Original subtitles

[tense music]

♪ ♪

[phone line trills]

- Hey, Rob. How you doing, man?

♪ ♪

PAT: For you to come actually testify

against your family, how do you feel about that?

REPORTER: Were you involved in a plot

to kill your brother-in-law?

PERSON 1: There's a Prius.

PERSON 2: She's wearing a red top.

PERSON 3: They're walking away.

♪ ♪

PAT: The enhanced Dolce Vita recording, that was huge.

An outside individual who used to work for the CIA

had been able to isolate Katie and Charlie's voices.

It was really amazing.

PAT: This is the smoking gun that we were looking for.

It's got some great evidence in it

that we could actually play in a courtroom environment

for the jury.

PAT: It's been a long wait, but finally,

the state attorney's office said, OK,

here's your warrant; go get him.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

Dan Markel's murder was very cold and callous.

And Charlie, he coordinated the hit.

And we need to arrest this guy before he finds out

we're coming for him.

You never know how somebody's gonna react

when they get arrested.

Some people go quietly.

Some people decide, I'm gonna try

to take police officers out with me.

Bad things can happen.

♪ ♪

We surrounded the house.

And we had agents climb the fence and go around back.

Charlie had actually put up some razor wire

around the inside of his fence.

That was pretty telling to us that he was pretty paranoid.

We started yelling and screaming at Charlie,

FBI, you need to come out.

[banging on door, sirens wailing]

He actually came to the door in just his boxer shorts

with his hair sticking out about this big.

As he's standing there in his boxer shorts

with handcuffs on, he says, am I under arrest?

I said, yeah, this is kind of what this means.

JUNE: Obviously he just woke up.

Like, his hair's all curly and big.

He never goes in public like that, so...

REPORTER 1: A Fort Lauderdale dentist

is charged in connection with the 2014 murder

of his brother-in-law.

REPORTER 2: Charlie Adelson is in custody today.

He's facing first-degree murder charges.

- Charlie's arrest was an enormous deal

in Coral Springs.

LINDA: It was constant chatter.

It was the topic of every gathering.

It was really surreal to think that you

knew someone that could be involved

in something so heinous.

PAT: It was a huge moment in the case.

Finally we got Charlie in custody.

At least that was out of the way,

and we had to buckle down

and get ready for Katie's retrial.

Katie's first trial ended in a hung jury.

We wanted to make sure that that

was not gonna happen again.

AVA: The retrial of Katherine Magbanua.

She is the woman accused of helping facilitate

the murder of FSU law professor Dan Markel.

CHANNING: Wiretaps, body camera video,

and financial records, all important testimony

in Katherine Magbanua's retrial today.

- Now, I want to be clear from the very beginning.

Did you have anything to do with the murder of Dan Markel?

- No, ma'am. TARA: OK.

Did you know anything about the murder of Dan Markel?

- No, ma'am.

TARA: Would you have ever assisted anyone

in having a father of two killed?

- No, ma'am.

TARA: Would you assist anyone in having anybody killed?

- No, ma'am. TARA: OK.

Katie was maintaining her innocence.

So we went and spoke to Sigfredo in the jail,

the father of her kids.

And he confirmed, I'm going to testify for her.

That gave her a little bit of hope.

Oh, my God, Sigfredo says he's going to come and save me.

We transported him from prison to testify in her trial.

And the day before we were going to call him

to the witness stand, he called me and said,

I'm not testifying, with no further explanation.

[phone line beeping]

When I told that to Katie the next morning

in the courtroom,

I was like, he's not testifying,

and she's just looking at me like, what do you mean?

How are you feeling?

- Freaking out.

TARA: She loved Sigfredo.

That was, like, her high school sweetheart.

But Sigfredo Garcia betrayed Katie and let her down.

Did Charles Adelson give you $100,000 to then go and give

to the father of your kids,

who you were not with, the next day?

- No, ma'am.

PAT: She literally took the stand and just lied.

Said she knew nothing about it. She didn't participate.

She had nothing to do with this.

But there's not a single phone call

between Charlie Adelson and Sigfredo Garcia.

Not a single meeting, not a single message.

Physical evidence, the money,

it all shows it came through Katie.

JUROR: In the case of the State of Florida

versus Katherine D. Magbanua,

we, the jury, find as follows, as to count one,

the defendant is guilty of first-degree murder.

♪ ♪

- My heart broke when that verdict came back.

You know, I get a little upset even thinking about it now

because you know what comes with that guilty verdict

is it's a life sentence.

JASON: I felt terrible for Katie's kids.

Mom and Dad are both gone.

Life, that's it.

But Katie and Sigfredo did this.

PAT: Her family was torn apart by this.

And it was probably four or five months later,

I get a call from the state attorney's office

saying that Katie may want to cooperate.

Is Katie gonna flip on Charlie?

PAT: OK.

Morning.

JASON: Pat, myself, we set up a meeting with Katie,

and we were told she's ready to cooperate.

She wants to talk to us.

So obviously Dan Markel was murdered.

What can you tell us about that?

TARA: Now, at this point, the prosecution team,

they had not made any promises to her.

I think Katie was hoping that the fact that she did

eventually come forward, that the state would

reduce her sentence and she will get to be

with her kids someday.

JASON: Is there anything that you can think of

conversation-wise that you had with Charlie?

JASON: She was extremely guarded in her answers,

and we really wanted it to be direct.

TARA: It must have been so difficult for her

to get that information out.

She's now having to talk about these details

and admitting to her involvement

and knowing that the entire world is going to scrutinize

everything that she says.

JASON: If you don't want to spend the rest of your life

in prison, you're gonna have to have

a real come-through conversation with yourself

and your attorney, something, because you're not there.

You've got to come straight forward.

PAT: It was all such a crock of bullshit.

I wanted her to give me the truth,

and I know there's some details there that she's not

providing that is the truth.

And she's holding back on some of it.

JASON: All right.

PAT: I wanted to take Charlie Adelson down.

That was my ultimate goal.

And in order to do that, we need Katie

to tell them the whole truth.

But you never know what someone's gonna say

until they get on the stand.

CHANNING: Charlie Adelson, charged in the murder

of a Florida State law professor, Dan Markel, in 2014,

is awaiting the start of his trial today.

AVA: Adelson is Markel's former brother-in-law.

He is suspected of hiring the hit men who killed Markel.

JASON: This case continues to grow in popularity.

And by the time we were trying Charles Adelson,

live stream feeds, courtroom full of cameras,

packed gallery--the publicity around it by then

had taken off.

JASON TRUTH AUTHORITY: Hello, everyone.

This is Jason Truth Authority.

You see who's behind me?

Right there.

None other than Charlie Adelson.

- The mastermind behind his brother-in-law's

murder-for-hire plot.

- Who the-- do you think you are?

Lock the whole family up!

CAROLYN: This case has it all--

family, power, money, betrayal.

- Today we're diving into the maestro, Charlie Adelson.

- People just can't get enough of it.

JASON: For those of us trying the case for the third time,

it's like, here we go again.

REPORTER: Testimony in Charlie Adelson's murder trial.

Katherine Magbanua, already behind bars,

on the witness stand today.

JUDGE: Do you swear or affirm the testimony

you're about to give will be the truth?

- I do.

JUDGE: You may take your seat.

Please speak loudly and clearly.

- Yes, Your Honor.

GEORGIA: What are you in custody for?

- For murder.

GEORGIA: Are you doing a sentence for murder?

- Yes, ma'am.

GEORGIA: You were convicted of murder?

- Yes, ma'am.

GEORGIA: And is that the murder of Dan Markel?

- Yes, ma'am.

GEORGIA: Did you have a trial in your case?

KATHERINE: Yes, ma'am.

GEORGIA: All right, and when you testified,

were you truthful with the jury?

- No, ma'am, I was not.

GEORGIA: So why tell the truth now?

- [sighs]

I believe that the truth needed to come out.

SARAH KATHRYN: A good witness gives you the good,

the bad, and the ugly.

They admit things even though it might make them look bad

because it's the truth.

There's two prosecutors assigned to the case,

Georgia Cappleman and myself.

We definitely worked very hard to try

to make sure that we had all the evidence we possibly could.

And it was very important for the jury to hear details

that only Katie could provide.

GEORGIA: What was your motivation for becoming

a part of this murder plot?

- Financially.

GEORGIA: Was it a favor to Charlie Adelson?

KATHERINE: Yes, ma'am, it was.

GEORGIA: Who came up with the idea to kill Dan Markel?

- Charlie.

PAT: Katie finally decided to cooperate.

She said that Charlie had talked

about Dan Markel, told her the problems,

and she had Sigfredo help him out.

GEORGIA: All right, and did you get payment for the murder

that night?

- I believe it was the following morning.

I never counted it, but it was, like, in a stack,

and it was stapled in the corner.

- Katie had some revealing information,

but when you have a witness lie previously,

it's always a huge hurdle.

So we knew that we needed another witness

to validate what Katie said on the stand.

BAILIFF: All rise.

Jury entering the courtroom.

JUDGE: Do you swear or affirm the testimony

you're about to give will be the truth?

- I do.

- You may take your seat.

JUNE: Charlie's trial was on his actual birthday.

I didn't see him, obviously, for the whole time

he was incarcerated.

To me, he looked just totally different physically.

And you could tell, mentally, he wasn't all himself.

GEORGIA: Where do you live, ma'am?

- I'm in South Florida.

GEORGIA: Do you know Charlie Adelson?

[cell phone ringing]

JUNE: I'm sorry.

I did feel conflicted about the trial

because I still loved Charlie at the time.

So it was just hard to try to, like, convict him.

GEORGIA: Did you say,

"Hundreds are like dollars to him"?

- I did say that.

GEORGIA: Did you say that,

"All of his money is, like, stapled together,

the hundreds in bundles"?

- I believe I did say that.

I remember one time specifically,

Charlie was counting money or sorting it out

in his living room on the coffee table.

And I saw a staple in the money.

So I made a comment to him, asking him,

why are there staples in here?

And then he was like, oh, so no one can take one

or it doesn't get lost or something.

Why don't you just use a paper clip?

Like, who staples money, you know?

PAT: To have another witness confirmed the stapled money

was huge for us because it corroborated

what Katie told us about.

She took the payment from Charlie.

We have the Dolce Vita, which is

Charlie explaining everything.

I thought it was overwhelming evidence against Charlie.

But we can't figure out what his defense is gonna be.

How do we prepare for a defense that we have

no idea what he's gonna say?

JUDGE: Is the defense ready to call its next witness?

- Yes, Your Honor.

We call Charlie Adelson.

Charlie, you like to talk a lot, right?

CHARLIE: Yeah, I didn't realize how much I talk,

but evidently I do.

ATTORNEY: Charlie, let's start

with the most important question.

Did you cause the death of Professor Dan Markel?

- Absolutely no.

ATTORNEY: Did you hire anyone to kill him?

- No.

ATTORNEY: How did you know what happened on July 18th?

CHARLIE: Katie told me the next day.

She said, listen, this is all my fault.

I spoke in too much detail about your family's

personal problems, about your sister, Dan Markel,

and the million-dollar offer.

SARAH KATHRYN: On the stand, Charlie said

that Katherine Magbanua

was aware of the million-dollar bribe

that he and his parents offered Dan Markel

to allow the grandchildren to live in Miami.

He said that Katie talked about this bribe to the wrong people.

CHARLIE: She was like, my friend killed Dan.

If you don't pay in 48 hours, they will kill you.

And I said, Katie, I feel like I'm getting extorted now.

- Charlie Adelson, the dentist from South Florida.

He's alleging that this wasn't murder for hire.

This was extortion.

SARAH KATHRYN: It was clear that Charlie

had an explanation for every single piece of evidence.

PAT: Charlie thinks he can talk his way

out of things because that's what he's done his whole life.

LINDA: Charlie was always looking for attention.

He made a lot of money.

He was very showy.

I think that he felt that he was untouchable, you know?

JUDGE: State, please call your next witness.

GEORGIA: State calls Wendi Adelson.

ATTORNEY: Do you think someone would do this

for your benefit without asking you?

GEORGIA: Is it fair to say that during the year

or so leading up to the murder of Dan Markel

that your brother did not like your ex?

WENDI: Yeah, he probably didn't like him,

but I also think he didn't spend a lot of time

thinking about him.

GEORGIA: When did you learn that Katherine Magbanua

was blackmailing your brother for the murder

of your ex-husband?

- Today.

- You have no knowledge of it?

WENDI: I have no knowledge.

- In all the years this has been pending?

WENDI: In all of the years this has been pending.

- Your brother has known who killed your child's father,

and you didn't know?

- I did not know.

JASON: Wait a minute.

Your brother knew who the killers were the whole time

but never told anybody?

Make it make sense.

- You suspected your brother

could have been a part of this, right?

- I suspected lots of people could have been a part of it.

- Right, and one of the possible ideas was

that your brother could have murdered your child's father.

Was part of the plot for you to be able to have

plausible deniability about this?

- Absolutely not.

JUDGE: Has the jury reached a unanimous verdict?

JUROR 1: Yes, Your Honor.

JUROR 2: We, the jury, find as follows,

as to count one of the indictment,

first-degree murder,

the defendant is guilty of first-degree murder.

Count two. We, the jury...

PAT: We heard that guilty verdict come in,

and it was just a huge sigh of relief.

- I kind of, like, looked at Pat, and you're like,

well, we did it.

REPORTER: A South Florida dentist

has been found guilty of arranging

for a hit man to murder

a Florida State University professor.

Markel's parents and sister,

they were there in the courtroom today.

PHIL: Unbelievable.

- Relief. It's a long time coming.

- It's been so long, nine years.

RUTH: We are very grateful to law enforcement

at the same time that we are expressing this tremendous loss

and trauma.

REPORTER: Adelson is now facing life in prison.

- I felt awful to find out that he was convicted

for three counts of murder,

him being a successful periodontist

that had everything.

He's never coming back.

He's gone.

JASON: After the trial against Charlie,

every one of us had one goal in sight.

And it was to get another individual

from the Adelson family sentenced to life in prison.

[tense music]

JASON: On the Friday after Charlie was convicted,

I'm sitting there, and I was like, I got nothing else to do.

I'll put on jail calls, and I'll listen to Charlie

just see who he's talking to, see what's being said.

- The common theme was, nothing was fair.

Tallahassee is corrupt.

JASON: It just kind of goes silent.

And then all of a sudden, I hear Donna

talking in the background, and I was like,

what am I listening to?

What is going on?

- Donna was unaware she was still being recorded.

She forgot to hang up the phone.

And she's planning something.

PAT: It was clear on the call that Donna was trying

to get away before she was arrested.

They had purchased one-way tickets to Vietnam

with no return date.

If you don't have anything to hide,

then why are you trying to flee the country?

- The evidence against Donna Adelson

was definitely something that was in the works,

but the recorded call made us hit the gas on that process.

JASON: The decision is made.

We're going to do a probable cause arrest warrant for Donna.

Let's get this done.

PAT: So I arrived at the airport,

and I had customs agents waiting on the jet bridge.

I felt like if they saw me, they would know the gig was up,

and they might just turn around and leave.

I wanted to wait until they got through the ticketing gate

to make sure they were not gonna back out of it.

♪ ♪

Once they got through the ticketing gate,

there's no turning back then.

PAT: Her reaction did kind of surprise me a little bit.

She said, oh, not this again.

Like, almost bothered by it.

Annoyed that she had to, you know, deal with this again.

PAT: I think she finally saw the writing on the wall

that this is something she can't get away from.

PAT: No, you can't join her there.

PAT: We didn't have enough evidence

to arrest Harvey Adelson, so he's totally free to go.

But they tried to pretend that he

was too frail and old to even find

his own way out of the airport,

which I thought was kind of pathetic.

They're the victim of everything.

OFFICER: [speaking indistinctly]

- For Harvey, I don't think, on a day-to-day basis,

he had any idea what was going on.

But I don't know that we'll ever know.

OFFICER: Be careful with your head.

PAT: Donna thinks she's just above the law.

Doesn't have to comply or contort with anybody else's

authority other than her own.

OFFICER: Thank you.

PAT: But it was obvious this time, she felt

the walls closing in on her.

REPORTER 1: A stunning arrest in a murder-for-hire plot

that left a Florida State law professor dead

nearly a decade ago.

REPORTER 2: Donna Adelson arrested

at the Miami airport while trying to board

a one-way flight to Vietnam.

LINDA: When Donna was arrested,

we knew people who, to the bitter end,

could never accept that they could

have been involved in any way

and other people say they knew right from the beginning.

- Donna Adelson will remain behind bars until her trial,

the judge's ruling denying

the defense team's request to release her on bond.

PAT: It's been years since Dan Markel was murdered.

The whole time, Donna, she was living her life.

She had her daughter, had her grandkids, had her son.

She was living the dream until she wasn't,

until the cards started to fall against her.

- I've gained more than a third of my body weight here.

The diet is all carbs.

PAT: Donna was part of this.

She was part of the conversations

that started the whole undercover operation.

PAT: She's the one that admitted

it involves her and Charlie.

PAT: People were calling her the mastermind

of the operation.

But we needed to prove to a jury

that Donna is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

SARAH KATHRYN: The defendant hated Dan Markel.

You will be convinced beyond any reasonable doubt

that this defendant is guilty.

MICHAEL: I'm fascinated by Donna's

sweaters that she wore throughout the trial.

JASON: One of the defense strategies

was to portray Donna as a lovely, nice old lady.

But it was a show.

- She never wore anything like that.

- She never wore anything like that.

She always wore designer stuff.

MICHAEL: It was to make her look

like the little old grandma.

How could Grandma do anything such as that?

- How many total checks were there from Adelson Institute

to Katherine Magbanua?

- There was 44 checks.

SARAH KATHRYN: Were all of these checks

deposited by Katherine Magbanua into her account?

MARY: They were.

SARAH KATHRYN: Katherine Magbanua,

she's not an employee of the Adelson Institute.

But within a couple of weeks after the murder,

Katherine Magbanua started getting these checks

every two weeks for almost two years.

And who were each and every one of these checks signed by?

MARY: Donna Adelson was signing the checks.

SARAH KATHRYN: To be guilty of first-degree murder

in Florida, you don't have to be

at the scene of the crime at the time.

If you are paying for a murder,

you're just as guilty as the person who pulled the trigger.

PAT: She told us the night of the homicide

that she was going to Mr. Adelson's residence,

and she believed that the Adelsons had been there.

According to Katie, Donna brought money

to Charlie the night of the murder,

and there was text messages to Charlie saying,

we're outside your house.

SARAH KATHRYN: The state's argument

was that that money was a portion of the payment

for Dan Markel's murder.

- Did you notice something else unusual about the money?

- It was wet and starting to mold.

GEORGIA: The money itself was damp to the touch?

- Yes, ma'am.

- Right, and did you ever mention that fact

to Charlie Adelson?

KATHERINE: Yes, ma'am.

He told me that his mom washed the money.

GEORGIA: That she physically washed the money?

KATHERINE: Yes, ma'am.

GENE: It seems that Donna had put

all of the money in the washing machine

because she wanted to make sure that there

were no fingerprints on it.

- Donna put the money through the washer?

PERSON: Hopefully used enough soap.

GENE: This is a very odd way of doing money laundering,

I would say, yes.

- Ms. Cappleman, you may call your next witness.

GEORGIA: The state calls Investigator Newland.

JASON: My name is Jason Newland.

I'm an investigator with the state attorney's office

here in Tallahassee.

In a murder trial, motive is never an element

that has to be proven.

Does it help?

Absolutely.

We knew that Wendi and Dan had a contentious divorce.

That was public.

And it was pretty apparent that Donna Adelson

was a pivotal part of that problem.

GEORGIA: What type of evidence did you find

in regards to the divorce filings

to indicate the defendant has seen these things?

- Emails.

Three-plus years' worth of emails were obtained,

and it was in those emails, we learned

about how actually involved Donna was with this divorce.

GEORGIA: What does she say is the most important part

of Wendi's divorce?

- "The most important part of your divorce is relocation."

And if there ever was a motive,

it was Donna's emails of wanting those kids

back in South Florida.

And Dan Markel would not have allowed that.

PAT: For Donna, when the evidence

is overwhelming against you, you got to pull

whatever strings you can pull

and do a call out to your closest friends.

GEORGIA: With respect to Mrs. Adelson

and your observations of her over these,

I guess, 15 years, have you found her

to be a hateful person?

- Never.

GEORGIA: Was she aggressive towards others?

- Never.

GEORGIA: Have you ever heard her threaten anyone?

- Never.

MICHAEL: The character witness is saying

that she's a calm person,

non-argumentative, never confrontational.

That's not how I--

- No, she argued with everyone in our neighborhood.

She had a fight with every person on the street.

[laughter]

JUDGE: The state's next witness

will be whom this afternoon?

GEORGIA: Robert Adelson.

PAT: We wanted to have overwhelming evidence

to be able to win it at trial.

And to have Rob Adelson testify against her,

we felt like that was our best chance.

But how many people would put themselves through that

just to do the right thing?

He was scared to death.

- So this is a painting

that Donna painted for me

while we were in art class of a sailboat.

And it's signed by her, Donna Sue Adelson.

This is a picture of roses that she painted me.

And she wrote me on the back.

"Dear Drina, I hope your life will be filled

"with love, joy, and flowers.

"You deserve only the best because you are the best.

Love, Donna."

Donna called me her jail daughter.

She would say, you remind me of Wendi.

She told me I reminded her of Wendi

all the time, all the time.

GEORGIA: Were you recently incarcerated

in the Leon County Jail with Donna Adelson?

- Yes, I was.

GEORGIA: And did you become friendly with her

during the time that y'all were both in the jail together?

- Yes.

I remember to a tee the first time I met Donna

because it was so strange.

I was sitting up watching TV, and I was detoxing,

coming off of opiates, so I felt horrible.

And I was craving sweets.

And all of a sudden, Donna creeps around,

and she, like, taps me on the shoulder.

She's like, excuse me.

And she hands me some toilet paper.

And I'm like, yes?

And it had powdered doughnuts in it.

So I was like, OK, thank you.

At the time, I just thought she was a nice old lady.

I really did. I didn't know.

GEORGIA: Did she ever mention to you

a state witness by the name of Katherine Magbanua?

- Yes.

GEORGIA: And was Ms. Magbanua somebody that was known to you?

- Yes, I knew Ms. Magbanua

from being locked up with her years before.

When Donna was in jail awaiting trial,

she slowly kind of figured out that I knew Katie.

As the days would go on, she would ask more questions

about Kay, and then she, I guess,

felt comfortable enough with me to then be like, well,

would you be willing to help me out?

GEORGIA: Did the defendant try to recruit you

to become a witness for her in this case?

- Yes.

GEORGIA: And what is it that she

wanted you to testify about?

- She wanted me to testify about numerous different things

about Kay, mostly about Ms. Magbanua.

Donna wanted me to go on the stand

and lie about Katie and say that Katie did everything--

she was the one that organized it,

she was the one that extorted them,

that everything was Kay, everything.

GEORGIA: This says that Kay told you that she told Charlie

on the night of the murder that some friends of hers

went to Tallahassee and killed him.

Did Kay ever tell you that?

- No, ma'am.

GEORGIA: Did she promise you anything in exchange

for reciting this script?

- $10,000 and a grand piano.

She offered me not just money but also prescription pills.

To me, it was a slap in the face.

She was basically looking at me and saying,

I can manipulate you because you're a stupid addict.

There is a dark side to her, a very dark side.

I just felt like the world needed to know who she was.

GEORGIA: When she was talking about her case,

did she ever mention any concerns about the testimony

of her son, Rob Adelson?

- She did.

She said she was extremely worried about his testimony.

Rob, her son, she just hated him from, like, the beginning.

Like, she hated his wife.

She hated everything about him.

She said, like, I fucking hate him,

and I want to kill him.

And I was just like, whoa, wait, what?

She said she wanted to shove a shoe down Robert's throat

and kill him.

[tense music]

PAT: Rob is fully committed

to assisting the investigation.

But of course, he's torn. That's his mother.

JUDGE: Do you swear or affirm the testimony

you're about to give in this matter will be the truth?

- I swear.

SARAH KATHRYN: It was a tough decision for us

whether to call Rob Adelson or not,

just because you hate to put him

through something like this.

But we did feel that his testimony was necessary.

How do you know the defendant in this case, Donna Adelson?

- She's my mother.

SARAH KATHRYN: Who is the leader in the family?

Who tends to run the show?

- I think my mom.

SARAH KATHRYN: OK, so Donna Adelson?

- Yes.

SARAH KATHRYN: Would you describe

Donna Adelson's personality as being more

controlling or more laid-back?

- I think more on the controlling side.

I think she had certain sort of rigid, fixed ideas

or impressions for what she wanted for us.

And, you know, if you went along with that,

things were fine.

If you didn't, things were not fine.

PAT: Rob Adelson coming in and giving a great picture

of his mother was very important,

I think, to point out to the jury,

this isn't poor little Grandma over here.

This is somebody who is capable of this.

SARAH KATHRYN: And how did Donna Adelson

feel about Dan Markel in 2014?

- I mean, she hated him.

SARAH KATHRYN: After the murder of Dan Markel,

did Donna Adelson seem curious about who killed Dan Markel?

- No.

She said, you know, I don't know, and I don't care.

It doesn't concern me.

SARAH KATHRYN: Did she ever say anything

to you about having talked to law enforcement or the FBI?

ROB: She called me and said, you know, I just want

to let you know, you know, if the police come around,

you know, don't talk to them.

- OK, so she told you not to talk to law enforcement?

ROB: Correct.

- Did you let her know that you'd already--

you already had talked to law enforcement?

- Yeah, I said, I already did.

SARAH KATHRYN: And what did she say to that?

- She said, oh, well, you don't know anything anyway.

SARAH KATHRYN: The evidence is definitely strong enough

for a guilty verdict, but you never know for sure

what a jury's gonna do.

There's no guarantee.

You're always waiting on pins and needles

until you find out.

JUDGE: Has the jury reached a unanimous verdict?

JUROR: We have.

JUDGE: If you please can hand the verdict form

to the bailiff.

At this time, I will publish the verdict.

[dramatic music]

We, the jury, find as follows, as to count one

of the indictment, first-degree murder...

♪ ♪

The defendant is guilty of first-degree murder.

Mrs. Adelson, control yourself.

- Donna's reaction to the guilty verdict

was a little unexpected.

It shouldn't have surprised me.

I should have seen that she was gonna

continue with the theatrics.

REPORTER: Donna Adelson will spend

the rest of her life behind bars,

the jury making that decision just after 7:30 last night.

CAROLYN: Donna Adelson is the mastermind

behind Dan Markel's murder.

She wanted those two grandchildren

to be relocated to Miami.

And she was prepared to erase Dan Markel

so she could get what she wanted.

REPORTER: Tens of thousands of people tuned in

to our live streams last night

to watch that verdict as it was read aloud.

- On count one, murder in the first, guilty.

Donna went, oh, my God.

- And if you haven't heard, guilty on all three charges.

Donna is going to jail for the rest of her life.

- She thought she was foolproof,

but she was an idiot.

GENE: Trying to figure out why people commit murder

is a very difficult thing.

Narcissism is one thing.

And if you wanted to define Donna Adelson,

you could best define her as a narcissist.

[cheers and applause]

REPORTER 1: We did let you take a moment and think about this

and ask you about this.

So before we ask you the question

that's on a lot of people's mind,

what's it like in this moment?

What was it like to have this defendant be found guilty?

- I think I just feel kind of honored

to be able to deliver this win for the Markels.

REPORTER 2: Georgia, does Wendi have reason to be worried?

- That's a bad word. REPORTER 2: A bad word.

- No W questions.

REPORTER 1: "Worried" a is bad word?

"Worried?" Should we stay tuned?

Do we need to stay tuned?

REPORTER 1: Stay tuned.

- I mean, you can stay tuned.

JASON: While there is no active investigation

into Wendi Adelson, the state will continue

to investigate this case.

If information comes forward, we'll always investigate it.

We have recently taken phone calls,

and we've followed up on things and will continue to do so.

CAROLYN: Nobody would have ever guessed

that this case was gonna turn into what it is today.

So many characters are involved in this,

and it's gone on for so long.

11 years.

MICHAEL: This was a seemingly normal family,

living upper middle class,

having a well-to-do life.

How could you get to this point?

- [crying]

MICHAEL: It just doesn't make any sense.

JUNE: It's still hard for me to believe some days

because they had, like, a dream life.

They had whatever they wanted.

And now they're just throwing everything away.

- To me, the whole situation is very sad.

♪ ♪

- I know this entire case has been very, very hard on you.

PHIL: Good evening.

My name is Phil Markel.

I'm Danny's father.

While this victim impact statement

is addressed to you, Your Honor,

it is also intended for the Adelson family.

I would like them to understand and reflect

on the deep and irreparable damage they have caused.

The pain that they have caused my family

is obvious and permanent.

But they have also caused lifelong harm

to their own immediate family and so many other families

and children around.

Luis Rivera, his children have no father.

Katherine Magbanua and Sigfredo Garcia,

their children have no parents.

Charlie Adelson, his son has no father.

Their heinous and callous actions

have left me, Ruth, and Shelly without our Danny

and my grandchildren without their father.

And my only short question to Donna,

was it worth it?

♪ ♪