shared it with the police at that moment, that maybe it was a disgruntled, perhaps student, rather person professional on the blog. They also looked, of course, in a college town, you're going to say, was a unhappy student. I just let my god, this happened to one of us and another one of us might be next. Detectives also began to look at people in Wendy and Dan's lives, starting with someone that Wendy herself brought up during her long police interview.
Basically the hours after the murder, Wendy pretty much immediately started pointing fingers at a few different people. She talked about a guy she knew she was dating Jeffrey LeCass. I see why he's a good suspect. Like, when it's Jeff, he didn't like Danny because Danny heard me. Police direct down her former boyfriend and bring him in for an interview.
I surprised you guys didn't call me earlier though, because I might sit on the phone with him like you kick his ass. While all of these theories about who murdered Dan Markell were circulating, police started to think this was more a person. Maybe it had something to do with Wendy. Maybe someone who loved her. She talked about a guy she knew she was dating Jeffrey LeCass.
Jeffrey LeCass comes in to talk to police willingly three times. He keeps coming back because it seems that he has a story to tell. Your name didn't come up because you were associated at some point with Wendy. It's been a lot of times when she really has this charisma, this sexuality and so on. If there's something about a bus from this girl, it's a new kind of thing for me.
I don't know what's wrong with this girl. Jeff's interview, maybe more so than Wendy's is extraordinary, because he's a boyfriend who is in the process of breaking up with Wendy and it's a contentious breakup by both of their admission. I surprised you guys didn't call me earlier though because I've been by 700 times in public that I like to kick his ass because he kept looking like he could really make him have many software and things like that. But no, I would never have a professor. He's right up front about saying that he didn't like this guy. He also has an ironclad alibi. He was out of town.
I said it really crappy days in between myself and the good one. He's got the receipts. He was not here so that immediately puts him in the clear. In a red way something clicks in his head. And he seems to say, I think I know what happened.
I sort of got my safety with what I'm going to tell you to be honest. Anywhere I got this guy in the car and I don't want to be next. That sounds paranoid, but I do have some ideas. And LaCass points to Wendy's family. Her parents and her brother run that very successful South Florida dental clinic.
A family. That's where we want your back in South Florida. They hate Danny in a way. I've never seen this kind of obsession with her hobby as hating Danny. Maya and Alex Greenberg tell police about this ire from the Adlesons towards Dimmercoll.
They hate it Danny. They hate it. I think they're mean. They do some of the stuff that they did during this divorce with Danny. They're just not reasonable.
Hi mom, how's it going? I need you to sit down. So during this police interview Wendy asked if she can call her mother's. And she tells Donna that Dan has been shot, he's not expected to live. Danny has been shot.
There was a point where she was just kind of saying she was relieved to find that her mom was surprised at the news. When the parents sounded really surprised so it's a waste of relief. That's when I think of who would be angry enough to do something to him. My parents would be angry but they're not capable of this. And Wendy makes this startling comment about something her brother Charlie once said to her.
My brother, the one who thinks Charlie the one who I'm really close to. He makes a lot of jokes about taste and it was the joke he made. I looked at the hiring hit man and it was cheaper to get you this TV so instead I got you this TV. It was my divorce present. It was a horrible thing to say.
Would you think that this guy Charlie would be capable of those? I'm like, did that. He's just talking. He's a joker. Okay.
Charlie was always someone who was smiling, always someone who would have a good time. Wendy's older brother Charlie had a reputation as a fast-living, fun-loving playboy. He's so smart. He's intelligent and he's fun. He throws his money around. He's a bit of a player.
Charlie always has a girl. I can't keep up. It seemed like Charlie had two different types of friends. You know, people we kind of grew up with, like normal, nice people. He also seemed to have maybe friends that were from the wrong side of the tracks.
Somebody tried to kill my ex-husband. They should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Regardless of who it is. I mean, it would be different if I thought it would be my brother but I don't think it was my family. Anyone outside my immediate family, that's a tough one.
But I don't think my immediate family did this. So if it's anybody else, yeah. And it turns out that Wendy's family was nowhere near Tallahassee the day Dan was shot. Wendy later releases a statement through her attorney saying, my family had nothing to do with this and quickly moves to South Florida with her two sons. Meanwhile, as police continue their investigation, they have just a single solid lead from the crime scene.
The neighbor did see a car backing away, something that looks similar to a Prius. And that's all that police had to go on. You said there was another vehicle that you know driving away? Yes. And it looks seen rapidly. It looks sort of like a Prius.
Police are able to identify a green Toyota Prius at the fitness center where Dan Markell worked out the morning he was shot. He exercises, comes back out, goes to his car in the same vehicle, which hasn't left the parking lot, is then seen pulling out of the parking lot, falling behind the victim. The Prius was really the thing that they focused on initially. They had surveillance video of it from city buses that it had driven by intersection cameras were able to capture it. We also find that car on video on a bus camera pulling into the victim's neighborhood or their abouts shortly before the murder.
And they notice there's a sun pass, the toll road pass. Now, in Tallahassee, at this time, we don't have any toll roads, so people don't go around with sun pass screeners. They then began this absolutely extensive search all over the state for this type of color, this type of Prius with the sun pass on it. When police pulled those toll records, it led them here to this whole-of-the-wall rental agency here in Miami that rents mostly hybrids. Now, inside a contract was signed leading police to the men who rented that green Prius.
And when they went and looked at who signs for the car to be rented, their names were right there. Who are these two men? I want to know what made them come to Tallahassee and kill a friend. It's very strange. I mean, people, they don't know him, they never heard of him.
The mystery surrounding those two men would lead to an undercover encounter in South Florida. Excuse me, Mrs. Daddleson? Hey, go, just want to give you this. Oh, listen, you have an acriptic call between mother and son.
That's some type of work you went to with the team? It's been called me or other people? No. Probably not. Probably the general white woman, so I can get a shot.
Ten months ago, someone killed the father of my children. First we got divorced, and then he got murdered. A law school professor is shot down in cold blood. Now, the murder trial, teeming with hired hit men, hidden recordings, and family secrets. When Wendy Edelson walked into the courtroom to take the stand, how does she feel about the fact that the state is saying her family is involved in this murder?
Charlie is basically your prime suspect at least within that family. I mean, he's a suspect. Wendy Edelson had a problem, and her problem was named Dan Markel. Dr. Allison?
Were you involved in a plot to kill your brother-in-law Dan Markel? For the shooting, did you ever discuss hiring a hit man? Somebody hired him, but who? What will the jury decide? If they think the police are coming with you and talk to you, they will kill you.
Look at what they did to Professor Markel. Tell our happy police now scrambling to unravel the riddle of who killed Florida State University Professor Dan Markel. Tomorrow marks one year since his death. So far, they're no good leads, so they're asking for your help. This story kind of just dropped off.
It did. There was not a whole lot of information that came out really, almost two years, with no answers. The community thinking, what happened? Do perhaps just not have any information? No leads?
I was thinking that, my God, it's never going to go anywhere. It's two years and nothing, nothing. What is so sad for the Markel's, besides this horrible violent death of their son, they don't have connection to his children. After Dan was murdered, the children went back to South Florida with Wendy. And then a series of things happened after work that compounded that grief for the Markel's.
One of those things was learning that Wendy had changed the boys' last name from Markel to Adelson. Her excuse was that she was concerned for the safety of the kids. I was shocked, I was angry. They just want to wipe the Markel family off the earth, we don't exist. So the Adelson's are still running their dentistry practice in South Florida?
They're probably living their lives down there, the children are growing up. They have adamantly denied any connection to the homicide or any involvement. It appears that the Adelson's get what they wanted. Wendy finds a large job in Miami, she rolls her sons in school. She even makes time to take a podcast in class where she lays bare her feelings about her ex-husband, Dan Markel.
Ten months ago, someone killed the father of my children. First we got divorced, then he got murdered. She makes this joke in the podcast that she doesn't know how to refer to Dan. I don't know whether to call him my ex-leat spouse or my late ex-vouse. Except that late ex-vouse sounds like a late ex-vouse.
For Dan Markel's survivors, of course, it didn't play well. It feels sacrilegious these days, even to suggest something less than heroic about my late ex-husband, because he was murdered. I don't think she's set out to disparage Danny so much as she was reflecting on what the experience was like for her. Behind the scenes, Tall Hazy police are homing in on who was driving that green Prius away from the crime scene. Through meticulous police work, they trace the car to a rental lot in Miami.
And when they went and looked at who signed for the car to be rented, Luis Rivera and Cifrado Garcia. Cifrado signed it. He was the brother of Luis Rivera. Cifrado Garcia was a low-level criminal, had some drug arrest down in Miami. Luis Rivera, however, more of a hardened criminal.
More of a hardened criminal involved in a lot of gang activity. Luis was an acknowledged member of the Latin Kings. He was a crown. He was a big deal in the Latin Kings. They rented it in their names with their phone numbers, with a sun pass.
They had their phones on while they were driving up there. He essentially, they just wrote a map for the cops. Investigators were able to later use cell phone tower pings to show when phone calls were made from Cifrado Garcia. They placed Garcia near Dan Markel's neighborhood at about the time of the homicide using the cell phone data. We also have the ATM video where on the day of the homicide, the two killers are seen driving through an ATM in that pine mic up Prius.
The police did a substantial amount of information to begin collecting a warrant to arrest these guys. Police think they figured out who committed the murder and how they did it, but they're left with a question of why? Why would someone commit this crime? Cifrado Garcia and Luis were there, didn't even know Dan Markel. They discovered that there is a link and there's a mysterious woman who will be connected to this case.
In what way are the alleged killers linked to the Adelson's? Through Catherine Magonoe. And who is she? She is Garcia's child's mother. And she is also the former girlfriend of Charlie Adelson.
How long was she and Charlie together? I think they were together for quite some time before the homicide. Katie becomes this conduit, this connection point between the Adelson's and Dan Markel's murder. Absent her, you have nothing that links any of these people directly. Investigators start to form a picture of a complicated web involving two accused hitmen, a female companion, and the brother of Dan Markel's estranged ex-wife.
As police try to piece this puzzle together, they start by building a timeline of the suspect's actions. And that means looking at their phone records. Once you get that phone, you think it's involved, then you get a pen register, who they call? Katie Magonoe. They inter-mediary, and then they get her phone. Who's she calling David Grime? Charlie Adelson.
So investigators set out to follow the money. So the strategy would be to work yourself to the money man, to the heart of the conspiracy. Katie was the alleged facilitator. Investigators discovered that in the months after the murder, Katie Magonoe makes some large cash deposits. It also receives checks from the Adelson Institute.
She was collecting checks from the dentistry. It was not necessarily clear what she was doing for her payment there. And Katie buys a luxury car from the Adelson's four below sticker price. When you dig a little bit deeper into the various ways that Katie may have been compensated, one way is through breast augmentation surgery. Although there's no direct paper trail, investigators suggest that Charlie Adelson may have helped pay for her procedure.
The allegation is that Katie may have enhanced her physique on the Adelson's time. So cars, surgery, cash, and then a job that wasn't really a job. Who launched the conspiracy? Whose idea was in the first place? The cops felt it was Charlie Adelson's, but they still can't get to him.
We've got the circumstantial evidence of Charlie and Katie being involved in this. But what they're going to need is somebody who's going to tell them exactly what happened. Probably a jailhouse snitch. From the producers of the Traders, who see all new Hulu Original Series The Mob. Monday to Italy!
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Because the NBA is a world of its own. Let's stop it now. So from the biggest names to the biggest moments, ESPN is where you call home. Let's stop it now. When it came to identifying possible suspects who might want Dan Markel dead, detectives felt compelled to circle back to that startling statement when he made to them early in the investigation.
My brother, the one who sings Charlie the one really close to you, he makes a lot of jokes about taste, and it was a joke he made. He said, I looked at the hiring hit band, and it was cheaper to get this TV, so instead I got this TV. But Wendy's former boyfriend, Jeff LeCass, told police that when she related the account to him, there was nothing funny about it. She told me that Charlie had looked into having to be any killed in summer of 2013. She met at a dead series.
They could just say, I would be able to get into Charlie Ails. No, I don't know if he did this. If you're looking at something. Don't miss him. With the Adlesons firmly on their radar, investigators in South Florida now put the family under surveillance.
Police need more information on the Adlesons. They want to see if they can prove this conspiracy. But because there is no hard evidence directly linking the Adlesons to Dan's murder, investigators come up with an audacious plan to confront Donna Adleson outside her luxury condo building in Miami Beach. It's a sunglasses on. It's going to flash off my dive.
And her hair is pulled back to the vehicle. They decided to do something called a bomb, which is, it sounds like, let's see if what we can shake loose. Donna Adleson is approached on the street by a man she's never seen before. This person turns out to be an undercover FBI agent. Excuse me, Mr. Dettleson?
Hey, Dylan, just want to give me this. This is you. Don't be scared. And he says that he was the brother of one of the assailants. And that they needed something a little extra to take care of.
The healthier family with this problem he does had on the work. He's going through some real time. The undercover detective says that I want $5,000 for you to help my family. You don't want to make sure that you take care of what he's going through to what you're taking care of and who's going through. Oh, this will explain it.
Thank you. He hands her a piece of paper that has a press release of Dan's murder on it, and it has a phone number for her to call to make that transaction with the money. And Donna eventually calls the guy. Hello? I have to tell you, I mean, this is important. I've been so stressed out because I don't know your friends who are in jail. I've never met them.
That's not ****ing around. Okay? You know who Katie is. And you know that Katie has somebody that knows that. And they took care of a problem for you people.
You talk to the right people. You talk to people. You make this five take company. That's all I need. Just do it and get it to me.
I'll point back. When Donna called her son Charlie, it led to a cryptic conversation. I've got some people who work hands-altered too. You're going to call me or other people? No.
Probably don't. Probably the general like what I'm talking about. That's just fun sometimes it's like some children. She doesn't use the words murder or Dan Markel. She just refers to it as you know about it. We'll talk later.
It may have to do with the two of us. I'm going to be answering a calls went down to Charlie. And Charlie to Katie. I guess I let somebody fooling your bones. Somebody is just harassing you or somebody trying to get something out of you.
When they do catch the person, they're going to be asking him lots of questions about who Katie is. All I'm saying is find out where the **** it is and tell me to stop wannin' her games. I don't know who you have to talk to but it's going to be nip in the body. You don't think that's **** you're just telling me like somebody ****ing my name out or whatever. If someone is messing with you, they're messing with me.
So what I'm saying is find out who the **** is. While there's no confession on tape, police prepare arrest warrants for the alleged hitman Katie McBannewa and Charlie Adelson, but at this point prosecutors are only ready to pull the trigger by charging two of them. One of the minicuses of killing FSU law professor Dan Markell is now behind bars. On May 25th 2016, the news breaks into a hassie of Sigrato Garcia's arrest for the murder of Dan Markell. Soon after, Luis Rivera is also charged for the murder.
We can provide additional information for this investigation. Just eight days later, the police released the probable cause affidavit for Sigrato Garcia. In it, bestigators allege his involvement in this murder stemmed from the desperate desire of the Adelson family to relocate Wendy and the children to South Florida. They are mentioned in this probable cause affidavit. They are the only connection between Sigrato Garcia and Dan Markell.
Later the Adelson family released a statement saying there's been a lot of unsupported speculation that the Adelson's had something to do with the murder. That speculation is categorically false. To be clear, none of the Adelson's Wendy or brother Charlie or their parents Donna and Harvey had anything to do with Dan's murder. It's all over the news. So there's some feeling of, oh wow.
We just pray that those involved have to pay the price for what they've done. Charlie Adelson was approached by one of our 2020 producers and asked about his alleged involvement in the murder plot. Dr. Adelson, you involved in a plot to kill your brother-in-law to Dan Markell? For the shooting did you ever discuss hiring a hitman?
To the frustration of Dan's friends, months go by with no further arrests. There is definitely a growing sense of frustration, wondering how the people who had been hired to commit this act were all in jail by the people who had allegedly hired them or not. Then in October 2016 there is a dramatic breakthrough. Prosecutors announced a plea deal with Luis Rivera. They say he's ready to reveal how he says Dan Markell was killed.
You saw me swear we're firm if you have an issue you're about. You gave me is a truth, the whole truth is nothing but the truth. In October 2016, Luis Rivera really broke open the case. He confesses. He showed you a picture of Markell.
Okay. Instead y'all were going to kill her. Rivera says they've already been given $5,000 in traveling expenses from a mysterious person that Garcia would only refer to as the lady. That's why he didn't give it back to us. The lady wants you two kids back.
The Rivera plea deal was important because although he was a gang member and part of this murder, everything he said was corroborated by the other evidence. When Markell says, let's get him out. He goes on the car, he drives it. He says twice. He got the car.
He left. He calls Katie. We have nothing but money. He called it. He said everything is done.
Make sure you have no money. I'm on my way. Once Luis Rivera starts talking and gives all of this information to police, they now have enough to bring down their next suspect, Catherine McBamaw. Police in Florida are arresting a single mom, accusing her of arranging the killing of a prominent Florida state law professor. She was arrested and was offered full immunity.
Get out of jail for eight car. And she turned it down. After Katie was arrested, Charlie's anxiety, it was spiked 100%. June Umchinda was dating Charlie at the time of Katie's arrest. Once Katie got arrested, he would tell me like how horrible it would be in prison.
Like they're getting food from a tray and it's like isolation and this is a murder case. So it would be for life. While June says Charlie is swaying it out in September of 2019, his previous girlfriend, Katie McBannaw, goes on trial. It's a high-profile case that's garnering attention across the world. Everybody face data, please.
It was a big deal that this was going to trial five years after Dan Markell's murder. So if we go to Garcia and Catherine McBannaw are tried together. We'll start from the state of Florida. Wendy Adelson had a problem and her problem was named Dan Markell. And the solution to that problem was McBannaw, Rivera, and Garcia to execute Mr. Markell in
cold blood. Though prosecutors are ringing this trial against Sankrato Garcia and Catherine McBannaw, they spent a lot of time during their case pointing the finger at Charlie Adelson. As the prosecution calls its witnesses, one of them causes jaws to drop in the courtroom. It's Wendy Adelson testifying under a limited immunity agreement about the bad blood between her family and Dan Markell. He fought to the nail against testifying.
I'm going to show you dates exhibit 36. Is that a photograph of you and Catherine McBannaw at the beach? With her friend. Yes. And did you say how he knows who's going to be?
I was dating my brother. Is it fair to say that your brother is very protective of you? I think that's fair to say. Did he ever joke about hiring a hitman? He did make that joke.
But the prosecution star witness is convicted killer Luis Rivera testifying as part of his plea deal for a reduced sentence. All right, so Garcia hired you to do a murder, didn't he? Yes, ma'am. And who hired him? No, I as a family.
I'm going to leave the money. Garcia. All right, and tell us about the money. How was it packaged? Twenty.
Oh, honey. It was stable. Stable. $1,000 stable. You can't do it.
When Charlie's girlfriend June takes the stand, she describes the curious way he stashes his cash. In fact, you said that the money was stabled into stacks of $100 bills, didn't you? They were hundreds, yes, in the mail. I don't know if they were stacks, but there was a staple on it. I thought it was so odd.
Why do you have a staple in your money? John, this one is called Captain and Val, it's a fact. Cage took the stand in her own defense. Did you have anything to do with the murder of Dan Markel? No, ma'am.
Did you get the father of your children, Mr. Garcia, to commit a murder on behalf of Mr. Charlie Gailson? No, ma'am. Based on everything you've seen, do you think Charlie was involved in this?
Yes. At the end of this trial, the jury believed Luis Rivera and his testimony for the prosecution that Sique Frado Garcia was involved in Dan Markel's murder. We, the jury, find his followers as Count Lund, the defendant as guilty of first-degree murder. But after Katie McBannewa, it was a hung jury. As McBannewa, I will declare this case Mr. Tried.
I'm certainly happy with the outcome for Mr. Garcia and hope we can have a similar one from Ms. McBannewa, whether it be today or in the future. For Katie, that future came two and a half years later, when she is retried on largely the same evidence. She again testifies it, she had nothing to do with the murder, and once again, points to Charlie as the culprit.
Do you believe that he should be prosecuted for his involvement in the murder of Dan Markel? Yes, ma'am. Okay. She said that she believes that he's guilty and that she had nothing to do with it. But this time though, it did not seem to sway the jury in the way that it did the first time.
In the state of Florida versus Catherine McBannewa, on count one, which is first-degree murder, you have been found guilty via jury, you will be adjudicated guilty, and you will be sentenced to life in prison. Now prosecutors have three convictions for Dan Markel's murder, and it turns out, in the time between Katie's two trials, there was another huge development, this one involving Charlie Adelson. According to authorities, newly enhanced audio from the FBI exposed details from a secret meeting between Katie and Charlie back in 2016. If you want to charge me something, charge me at nine, five, six, six, six, six, six. Here's a guy who had all the swagger in the road who was sort of daring police to come after him, and Charlie's words might just come back to haunt him.
In April of 2016, investigators secretly record a meeting between Charlie Adelson and Katie McBannewa at a South Florida strip mall. It was so noisy inside, it was hard to make heads or tails of what was being said. But then, six years later, the FBI is able to enhance that audio, and for prosecutors, it's a game changer. Happy for you to charge me. The thing that sealed the deal for Charlie Adelson was the Dolce Vita recordings.
He's saying, if I thought they had enough evidence, I'd be at the airport, suggesting that he would skip town if he thought there was more evidence out there against him. A grand jury has now indicted Charlie Adelson in Mark Hell's death. It was unbelievable to hear it was relief because it's taken so long. I want the people that are involved to pay the price. Adelson is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and solicitation to commit murder.
He pleads not guilty to all charges. On October 23rd, Charlie goes on trial. For the morning, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the attorneys are going to present their opening statements. Prosecution tells the jury that Donna Adelson turned to her son, Charlie, to help her get Wendy and the kids back to South Florida. This defendant carried out his plan to hire a hitman to kill Dan Mark Hell.
He conspired and he solicited Catherine by Vanuah to get this murder done. It's his case against Charlie Adelson as a case of assumptions. It's a case of guesses. During his opening statement, defense attorney Daniel Rashbaum stunned the courtroom by saying, that the police and the police and the police were in the case of the murder. You will learn that Charlie Adelson was told if he didn't pay within the next 48 hours, he or one of his family members would be next.
It was a jaw-draw moment. I'm scratching my head thinking, is that going to work? Is that going to fly in this courtroom? The prosecution starts out by calling many of the same witnesses who testified during Katie's trial, including June Umicinda, Charlie's former girlfriend, and Charlie's sister Wendy Adelson. Wendy testifies she had no idea her family was allegedly being blackmailed by the killers.
When did you learn that Catherine McBannell was blackmailing your brother for the murder of your ex-husband? Today. So he never told you? No. Your brother has known. Who killed your child's father? You didn't know.
I did not know. The courtroom is buzzing as the prosecution calls a bombshell witness, Katie McBannell. And this time on the stand, Katie does a complete 180. She not only testified she was in on the murder plot, she also testifies that it was orchestrated by Charlie. She was the one connecting all of this. She reveals that it had been nine months before he was killed, that she was approached by Charlie Adelson.
He asked me a question. Do you know anybody that can harm someone? And did you know anybody that can harm someone? Yes, ma'am. I did. Sit right out.
So you knew that the person that was going to be initially harmed was Wendy's husband. Yes, ma'am. Katie also testifies about how she says Charlie directed her to transfer the money to the hitman. And where did you get the money from to do that? From Charlie Adelson.
How was the money packaged when you got it? I think you said you got it the next morning. Yes, ma'am. Okay. How was it packaged?
The money was in a plastic bag, like a ziplock bag, and then like a grocery bag over it. He said he wore a glove so that there's no fingerprints on it. Katie then goes on to strongly deny being part of any blackmail plot against Charlie Adelson. Did you ever blackmail Charlie Adelson? No, ma'am. I did not. Did you ever threaten him in any way?
No, ma'am. I did not. But then on cross-examination, Rashbaum goes on the attack. They have to poke holes in her story and show that she is lying this time by raising the issue of the immunity, the get-out-of-jail-free card that she was offered. You were offered to cooperate against Charlie Adelson and the other Adelson's and you would get to go home to your kids, right?
Yes, sir. You still didn't cooperate. The deal was still open, right? Well, the deal was to give up Charlie. And you couldn't do that?
Because in order to give up Charlie I had to give up the great other father of my children, so I couldn't do that. Again, you lied when you testified that you didn't know anything about in the murder of Professor Markelle, right? Yes, sir. I told you I lied in my first and second trial to save myself. Is it true that you were the master of my client, Professor Markelle's, or...?
No, sir. That was Charlie. With Katie sticking to her guns, there's only one other person who can confirm the details of the alleged extortion plot for the defense. And that's their own client, Charlie Adelson. That jury was on the edge of their seats. That's high-stakes. And that's where the rubber meets the road.
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Please raise your right hand. The courtroom is abuzz with the anticipation of what is he going to say? Nine years after that, brazen, daylight killing of Dan Markel, his former brother-in-law speaks for the first time. How do you feel right now? I'm really nervous.
Why are you nervous? My whole life depends on him. Dan Markel's whole family was there, his sister and both of his parents. On the other side of the gallery, no support for Charlie Adelson, his father Harvey, his mother Donna, they haven't been there at all. With his client facing a potential life sentence, defense attorney Daniel Rashbaum takes a calculated risk putting Charlie Adelson on the stand.
Now, do you recall making a joke that buying her a TV was cheaper than hiring a hitman? This is the stupidest thing I ever said in my life. I said it was a complete joke and it was stupid, but I did that a lot. Did you ever say that joke to Catherine McBannell? Yes, I did.
Just to be clear. Did you ever look into hiring a hitman? No, never. We're leaning in to hear how he's going to pin all of this on Katie. Right out of the gate, Adelson puts it all on his former girlfriend testifying that the night of Markel's murder, she makes me shocking admission.
She said, listen, this is all my fault, but I had no idea anything was going to happen. I spoke in too much detail about your family's personal problems. Charlie Adelson is claiming that Katie told her ex-secret of RCIA a secret, that the Adelson family had planned to offer Dan a million dollars to agree to allow his ex-wife to relocate to South Florida after their divorce. She's like my friend killed Dan and he wants to be paid a third of a million dollars. Incredibly, Charlie Adelson claims that he was told just hours after the murder who killed Dan Markel.
That was a big shocker. He testifies that they hit men and wanted in on that million dollars, so they murdered Dan Markel essentially on spec, the idea being kill now, blackmail Charlie, collect the money later. And I'm like, Katie, I'm not going to be paying for a murder, this is insane. And she's like, look, if you don't pay in 48 hours, they will kill you. That's why Charlie testifies.
He paid her, and that same night he gives Katie $138,000 from his safe. Over the months that followed, he admits he paid Katie thousands more and asked his mother, Donna, to put Katie on a payroll at the family dental practice. She said, what was Katie going to be coming into the office, she was going to start working for us. And I said, no, she's not. And Charlie claims that police got it all wrong when they heard him on that Dolce Beatatte.
But he isn't the ringleader, rather a victim of this scheme. What do they think? They think it was a murder for hire. What was it? It was an extortion.
During Charlie's second day on the stand during cross-examination, prosecutor Georgia Kaplan goes right after his claim of extortion. Does a blackmail or extortion usually involve the extortionist having some kind of dirt on the victim? I know how this was done to me. I know what happened to me, I'm not an expert. And she wants to know, when Charlie's life is being threatened, why didn't he go to police?
So, you knew you'd be believed if you went to the police, right? I didn't know I'd be believed that I feared for my life. And what about Katie, Charlie's one-time girlfriend, but he claimed to really care about? You didn't offer to testify in her trial, you let her get convicted and get life imprisoned, didn't you? I thought the truth was going to come out.
Ultimately, the prosecution hammers Charlie on the stand for two hours, but he sticks to his narrative that he was a victim, extorted by the hitman and Katie. It was the truth. Closing arguments is, that's the last chance you could speak to that jury. He's got no more chances to try to sell this story. If this was a murder for hire, why was payment not made before?
See because he had no idea it was going to happen. That's the only thing that makes sense. He didn't do it, he didn't conspire to do it, he didn't solicit. In her closing arguments, prosecutor Georgia Kaplanman takes the jury back to the motive for the murder. So who did it appear, how motive to watch Dan Markhill dead? His old family.
The prosecutor says this was all about helping Wendy. Wendy appears to be the weakling of the pack. She needs to be saved by Donna and the defendant. Donna is the overbearing major yard in the act of everyone to death. And this defendant fancy himself the savior of this family. Equal parts, black sheep and mama's boy.
And she attacks the suggestion that Charlie Adelson is an innocent victim in this murder scheme. Latin King extortion payment plans, hidden in that hire themselves, and most unreasonable of all is probably that Charlie Adelson, an arrogant man of extraordinary resources. A prize fighter of gravity would just lay down and take this. In silence, this might take a good time to remind you that the jury room is not a place to check the common sense. We want him to bring it in here and render a verdict that speaks the truth.
Nine years after Dan Markhill was brutally murdered in the garage of his Calahasy home, it's Judgment Day for his former brother-in-law Charlie Adelson. After deliberating for just three hours, the jury's verdict is delivered to a packed courtroom. We the jury by as well as as the count one of the indictments are supreme murder. The defendant is guilty of first three murder. Charlie Adelson is also found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation to commit murder.
He looked devastated, deflated. You just saw Phil Markhill let out this big exhale and lean all the way over with his head in his hands. Could you describe the moment for us? Unbelievable. Joy, happiness.
Um... Joy and happiness is a funny thing to say, but it's sort of tinged with this feeling of relief. It's really, it's a long time back. Charlie Adelson is a convicted murderer. Now the state's gonna focus on others who are involved.
Does the investigation still going on? Yes, yes. But as this nearly decade old case continues, what sometimes gets overlooked is that at the heart of this story, are two young boys. But these are our memories. After the Adelson's alleged link to the murder plot was disclosed in 2016, the Markells were cut off from Dan's sons.
These boys are missing out on a set of grandparents that have all this warmth and desire to spoil them and be grandparents to them. Ruth told me she had the spirit of ever seeing her grandkids again. But with the help of Dan's friend, Karen Cyphers, she successfully fought for the passage of a bill known as the Markell Act. It allows grandparents to ask a court to order a visitation if a parent is found responsible for the other parent's death. I know that this bill does not at this moment apply to the Markells. Wendy has not been found responsible by a criminal or civil court.
That said, within an hour of the Senate passing the bill, Wendy reached out to Ruth and offered her visit with the kids. You got to see the kids again. What was that like? I hadn't seen these boys in six years. I had no idea what they looked like. And we were shocked. The kids were smiling. They were warm.
And I said, can we give you a hug? And they really responded. It lit a spark of hope that something was gonna happen that we might have more communications with them. The Markell said that the very next day those hopes they had were dashed when Charlie Edelson was arrested. Since then, they say the relationship with the kids has again become strained.
And we just hope and pray that one day things will change. There is still hope. There's always hope. Living with that hope, and we should mention that Charlie Edelson is scheduled to be sentenced this coming December. His defense team David telling us that they are likely going to appeal his conviction.
You've been listening to the 2020 True Crime Vault. Friday nights at 9 on ABC, you can also find all new broadcast episodes of 2020. Thanks for listening. Did you know that if your spouse goes missing and you don't tell anyone? That's not necessarily a crime.
That surprising fact is the heart of the brand new season of Bearbrook, the critically acclaimed True Crime Podcast from New Hampshire Public Radio on your host, Jason Loon. In this season, Bearbrook investigates another New Hampshire mystery. A Christmas tree farm with dementia vanishes. His wife never reports a missing. Can he still be found? You'll miss it. Follow Bearbrook wherever you get your podcasts.