We have been following the investigation of the murder of Florida State Professor Dan Markel – a case that has cast suspicions on the family of his ex-wife and fellow professor Wendi Adelson. Much of this suspicion has been drawn to Adelson’s brother, Charlie Adelson. Charlie Adelson was reportedly romantically involved with Katherine Magbanua, who just happened to be the mother of two children with Sigfredo Garcia, one of the two accused hit men (with Luis Rivera). Magbanua was arrested recently and then Rivera has cut a deal to cooperate in a guilty plea. Now Rivera has reportedly given evidence that further implicates the Adelson family. Rivera pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and told police that the motive for the murder for hire was because “the lady wants her kids back.” In a truly chilling added element, Rivera said that he saw Wendi Adelson before killing her husband and that she stared directly at him and Garcia.
Adelson and Markel married in 2006 when she was a third-year law student at the University of Miami and he was a criminal law professor at FSU. News accounts say that Markel returned from a business trip to find the kids and his wife gone with divorce papers left on the bed — the start of a highly acrimonious divorce.
Police say that Garcia and Rivera were “enlisted” to kill Markel in connection with his divorce from Adelson. Police traced a rental to the scene of the crime. The police have made little secret of their suspicion of Charles Adelson and his mother Donna Adelson. The family wanted Wendi Adelson to move with the children near them. Police became suspicious after learning that Magbanua is connected to Garcia and that she spoke more than 2,000 times to Garcia in the weeks leading up to the slaying. Prosecutors now say Charlie Adelson paid for half of a $6,000 to $7,000 breast implant surgery done by Dr. Leonard Roudner, also known as “Dr. Boobner.” That surgery occurred notably in October 2014, roughly three months after Markel’s killing. Police sought the medical records despite the insistence of Charlie Adelson’s lawyer that it was “a fishing expedition.” The court did not see it that way and granted the subpoena to confirm the surgery and payments.
Magbanua’s warrant suggests a broader circle of conspirators. It says that Wendi’s mother was particularly upset after Markel had filed a motion to require that the children’s visitation with Wendi’s mother be supervised. He cited allegations by the children that she had called Markel “stupid” and asserted he was “taking her sunshines away from her.” Moreover, the cellphone records show that after Magbanua spoke with Charlie Adelson, he would often call his mother, Donna. For her part, Magbanua would call Garcia. Indeed, police cite “a flurry of communications between the alleged conspirators.”
Police also suggest that Magbanua was given a “significant increase” in cash bank deposits after the murder and she received paychecks from the family dental business. The thrust of the warrant is clearly more about the Adelson family than Magbanua. Indeed, her arrest may be an effort to flip her against the Adelsons. She has children to care for and a valuable piece of any prosecution to bargain with. At most, she is believed to have been a facilitator in the conspiracy — making her the ultimate cooperating witness to tie in the main players. If that is the tactic, it could well succeed. What is clear is that the case is entering a new and more threatening stage for the Adelsons.
Now we can add the statements of Rivera who said that he and Garcia (who reportedly pulled the trigger) saw Wendi Adelson, eyeing their car. When Garcia asked why the woman with the children was staring at them, he says that Garcia told him “Oh, that’s the lady. That’s Wendi.”
We previously discussed the police station interview of Adelson. The videotape is very emotional and at times bizarre.
In the 2014 interview, the detective tells her “That’s what this is about. There was a shooting at your home, or your ex-husband’s home. [He] has been taken to the hospital. He’s not going to survive.” Adelson bursts into tears and exclaims “Oh, my God,” Adelson says, sobbing throughout. “What happened. …I just don’t understand? How could this happen?”
Wendi tells the detective “I’m scared. I don’t know why this would happen . . . It really scares me because, I mean, if there’s someone out there that’s willing to do this to him. … I’m scared for the kids.”
Given the focus on her brother, a couple of statements stand out. She says that she is “scared someone maybe did this – not because they hate Danny but because they thought this was good somehow.” She then admits that her brother joked with her earlier that day about how a television might be cheaper than a hit man to deal with the problems in her life.
“And I was talking to him about whether it made sense to pay to fix it or I should get a new one,” she said. “And it was always his joke that, like, he knew that Danny treated me badly, and it was always his joke, he said, I looked into hiring a hit man but it was cheaper to get you this TV.”
She then repeated the joke with a repair man.
“[H]e’s my big brother, and he’s been taking care of me since I was little,” she continued. “But he would never – and I told that to the repair guy that this morning. He asked me how much it cost, and I said I didn’t know because it was a gift because my brother said it was cheaper than a hit-man. It was my divorce present. Such a horrible thing to say. I’m so, so sorry.”
She emphasizes that, while she was allegedly abused, no one would kill Markel: “But even my family who felt like I had been mistreated would never do something like this. Never.”
Adelson did not improve things for her family later in openly discussing her fear that a family member killed her estranged husband. According to news reports, she told a victim’s advocate about her mother’s surprise reaction: “My parents sounded really surprised, so that’s at least a relief. I’m just trying to think who would be angry enough to do something to him. My parents would be angry, but they’re not capable of this. Thank God. I really couldn’t handle that right now.”
Rivera has now placed Adelson near the hit men and staring directly at them. He further implicated Magbanua as acting as a go-between in the murder for hire. Rivera also indicates that Magbanua conveyed information about the travel plans of Markel and, in reference to Adelson, said “She’s making sure everything’s fine.”
Despite this very damaging information, Rivera was never actually told who paid for the hit. However, the contract was for $100,000.
The clear effort of the police is now to build a case against the Adelsons. While previously the effort seemed focused on Charlie Adelson, it now appears to be also focusing on Wendi Adelson. Clearly, someone hired these hit men and they did not spontaneously decide to kill a law professor. The obvious suspects are the Adelsons and they remain prominent references in the warrants and this confession. With Rivera’s confession and deal, the pressure will be even greater on Magbanua to cut a deal. Her cooperation may be the ultimate goal of this building investigation and the final straw before the arrest of one of the Adelsons, who are clearly the ultimate targets for the investigators.
@RV
Interesting insights into Dan’s character. I had always assumed that the same qualities that made him such a respected lawyer and professor (his formidable intellect, his ambition and tenacity) could also make him something of a jerk if one found himself or herself on the other side of his goodwill. But you say he was worse than that, routinely arrogant and contemptuous.
It seems extremely naïve of Wendi not to have thought that leaving him in the abrupt manner that she did, taking most of the furniture, keeping the children’s whereabouts secret from Dan for 6 weeks, divorce papers left on a mattress, etc. would have guaranteed that Dan would go completely nuclear on her in the custody battle. But then, how does one amicably end a marriage like this?
As for Wendi, I have no idea if she’s a narcissist, but I do think she may be a sociopath. Her taped interview with the police is either unbelievably stupid or calculated to make sure to throw Charlie and Mom and even her ex-boyfriend Lacasse under the bus, just in case. Why mention the hitman joke at all? What sort of person claims that there might be “someone” in her life who would kill her ex, just because he was mean to her? And then commenting on how relieved she was that her mother sounded surprised. I think she might end up being the coldest one in the family.
This is a fascinating case because it involves a family of educated, professional and attractive individuals, at least one of whom was compelled to decide murder was the best solution for whatever problem they or a family member was facing. That is a highly unusual decision for anyone with their money and status to make.
What I want to know is more about the divorce that led to this tragedy. All we know is that Markel allegedly treated her badly, whatever that means. But the divorce is the key to the motive. I’m not clear on the custody arrangement. From what I can tell it was a joint custody arrangement that precluded her from moving back home with her parents and taking the kids with her, but I haven’t seen that spelled out. If Dan treated her that badly, then why was he awarded joint custody? The bottom line is that I’d like to know about the divorce and the custody arrangement. It seems so bizarre that such a situation could lead to murder, unless there’s so much more that we don’t know.
For all the people saying there is no proof Dan treated Wendi badly, I knew Dan. He was definitely on the narcissistic personality disorder spectrum. He put people down all the time, including and especially people he dated. I do not say this to excuse murder but in response to the people who are asking “was Dan really that bad”.
If you read about narcissists they can be impossible to live with or co-parent, discipline kids (note: Dan let the kids write all over the walls- not exactly stellar parenting). You can see this with Dan agreeing to move to Miami (he indicated he wanted to be part of a wider Jewish community down there) and then changing his mind. No doubt some aspect of wanting to thwart whatever Wendi wanted played into this. Witness the 140 motions submitted in the divorce case. Litigious up the yin-yang. He could have been seriously undermining her. He was definitely unpleasant to be around. He should not be canonized a saint; he had a serious personality disorder.
Wendi appears to have left him the only way you can leave a narcissist- with a clean break- the overnight move-out that he terms the visigoth-like plundering of the home. That said, it is extremely difficult to co-parent with them.. They constantly play mind games and seek to undermine the other spouse’s parenting.
My best guess, and it is just a guess, as I do not know Wendi or her family, is that the Adelsons in their own way were narcissistic- not so much Wendi, but maybe her mother and possibly her brother. Dan’s response was to keep filing motions- and their response was to try to offer him $1m to get out of their lives (neither was going to work against a narcissist). Wendi’s family may have resorted to murder to break the impasse.
Again, I am not condoning murder- I am giving perspective on what could have gone down here.
The courts are notorious for forcing 50-50 custody and trying to force spouses to co-parent when one is engaging in aggression on the other. Here, you appear to have had two parties aggressing on each other- I would say that Wendi’s family was the proxy here.
If all the Adelsons really going to jail, I would not say that Markel’s family who bred this narcissist is the happily ever after for these kids. It may be the frying pan to the fire.
This post is highly suspect. Hi Donna!
I hear sockpuppets are forming their own union.
So are failed law students and aspirant boyfriends who didn’t make the grade.
Dance, you wish.
Wow… the bile in this and subsequent posts is unlike anything I’ve come across concerning this tragedy. Smearing the murder victim, who was by all accounts a decent man, with petty speculation is not only unjustified, it stinks of vindictiveness. To suggest that Wendi is an innocent and Dan deserved this based on what I’m guessing is a shitty date or a bad review, speaks to a certain depravity. Get help, lady.
It is Donna trolling. Hey DA I have a better site for you to monitor:
http://pas.fdle.state.fl.us/pas/person/displayWantedPersonsSearch.a
You will be able to know when they are coming for ya…..
Actually, there isn’t much more to know. Dan and Wendi shared joint custody, but prior to his death Dan filed a motion to restrict Wendi’s mother’s visits with the kids because she had been badmouthing him. There is no mention of abuse in any of the proceedings and Wendi’s comment that he treated her badly is unsubstantiated. The hitman that confessed said the motive for the crime was so Wendi could have full custody of the children. By all accounts Dan was beloved – a good father and prolific legal scholar.
“Treated her badly” appears, from her writing class podcast, to mean he wasn’t attentive in a manner she thought she merited.
That’s right… what self-indulgent tripe.
The divorce isn’t key to the motive. You have hundreds of thousands of acrimonious divorces every year and no murders as a side dish. The key to this is the intramural culture of the Adelson family – what they thought they were due in this world and what they thought others were worth.
No confidence that Willie Meggs, hick Pros. Atty, can handle this.
The ‘hick prosecutor’ has decades of experience first as a police officer and then as a lawyer and prosecutor. Tallahassee’s a dense settlement with more than 150,000 people and includes a state university and the headquarters staff of the state civil service. He’s more conservative in his assessments than the police department, and that may be a good thing.
This reminds me of what I tell those dim-wits who want to arm teachers. Here’s what will happen if you arm teachers, after they shoot the other staff/faculty they don’t like your kid’s azz is next.
Sober up. He wasn’t shot by his wife.
What on Earth does that have to do with the Markel case? And if that’s your opinion of teachers, then you have other problems.
Here is my working theory as of recent. DMs life was in danger as the only real impediment to the Adelsons getting off Scott free. SF is not going to rat as his baby’s moma would suffer.
That’s weirdly incoherent. Dan Markel’s life was in danger because he was in someone’s way and not (from their addled perspective) worth anything. The impediment to the Adelsons getting off scott free is that law enforcement has electronic data and eyewitness statements which demonstrate that Messrs. Garcia and Rivera are guilty, something now admitted by Rivera, along with the role K. Magbanua played in the whole imbroglio. The quantum of cell phone traffic, the money paid her for a seldom show job, and Rivera’s statements put Magbanua in grave danger. At this point, they’re both likely better off rolling.
Charlie is a psychopath! He had placed a hit on Katie. She knows now and is talking.
She’s not in danger from Charles Adelson. She’s in danger from the penal courts and needs to cut a deal.
Incorrect! A source close to the case told me she was in danger. Due to CA.
Incorrect and irresponsible for Turley to state that Markel “allegedly abused” Wendi. As far as I’ve seen, Wendi only claimed that Dan “treated her very badly,” which could mean a wide range of things other than abuse. The only specifics I’ve heard from Wendi regarding her claimed mistreatment by Dan, in a much publicized podcast, are that he didn’t treat her like an intellectual equal and refused to read her novel — a cry light years away from what any sane person would deem spousal “abuse.” Indeed, given the highly acrimonious nature of their divorce and custody battle, and Wendy’s sophistication, the mere fact that she didn’t even use the term “abuse” strongly indicates that there wasn’t even a plausible basis to make such a serious, damaging claim against Dan.
Occam’s Razor has been screaming “Wendi Adelson, Wendi Adelson” from the roofrops since it happened.
Well it is Tally and FSU. Lots of things go wide right.
Kinda fitting for where Ole Charlie will end up:
http://floridasmilemaker.com/dont-thumb-sucker/
IMG_0262.PNG
That Wendi interview in the police station is the icing on the cake.
Wendi looks like she’s going through a well-rehearsed performance.
Look closely at her initial reaction, it doesn’t look like a sudden and unexpected proclamation
of surprise, but a well-rehearsed acting piece.
I would bet money she’s guilty as the rest of them, if not more so.
She did it smh!!! That act with police was fake as my ex wife.
Well said.
Re Wendi’s involvement, consider the following:
1–Rivera told the police in his videotaped discussion that Magbanua told him and Garcia that Markel was leaving town in the next day or so; therefore the hit had to be completed before then.
2–assuming Markel’s plan to leave town was accurate (I assume the police have confirmed such travel plan), how would Magbanua know if such plan in order to tell the hitmen? One can only guess that she was told this by Charlie Adelson. How did Charlie know?The only Adelson in a position to know Markel’s travel schedule is Wendi who shared custody of the kids with Markel.
Would Wendi have conveyed such seemingly irrelevant information about her ex-husband information to her brother in casual conversation or with a specific obviously relevant purpose?
Donna was fairly involved with the kids’ schedules too. Wendi could have told her, who then told Charlie. (Just playing Devil’s Advocate. I think Wendi was in it up to her eyeballs.)
Just breaking: An email was sent by Dan Markel’s mother Ruth to lead prosecutor Georgia Cappleman on September 30th suggesting forthcoming arrests and a directive regarding emergency placement of the children. This is suggestive that Wendi (who had the boys’ last name legally changed to Adelson following the murder) will be arrested.
“There are few word to express our appreciation that you really understood our concerns about the children. We thank you for moving the plea-bargaining process forward. We will sleep better at night. As the situation evolves we need a tight plan for emergency placement, due to arrests.
Please contact:
Sara Franco Executive Director
JAFCO
We will talk about other arrangements and issues in the next few weeks. Thank you again for all your work and support in this tragedy.
Ruth, Phil and Shelly.”
I cannot imagine that this was included in the document dump on purpose. You need good clerks in this world.
I could see that email being placed intentionally as a psy-op to rattle the Adelson family. Once they start facing the reality that all of them are going to prison and the kids are going to Canada, maybe Wendi or Charlie will come forward to cut the best deal they can.
I’ll wager the children will be headed to Toronto if Wendi goes down. Not so sure if it’s one of the others, but the Markels might have an argument that none of the four are innocent of concealing the perpetrators, so the children could be removed from the maternal side relations per equity or some such.
The way it looks now, mama and Charlie are by far the most vulnerable, followed by Wendi. The bits and pieces of evidence to date indicate that Harvey might be liable for something like hindering prosecution, but not conspiracy.
Shelly Markel is a 47 year old spinster and her mother and father are indubitably past 70 and haven’t had pre-adolescent children about for 30 years or more. The boys would be a challenge for the three of them under any set of circumstances, much less one where a child of 5 and a child of 7 have to process the reality of what their maternal-side relatives did (as well as to unlearn whatever rubbish those relations plied them with about their paternal side relatives).
This was dated two weeks ago, ‘ere the plea bargain or the arrest of KM. The prosecutor is keeping up his poker face and saying no more arrests are imminent.
Per my source in TPD. KM is about to sing.
Her baby daddy’s going down and his chauffeur has implicated her. At this juncture, the buck is parked in front of her, so I imagine her interests lie in getting the best deal she can and passing it on to the instigators.
This case seems to contain a key theme in HItchcock’s classic “Strangers on a Train,” by Patricia Highsmith, starring Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, and Robert Walker, and, more recently, in “Seeking Justice,” by Robert Tannen, starring Nicholas Cage, January Jones, and Guy Pierce. (“Seeking Justice,” BTW, is a much better movie than the critics have said about it.) The theme in both movies is that the protagonist wants (or would like to see) a certain person dead, leaving aside the particular reasons why they want or would like to see that result.
The next component of the theme is the entrance of the antagonist who, for reasons of his own, wants to “solve” the protagonist’s “problem” and make it go away. But there is no real “agreement” or “meeting of the minds” in either case, in that neither protagonist believes that he is offering a quid pro quo in exchange for “solving” the “problem,” and the protagonist doesn’t even really know or believe that the antagonist is serious.
The end result in both cases above is that neither the characters played by Farley Granger nor Nicholas Cage have committed any crime. There was no quid pro quo nor any “meeting of minds” on any arrangement. This is true, even though both protagonists have benefitted from the murders in the sense that the antagonist “solved” their respective “problems.”
This seems to be the same situation here with “protagonist” Wendi Adelson and/or her family relative.
I assume that most readers here are conversant with what I’m talking about, but here’s a refresher or an introduction, just in case, for the two movies I discussed above:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1iSS5r0OVE
This seems to be the same situation here with “protagonist” Wendi Adelson and/or her family relative.
You’re assuming she knew nothing. And she may have known nothing. Per Sr. Rivera, that’s not what he, Garcia, or Magbanua were thinking as they were mapping out the killing.
DDR, as you’ll note in the trailer for “Strangers on a Train,” Bruno, the character played by Robert Walker who does the murder to benefit Farley Granger’s character, also “thinks” that Granger is good with the plan, when he is not. That’s why the phrase “meeting of the minds” is critical in an agreement, however unholy. It’s insufficient for one party to merely “think” that an arrangement exists when one really doesn’t.
This case made me think of that film, as well. I can’t wait for the Coen Brothers adaptation.
Well, that defense is a loser.
I think you are on to something Ralph. The question was, was the antagonist Charlie/Donna or was it Katherine Magbanua who was sick of hearing Charlie b!tch and moan about his sister’s ex and decided to “take care of the problem” so he wouldn’t be so distracted. That had been one of my initial thoughts, which ran to, no way would the Adelson’s be THAT STUPID and sloppy, but especially stupid.
Yeah, I’m sure Katherine Magbanua organized a murder on her own account of a man she’d never met because her sometime squeeze’s table talk was annoying. And the flurry of phone calls between her, Charlie, and Mama after Markel was shot dead was just a coincidence.
KM was threatened some how and forced into this. Word around the courthouse today is that she is talking and that her life was in danger as in to silence her before arrest.
Charles Adelson, DDS ‘forced’ his sometime girlfriend into directing a hit on his quondam brother-in-law?
He had dirt in DM and threatened to have her kids taken away. HE has a dark side. It will come out. That is what I heard going around today.
You need to sober up before you post again.
Dance 💃 it is all over Tally. I work for the police and sources are leaking that Charlie wanted her offed. Garcia is not ratting on his old hottie.
If you read my earlier post, I said I had a hard time seeing where the Adelsons were not involved, but here is an alternate theory. They are, after all, Dance, innocent until proven guilty.
No, the presumption of innocence applies to the precise culpability of each of the four Adelsons. It doesn’t require we be brainless and talk as if the Adelson’s had nothing to do with this. Disgruntled bloggers organizing a hit on Dan Markel would be far-fetched as it is, all the more so since they managed willy-nilly to hire a career criminal one-degree-of-separation from Charles Adelson (whose accomplice just ratted out Adelson’s sometime squeeze).
I have not spoken as if the Adelson’s had nothing to do with this. If you put aside your emotions whilst reading my posts, I have not let them off the hook. A fair appraisal of Dan does not mitigate murder. It is part of the story though. Also, I, like everyone else, including, I suspect, the authorities, am not sure what Wendi knew or didn’t know exactly and when she did or did not know it.
A reason to entertain alternate theories is it is trippy to believe the Adelsons were this stupid/impulsive. I don’t condone hiring hitmen, but seriously, not shutting off the phone is dumb- ditto communicating with them over phone after the hit and after Donna was accosted on the street. We may soon know more.
If Wendi was involved, then her performance in the initial interview with the TPD can only be characterized as bizarre.
She certainly didn’t come across as an attorney with any “street smarts.” I can’t imagine her family is happy with her giving evidence against her brother.
She’s an immigration lawyer. The penal system’s not her book and her primary employment has been in academic settings in any case.
If she’s involved, that performance was the act of acts and she is one cold piece of work.
Rivera says he saw Wendi and children checking them out the day before the murder. I’m skeptical. For one how the heck would Garcia know who Wendi Adelson is? Why would she implicate herself in such an obvious manner? How would her eyeballing them guarantee the deed is done? Is this supposed to scare these two guys? As if. The prosecution would have to have corroborating evidence from the children or security cameras or other witnesses placing W.A. and the children in Markel’s neighborhood on that day. Even that could have an innocent explanation. It seems the prosecution have W.A.’s brother and mother dead to rights, maybe her father too. They’re going to need a lot more than this to get her. Rivera made this up. He is the least likely to know anything. He’s the tail end of this conspiracy.
How sad all this is for the children…..but so true about the Adelson’s hatred for their son in law Danny Markel to the point that they would kill him to get what they wanted. Control of the grandkids and isolating them from their other grandparents.
The whole Adelson family are guilty .They are all players in this hit for hire plot. What a Sick this to do !
Yes, it was a sick thing to do, but it appears that the Adelsons are a completely narcissistic bunch who are used to getting whatever they want. And apparently even without regard for the lifelong impact on their own grandchildren. Jeez, my dad was an emotionally distant hard ass, but I’m glad nobody killed him. He was a significant influence in my life, taught me a strong work ethic and provided an important link to my heritage.
“Narcissistic”? That’s commonly a clinical term of art and I wouldn’t be sure it applies here. As for the Adelsons all being responsible, the oldest son and his wife live in Albany, NY. Law enforcement has not offered the slightest suggestion that either had anything to do with this.
“Narcissistic”? That’s commonly a clinical term of art”
Begging to differ, Mr. Know-It-All. “Narcissistic Personality Disorder” is a term of art. The adjective “narcissistic” has been in use since at lest the early 20th Century, long before the DSM. See the OED, for example.
“As for the Adelsons all being responsible […]”
I am guessing that this pseudo-intellectual nit-picking is an example of “the legal mind” at work. It is clear from the context of the comment that the commentator is referring to all the Adelsons who have been implicated in the case so far, and not every Adelson in that particular bloodline, down to cousins multiple times removed.
Touchy touchy.
I agree with DDR. This casts the net of suspicion over Wendy herself.
If her and/or her family were involved, it was a terrible act to do against her own children. Her relationship with her ex-husband was completely separate from his relationship with them. They didn’t work out as a couple, and that is always sad (unless it turns out she was psychotic enough to actually have in killed.) But if they did take these kids’ father away from them, forever, then that was a cruel crime perpetrated on those kids. If they had a good relationship with him, and it sounds like they did, they are going to miss out on having him for all the milestones in the rest of their lives. And IF any or all of the Adelsons prove to be guilty of this terrible crime, that will rip them away from the kids away, and completely destroy their relationships as well.
The kids will have lost their Dad, Mom, and maternal grandparents in one harrowing year, and the betrayal would cause devastating psychological impact. Plus, those poor kids will now be notorious among those classmates, whispered about and gossiped about by their peers.
I am so worried about what’s going to happen to those kids, and how they are going to get through this.
Again, nothing presented so far is consistent with any scenario other than a family hit. Law enforcement has electronic data and eyewitness statements which place these two in Tallahassee on those days and security camera footage of them trailing Prof. Markel. They have eyewitness statements identifying the make of the vehicle at the murder scene (which matches the vehicle trailing Prof. Markel). Now they have a confession and a guilty plea. They also have evidence of boatload of cellphone calls between this pair and a supposed employee of the Adelson dental practice and then between that conduit and Adelson Jr and between Adelson Jr and his mother, all on the day of the murder. Adelson Jr and his mother responded to a decoy attempting to blackmail them in a most suspicious manner, not like two innocent people. The conduit, Katherine Magbanua, was both squeeze to Adelson Jr and baby mamma to this fellow Sigfredo Garcia, as well as a seldom-show employee of the Adelson practice.
If the Florida justice system is efficient, they’ll have between 4 and 7 convictions within 18 months. It will have been 4 harrowing years, not 1 harrowing year. The children belong in Toronto with their father’s family.
So there is even more evidence than I realized. So sad for the kids. I hope they are more blessed in their paternal relatives than they have been in maternal ones.
The children are the reason I sincerely hope she was not in any way involved. (But I must say from the moment it happened I thought it was likely her pulling the trigger in a jealous rage that another woman was now in her children’s lives.)
I also do not understand how an attorney would talk as much as she did in that interview. If she’s involved, that was some serious devious planning to talk as much as she did on purpose, in an attempt to divert attention from herself.
So she “stared” at them…big deal. Maybe she made a habit of observing strangers in her neighborhood. Maybe she thought they were hot. Maybe she had never seen two Mexicans in a Prius. Who knows? The cops are going to need a lot more than that to reel her in.
Heretofore, they hadn’t made Wendi Adelson a target. Her mother and brother were targets. What Rivera’s statement made clear was that he, Sigfredo Garcia, and Katherine Magbanua all thought Wendi was in the loop, and Magbanua offered over the phone in Rivera’s hearing a particular explanation of her presence (whether that explanation was correct or not, we do not yet know).
What’s been revealed thus far in this case should convince any layman that someone in the Adelson family is guilty of arranging a hit on Dan Markel. The thing is, the evidence is not yet sufficient to identify just which of those four someones is among the guilty parties.
What’s funny is your assumption that they’re Mexican.
But if the sighting was innocent, then why didn’t she tell the police that she had seen a couple of shady guys in a Prius – one that just happened to match a witness description of the getaway vehicle?
This.
Why is that funny? It’s Florida not Texas so they’re more likely Cuban / Puerto Rican / Dominican. The phenotypes have a different mix – Mexicans are on a caucasian – Amerindian spectrum whereas Caribbeans have some Amerindian but are generally on a caucasian – negro spectrum. Most Puerto Ricans and Cubans look more or less white, most Dominicans more or less black, and most Mexicans more or less Amerindian. (Neither Garcia nor Rivera look Chicano, FWIW).
I agree, they are far more likely to be Cuban/Hatian, than Mexican.
Uh, Haitians are generally African in appearance and have French-sounding names.
Reblogged this on Matthews' Blog.