- 2 days ago
Florida periodontist Charlie Adelson stands accused of hiring two hitmen to murder his ex-brother-in-law, Dan Markel, in order to free his sister from a nasty child custody dispute.
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00it's incredibly rare for murder defendants to take the stand it's a risk very few take at stake
00:21their freedom or even their lives do you swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give
00:27it will be the truth thank you sir you may take your seat this is charlie adelson a successful
00:34periodontist accused of plotting the murder of his sister's ex-husband did you cause the death of
00:42professor dan markell absolutely no will adelson be able to persuade the jury that he had nothing
00:48to do with the murder and is actually being extorted by markell's killers she's like look
00:54if you don't pay in 48 hours they will kill you or will newly enhanced fbi audio convince them
01:02adelson was the conniving mastermind dr adelson on this recording is the real dr adelson
01:09who are they going to believe right an oral surgeon or a gangster take a courtside seat
01:24with the victim's attorney the legal analysts and the lawyer who literally wrote the book
01:33on this case the members of the jury are being confronted with two diametrically opposed views
01:40all of which results in the same thing money in the hands of the killers which one are you going
01:47to believe i'm dan abrams and this is taking the stand raise your right and you solemnly swear
01:54i'm being honest with everything i say to you do solemnly swear the whole truth and nothing but
01:59the i would like to testify the testimony you are about to give the whole truth and nothing but the
02:03truth so how you got
02:05this is a story about an amazing father who was killed and deprived of the opportunity to provide
02:22an unlimited amount of love to his children it's just just can't understand it
02:30the reason that we're here today is because the defendant in this case charlie adelson
02:39adelson hired a hit man to kill his former brother-in-law dan markel
02:46i wasn't part of his murder at all you had the wrong charlie adelson faces charges of first degree
02:57murder conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation of murder for the 2014 death of florida state
03:05university law professor dan markel the state alleges that charlie paid his then girlfriend and
03:12two hit men to murder his former brother-in-law all in an effort to help his sister wendy gain sole
03:20custody of their two children prosecutors also claim charlie's mother donna adelson encouraged charlie
03:28to intervene and help find a solution to wendy's custody issues the prosecution alleged that donna
03:36adelson was in charlie's ear enough charlie basically told his mom okay i know exactly how to take care of
03:43this while the two hit men sigfredo garcia and luis rivera as well as adelson's ex-girlfriend katie
03:50magbanwa are all arrested in 2016 charlie's never charged that is until 2022 when enhanced audio from
04:00the 2016 fbi sting is finally made available to the state does an innocent person say if they had any
04:13evidence but the defense says the fbi recordings don't tell the whole story they claim
04:20that charlie's a victim too they admit he paid the trio but only after markel's death in order to
04:28protect charlie's family the defense maintains the killers carried out the murder on their own
04:34thinking they could then extort the wealthy oral surgeon you will learn that charlie adelson was told
04:44if he didn't pay within the next 48 hours he or one of his family members would be next does that sound
04:52like a murder for hire or does that sound like extortion
04:59if convicted charlie adelson could spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole
05:06and tragically on july 18th of 2014 dan markel was shot twice in the head
05:18in broad daylight in the driveway of his home
05:23the last day of dan markel's life that day began like any other he drove his two little boys to
05:30preschool and then he drove over to the gym to work out after finishing his workout he pulled
05:38in his driveway moments later dan markel's neighbor heard a gunshot
05:46not one once in your emergency
05:48he's still alive he's moving
05:54we heard a noise a loud bang
05:57as i looked out i saw a car quickly back up out of the driveway looked like a silver or white colored prius
06:16the police pulled surveillance video from the parking lot of dan's gym
06:23and they saw dan's car being followed by this prius
06:27and then later the police came up with the brilliant idea of pulling all the city bus
06:35video footage from around tallahassee that day and lo and behold they did see a prius
06:44with two men in it on the front windshield is a sun pass
06:50sun pass transponders are used to pay for going on toll roads
06:54ultimately they discovered that that prius was rented in miami florida and the paperwork from that
07:01rental literally had the name of luis rivera they got luis rivera's bank records and surveillance video
07:09from the drive-through of his bank this was the first time that law enforcement got a really good
07:17look at sigfredo garcia and luis rivera
07:26phone records reveal that one of sigfredo garcia's most frequent contacts
07:32was a woman named catherine magbanua her nickname is katie
07:37garcia and magbanua have a long history of an on-again off-again relationship and they
07:46actually share two kids in common catherine magbanua is also one of the most frequent contacts of this
07:56defendant charlie adelson she was his girlfriend at the time
08:01for their roles in the murder of dan markel magbanua and garcia were convicted of first-degree murder
08:11and are serving life sentences luis rivera pled guilty to second-degree murder and got 19 years
08:19after cooperating with the state so am i correct that katie hired garcia and garcia hired you yes ma'am
08:25all right and did she get the money yes ma'am do you know where she got the money from yeah the
08:30dentist the dentist like wendy and her brother did you kill him and then try to get katie to blackmail
08:40the dentist no the dentist lawyers have indicated that you and garcia got this idea on your own to
08:48come to come to tallahassee and kill the professor is that true no not a good one i know your purpose
08:56was money but whoever did the hiring had a different purpose right yes to get these kids get the kids back
09:05you were a member of the latin kings right yeah and that's a crime family right it's a family up
09:12you were supposed to be paid 35 000 yes secreto garcia the shooter gave you an extra 2000 right yes
09:22sigfredo never told you that he and katie were getting paid every month after the murder right
09:29never knew nothing about that you didn't know that katie was getting money from charlie edelson
09:36every month in an extortion plot did you no isn't it possible that they lied to you about the purpose
09:44of the job to begin with yes isn't it possible that you thought it was a murder for hire but it was
09:51really an extortion i don't know as of april of 2016 law enforcement and prosecutors are stuck they've
10:08got garcia and they've got rivera they know what they did they're pretty certain why they did it but
10:14they don't have enough evidence to pull the trigger on prosecuting any member of the adelson family
10:19suspecting that the adelson's are involved in the murder of dan markell over a child custody dispute
10:27the fbi stage is what is known as a bump in april of 2016 they orchestrate an encounter between
10:35donna and an undercover fbi agent pretending to be an associate of luis rivero the bump was on april 19
10:452016. correct why did you select donna adelson to be the recipient of this bump because we we
10:55noticed the pattern of calls leading up to the murder the calls were always donna adelson to charlie
11:02adelson to katherine agbanwa to sir frida garcia and then back
11:11excuse me mrs adelson hey going just want to give you this um listen you don't be scared
11:19no don't be scared he handed her an article about the anniversary of dan markell's murder
11:25and it had the number five thousand dollars and a phone number scribbled onto it
11:31well this one's fine
11:36thank you
11:39and who is the first person that donna adelson calls after this bump charlie adelson
11:44one would think that donna adelson would say some man came up to me demanding money from us
12:04she never says any of that so as soon as charlie hangs up with his mother the first person he calls
12:10his katie and he says i gotta tell you what just happened to my mother charlie then asks katie to
12:17meet him at a restaurant called dolce vita the fbi records this encounter as well but background noise
12:24makes it mostly inaudible and the state simply does not have enough evidence to charge him
12:31that would all change in 2022 when a former cia operative hired by the state was able to enhance
12:40the audio giving them enough to arrest charlie adelson that recording includes statements of charles
12:47adelson which can be heard now for the first time how do you get people to talk
12:52he's going to smoke and then he had all the cockroaches to run out
12:59while the prosecution believes the recordings implicate charlie they still need to explain to
13:04the jury how the child custody dispute led to murder a year before markel's murder wendy adelson had
13:14lost a legal effort to move her two sons from tallahassee to miami where her mother donna lived
13:21charlie the state alleges hired garcia and rivera to murder markel clearing the path for wendy and donna
13:30to get what they desperately wanted the boys in south florida permanently donna adelson wanted her
13:39grandchildren in miami with her she made it clear in her communications with wendy that that was the
13:44number one issue did you come into possession of some emails that were exchanged between wendy adelson
13:52and donna adelson we did anything in those emails that goes to motive in your investigation
14:01donna adelson she was being very assertive
14:07and was there mention in those emails of a bribe that was to be offered to dan markel to potentially
14:13facilitate this relocation it was the most significant scheme that donna came up with
14:20to try and get dan to agree to relocation was offering dan one million dollars and who was going
14:29to pay for the bribe there was going to be a three-way payment between donna and harvey adelson we're
14:36going to pay 33 of it charlie adelson would pay 33 and then wendy would pay the other 33
14:44things started heating up when dan filed a motion
14:48that accused donna adelson of essentially alienating his kids away from him
14:57could you read that please the children informed mr markel dad grandma says you're stupid when queried as
15:04to why grandma would say such things the children replied jointly that it is because she says you
15:09are trying to take her sunshines away from her mr markel is concerned that continued exposure to such
15:15negativity forms a foundation for parental alienation is that what he was alleging about your mom
15:24that is what he is alleging in this document dan wanted the court to order that any visitation
15:31she had with his sons any access to them would be supervised
15:38is it fair to say your mom was worried about this motion no my mom never knew about this motion
15:45well you forwarded this motion to your mother i don't believe in email in fact you forwarded this
15:52motion to 12 different people so if i just send it to all these people i couldn't really say it's been a long time
16:07i want to direct your attention to your law enforcement interview on the day of the murder
16:14god everyone's sorry this is happening you know it's like my parents have more reason to dislike
16:19danny than almost anyone else he hurt their daughter that is what i said and that's because
16:24he hurt you right i was saying that in the context of talking to law enforcement for hours and hours
16:31and trying to help them figure out who might be responsible your family had your ex-husband killed
16:37to try to help you didn't they no that's completely untrue
16:41did your brother ever mention hiring a hitman to kill dan markell no
16:51my brother the one his name is charlie the one i'm really close to
16:55he makes a lot of jokes and bad taste and it was always his joke that like
17:00he knew danny treated me badly and it was always this joke he said i i you know i looked into hiring
17:05a hitman and it was cheaper to get you this tv so instead i got you this tv
17:17my brother though his name is charlie he said i looked into hiring a hitman and it was cheaper
17:22to get you this tv so instead i got you this tv was that what he said that was a joke that he made
17:28yes and hiring the hitman that was to kill dan markell right that was the joke
17:36after the prosecution confronts wendy adelson with a seemingly incriminating joke made by her brother
17:42charlie his lawyers look to reframe the issue now charlie made that joke many times right he did
17:51he never told you he actually looked into hiring a hitman right no did you think he was serious no
18:02wendy is a good witness for the defense because she doesn't believe her brother did this
18:06she doesn't believe he has a motive to have done this the defense theory was it wasn't a murder for
18:12hire it was actually an extortion and charlie wasn't the perpetrator he was actually a victim
18:21so the only way to get this story in a meaningful way in front of the jury
18:26is to put charlie on the stand how do you feel right now i'm really nervous
18:32why are you nervous my whole life depends on it
18:38by the time frame of 2014 when professor markell was murdered how many offices were you working in
18:46approximately between 30 and 35 offices and what did your income look like in the 2014 range 14 i made
18:58between i think around 850 to 900 000 to the defense charlie adelson is a guy who's extremely focused on his
19:06career on the business that he's developed very successfully he didn't want to throw that away
19:11let's talk about the adelson institute during the 2014 time frame when you own the office
19:21did your mom control the books she she wrote the checks how involved was your mom in your life
19:29um business-wise very involved because she was running the office
19:34i want to talk a little bit about your sister wendy how involved were you with the divorce proceedings
19:42i wasn't really involved with the divorce proceedings i would definitely hear stories
19:48i would say probably 20 came from wendy and 80 came from my mom
19:54the defense is going to point out that the prosecution is missing in this case
19:57charlie's charlie's actual connection to this much hatred for the victim a lot of the conversations
20:05that you hear throughout the evidence in this case don't really show him with a vested interest in this
20:10divorce or in this child custody how did you first meet katherine magbano
20:18i met katie in the summer of 2013 she started working the front desk of the dental office that i worked at
20:28now i want to talk about the million dollar offer did you ever become aware of efforts by your family
20:37including yourself yes to offer professor markel money to allow your sister to relocate
20:45i did yes and did you ever talk with katherine magbanawa about that million dollar offer yes i did
20:53how did she respond she was like wow that's a lot that's a lot of money she's like you gotta take out
21:01a loan for that and i said no i got cash i can pay for it charlie and rashbaum wanted the jury to
21:09conclude that that's when this idea started rolling around in katie's mind boy there's something there that
21:15i can get sigfredo to start working on maybe we can get that money this one million dollar offer
21:22which the prosecution was trying to use to show how intensely the edelsons felt about relocation
21:28is now being used by the defense to show this motive for the extortion plot
21:34now we're on the july 18th when professor markel was murdered
21:44did you speak with katherine magbanawa yes i did what happened when she arrived
21:50when she arrived it's my house she just looked panicked and upset she said listen this is all my
21:58fault but i had no idea anything was going to happen i spoke in too much detail about your family's
22:04personal problems about your sister dan markel and the million dollar offer what did you say i'm like
22:12what are you talking about she's like she's like my friend killed dan and he wants to be paid a third
22:19of a million dollars what happened next i started cursing it i'm like who did this who's your friend
22:27that did this and she's like i don't want to say i can't say and i was like was it sigfredo
22:32and she's like no i'm not i'm not telling you and i'm like katie i'm not going to be part of
22:40paying for a murder this is insane and and she's like look if you don't pay in 48 hours they will kill
22:47you and i said katie i feel like i'm getting extorted now what did you do then i said katie i
23:00don't have a third of a million in cash and she's like well you have a ton of money in your safe
23:07and i i say okay i don't have i don't have that much in my safe i do have a lot
23:12and i walked over to my safe i opened it up and i said i said go ahead and count
23:18that's that's not a third of a million how much money did she count uh 138 000. what did she do with
23:28138 000 she put it in her purse and she asked me she goes how can you get the rest
23:36and i'm like hey that's all the cash that saves up from forever
23:41what happened next she said well can you pay like three thousand dollars a month
23:46and i said yeah i can i can do that did she tell you anything in particular before she left the house
23:53she told me whatever you do she said please don't tell anybody about what happened
24:03over the next two years charlie says he paid katie three thousand dollars every month
24:09and he also kept his word that he wouldn't tell anybody about the extortion
24:14but he made one exception to that and that was his mom donna adelson
24:18once charlie is making these payments via the payroll of the adelson institute to katie
24:25that sets a red flag off for donna because donna is in charge of the payroll so she starts asking why
24:32are we writing your girlfriend these checks what is she doing for the business and it was at that
24:37point that charlie decided you know what i really should tell someone because in case i get killed
24:42at least they'll know why and what had happened to me so he confided only in his mom and what did you
24:50tell your mom i told her that the the night of the 18th i got extorted for a third of a million dollars
24:57how did your mom react she wanted to go to the police and what did you tell her i said absolutely not
25:04it's not it's not going to bring dan back you're just going to end up getting me killed or it'll come
25:10after somebody in the family
25:32you're aware dolce vita is according to the state the final straw that led to your arrest right yeah
25:40it's not going to do it
25:42there were a lot of wiretaps going on in april of 2016 but there was one meeting that was surveilled
25:48at a restaurant called dolce vita where you actually had two fbi agents that had cameras
25:55in little bags that were facing katie magbanewa and charlie adelson at a table and they were talking
26:02about the bomb
26:14as you're talking about this what are the both of you trying to figure out
26:21we're trying to figure out is this real extortion or is this the police
26:25by charlie's direct examination you've got two different extortion plots you've got the one that
26:30started the day of dan markell's murder and one that started the day of the bomb
26:44what are you telling katie here i'm saying they they didn't mention my name that they don't even know
26:49i was extorted and that they only know part of the story they know about the checks that my mom was
26:56writing to you they don't realize that that was payment for an extortion not payment for a murder
27:03and by the way isn't that exactly what the bump is the bump is an extortion why do you bring up
27:11a gang member because katie told me that louis rivera was the head of the latin kings
27:18and that's who the the second extortion was a latin king gang member now when katie is telling you that
27:27he's the head of the latin kings what starts going through your mind
27:34this is real like this this is this is real extortion and it's it's happening again
27:39if they're being extorted by the latin kings it's almost infinite the amount of fear one
27:45could have in a circumstance like that and why didn't you go to the police i thought if i went to
27:51the police that they'd kill me his double extortion theory gave him a way to respond to every piece of
27:58evidence do you love your nephews of course would you ever take their father away from them no never
28:06ever a million years he seemed to be forthright and somewhat sympathetic i was very worried that
28:17we were going to get a mistrial or even an acquittal
28:20while charlie did well explaining his double extortion defense he'll face a tougher challenge
28:30under the state's cross-examination the prosecutor has been preparing for this moment for close to a
28:37decade this was a major moment the long-time prosecutor of the murderers of dan markell going up
28:47against the maestro himself have you ever heard the saying that the simplest explanation is always
28:56the most likely have you heard that i've heard that theory before yeah was your explanation to the jury
29:05over the last little over a day the simplest explanation it was the truth for the prosecution
29:14the simplest explanation is you and your mother arranged for the murder of dan markell
29:21and this other explanation this extortion theory is complicated and convoluted and therefore does not
29:28make any sense why did garcia and rivera need to kill someone to extort you yeah you gotta ask them
29:39well why why couldn't they just come put a gun to your head and say give me all the money in your
29:44you're safe thank god they did she asks charlie does this make sense why would these guys commit
29:53a murder and then extort you if they could just threaten you directly
30:01the prosecution also highlights charlie's attitude and bravado during the 41-minute dolce
30:08v-day recording to the prosecution charlie adelson is a guy that's always in control
30:16not the guy cowering in fear when a girlfriend tells him he's being extorted
30:22to georgia kappelman the real charlie adelson was the guy captured in that moment at dolce vita
30:48do you think you can talk your way out of this no i don't i'm not part of a murder who are they
30:55going to believe right an oral surgeon or a gangster
30:58did katherine magbanewa put you on a payment plan with the latin kings she said asked me if i could
31:13pay three thousand dollars a month in 2014 and i said yes i can do extortionists send a girlfriend
31:24of their victim to collect their extortion money is that the way it's done doctor i'm telling you what
31:31happened to me
31:31according to charlie he kept up what he said were extortion payments to mag ban law until she and the
31:43hitmen were arrested in 2016 but never went to the police because he feared for his life
31:51so katie is arrested october of 2016 she doesn't stand trial for another three years
31:57and during the entirety of those three years according to charlie's own testimony he believes
32:03she's innocent and that she was just being used as a go-between between the killers and him
32:10so for three years she was in the leon county jail awaiting trial yes she was there and you believed she
32:19was innocent yes and you had this whole explanation to assist with exonerating her right i have the
32:30truth of what happened yes but you didn't offer the truth of what happened did you nobody came came
32:37to me i thought the truth would come out does someone have to come to you i was told not to
32:41talk to katie and not to talk to anybody about this case by counsel
32:45he never did anything to help her out after all she was somebody he was trying to keep very close
32:51because she was protecting him so the notion that he wouldn't try to help her in the greatest need
32:57in her life that she had it just didn't swear katie magbanwa was tried twice her first trial in 2019
33:06ended with a hung jury her second in 2022 with a conviction she received a life sentence without parole
33:14in both cases she testified and denied having any role in the murder plot
33:22now she's testifying again in charlie adelson's trial and telling a very different story
33:30ma'am please say your name katherine magbanwa i see that you're in jail clothes are you currently
33:37in custody yes ma'am what are you in custody for murder this is the third time that katie magbanwa
33:49has testified in the dan markell case and there's a lot of anticipation here because for the first time
33:56in the case she is testifying on behalf of the prosecution who came up with the idea to kill dan
34:03markell charlie what was your motivation for becoming a part of this murder plot financially
34:13on the night of the murder did you go to the defendant's house yes ma'am i did were you in a
34:21panic when you arrived at his house i i wasn't in a panic but charlie was
34:26serious when i opened the door he was kind of frantic and he had a gun in his hand and he was just
34:33all over the place and did you get payment for the murder that night i believe it was the following
34:41morning the money was in a plastic bag like a ziploc bag that was inside a brown bag and then like a
34:51grocery bag over it and the payments from charlie adelson did those include the checks that were signed
34:59by his mother from the adelson institute yes ma'am it was
35:05did you try to extort money out of him no ma'am i did not
35:09did you relay to the defendant that his family was in danger if he didn't give you whatever it
35:18was you were asking for no ma'am katie was very effective in pushing back on this extortion theory
35:26that charlie needed to have the jury believe was true while katie magbanwa's testimony may appear to
35:34favor the prosecution the defense is quick to question her credibility well let's talk about the
35:41testimony in your first trial you were asked did you get the father of your children mr
35:48garcia to commit a murder on behalf of mr charlie adelson answer no ma'am do you recall saying that yes sir
35:54during your second trial do you recall being asked charlie didn't ask you to do anything weird answer
36:03no ma'am like get someone to get a hitman to commit a murder of his ex-brother-in-law no ma'am those were
36:10lies right yes i lied in my trials to save myself when you have a witness who is admitting that they've
36:18lied in the past what you want to do is point out every single time somebody lies and you don't know
36:23if they're lying then or they're lying now all you know is they're a liar in your second trial you were
36:29sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole plus another 30 years do you recall that
36:38yes sir and you realize that there are only two ways to get out of that prison right
36:44what are the two ways well one way was in a coffin right yes sir and the other way
36:57was cooperating against charlie adelson right no sir i wanted the truth to finally come out
37:05now you keep on saying that the state hasn't promised you anything right yes sir but you're hoping that
37:13they're gonna help you right of course i want to see my children again when he finally gets those
37:19words to come out of her mouth she's now admitting that part of the reason she's sitting on the witness
37:25stand is to get out of jail is it true that you were the mastermind behind professor markel's murder
37:37no sir that was charlie i'm sure it was during the eight-day trial the juries heard testimony from
37:45charlie adelson's alleged co-conspirators along with newly deciphered fbi recordings all of which
37:51the prosecution believe proves adelson's guilt will it be enough for a jury to convict a man being tried
38:00almost 10 years after the fact who claims to be a victim himself wiretap in the absence of any other
38:09reasonable explanation should all lead you to one conclusion this defendant is not a victim he's a
38:18criminal he's wealthy he's smart and he's successful but he's a wealthy smart successful murderer
38:34the prosecution's theory of the case requires the jury to think that somebody would kill for their
38:39sister rather than for themselves and the defense's theory is that if you mention money in front of your
38:46girlfriend you're going to get extorted when they go out and kill your sister's ex-husband the jury's
38:52got to pick between the two it's clear on dolce vita and on the wires what they're talking about
38:59the details are about a murder the details are about the extortion payments
39:06the wires know his innocence going into the deliberations we are all just very very anxious
39:21my concern was look the extortion theory muddied the waters enough
39:27for at least one juror to think okay there's reasonable doubt here and so we can't convict
39:33on november 6 2023 nearly a decade after the murder of dan markel
39:41the jury has reached a verdict after just three hours of deliberation
39:51we the jury find as follows as to count one of the indictments first degree murder
39:56the defendant is guilty of conspiracy to commit first degree murder
40:12count three the defendant is guilty of solicitation to commit first degree murder
40:18charlie you can see the shock and surprise in his eyes he drops his head to the council table
40:27mouthing the word no this was the first moment that that air of invincibility that he'd been carrying
40:37with him his entire life had finally been punctured this has been a really long and terrible ordeal
40:45for all of us it's taken a long toll on our lives and there's a real sense of relief today
40:52my reaction was relief of this fear that somehow charlie was going to literally get away with the murder
41:00you may stand
41:08i would just like to say that i maintain my innocence charlie adelson was sentenced to life in prison
41:15without the possibility of release or parole
41:20and then the moment this trial is over donna is arrested at the airport flying to vietnam where
41:26there's no extradition to the u.s the state attorney's office gets wind donna adelson is
41:32having conversations in jail with charlie about potentially fleeing the country we've been looking
41:38it up over and over the things change but we're looking for places there was no extradition
41:44then a friend of the adelson's actually informs them that they have tickets to get out of the country
41:49and they're supplied the specific details of the flight and harvey and donna adelson are there at the
41:57airport at the gate and pat sanford steps forward and says to donna you're under arrest for the murder
42:05of dan markel
42:25donna adelson age 73 has pled not guilty in the murder of dan markel
42:31she's being held in jail without bond and her trial is currently set for late 2024
42:44defendants are never forced to take the stand but that decision is likely the biggest one they'll ever
42:51make we're taking the stand i'm dan abrams
Recommended
41:33
|
Up next
41:31
41:31
41:31
42:52
43:05
41:31
43:05
41:31
45:32
41:31
41:31
41:31
42:11
41:31
45:31