Law professor's killer stalked him 'like a shark circling' before ex-mother-in-law's murder-for-hire ambush
After leaving the gym, Dan Markel drove home expecting an ordinary day. Instead, his killer was waiting for him.
As he arrived home, the prominent Florida State University law professor was talking on the phone with music teacher Stewart Schlazer about school options for his children. Then the conversation took a terrifying turn.
"Can you please hold on a second? There's an unfamiliar person in my driveway," Markel said.
Dan Markel, a prominent law professor in Florida, was shot on July 18, 2014, and died the following day on July 19, 2014. (Florida State University)
Seconds later, Schlazer heard what he described as "a loud boom."
"There are really eerie parts of those final hours," producer Lily Fletcher told Fox News Digital. "You look at the CCTV footage, and it's a normal day. Dan dropped off the kids at school, he's gone to work out at the gym, and then there's a Prius driving around the gym car park. It never stops. It's clearly waiting for him."
On Aug. 22, 2017, Stewart Schlazer, a music teacher, recounts his 2014 phone call with Dan Markel. Schlazer said he was on the phone with Markel when Markel saw someone he did not recognize walking up his driveway before hearing a loud sound. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
"It's always reminded me of a shark circling," Fletcher said. "There was something just so sinister and eerie during such a mundane part of his day, just going to the gym. That really stayed with me. That's a really chilling part, just watching that footage."
A photograph taken at the crime scene where Dan Markel, a Florida State law professor, was found shot in his car in 2014. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
Markel was shot in the head while sitting in his car in the garage of his Tallahassee, Florida, home on July 18, 2014. The 41-year-old died the following day.
The case is the subject of a new true crime docuseries from ABC News Studios, "Welcome to the Family: The Murder of Dan Markel," now streaming on Hulu.
Phil Markel answers questions from the media after Donna Adelson was found guilty of the murder of Dan Markel on Sept. 4, 2025. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
It features exclusive interviews, including with FBI agent Pat Sanford and a recorded conversation with Rob Adelson, the oldest Adelson son, who testified against his mother, Donna Adelson, at her trial. It largely follows the prosecution's investigation and trial evidence, while also including testimony and recordings introduced during court proceedings.
FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON X
A photograph of Dan Markel's arm shows residue consistent with that left behind when a firearm had gone off. Markel was shot and killed while sitting in his car in his driveway. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
Markel married Wendi Adelson in 2006 after the two met online. The docuseries depicts prosecutors' theory that Wendi's mother, Donna, was a dominating, controlling figure in their lives with strong opinions about her daughter's choices.
Wendi Adelson, Charlie Adelson's sister and Dan Markel's ex-wife, testifies in court on Oct. 26, 2023, in Tallahassee, Florida, clarifying details about conversations with her mother and her divorce. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
Wendi later said the couple's marriage fell apart after they had two sons, Benjamin and Lincoln. Their contentious divorce in 2013 centered on one question: where the boys would grow up. Wendi fought to move them to South Florida to be near her family, while Markel pressed to keep them in Tallahassee, where the parents shared custody.
According to the docuseries, Donna was furious after the relocation request was denied.
Donna Adelson is escorted out of the courtroom in handcuffs after being found guilty of the murder of Dan Markel on Sept. 4, 2025. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
Prosecutors said the custody dispute became the catalyst for a murder-for-hire plot that would take years to unravel. They argued at trial that Donna helped orchestrate Markel’s killing after he stood in the way of letting her daughter and two young grandsons make the move south.
They also revealed that her son Charlie Adelson arranged for Markel's killing through his then-girlfriend, Katherine Magbanua, who connected him to Sigfredo Garcia, the father of her children, and Garcia's friend Luis Rivera.
Katherine Magbanua, who has been convicted of the murder of Dan Markel and is serving a life sentence, testifies in the trial of Donna Adelson on Aug. 26, 2025. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
Prosecutors said Garcia shot Markel while Rivera drove the getaway car. Over the next decade, investigators used cellphone records, surveillance video, financial records and secretly recorded conversations to build the case.
"Investigators suspected members of the family were involved, but weren't able to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt for a really long time," Fletcher said.
Sigfredo Garcia, charged in the 2014 murder of Florida State law professor Dan Markel, looks directly at the camera as a photo is taken. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
"And I think what really surprised me about the investigation was how incredibly thorough and how many needles in how many haystacks they went through to find the evidence, whether it was tracking silver-colored Priuses across Florida, or going through thousands of phone data to find any links to the family and near the crime scene."
SIGN UP TO GET THE TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER
A diagram displayed in Tallahassee, Florida, shows connections between Dan Markel, the Florida State law professor who was shot and killed in 2014, his ex-wife Wendi Adelson, her parents and brother, Katherine Magbanua, who dated Adelson's brother, Sigfredo Garcia, who had a relationship with Magbanua, and Luis Rivera. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
At trial, prosecutors painted Donna as the calculated matriarch of an affluent South Florida family with the means and motive to orchestrate the killing of the ex-son-in-law she "hated." Defense attorneys, however, insisted the state didn't have sufficient evidence to link her to the murder plot.
Jeffrey Lacasse, ex-boyfriend of Wendi Adelson, testifies in the trial of Donna Adelson on Aug. 26, 2025. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
In 2023, Charlie, a dentist, was convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation to commit murder in his former brother-in-law's killing. Prosecutors told jurors that Charlie paid to have Markel killed and used Magbanua to hire Garcia. They said Garcia enlisted the help of Rivera, his childhood friend.
Charlie Adelson is cross-examined by Assistant State Attorney Georgia Cappleman during his trial for the murder of Dan Markel on Nov. 3, 2023. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
Charlie testified that he had nothing to do with the killing and was stunned when Magbanua came to his home and said her friends were the killers. According to reports, he also said he needed to pay more than $300,000 in 48 hours or he would be killed. He was sentenced to life in prison.
Donna Adelson looks toward her husband, Harvey Adelson, during her sentencing for her role in the murder of Dan Markel on Oct. 13, 2025. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
Magbanua and Garcia were convicted of first-degree murder, and Rivera was sentenced to 19 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder and cooperating with prosecutors.
Luis Rivera, one of the convicted hitmen who killed Dan Markel, testifies in Donna Adelson's trial on Aug. 22, 2025. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
In 2025, Donna was convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation to commit murder. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and an additional 30 years for the conspiracy and solicitation convictions.
A photo of Sigfredo Garcia with his younger cousins is displayed during his sentencing for the 2014 murder of Florida State University law professor Dan Markel on Oct. 14, 2019. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
While Fletcher said the surveillance video is one of the documentary's most haunting moments, she believes the hundreds of FBI wiretap recordings provide the clearest window into the Adelson family.
GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE TRUE CRIME HUB
Large photographs of Donna Adelson and Dan Markel are displayed during the defense's opening statements in Donna Adelson's trial on Aug. 22, 2025. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
"There are hundreds of wiretapped phone calls of the Adelson family," Fletcher said. "As a team, we listened to all of them. I think just the brazen way with which the family was continuing their lives during the investigation, really believing that they'd got away from it, was very disturbing. They really thought that they were above the law."
Dan Markel's home on Trescott Drive. Markel was shot and killed in 2014. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
"Fletcher said listening to the wiretaps left her with the impression that some family members believed they would avoid accountability.
"They weren't used to not getting their way," Fletcher continued. "And I think that is really alarming to me, that there are people like that who believe that they can operate outside of the constraints of the law."
LISTEN TO THE NEW 'CRIME & JUSTICE WITH DONNA ROTUNNO' PODCAST
Snippets of conversations Donna Adelson had with her daughter, Wendi Adelson, were displayed during opening statements on Aug. 22, 2025. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
Two years after Markel's murder, Donna and Charlie spent hours discussing Wendi's boyfriend at the time and whether she should stay in the relationship. Fletcher said the conversations showed her how deeply Donna and Charlie involved themselves in Wendi's personal life.
Harvey Adelson hangs his head as the guilty verdict is read for his wife, Donna Adelson, on Sept. 4, 2025. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
"It's hours and hours of conversations," Fletcher said. "It's Donna encouraging Charlie, and Charlie is suggesting to his mother as well that he will go and speak to Wendi. Just the meddling and the way they're speaking about Wendi and making decisions for her life, I felt that to be obviously really damning for them about their involvement in the case in terms of what the dynamics are like in their family."
LIKE WHAT YOU'RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE
Wendi Adelson watches as people leave the courtroom for lunch on Aug. 25, 2025. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
Wendi has repeatedly denied any involvement in her ex-husband's killing and has not been charged.
"I don't know why people online have such strong levels of certainty," Fletcher said. "In listening to the wiretap conversations of Wendi's mother and brother, and the way they are so accustomed to meddling in her life and deciding what is best for her, I could imagine a scenario in which she wasn't involved in it at all. I think that the vitriol around Wendi, especially online, is sad in a way. I imagine a scenario in which Wendi's family did this without her knowledge."
SIGN UP TO GET THE LATEST TRUE CRIME NEWS
Phil Markel buries his face in his hands after hearing a jury find Charlie Adelson guilty on all three counts in the murder of his son, Dan Markel, in Tallahassee, Florida, on Nov. 6, 2023. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
Fox News Digital reached out to Wendi’s attorney for comment.
"Welcome to the Family: The Murder of Dan Markel" is now available for streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+. (ABC News Studios)
"This is the story of a breakdown of a marriage, a custody dispute, and problems that escalated and seemed so irreconcilable," Fletcher said. "But this was an instance where things got so out of hand, and no one comes out with what they want."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Stephanie Nolasco is an Entertainment Reporter for Fox News Digital.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.