Who Are Donna Adelson's Children? Did They Conspire to Kill Dan Markel?
Her son Charlie Adelson is serving life in prison for the murder.
Published Aug. 22 2025, 3:57 p.m. ET
The much-awaited trial of Donna Adelson is dominating the news as people learn of the conspiracy that left her daughter's ex-husband, Dan Markel, dead, and her son in jail.
According to People, the trial got underway on Aug. 19, 2025.
Dan was murdered back in 2014, and his former mother-in-law is being tried for first-degree murder in Tallahassee, Florida.
Dan was reportedly murdered because of a contentious custody battle with his ex-wife, per WCTV News, and Donna Adelson is accused of ordering the hit.
Her children are also thought to be involved with the crime.
Charlie Adelson was accused of murdering Dan Markel in 2014.
Who are Donna Adelson's children?
Donna Adelson's dentist son, Charlie Adelson, was convicted in 2023 of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and solicitation to commit murder for killing Dan, who was a law professor at Florida State University.
Charlie's mother was reportedly angry that the law professor refused to let his ex-wife and Donna's daughter, Wendi Adelson, move closer to her in South Florida.
Donna allegedly directed Charile to find hit men to kill Dan after he refused a $1 million bribe.
Charlie asked his ex-girlfriend, Katherine Magbanua, to find the hit men, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
Wendi Adelson testified during her brother's trial for the prosecution and received immunity for her testimony. She testified to the bitterness of the divorce and subsequent child custody agreement.
Donna has another son, Robert Adelson, who is reportedly estranged from his siblings. Robert is a physician who was cut off by his family because he's independent.
Donna Aldeson's son Charlie is expected to testify at her trial.
The good doctor is expected to testify about his controlling mother and the family's dysfunction. There is speculation that Robert will be called as a witness to rebut any claim that Donna was too gullible to understand what was happening with Charlie and the hitmen.
Donna allegedly spoke to her son Charlie in code. She also added Charlie's ex-girlfriend to the company payroll and called an undercover FBI agent for the hit.
Wendi's two children did relocate with their mother following their father's murder and have little to no contact with Dan's parents.
Wendi even changed their last name back to Adelson. Charlie's ex, Katherine Magbanua, brought in her boyfriend, Sigfredo Garcia, and his friend, Luis Rivera, into the murder conspiracy.
Magbanua was convicted of first-degree murder and received a life sentence, as did Garcia. Rivera was also convicted and received a 19-year sentence for testifying against Garcia and Magbanua.
Dan was shot to death while sitting in his parked car at his home on July 18, 2014. He was shot two times at point-blank range in the head as he talked on his cell phone. He was rushed to the hospital but died 14 hours later.
The killers were paid $100,000 to murder Dan.
Donna was arrested one week after her son's conviction at the Miami International Airport. She and her husband, Harvey Adelson, were trying to flee to a country with no extradition, Vietnam.
The couple had two one-way tickets.