Shot in His Tallahassee Driveway | The Dan Markel Murder Case

Professor Dan Markle was murdered in his Florida home sparking a lengthy investigation

Now part of the Darkcast Network. Welcome to Indie Podcasts with a Dark side. In today’s episode, we’re talking about a law professor who was murdered in his Tallahassee, Florida home, sparking a lengthy investigation that revealed a web of family conflict, custody battles and alleged murder for hire. Plus, over the course of 10 years, multiple arrests and court trials have been made, and this even fueled legal reforms. This is the case of the murder of Professor Dan Markel, right now on Love and Murder.

This episode is sponsored by Patreon.com/Love and Murder is a weekly true crime podcast

Welcome, lambs, to a new episode of Love and Murder, your weekly true crime podcast telling you cases of heartbreak that turn to homicide. I am your host, Ky, and in today’s episode we’re discussing a case that took 10 years for everything to go through. And it took me about a week to get all of the information because every time I thought I was done researching, there was still more. Before we begin, I want to say that this episode is sponsored by my lams in Patreon. Patreon.com forward/loveandmurder if you’re new here, be sure to subscribe to Love and Murder right now while you’re listening so you don’t miss a case. So go ahead and listen to this episode first. Obviously, if you like it, then go ahead and subscribe. And if you didn’t know, you can also subscribe on our Patreon so you don’t have to hear intros such as this, this one, commercials that are coming up, you’ll get ky rants, you’ll get bonuses, and you’ll be a sponsor of Love and Murder. And surprise, surprise, for the month of November. I do have my own Black Friday November sale out. I know a lot of you have expressed that you want to become an exclusive LaM. And I mean in this economy. I mean, am I right? So what I did was I took our highest hair and I slashed it in half just for the month of November. What I’m going to do is that at the end of the show, I’m going to talk more about what you will get with this sale. So stay tuned for that. I don’t want to take up too much of your time at the beginning of the show with this, so just know that there is a sale going on. Become an exclusive lamb for only $5 for the month of November. And if you want to know more about it, I’m going to tell you more at the end of the show. Patreon.com/loveandmurder in the meantime, though, grab your butts. Grab your delicious glass of BJ’s apple juice murderinlove.com BJ’s to get your BJ’s membership for only $20 for the entire year and save money on your groceries.

Daniel Markel was born in Quebec and studied at Harvard and Hebrew University

And now let’s get into some love and Murder Daniel Markel was born on October 9, 1972 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and he was actually raised in Toronto. His parents, Ruth and Phil Markel, supported his academic pursuits, which eventually led him to study politics and philosophy at Harvard, where he graduated magna cum laude in his undergraduate and law degrees. He then went to Hebrew University in Jerusalem where he worked in political theory research. Later he earned a Master’s degree in political theory from Emanuel College in Cambridge. In Cambridge, if anybody knows that commercial I went to Cambridge anyways Before returning to Harvard for his J.D. in 2001, Dan eventually settled into a position at Florida State University in Tallahassee. Wow. He just went everywhere. So he was born in Quebec, moved and was raised in Toronto, studied in Harvard, then went to Jerusalem, then came back to Cambridge, then went back to Harvard, then moved all the way down south to Florida. Wow. His professional experience included a clerkship with Judge Michael Daly Hawkins on the U.S. court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and work at Kellogg Huber, a prestigious D.C. litigation firm. Dan became an assistant professor at FSU’s College of Law in 2005 and quickly earned respect as a scholar. As a scholar, he published many journals including Vanderbilt Law Review and Minnesota Law Review. His achievements earned him the Dalembert professor of Law position. I think that’s how you say it. D apostrophe A L E M M B E R T Not sure, but he was really, really, really focused on his career. Anytime I needed to talk to him, he was always around to talk. He always took an interest in me and his students who were similarly situated and interested in criminal law. This is a quote from his former student the next year so that was 2005. So 2006 Dan married Wendy Adelson, who was a fellow attorney, and they got married in February 2006. The New York Times actually featured their wedding, noting that Wendy was a third year law student at the University of Miami. The couple then went on to have two sons, Benjamin in 2009 and Lincoln in 2010. Later, Wendy became a clinical professor at FSU. However, around 2012, the marriage started falling apart and Wendy even filed for divorce on September 10, 2012. Wendy then moved out with their children while Dan was away on business. She took their sons to her parents home in Coral Springs. But then she ended up coming back later on after Dan took legal action. Dan argued that the children shouldn’t be allowed to leave Capital City, saying that, quote, there was no need or benefit to ripping up the fabric of their lives. He also said that Wendy refused to tell him where she was with the kids for weeks, calling her departure cruel and abrupt. Because basically what happened was Dan was away on a business trip. When he came back from his business trip, he found the house basically empty. She left a couple things in the house, and in addition to that, she left the divorce papers, like on, I think it said, on the bed. So that’s all he. That’s all he saw there. Kids were gone. Everything was gone. So it was kind of like the rug was pulled up from under him. So, yeah. So in legal reportings, he called it, quote, cruel and abrupt. However, Wendy said that moving to Coral Springs would place her and the boys closer to her family, quote, providing more stability and consistency. What about his family? So, like I said, she eventually came back, she brought the children back to let the legal arguments play out. In June 2013, Circuit Judge Hobbs denied Wendy’s request to relocate the children. And in July 2013, the couple was granted a divorce without a trial. Trial. So the judge said, nope, you can’t move the kids away from their father, but you can have your divorce. So moving forward, the two agreed to split custody of the children. 50, 50. And Dan agreed to pay Wendy $841 per month in child support on top of a lump sum payment of $120,000. Even though that was settled, they continued to fight via court filing over money. They fought over money. They fought over when Wende was allowing her kids to call their father via Skype. They fought over the children’s educational plans. They fought over how much Dan could actually come see his kids. Like, if it wasn’t on the 50, 50, if he wanted to see them on an off day, they fought over that. Literally, they fought over everything. In February 2014, Dan filed a motion to enforce the marriage settlement agreement. So I guess she wasn’t following the agree. And he wanted to enforce it, saying that Wendy and her lawyer were not forthcoming about her financial assets. He said that Wendy had hidden over $200,000 in assets during the divorce proceedings in March. He then filed a motion, another motion, seeking to prevent Wendy’s mother, Donna, from having unsupervised time with his sons because she was badmouthing him to his children. So in his filings, he said it was to protect them from, quote, disparaging comments about their father. So with this filing A court hearing was scheduled to hear his motion against Wendy, but because they were in the middle of changing out lawyers, their counsel, the hearing was postponed for a little while. It doesn’t say who was changing out lawyers, well, whether it was Dan or Wendy. Then about four months later, on July 18, 2014, Dan left his house just like any other day to take the kids to daycare on the west side of Tallahassee. He dropped them off at 8:50am and then he drove to the gym. He got to the gym around 9:12am M&A, uh, Toyota Prius was following him. So he got to the gym the same time as him, but he didn’t know that anybody was following him. He then left the gym at 10:38am and went home with this car still following him. At approximately 11am he got home, and moments later, he was ambushed and shot twice at close range in his own garage. Dan actually was on the phone at this time. The person on the telephone with Markle then heard what sounded like a loud grunt. He heard a muffled conversation in the background, but could not make out the words being spoken. He then heard labored breathing, but could not get Markle to respond. This person called 91 1. And when first responders arrived, they found Dan, quote, slumped over in the driver’s seat of his vehicle from an apparent gunshot to the head. And the garage door was still wide open. Dan was rushed to the hospital, but died the very next day. An autopsy revealed that Dan had been shot in the forehead and once in the left cheek. So an investigation into Dan’s murder started. Investigators spoke with a neighbor who also had called 911 on that day. The neighbor told police about this Toyota that they had seen back and out of the driveway after they heard the shot. Investigators used surveillance videos, and they were able to see a, uh, Toyota Prius around the neighborhood on that day. They also traced the car back and found that it had been rented in Miami to some people named Siegfredo Garcia and Luis Rivera. Both men had a prior criminal history. Police noted that the Prius was rented out from July 15th to the 21st. Then on, uh, July 17th, Sigfredo and Luis arrived in Tallahassee and checked into their West Tallahassee street motel. There, an unnamed witness told investigators they had a meeting with Siegfriedo and Luis. And the witness did remember seeing Luis with a revolver. Investigators said, by the sound of this revolver, it sound like exactly the kind of gun that was used in Dan’s murder. Also, police noted that both of the men’s phones had been detected near Premier Gym, which was Dan’s gym, while he was at the gym. This corroborated what investigators had seen on surveillance videos. Uh, this is what I’m saying. Everything was captured. Like, I don’t understand. You did this in broad daylight?

Everything is trackable. You can’t rent a car without a card

Where? In a neighborhood? Okay, okay, let’s rewind. All right. Everything is trackable. I don’t know how people think they can get away with murders. Everything is trackable. Okay. You have to rent a car. Can you rent. You can’t rent a car without. Without a card anymore. You have to give a card. You have to give your id like, so that’s trackable. I guess. Maybe. Are, uh, there sleazy rental places out there? Yeah, but even still, they’re going to keep track of their cars. Still trackable. Why would you rent a car? All right, say you didn’t rent a car. You came to the neighborhood, did a loud ass shot, and then immediately peeled off like nobody will see you. What? And then even as we go more into the case, you’re going to see there’s even more ways that people could track you. Like how? I’m going to give a surprising tip that many people might not have thought of. Okay, I hope you’re sitting down for this tip. So here it is. Don’t murder. I mean, it’s, um. You don’t want to get caught in a murder. Don’t murder. Anyway, so they shot this man, and they peeled off in a neighborhood in broad daylight in a rental car. Then, well, before that, they followed Dan around to a gym, a public gym with cameras and every. Oh, uh, God, this is like, in a sense, tell everybody you know and everybody you don’t. You know what I’m saying? Like, not that they actually ran around telling people, but you just. You might as well have just thumbed up to all the cameras and said, yeah, we’re following this guy with like, this flashing sign on their car saying, bad guys, bad guys, bad guy. Like, uh, anyways, cell phone records also showed the investigators that there was frequent communication between Sigfredo and, ah, somebody named Catherine Magbanua. Again, phones, no matter what you think you delete, is still there. So investigators were like, okay, let’s see what this Siegfredo has to say. And this Luis has to say. So they went and picked up both of the men. Both of them were like, uh, I ain’t seen nothing, heard nothing, been nothing. I don’t know what you’re talking about. They had no idea what investigators were talking about. It was just a Huge coincidence that they rented this car, followed this guy. They’re not even from this town. They were in his driveway, and everybody saw them peel off. Huge coincidence. Investigators did note that Dan didn’t know or had any connection with Sigfredo or Luis because, you know, he is a professor of law. They’re like, okay, maybe if you go back, we’ll find out that he was. He helped in their cases somehow. But no. No connection to them whatsoever. So investigators concluded that these guys were likely, quote, enlisted to commit the murder. So now it turns into a murder for hire investigation. Now, I, uh, want you to take note of the dates so you can see how long this case goes, how many twists and turns. Oh, like, every time I thought I was done researching, it was something else. That’s why this episode is coming out later than it should, because this thing took me, like, a week to write. Like, seriously, because, you know, I like to get every bit of information in every case. So just, uh, to remind you, the murder happened on July 18, 2014. So we were in 2014. They picked up Luis and Sigfredo in 2014. They said they didn’t know any of these people, so police had no reason to keep them. There was no evidence at the time, so they let him go. But investigators, of course, kept their eyes on them and kept investigating. And then two years later, on May 25, 2016, Sigfredo was arrested. And then on June 2, 2016, Luis, who had already been in federal custody and serving time for his involvement in the Latin Kings gang, was named as a co defendant in Dan’s murder. So it took two years to be able to arrest them. Then, uh, Luis pled guilty to second degree murder and was sentenced to spend an additional seven years in prison on top of his 12 year federal sentence. So, I mean, he’s like, well, I’m in here for 12 years already, and y’all caught me in this murder of Dan Marco. So when he pled, which was actually a plea deal to a lesser sentence, he also sang like a bird. He gave investigators evidence that helped them charge Catherine, this Catherine person that keeps coming up with first degree murder. On October 1, 2016. It is believed that the murder was arranged through Catherine, who has been romantically involved with both Garcia, who is the father of her two children, and Charlie Adelson, who she had been dating at the time of her murder. Now, if you don’t remember the last name, Adelson, that’s Wendy’s last name. Charlie is her brother. Remember, one of the reasons investigators had even found out about Catherine was because of these phone conversations between her, Luis, and Sigfredo. Right. Well, during those conversations, investigators saw that an hour and a half after Dan was murdered, the first person Siegfredo called was Catherine. Then multiple phone calls were exchanged between Catherine and Siegfredo and Catherine and Charlie. Catherine sounds like the glue that’s binding this group together. So not only do investigators have these phone exchanges, remember, Luis gave his confession. And part of his confession was that he said Siegfredo was the one who recruited him to take part in murdering Dan and that Catherine was, quote, the woman in the middle, doing everything. He said that he didn’t know the name of the people who had hired Catherine and Sigfredo, but he did know that the reason for the killing was because the lady wants her two kids back. She wants full custody of the kids. Uh, so who does this sound like? Yo. Luis also admitted to driving with Sigfredo from Miami to Tallahassee with the, uh, explicit intent to kill Dan. He didn’t say we were going there to look at houses. He. He and Sari were going there to buy orange juice. A specific brand of orange juice that’s only in Tallahassee. He said they went there to kill a Dan Markle.

Prosecutors say Charlie Adelson orchestrated Dan’s murder with a motive

Then he told investigators about the moments leading up to the murder. He said they did stalk Dan, and they waited for the right moment to execute their plan, which was bright daylight in the middle of a neighborhood where anybody could see the Toyota. Really. He also said that Siegfredo was the one who pulled the trigger. We watched him until the perfect moment came. Then Garcia got out and fired the shots. As we pulled in, Garcia jumped out and went behind his car to the driver’s side and shot him. Then after that, they collected their payment of $100,000, which came to them neatly arranged in stapled stacks of $100 bills. They said, we’re rich, and then went back to Miami and then got arrested for other stuff. Investigators also were able to see this video that actually was shown on TV later on. But they were able to see this video from a Tallahassee bus, which showed the Prius going north on Thomasville Road. And it had someone in the passenger side changing into a long, sleeved white T shirt. T shirt. So police were believing that was Sigfredo, who, after he shot Dan, you know, his shirt would have gotten some blood on it, so he changed into another shirt. As this case moved to court, investigators pieced together a, uh, motive. Now, with everything coming together, they have what they think Is the motive Wendy’s parents, quote, desperate desire to relocate her and the children to south Florida. Email evidence indicates Wendy’s parents, especially her mother, wanted Wendy to coerce Markle into allowing the relocation to South Florida. Additionally, Wendy’s brother, Charles Adelson, reportedly did not like Markle and did not get along with him. There was even a point where Donna even pushed Wendy to coerce Dan by suggesting she threaten to convert the children to catholicism if he didn’t let them move, knowing that Dan, who was Jewish, wouldn’t want this. My question is, how do you think it’s fair to just take the kids away from the guy? Like, a guy doesn’t need to be in his kid’s life. You moved to Tallahassee. You had two children with this guy. I know the marriage didn’t, uh, work out, but to then drive the children away from him, There had to have been something that could have been worked out. Like, even if you moved to your parents, y’all needed to figure something out or maybe move when the children are older, not when they’re young. But there’s a way to figure something out where you can be next to your support system. He could be next to his support system, and the children still have their support system, which is the both of y’all. Just as much as you want to be near your mom and dad, pretty sure the kids want to be there near their mom and dad. That’s sometimes a selfishness that people don’t consider be adults and don’t bring your biases into your child’s life. Like, ugh. Uh, and then for your parents to be pushing for you to move and just, you know, oh, tell him we’ll convert them. Tell him that, like, you had your time with your children. Did somebody try and take your children away from you, like, stop being selfish? Ugh. According to documents, Donna even joked about, quote, finding a hitman to solve their, quote, problem with Dan. So prosecutors contended that Charlie decided to take his mom’s, quote, joke a step further. The prosecution said that Charlie orchestrated the murder with the intent of permanently removing Dan from the family equation, which would then allow Wendy and the children to relocate without legal opposition. So you remember when Wendy and Dan had a court hearing coming up and it had been delayed, quote, due to substitutions of counsel? This court hearing could have restricted Wendy’s parents access to the children, and it was coming up. So according to the prosecution, Wendy’s parents, Harvey and Donna, as well as her brother, turn to this other option. Now, of course, none of this is proved. This is just what the prosecution is saying. None of the Adelsons have been arrested. Nothing like that. This is just the motive that they’re thinking of, why Dan was murdered. The prosecution argued that Siegfredo and Lewis had been contracted to carry out the murder through Catherine, who organized everything, and she’s the one who received the payments from Charlie. The reason why they were even able to build a case against this, Catherine, was due to Luis’s cooperation. Now, Luis, don’t. They say snitches get stitches, and you’re supposed to be in a gang. But I guess, you know what? This had nothing to do with his gang. So I guess he was only loyal to his gang. And Sigfredo came and found them, and he was like, I don’t know that dude. He’s not part of us. So I want to get my sentence reduced, so I’m gonna tell you everything. The Adelsons, of course, denied any involvement. They said through their lawyers which one of them was Charlie’s close friend. Quote, none of the Adelsons, Wendy, her brother Charlie, or their parents, Donna and Harvey, have anything to do with Dan’s murder. I like how they literally gave every name just to make sure that you know that they know that you know that they know that none of them had anything to do with this. So Siegfredo and Catherine’s trial started together. But the day before their trial was set to start, Catherine’s attorney filed a motion asking for a separate trial. Because they argued that combining the cases would mean any evidence from Siegfredo’s case that implicates Catherine could be inadmissible. Basically, in my opinion, I think that they were worried that looking at her side by side with Sigfredo, a hitman and a criminal, would make her look bad. The judge said no. So their trial started in October 2019. So we’re in 2019, where she faced charges of first degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and solicitation of murder. Catherine’s defense argued that she was not directly involved in the murder plot, despite her relationship with Bo Sigredo and Charlie and her alleged financial ties to Charlie. Charlie just gives women money. You know, Catherine was just in need, and she just needed money, and he just happened to give her $100,000. He’s a charitable guy. However, Katherine said, look, I had nothing to do with this, but the case that the prosecution presented started me a, ah, thinking. And I believe Charlie was, quote, involved in the murder. So, yo, she jumped in the bus, ran over Charlie, said, that wasn’t enough. Backed the frick over him again. Was like, you know what? Maybe one more time. And, uh, ran over him in the bus again. I thought that was your man. I thought that was your man. Weren’t y’all together like, y’all were together during the murder? And when it came to trial, you were like, look, I had nothing to do with this. But the prosecution. Normally, I’m on the defensive side, but the prosecution got me. Sir, your argument was so good that I think Charlie is the guilty party. I’ve never heard anything like that before in my life. The trial for Catherine actually ended on a hung jury, 10 to 2, leading the judge to declare a mistrial. However, she did stay in jail, waiting for a retrial. Then on October 11, Sigfredo was found guilty of first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. And on October 15, he received a life sentence without the possibility of parole, plus 30 years for conspiracy. Sir, you should have learned from Luis. You should have sang like a bird. But then again, he’s the one who pulled the trigger. He’s the one who had the ties. He’s the one who got Luis to do this with him. So, you know, you decided to do this, and this is the sentence that you get.

Shortly after Dan’s murder, Catherine received large cash deposits

And now y’all have two children. Just to think about it, Catherine and Sigredo have two children. Where are those two children? Because both of their parents are in jail because of a hit like during their trial. This revealed more about Catherine’s connections to the Adelson family and the financial exchanges between her and Charlie. So although this trial was a miss for her, like, it didn’t convict her, Immediately, this started to raise suspicions with the investigators about Charlie’s actual involvement. Investigators were actually able to gain more insight into the financial records and phone records between Catherine and Charlie. The financial transactions we’re talking about, such as one to the Adelson family. Shortly after Dan’s murder, Catherine received large cash deposits, which basically was out of line with her reported income as a nightclub worker. I guess she might say that. I don’t know. Somebody was really generous these last days, and they decided to give me a lot and lot a lot of cash. So investigators supported that these funds were likely, quote, payoffs for orchestrating the murder of Dan. After Siegfredo’s conviction, the FBI and law enforcement began focusing on the Adelsons more directly. Now, back in 2016, the FBI conducted an undercover operation that recorded conversations between Charlie and Catherine. One key piece of evidence was the, uh, quote, dolce vita Recordings that, as they referred to it, where Charlie and Catherine discussed potential suspicions about law enforcement’s involvement in the case. In the recording, Charlie referred to the situation as if they were being watched. And he started using phrases that the prosecution later talked about and said was coded language. And this coded language could be deduced into their involvement into Dan’s murder. Charlie, now alleged to be the mastermind behind the whole thing, was arrested on April 1, 2022. We are now in 2022. Around the same time, on May 16, 2022, Catherine’s retrial started. And on May 27, the jury found her guilty of all the charges. On July 29, she was sentenced to a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the first degree murder charge, along with 30 years for conspiracy and an additional 30 years for solicitation. Then, on October 26, 2023. We are in 2023. Now, Charlie’s trial started, during which. Y’all ain’t gonna believe this. Catherine testified against him. Why did she testify against you? Had. What did you. Were they threatening to give you life if you didn’t testify? I mean, you already have a life sentence. I mean, were they threatening to give you a death penalty? She has a life sentence with basically 60 years attached to it. What made you say, you know what? I’ll help this prosecutor? That prosecution’s argument was so good that she said, I’m going to turn into a prosecution witness. Wow. No, no, you don’t have to give me anything. I don’t want anything in return. I just. I’m just in love with your argument. You made me think it was Charlie, and now I’m going to prove that. I think it was like, what. What is going on? When she said that she would testify against Charlie, she also admitted to perjury in her previous trials. Charlie faces charges of first degree murder, conspiracy to commit first degree murder, solicitation of first degree murder. In court, Charlie claimed that he thought he was being extorted by Catherine, insisting that the payments he made to her were to protect himself from alleged threats. She was threatening me, your honor, so I paid her to shut up. That is all. However, Catherine came to the stand and was like, ah, uh, surprise, mother, I’m here. And also, Siegfredo had testified against him as well. Sigfredo and Catherine both placed him right at the center of all of this. The defense then argued that the wiretap recordings that they did play in court were ambiguous and did not conclusively prove Charlie’s involvement. Do you hear that voice on There. That sounds nothing like my client. It sounds exactly like him, your honor. No, nothing like him. Sounds like a six year old boy. How dare you m. During his trial, they also brought forth all the evidence that they’d been collecting over the years 2014 to 2023. They’ve been collecting some evidence for some time and they brought it all to court. This evidence is what helped put Catherine, Luis and Sigfredo away already. So they’re like, yo, it worked these three times, so if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. So they used exactly what they used before. And on November 6, 2023, the jury found Charlie guilty on all charges. On December 12, he was sentenced to life in prison for first degree murder with an additional 30 years each for the conspiracy and solicitation, uh, charges. After the trial, a, ah, former colleague and friend of Dan’s, Jason Solomon, said that Dan’s parents haven’t seen the kids since Wendy took custody. That’s why he, Jason, started an online petition hoping that both the trial and the petition put pressure on Wendy to let Dan’s parents see their grandchildren. The kids are getting older. For the boys to have the connection to their father’s family and for Dan’s family to have that connection to his sons. She has a long life ahead of her. She’s going to have to rebuild her reputation professionally and personally. And people are really watching to see what she does in these circumstances. But we’re not done yet. Y’all are not going to believe this one.

On November 13, 2023, Donna was arrested at Miami International Airport

On November 13, 2023, Donna was arrested at Miami International Airport with a one way ticket to Vietnam. Yo, she said, good morning, Vietnam, here I come. She was about to be out. She was charged with first degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and solicitation of, uh, murder. However, in an exclusive interview with NBC’s Dateline, Donna’s attorney, remember, which includes one of Charlie’s good friends, rejected the possibility that she was permanently trying to flee the country. How dare you. First you implicate Charlie even though he was, you know, guilty. Then you’re saying my client tried to flee the country. They described her as, quote, absolutely innocent of first degree murder and everything else you threw at her. He said that Donna was just distraught. She was just a, ah, distraught parent who was furious with the justice system about her son’s murder conviction and life sentence. She hadn’t done anything wrong when she booked the ticket. She was a free citizen just like you and me. She just wanted to go to Vietnam. Well, this part I’m adding in. She just Wanted to go to Vietnam to get out of the country and focus her mind. And there’s no other country she could have gotten to. Have you seen the waters in Vietnam? However, this host wants to give a little side note. It’s just interesting to me that vietnam is a country with no extradition treaty with the United states. Her trial was set to start on September 17, 2024. We’re in 2024 now, LaMs. But proceedings were delayed when donna’s attorney withdrew his representation on the first day of jury selection. Now, this could have been the friend. I’m not sure. I’m not saying it was the friend, but that was a tactic, a delay tactic, allegedly, because I ain’t trying to get sued. But soon as jury selection started, you’re just like, your honor, I’m going to withdraw my representation, which, you know, not that this is what I’m trying to do, but it’s going to delay the trial. But, you know, my daughter has a dance recital that day, so kids first. And again, this is just coming from my head. I’m not saying that’s exactly what happened or even remotely what happened. So as of now, no new date has been set yet for the trial to begin, but it’s expected to start late 2024 or early 2025. And it’s also interesting to note that Wendy had cut off contact between dance parents and the children. Like I said before, she also went a step further and changed the little boy’s last names from markle to adelson. How diabolical. M. She said she did it for their safety, of course, because neither markle or adelson are names that are really trending right now. Right. For their safety, really.

Florida lawmakers passed a bill to address grandparents visitation rights

So it’s interesting to note that Florida’s grandparent visitation laws are among the most restrictive in the entire nation. This left the grandparents, the marco grandparents, with no way to even petition a court for ruling on whether they can be granted visitation or not. So it’s up to the parents in florida. Well, back then, it was up to the parents in florida. You had no say in it. However, Florida lawmakers made an HB 1119, known as the, quote, markle act, to address grandparents visitation rights. This legislation establishes a new provision to help grandparents who want to visit their grandchildren. The law specifically applies when a surviving parent bears responsibility for the other parent’s death while protecting parental rights. The act provides grandparents with legal options and encourages family to, uh, arrange visits without court intervention. Senator keith perry supported the bill, stating, quote, time spent between grandparents and grandchildren is Important and special, fostering the traditions that tie generations together across all seasons of life. Ruth Marco, Dan’s mother, documented her experience when she was 77 years old in a book called the Unveiling A Mother’s Reflection on Murder, Grief and Trial Life. In it, she said, I often think that I have been sentenced for life, that Dan’s murder is also my life sentence. A void like landscape of traumatic flashbacks, anguish, and prolonged anxiety. The Markle family also shared a statement after Charlie was convicted. They said, while nothing will ever repair the hole torn in our hearts when Danny was stolen from us, we appreciate all those near and far who have joined our family in seeking justice for Dan and in keeping his memory alive with such dedication. Ruth also said that when Governor DeSantis signed the Markle act, this was a, quote, significant win for her family. Quote, danny would be proud to know such mountains were moved for the protection of his two beloved boys. However, the problem is this act doesn’t actually directly affect their situation because there is no civil or criminal ruling existing against Wendy. So as of this reporting, as far as I know, through all of the research that I’ve done, the Markle still haven’t seen their grandsons. And there’s nothing that the courts could do because the Markle act is for. If one of the parents, you know, are convicted of hurting the other one and Wendy was not. And that is the case of the murder of Dan Markle. Do you see why it took me so long to go through this case? Every time I thought I was done, I. I wasn’t. What did you think about this case? Were you surprised when Donna, uh, was arrested? Because I was like, what? Donna was arrested and, uh, she was trying to go to Vietnam, but no, she wasn’t trying to go to Vietnam and flee. She was just trying to go chill for an hour. What was the most surprising part of this case to you? Let me know in the comments below. Like I said, mine was when Donner was arrested. I was like, m. And also the second most surprising part is that the, uh, Markles hasn’t seen their grandson at all. And she changed their name. I cannot believe just that. To me, that that was a diabolical part. I mean, obviously the murder, and I’m not saying that, but outside of that, her changing their name, that was way diabolical.

Let me know your thoughts on this case in the comments below

Anyway, I want to hear from you. Let me know your thoughts on this case in the comments below. Have you heard of this case before? Were you following it? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. And this is Another case that I’m going to have to put in the pile of update because we’re still waiting to see what’s going to go on with Donna. And I do want to see if by any chance Wendy is going to be included in all of these charges. I’m not saying she did anything, I’m just, I’m just wondering.

Our Patreon has a sale going on for the entire month of November

So as I was telling you earlier on in the episode, I was letting you know that our Patreon has a sale going on. It’s a November sale going on right now. So for the entire month of November you can join Patreon and get everything that I put out for the low, low price of only $5 a month donation, which is half off of what it normally is. So I actually decided to do this as a Black Friday sale, but for the entire month of November because I know a lot of my lambs have expressed the want to join Patreon, but they don’t have the need to do it because of what’s going on with the economy right now, which I can totally understand. So I decided to go ahead and put out a Black Friday sale for our Patreon. And what you would get in this tier is you’re gonna get the commercial free episodes. There’s uh, also, it’s also intro free. So we get right into the case. You get case extras. So like the last case, I think the last full episode we did there was a. But I put like the entire trial in there. The video of the trial and I think one of. I um, think it was either Friday or there were also interviews, uh, videos of interviews and the trial and the conviction, something like that. So you get all that. It’s just whatever comes with the case. If it’s pictures, if it’s courts docs, if it’s videos, uh, of the trial, everything that. Like that. That’s what I mean when I say case extra. So you’ll get that. You’ll get whatever Kyrans I put out. You’ll get whatever monthly bonuses that comes out. Um, I do have some new things that I’m starting actually for the end of the year. Rolling it into 2025. We’re going to have some going on in there. I was supposed to put it out last week, but this week you’re going to get an example of that is going to be in the Patreon though. But that one, the, the fun ones is only for the higher tiers. I’m going to put this first one out so everyone in Patreon can see what’s coming out and then moving forward, it’s going to be in the higher tier. And if you’re in this sale tier, then you get it as well. Then the other thing is, as long as you sign up before the end of the month when the sale is over, and as long as you stay in the Patreon, you will stay under that sale sale price so your grandfathered in. So on December 1st, that tier is gonna disappear from the options for you to sign up. So you have until the end of this month to sign up and take advantage of this 50% off Black Friday lamb sale. Don’t forget, if you sign up for this, you’re also going to be a producer of Love and Murder. You’re going to help the show out so much. You’re going to help me out so much and you’re going to get extras for that. So you want to be part of this sale, go to our Patreon patreon.com forward/loveandmurder. Look for the option that says much thanks, secret tear and then it says in big letters, November sale. Join up there. I would love to have you over on my Patreon patreon.com forward/loveandmurder. You have until the end of the month to take advantage of this sale.

Another way you can help out Love and Murder is by simply sharing this episode

Another way you can help out Love and Murder, which is free, is by simply sharing this episode. So go ahead, on whatever platform you’re on, hit the share icon. Share it in your text messages with your friend and family. Because, as you know, we say share with everyone you know and everyone you don’t. So share it in WhatsApp, share it in your text messages with your friends and family. And then go ahead and visit our YouTube, our TikTok or our Instagram. Choose one of the videos we have there and just share it on your social media as well. Everyone you know and everyone you don’t. And as we end each full episode, I want to remind you that it’s say it with me now. All, uh, love and no murder, y’all. See you in the next episode. Bye.