The long and tangled pursuit of justice in the 2014 murder of Florida State University law professor Dan Markel is entering what could be its final chapter, with the trial of Donna Adelson now happening after a sudden collapse of proceedings last fall.
Markel, a Canadian-born legal scholar known for his work on criminal law and theory, was shot twice in the head in his Tallahassee garage on July 18, 2014, in what investigators determined was a murder-for-hire plot. The killing followed a bitter divorce from fellow FSU professor Wendi Adelson and a custody ruling that barred her from moving their two young sons to her family’s home base in South Florida.
Over the past decade, police, the FBI, and prosecutors have built a case that members of the Adelson family — along with intermediaries — orchestrated the crime to free Wendi from the court’s restrictions. The investigation has produced four convictions: gang leader Luis Rivera, shooter Sigfredo Garcia, Charlie Adelson (Wendi’s brother), and Katherine Magbanua (Charlie’s then-girlfriend). All are serving lengthy prison sentences, including three life terms.
Donna Adelson, the 74-year-old matriarch of the family, was indicted in November 2023 on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation. The arrest came one week after Charlie was found guilty, when she and her husband, Harvey Adelson, were intercepted at Miami International Airport attempting to board one-way flights to Vietnam, a country without an extradition treaty with the United States.
Prosecutors say Donna played an integral role in the plot — helping to arrange and fund the killing, laundering payment to Magbanua, and discussing blackmail threats tied to the case in conversations that were secretly recorded. Evidence from previous trials portrays her as deeply invested in getting Wendi and the children to South Florida, even suggesting to her daughter that they offer Markel $1 million or threaten to enroll the boys in a Catholic school to gain leverage.
Her trial was set to begin in September 2024, but fell apart on the first day of jury selection when lead attorney Dan Rashbaum abruptly withdrew over a conflict tied to his prior representation of Charlie Adelson. She has since assembled a new legal team.
When the case finally reaches court in 2025, it is expected to draw many of the same witnesses who have appeared in earlier trials — including Wendi Adelson, who has testified under limited immunity, and possibly Charlie himself, now serving his life sentence in Florida after being transferred from a South Dakota prison.
Markel’s killing has been the subject of multiple network true-crime features and a popular podcast, its twists keeping public attention locked on the family at the center of the plot. Nearly a decade later, the trial of Donna Adelson will attempt to resolve the lingering question of whether the case’s alleged architect will be held to account — or whether one of Tallahassee’s most notorious murders will end without the conviction prosecutors have sought from the beginning.
