FBI wiretaps in Dan Markel’s murder case reveal Adelson family conversations as a new Hulu documentary revisits the Florida killing.
The murder of Florida State University law professor Dan Markel shocked the country in 2014. More than a decade later, secretly recorded conversations, surveillance footage and a series of criminal convictions continue to shed light on a case that investigators spent years trying to solve.
Now, a new true-crime documentary is bringing renewed attention to the case, including hundreds of FBI wiretap recordings that offer a glimpse into the Adelson family’s conversations during the investigation.
In a September 19 report, Fox News Digital highlighted comments from Lily Fletcher, a producer of ABC News Studios’ Welcome to the Family: The Murder of Dan Markel, now streaming on Hulu. Fletcher said the recordings left her disturbed by how some family members appeared to carry on with their lives while investigators worked to uncover the truth.
The case, which prosecutors linked to a bitter child-custody dispute, ultimately resulted in multiple convictions. At its center was a murder-for-hire plot that took years to unravel.
A Routine Day Ended in a Deadly Ambush
On July 18, 2014, Markel, 41, was returning to his Tallahassee home after a trip to the gym when a gunman approached his vehicle.
The law professor was speaking by phone with music teacher Stewart Schlazer about school options for his children. During the call, Markel mentioned seeing an unfamiliar person in his driveway.
Moments later, Schlazer heard a loud noise. Markel had been shot in the head while sitting in his car inside the garage. He died the following day.
The killing initially left investigators facing a difficult question: Who would want to murder a respected professor and father of two?
Surveillance footage eventually became an important piece of the investigation. According to Fletcher, a silver Toyota Prius repeatedly circled the gym Markel had visited, seemingly waiting for him.
Fletcher compared the vehicle’s movements to a shark circling its prey, describing the footage as one of the most unsettling elements of the documentary.
The apparent surveillance was part of a case that would eventually stretch across Florida and lead investigators toward Markel’s former in-laws.
How a Custody Dispute Became Central to the Case
Markel married Wendi Adelson in 2006. The couple had two sons before their marriage ended in a contentious divorce in 2013.
One of the major disputes involved where the children would live. Wendi sought to relocate with the boys to South Florida, closer to her family, while Markel wanted them to remain in Tallahassee, where the parents shared custody.
Prosecutors later argued that the unresolved custody conflict became the motive behind Markel’s murder.
They alleged that Wendi’s brother, Charlie Adelson, arranged the killing through his then-girlfriend, Katherine Magbanua. According to the prosecution, Magbanua connected Charlie to Sigfredo Garcia, who carried out the shooting with help from his friend Luis Rivera.
Investigators said Garcia shot Markel while Rivera helped with the getaway.
The prosecution’s case against the Adelsons centered on an alleged effort to remove Markel from the custody dispute. However, allegations about the broader family dynamics must be distinguished from the criminal convictions that followed.
The investigation relied on a combination of cellphone records, financial evidence, surveillance footage and secretly recorded conversations. Together, these sources helped investigators piece together connections that had remained difficult to establish in the years after the murder.
FBI Wiretaps Offer a Window Into the Adelson Family
Among the most revealing elements of the case are hundreds of FBI-recorded phone calls involving members of the Adelson family.
Fletcher said the documentary team listened to the recordings while examining how the family behaved as the investigation continued.
She described conversations that gave her the impression that certain family members believed they had escaped accountability. The recordings also captured discussions about Wendi’s personal life, including conversations between Donna and Charlie Adelson about Wendi’s romantic relationship in the years following Markel’s death.
For Fletcher, those exchanges offered insight into the family’s internal dynamics and the degree to which Donna and Charlie involved themselves in Wendi’s decisions.
The recordings became particularly significant in the context of the prosecution’s broader case. They allowed investigators and, later, jurors to consider conversations alongside other evidence gathered during the investigation.
Still, the documentary’s interpretation of the recordings is not the same as a judicial finding about every family member’s involvement. The evidence must be considered in the context of the individual charges and convictions.
Donna and Charlie Adelson’s Convictions
The legal proceedings unfolded over several years, with investigators gradually building cases against those they believed were connected to the murder.
Charlie Adelson was convicted in 2023 of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation to commit murder. Prosecutors argued that he financed and arranged the killing through Magbanua.
He received a life sentence.
Magbanua and Garcia were also convicted of first-degree murder. Rivera, who cooperated with prosecutors, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 19 years in prison.
The case later reached Charlie’s mother, Donna Adelson.
In 2025, Donna was convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation to commit murder. She received a life sentence without the possibility of parole, along with an additional 30 years for the conspiracy and solicitation convictions.
Her trial brought renewed attention to the evidence investigators had collected over the years, including recorded conversations and testimony about the alleged plot.
Donna’s defense disputed the prosecution’s case, maintaining that the state had not sufficiently established her involvement.
The convictions marked a major development in a case that had remained unresolved for years after Markel’s death.
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