Dan Markel Case Archive
Searchable courtroom transcripts, synced to the trial video, from the murder-for-hire prosecution of the Adelson family in the 2014 killing of Florida State University law professor Dan Markel in Tallahassee, Florida. Read more ↓
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Welcome to the Family: The Murder of Dan Markel
ABC News Studios' four-part series begins streaming September 1, 2026, on Hulu. Explore the trial testimony of three people featured in the series.
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The Case
On July 18, 2014, Dan Markel — a law professor at Florida State University — was shot in the garage of his Tallahassee home. He died the following day. The investigation revealed a murder-for-hire scheme rooted in a custody dispute between Markel and his ex-wife, Wendi Adelson, whose family sought to relocate the couple's two young sons to South Florida.
Sigfredo Garcia and Luis Rivera carried out the killing. Rivera pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 19 years. Garcia was convicted of first-degree murder in October 2019 and sentenced to life without parole. Katherine Magbanua, the intermediary between the Adelson family and the gunmen, was convicted in a 2022 retrial after a 2019 mistrial and sentenced to life without parole.
Charlie Adelson, Wendi's brother, was convicted in November 2023 of first-degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation. He was sentenced to life in prison. Their mother, Donna Adelson — arrested at Miami International Airport while attempting to board a one-way flight to Vietnam — was convicted in September 2025 and sentenced to life imprisonment. This archive covers the 2019 Garcia–Magbanua joint trial, the 2022 Magbanua retrial, the 2023 Charlie Adelson trial, and the 2025 Donna Adelson trial.