Dateline: Family Matters, Who is Donna Adelson and what do we know about her crimes? Details revisited 

Dateline NBC episode titled "Family Matters" revisits the harrowing murder of Florida resident and a law professor of the State University, Daniel Markel, back in 2014. Daniel's mother-in-law Donna Adelson was subsequently found involved in a disturbing murder-for-hire plot that eventually culminated from her daughter Wendi Adelson's tumultuous marriage.

According to Dateline, Donna was the face of a very influential as well as wealthy family from South Florida, and she resorted to extreme measures to bring her daughter out of an ugly custody battle. The official synopsis of the 2024 Dateline episode "Family Matters", per IMDb reads:

"New details on the latest twist in the murder-for-hire plot involving a prominent Florida family that left Florida State University law professor Dan Markel dead and a grandmother arrested."

What did Donna Adelson do? Details from Dateline episode Family Matters, explored

According to Dateline, Donna Adelson was convicted of first-degree-murder of her ex son-in-law Daniel Markel who was stuck in a disturbing custody battle with her former wife, Wendi Adelson (Donna's daughter). Donna, being the matriarch of her family, was the one who always called the shots.

Following Daniel's death in 2014 at his Tallahassee residence, investigators connected the dots and all fingers eventually pointed at a shocking family plot. Recently, following Donna's life sentence announcement, the 75-year-old head of the Adelsons defended herself, saying that she did not commit any crimes and was going to jail for nothing.

To quote her exact words, per Dateline NBC:

"What happened to Danny is unforgivable. But I am an innocent woman convicted of this terrible crime without evidence. I’ve always respected the law. I’ve never gotten a parking ticket, But I’m going to prison for a murder I did not commit. "

Per Dateline, the late Daniel Markel had been having a long tussle with his ex-wife Wendi Adelson over their children. As sources tell, the two of them had joint custody, but problems arose when Wendi wanted to move out of their Tallahassee house with the kids and go and live with her mother, Donna Adelson.

So, when things went awry, Donna took matters into her own hands and started plotting ways to eliminate Daniel. As per Dateline, she also got her son Charlie Adelson involved to hire an assassin and get the job done. In turn, Charlie included another accomplice to murder, Katherine Magbanua, his ex-girlfriend.

However, it did not take much time for the detectives to deduce the whole story following which Donna Adelson was arrested at Miami International Airport in November, 2023 as she was getting on an aircraft headed towards Vietnam. According to the latest reports, Donna has finally heard the life sentence with no parole this Monday (that is October 13, 2025) following a long trial that went for almost a week.

It followed after Donna was accused of multiple charges, including murder in the first degree, solicitation as well as conspiracy to kill. The hitmen (Sigfredo Garcia & Luis Rivera) hired by Charlie Adelson to murder Daniel reportedly belonged to a gang named Latin Kings, and sources say that the two were caught, with the former receiving a life sentence and the other 19 years in prison.

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