What Donna Adelson Signed 44 Checks For

A judge ruled that Wendi Adelson couldn't move her sons away from their father, FSU law professor Dan Markel. That ruling is where prosecutors say this case actually begins. Donna Adelson, Wendi's mother, allegedly offered Markel a million dollars to make it go away. He said no. Months later, two men drove five hours from Miami in a rented Prius and shot Markel twice in the head in his own garage — the same morning he'd dropped his two sons at preschool and gone to the gym. He was 41 years old. What investigators found next wasn't a confession. It was a paper trail: 44 checks signed by Donna herself, $138,000 routed through a family dental office near Fort Lauderdale to a woman who never worked there a single day, and a toll transponder receipt logging every mile the hitmen drove. That dental office belonged to Donna's son, Charlie Adelson — a periodontist making three million a year from a family worth more than eight million combined. Prosecutors say Charlie orchestrated the murder and funneled the payments through his own practice. At trial, Charlie told the jury a different story: that he was being extorted, that the killers threatened him after the fact, and that his mother's checks were really a forced payoff. The prosecutor's response was one question about why an extortionist would send the victim's own girlfriend to collect the cash. The jury deliberated three hours. Five people have now been convicted, and the family that couldn't accept a custody ruling is the reason why. 

Listen Anywhere You Get Podcasts: https://pod.link/1655749292 
Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod?sub_confirmation=1 
Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ 
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ 
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ 
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod 
X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod 

This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. 

Hashtags 
#DanMarkel #DonnaAdelson #CharlieAdelson #AdelsonFamily #MurderForHire #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #WendiAdelson #FSU #Tallahassee