69 South
Podcast 69 South is about mystery, true crime, attempting to find the truth in a world full of chaos. We dig deep in to current and past true crime incidents. Reporting what we find to our listeners. We want to become your reliable source for all things relevant, while we live in a society that is truly lost.
69 South
In the Crosshairs Part 3 : The Fight for Justice in a Family Conspiracy
How does a family's darkest secrets unravel in a courtroom saga filled with twists and uncertainties? Join us on our podcast journey, born from personal loss and family responsibilities, where we transform a passion for storytelling into a powerful platform that gives victims a voice. Our latest series, "Crosshair," delves into the complex legal aftermath of the tragic murder of Florida State University law professor Dan Markel. With listeners from across the globe, we're grateful for your support in turning this small hobby into a significant force for justice.
This episode takes you deep into the intricate conspiracy involving Charlie Adelson and the Adelson family, whose actions are under intense scrutiny. We explore the evidence against Charlie, Katie's gripping testimony, and the dramatic arrest of Donna Adelson at Miami International Airport. As we recount these tangled events, we highlight the precarious nature of the justice system and the potential for further shocking developments. Don't miss this riveting tale of crime, family pressure, and the lengths people will go to protect their own.
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Disclaimer: All defendants are INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY in a court of law. All facts are alleged until a conviction!
Welcome everyone to podcast 69 south, where we discuss and discuss true crime, cold cases, current events and hot topics, along with our state of society today. This is your trigger warning. Our podcast content is produced for adult listeners, 18 years of age and older. We discuss situations that may be offensive and triggering to some listeners. Sit back, relax and enjoy. Welcome everybody to another episode of 69 South. I'm Chop your host, and with me always is my beautiful co-host, julie.
Speaker 1:Hey everybody, and with me always is my beautiful co-host Julie.
Speaker 2:Hey everybody, Before we get started, Julie has a couple of things she'd like to say and give some props to our listeners and everything, and let's know just a little bit of a backstory about how we got going.
Speaker 1:Well, first and foremost, I want to say cities, with over 54% of our listeners being local. We are in each corner of the United States, from California to Oregon, Maine to Florida.
Speaker 2:In four months, we have expanded our reach thanks to all you amazing listeners. That's pretty fucking cool. There's people in Sweden listening to us, germany listening to us and even some in India listening to us. That just trips me out, man.
Speaker 1:Australia.
Speaker 2:I love that shit, man, I love it, it was so unbelievable.
Speaker 1:Now, when we started this podcast, it was just a hobby. We were just a little couple from the country who wanted to tell true crime stories and never did we imagine that it could grow like this. And we're still just a tiny true crime podcast that want to give victims the voice they never had and to stand up for injustices and bring to light what is done in the dark. This was a dream for so many years, but life comes along and stops all of your plans and dreams. Our podcast was supposed to originally air in 2020. We had gotten all of our equipment remodeled, an entire house for a studio and we were already moved in and ready to start our show.
Speaker 1:But yet another obstacle changed our plans. My mother-in-law got sick and to take proper care of her, we made the studio her home and completely rehabilitated her. Then, sadly, in 2023, she passed away from brain and lung cancer. We was then left with our empty studio, but it was too soon to come back into the studio, obviously because our mother just passed away and it was just hard to come in here because she was usually here. So in 2024, we decided it was finally time and we launched the podcast. Nurse, or we excuse me. We launched our podcast and our listeners, reception and engagement has made it all worth it. You guys have been amazing and we just want to say a special thank you.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and shout out to my mama we sure miss you.
Speaker 1:And she would have loved to hear the podcast.
Speaker 2:Oh, she'd have had this shit on replay.
Speaker 1:She had been replaying over and over and over. She would have loved it. She would have loved it.
Speaker 2:Getting back into today's episode Today we're going to be diving back into the Crosshair series as Garcia and Riviera adapt to life behind bars. Katie is holding on to yeah yeah. Donna's future is uncertain as she fears prosecution, and Wendy is moving forward with her life seemingly unscathed. She ain't got shit so far, but I think there's some shit coming on her. I really really do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now, if you're just tuning in and you're feeling a little bit lost, I recommend heading back to In the Crosshairs, part 1. There you can catch up on all the details surrounding the tragic murder of Florida State University law professor Dan Markle.
Speaker 2:We left off with the police pounding on Katie's back door, trying to get her to answer, while Garcia and Riviera faced arrest. However, it was only Garcia who was taken into custody that day, as Rivera was already serving time in a federal prison for unrelated charges.
Speaker 1:Five months after Garcia, Katie's baby daddy was arrested and charged with murder, Katie herself was taken into custody in October of 2016. Both Katie and Garcia were tried together, but while Garcia was found guilty, Katie's trial ended in a mistrial due to the juror's inability to reach a unanimous decision. So what exactly happens when a mistrial occurs?
Speaker 2:Well, there's a lot of things that can cause a mistrial. One can be a jury deadlock, like if the jurors cannot reach a unanimous decision and the judge will usually keep pushing them and pushing them and say you know, you guys need to figure out a way to get this over with. But if it's just where they just cannot, cannot agree, like they may have one juror hold out not guilty and the rest of them guilty, or vice versa. Number two would be improper conduct, misconduct by jurors, attorneys or witnesses, such as bias, tampering or violations of courtroom rules that can lead to a mistrial. Prejudicial errors, significant errors in legal procedure or evidence that could unfairly influence the jury might result in a mistrial, kind of what we've seen at the Young Slime Life trial, ysl.
Speaker 1:I think they had over 100 motions for mistrial.
Speaker 2:Another reason could be illness or death. If a juror becomes ill or passes away during the trial, this can disrupt the proceedings and lead to a mistrial. Changes in law If there are significant changes in a relevant law during the trial that can affect the case, it could also result in a mistrial. When a mistrial is declared, the case may be retried with a new jury or the prosecution may decide to dismiss the charges altogether.
Speaker 1:Now, in this case, the prosecution decided to retry Katie after her initial trial ended in a mistrial. Her first trial took place in November of 2019, just before the infamous COVID-19 pandemic hit. Because of this decision, Katie had to remain in jail until her next trial, which was held in May of 2022. That means she spent six years waiting for her trial during that time.
Speaker 2:I'll tell you. What's crazy is she didn't have to stay in jail at all. She was literally offered immunity for exchange for telling the truth, but she declined the offer. She could have told the truth and not spent a day in jail, been home with her kids, been done with all of it.
Speaker 1:Why would she do that?
Speaker 2:I mean, she had two small children at home who needed their mother. It's really hard to understand why someone would choose to remain behind bars when they had the chance for freedom and the opportunity to be with their kids.
Speaker 1:She truly believes she could stand in front of the jurors and convince them with her wild, fabricated story. It's just baffling to think she thought that that would work in her favor.
Speaker 2:You know, the first trial ending in a deadlocked jury probably gave her a little bit too much confidence, like she thought she was the star of the courtroom drama. It's like she believed she could just waltz in there and charm the jurors with her wild tale. Spoiler alert.
Speaker 1:That's not how it works.
Speaker 2:Katie claimed she couldn't accept the immunity offer because Garcia was facing the death penalty and if she testified against Charlie, it would feel like snitching on her baby daddy.
Speaker 1:But wait a minute. If she loved and cared for Garcia so much, why would she encourage him to murder her boyfriend's brother-in-law? If she truly loved him, she wouldn't have dragged him into this mess just for a quick payday. It's really a case of twisted priorities, because she had a sugar daddy and a boyfriend pretty much.
Speaker 2:I mean you love me with all your heart, I like to think, but you wouldn't send me on some kind of retarded ass hitman scheme for $30,000 or $40,000, because that's all it was paying to begin with.
Speaker 1:Hell. No, I wouldn't send you nowhere.
Speaker 2:No, you wouldn't even let me jaywalk, you'd be like baby. They're going to put you in jail for 30 seconds. Don't fucking wait until the light turns green Right. Come on, man. And speaking of the priorities, let's talk about Katie's finances. It seemed that money played a huge role in her decisions. With her financial struggles, it's almost like she was willing to risk everything for a quick cash grab, even if it meant jeopardizing her family and her future.
Speaker 1:Now. Before the homicide, she worked at a dental office. However, after the murder in July of 2014, she started receiving handwritten paychecks from the Adelson Institute for Aesthetics and Implant Dentistry, signed by none other than Donna Adelson. Now now these checks began in September of 2014, and they were always for the same amount $407.58. And it always covered a 10-day period prior to the check date.
Speaker 2:Interestingly, these checks continued until at least January 2016. And on a couple occasions she even received paychecks in advance. And on a couple of occasions she even received paychecks in advance. It looks like they were all written around the same time, using either the same date or sequential check numbers, which raises some eyebrows. I know you guys have all seen them. You know the big pads that have the payroll checks on them.
Speaker 2:A big institute like that more than likely would be using a payroll service, you know, to write the checks out. But these checks were wrote out of one book. They were all wrote at one time and for that reason we don't know yet. We could only just assume. Like maybe there was a certain amount that they were trying to get to and they just broke it down and wrote all these checks at one time. But Donna had control of these checks and obviously she would just pass them out to Katie whenever she felt like she deserved one, or spanned them out every two weeks to make it look like she was working over there, but she never did a lick of work in there.
Speaker 1:No, not at all. But you know what? It doesn't stop there. An investigation into her bank accounts revealed a significant spike in cash deposits after the Markle murder. In the year leading up to the homicide, Katie made about $15 in cash deposits, with around $10,000 of that in just the last four months. However, in the 12 months following the murder, her cash deposits skyrocketed to approximately $44,000, primarily through ATM transactions ranging from $300,000 to $2,000.
Speaker 2:That was her whining her little ass. Oh, my kids need this. My kids are more important than this. Charlie, I need some cash, Charlie Wink wink, before I start telling on somebody. Charlie, I need some cash, Charlie Wink wink, before I start telling on somebody, Charlie. Overall since the homicide through November 2015, investigators have tracked over $56,000 in cash deposited into her accounts On top of the paycheck she was receiving, besides the checks from the Adelson Institute, which totaled under $13,000 for 2015,. She also had a federal tax refund of $7,532 in March of 2015 and around $4,500 from another employee she started working for later in that year. So, with her finances taking such a dramatic turn, it's hard not to wonder how much of her decisions were driven by financial desperation. It seems that money was a significant motivator in her life and her choices reflect that. I mean, she was living high on the hog. She was balling out in some cash.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, she was. She had anything she want. I think we read a story once and her Lexus that Charlie gave her wasn't running very good or whatever. And Charlie's like oh Katie, you can have my Range Rover, you can drive my Range Rover, or we'll get you anything that you want.
Speaker 2:I'll look into getting you an Escalade. I think was part of that conversation as well.
Speaker 1:I just want my kids safe, Charlie.
Speaker 2:Charlie. So why was Charlie funneling all this money to Katie? As investigators dug deeper into our finances and conducted electronic surveillance, the circumstantial evidence became to point squarely at Charlie's involvement in the crime. After a professionally enhanced audio recording of the meeting at Dulce Vita surfaced, Charlie was arrested and charged with the murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Speaker 1:But Charlie's explanation was nothing short of mind-boggling.
Speaker 2:It was funny.
Speaker 1:He claimed he was being extorted by Garcia and Rivera, insisting he never had any intention of killing Dan. According to him, he was just venting to Katie about how much he disliked them and jokingly mentioned he'd pay a hefty sum to have Dan taken care of.
Speaker 2:Keep in mind, Charlie never met Garcia and Riviera, not one time.
Speaker 1:It was all done through Katie.
Speaker 2:All done through Katie. So his story in court was oh, let's see. So his story in court was oh, let's see. So these hit men the Latin Kings gang, the hit men are extorting Katie by extorting Charlie. So it's just a bunch of shit. We've watched the court date and it's almost comical how he's trying to explain this out. He's got a good lawyer, though, which we we got a lot to say about him too well um this is where things took a dark turn.
Speaker 2:Katie decided to share what charlie said with garcia. From there, it seems, they concocted a plan to kill dan and extort money from Charlie and his family. At his trial, Charlie acknowledged paying Katie after the murder, but he said he did so because he believed he was the victim of an extortion scheme and Katie could pay off the people who killed Markle. Charlie Adelson at his criminal trial blamed Katie for orchestrating the extortion and the murder, saying she was motivated by Charlie's refusal to marry her.
Speaker 1:Talk about a wild and dangerous game of telephone, oh yeah, but we know that we don't believe it happened like that. That and you know, I really believe their mom, donna Adelson, had brought that money over there the night that Dan Markell was murdered. Remember Charlie gave her $100,000 in wet money that was stapled in $1,000 increments.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that was also talked about in the trial, because quite a few people had seen the money that was in Charlie's safe and he stapled stacks together and a stack is a thousand dollars. So he had stapled stacks in his safe, so that's how they knew it came from Charlie. During Charlie's trial, katie's testimony was the final nail in the coffin. After being found guilty, her chances for immunity were plum gone and now it was time for her to come clean. She revealed that it was all Charlie's doing. He was the one who set the whole plan into motion, but for whom? Who was it? To protect His mother, his sister? What could have been so dire that Dan had to be eliminated to save Wendy? The questions keep piling up and the motives behind such drastic actions are hard to fathom, but Julie uncovered some really, really interesting facts that were getting ready to come up into a court case.
Speaker 1:Dan was in the process of obtaining a court order to protect his children from having to hear negative things about him. This was a major threat to Donna, the controlling matriarch of the family, who could never allow that to happen. The stakes were high and it's clear that Dan's efforts to safeguard his children put him directly in Donna's crosshairs. When they conducted that bribing Dan would never work. In Donna's crosshairs when they conducted that bribing Dan would never work. It left them with only one option to hire someone to kill him. But it has to be deeper than just a child custody dispute. What other secrets or motivations were lurking beneath the surface that made them resort to such a drastic measure?
Speaker 2:We believe that the escalating legal battles triggered the conspiracy to kill Dan. He had been telling others that he was preparing to drop a legal bomb on Wendy. This all stemmed from a frivolous post-divorce litigation initiated by Wendy to relocate the children to South Florida. Dan's legal bomb was a revelation that Wendy had stolen a half a million dollars in assets, including a valuable Markle family heirloom. Now we've heard them talk about this family heirloom. This was a piece of jewelry or an heirloom that had survived the Holocaust through Dan's relatives and made it all the way to Dan, so this thing was probably worth a fortune. He was planning to file a motion that could not only jeopardize Wendy's job and law license, but also expose her to possible criminal contempt charges. It's worth noting that Dan didn't uncover this fraudulent concealment until after the divorce was finalized, adding another layer of complexity to the situation.
Speaker 1:Donna and Wendy could never allow this information to be released. The only person who stood to benefit from Dan's murder was Wendy. It may have taken some time, but the dominoes have started to fall.
Speaker 2:In a shocking turn of events, Donna Adelson was arrested at Miami International Airport with a one-way ticket to Vietnam just two days after her son, Charlie, was convicted of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. As she was being taken into custody, she exclaimed I didn't know, I had a warrant LMAO really. So Donna was finally arrested as well. It only took 10 years after Dan's death for authorities to gather enough evidence to charge her. Can you imagine a 73-year-old grandmother behind bars for murder? She probably thought she'd never relate to anyone else sitting in jail.
Speaker 1:Oh, you know, she never thought she would see herself sitting in a jail cell. She never thought she would see herself sitting in a jail cell and she I could imagine what she thought she was better than everybody else, and all that stuff. But so why did they arrest Donna? She was indicted on charges of first degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation. In the 2014 killing, authorities cited jailhouse calls she made to Charlie after his sentencing, where she discussed putting her financial affairs in order and hinted at planning to leave, either through self-harm or by fleeing the country. She was even thinking about committing suicide.
Speaker 2:Prosecutors alleged that Donna was the driving force behind the deadly scheme. Her son, Charlie, was convicted of first degree murder and is now serving a mandatory life sentence. According to ABC News, jail calls between Charlie and Donna just a week before she allegedly attempted to flee the country, reveal some concerning conversations. In one call, Donna said if there is an extradition from Vietnam, because we've looked at all of the places I mean I could go to Korea and China, but there's no extradition.
Speaker 1:Legal analyst R Timothy Jansen pointed out. Prosecutors listen to those all the time. That's when the FBI and the state attorney jumped on it, went to the airport, probably had her on a no-fly list and picked her up right at the airport. Prosecutors believe Donna's attempt to flee could serve as crucial evidence against her.
Speaker 2:Donna's new attorneys, Jack Fulford and Josh Zellman, have taken over. Her former legal team was abruptly forced to reassign in September. She was previously represented by Dan Rashbaum, who also handled Charlie's murder trial. On the eve of the trial, Rashbaum withdrew from the case, citing a conflict of interest, and his co-counsel was dismissed for the same reasons. During a hearing in December, Fulford proposed a trial start date of June 16th, with an expected conclusion by July 2nd.
Speaker 1:Zellman informed Judge Stephen Everett that the new team is still working together all of the discovery materials and transcripts. He noted that the prosecutor's office would assist them in attaining what they need, as Donna's previous legal team has not provided everything necessary for her defense. In October, charlie Adelson's appellate attorneys, michael Ufferman and Laura Niles, filed a motion requesting that the appeals court relinquish jurisdiction. They also asked for the court judge Stephen Everett, to determine whether a conflict of interest impacted Charlie's trial.
Speaker 2:Just days after the state responded to Charlie's claim, stating there was no evidence that having the same lawyer as his mother, Donald Adelson at the time, would have altered his guilty verdict. Speaking of Donna, she is set to stand trial for the murder and conspiracy in June in connection with Markle's death. Now let's talk about Wendy, who seems to have skated through this whole situation scot-free so far. During phone calls with Charlie, Donna read him a text exchange that she had with Wendy in the hours following Charlie's conviction, After texting Wendy, that Charlie had been asking how his sister was holding up, Donna expressed to her I didn't have the heart to tell him that you never called us. Everyone looks to protect you. I bet you've got a lot to think about.
Speaker 1:In response, wendy, a lawyer, texted back Dear Mom, I know you are upset by the verdict, but the anger directed at me is not justified. I am not responsible in any way for Charlie's situation. I am not guilty because I did not do anything wrong and I was not involved in any way with Danny's death. She even added that if Donna wanted to discuss the case, she should talk to her lawyers, emphasizing her need to be singularly focused on taking care of the boys during this difficult time. Donna replied with we are your parents. We are and always have been there for you and the boys. None of what we wrote matters about the case. That's over. I just want you to know how many times Charlie is asking about you.
Speaker 2:You know, it's very interesting to see how Wendy distances herself from the fallout, which is pretty fucking smart, if you ask me. I mean, if she has anything to do with it, which you know she does, she about has to. But I'll tell you what she's one smart cookie. She is smart and I tell you, in my opinion, I think they're going to take this Charlie, this whole Charlie and the conflict of interest. I think they're going to take it to a higher court. I think it's going to get overturned and I believe I'm going to predict that he's going to get a new trial.
Speaker 1:We need to explain the conflict of interest to our listeners on. What had happened was that Charlie and his mom had the same attorney. Well, charlie got arrested first and then his mom got arrested after he got found guilty, but they shared the same lawyer. And since they shared the same lawyer, the day before her trial started the judge said or the lawyer resigned and said oh, I think it's a conflict of interest now, like they were getting ready to select a jury and he quit, so she had to find a whole new legal team and her trial got pushed back until March or, sorry, june.
Speaker 2:In all reality, the same lawyer cannot represent.
Speaker 1:Family.
Speaker 2:Family or two murder suspects in the same murder case, if the cases aren't combined. That's where the issue is and the judge should have known that Right off the bat. The judge should have said there's a conflict of interest. He should have not let that trial go on period. And if you ask me, I think the Adelsons had all this. I think they had all this planned out. This was their plan B. If he got convicted, bam. We got this Automatic retrial, automatic appeal, automatic new trial.
Speaker 1:Well, they got kind of got lucky with it because Donna got arrested. Remember, the judge wouldn't have known anything. There wouldn't have been no conflict because Donna wasn't arrested until two days after Charlie was found guilty.
Speaker 2:And folks. This brings us up to speed on everything, man. But I'm telling you what Wendy, in my opinion, wendy is going to get lit up, they're going to arrest her and she know, to me she kind of threw charlie under the bus a couple times, man she sure did when she had that immunity and and when she was first questioned, she was the one that brought up.
Speaker 2:Well, my, my, uh. My brother said that he'd be looking for somebody to hire hitmanman, but TV was cheaper. She even said that shit to the TV repairman two hours before Dan Markle's death. That's fucking odd. And I tell you what Wendy better really, really be lucky. She'd be damn lucky if they don't get Charlie a new trial. And after she's thrown him under the bus, what if they was to offer Charlie a fucking sweetheart deal? That's what my prediction is going to be.
Speaker 1:We got a bet, remember.
Speaker 2:We do have a bet. We have a big bet, a nice bet, and I'm going to win that bet.
Speaker 1:And I said that Wendy wasn't going to get caught.
Speaker 2:Her ass is going to jail.
Speaker 1:Going to jail.
Speaker 2:But anyway, that wraps up our episode for today. Be sure and tune in next week for a brand new story. Don't forget to follow us on Facebook at Podcast 69 South, on TikTok at 69 South and, of course, on Instagram at 69 South Podcast. We're also excited to announce that we're getting ready to launch our Patreon, where you'll be able to watch live video streams of the podcast, catch behind the scenes bloopers and enjoy ad free content along with early episode releases. We hope you have a fantastic time until the next time. Have a good day, good evening.
Speaker 1:We'll see you next time.
