Donna Adelson Was Arrested in Connection to a Murder-for-Hire Plot — Where Is She Now?

It's been more than 10 years since Dan Markel was brutally shot to death outside of his Florida home. The Florida State University Law School professor was on the other side of a contentious divorce from his ex-wife, Wendi Adelson, but the fighting was far from over.

The former couple was arguing over "personal property, finances, and allegations from Markel that his former mother-in-law, Donna Adelson, was disparaging him during her visits with the couple's two young sons," per ABC News.

This all ended in July 2014 when Markel was found fatally shot in his car, in the driveway of his home.

Soon, police received a tip about Wendi's brother, Charlie. A murder-for-hire plot was uncovered, and in November 2023, Charlie was sentenced to life in prison.

He was the fourth person held responsible for the heinous crime. His mother, Donna, was arrested one week after her son's sentencing while she was attempting to leave the country. Where is she now? Here is the latest update.

Following her arrest, Donna was charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and solicitation of murder in connection with the death of her son-in-law. Jury selection for her trial began Aug. 19, 2025, nearly two years after she was taken into custody at the airport.

Because 300 potential jurors were summoned, selection is expected to take at least three days, reports WTXL. If convicted, Donna could end up with a life sentence.

Adelson allegedly orchestrated the murder-for-hire plot with her son Charlie, his then-girlfriend Katherine Magbanua, and the two men hired to carry out the killing: Sigfredo Garcia and Luis Rivera.

Charlie, Magbanua, and Garcia are each serving life sentences. Rivera pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and was handed a 19-year sentence, but he was already serving a 12-year federal prison sentence on unrelated charges, per WCTV.

Police began focusing on Donna after hearing alarming jailhouse calls between her and Charlie, via ABC 7 Chicago.

In them, Donna was hammering out plans to flee the country.

"We've been looking it up over and over, because things change," she said to Charlie. "If there is extradition from Vietnam? Because we, we've looked at all the places, I mean, I could go to Korea and China, but there's no extradition, but looking for places where there's no extradition."

Of course, Donna isn't the only parent suffering.

Ruth Markel sat down with CBS News to discuss what life has been like for her since her son's murder.

When he was killed in 2014, "he became known as the slain professor in Florida, and I became known as the mother of the slain professor in Florida," she told the outlet.

However, she is already working to change the way the public views victims in these situations.

"One of the things that I started to notice is that the victims are really underexposed in the court system and in the public," said Ruth. "You just see them and the court (suspects), so the point is that the victim suddenly becomes invisible."

To process what she went through, Ruth wrote a book titled The Unveiling: A Mother's Reflection on Murder, Grief, and Trial Life. It's written from several perspectives she herself experienced during this horrific process.