The Murder of Dan Markel, Part Two: The Conspiracy Unravels
Serial Napper | True Crime for the Chronically TiredShow Notes
When we left off in Part One, Florida State University law professor Dan Markel had been murdered in what investigators believed was a carefully planned hit.
Nearly two years later, police had traced a rented green Prius from Tallahassee back to South Florida, identified suspected gunmen Sigfredo Garcia and Luis Rivera, uncovered connections to Katherine Magbanua and Charlie Adelson, and staged an elaborate FBI operation known as “the bump.”
Now, investigators are finally ready to make their first arrest. But the arrest of a suspected hitman is only the beginning.
In Part Two, someone on the inside finally starts talking, giving investigators an account of the murder-for-hire plot from someone who was actually there. What follows is a years-long effort to work their way up the alleged chain: from Rivera and Garcia, to Katherine, to Charlie... and eventually to Donna Adelson.
We'll get into multiple murder trials, Katherine's changing story, Charlie's extraordinary claim that he wasn't responsible for Dan's murder but was actually being extorted by the people who killed him, and the recorded jail calls that preceded Donna and Harvey Adelson purchasing one-way tickets to Vietnam.
Donna would make it all the way to the jet bridge at Miami International Airport. She would not make it onto the plane.
We'll also look at Donna's eventual conviction, the questions that continue to surround Wendi Adelson, where every major figure in the case stands as of August 2026, and what happened to the two little boys who were at the centre of the custody battle prosecutors said ultimately led to their father's murder.
Dan Markel was killed in 2014. More than twelve years later, five people have been convicted in connection with his death. But behind the wiretaps, undercover operations, trials and appeals is something much simpler: Two little boys went to preschool one morning expecting their father to pick them up later. He never got the chance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
More from Serial Napper | True Crime for the Chronically Tired
In July 2009, fifteen-year-old Brenda Lin left her home in Sydney, Australia, for a school trip to New Caledonia. When she returned, her entire immediate family was gone.
When 20-year-old Sophie Lionnet left France for London, she hoped working as an au pair would give her a little independence, help her improve her English, and allow her to build a future working with children. Instead, she found herself inside a home increasingly consumed by suspicion.
Alexandra Pesic knew something was wrong. The former beauty queen and young mother had begun noticing a white car appearing around her. Then a disturbing package arrived in the mail: a true-crime book about a woman who had reported years of stalking and terror before her mysterious death. Certain passages had been deliberately marked.
In May of 1977, 20-year-old Colleen Stan was hitchhiking through California when a young couple stopped to offer her a ride. With a woman and a baby inside the vehicle, Colleen believed she had found a safe way to finish her journey. She was wrong.
This October, Serial Napper is opening the storybook for another season of Serial Nightmare. This year, we're taking familiar fairy tales and looking at the very real cases that echo their darkest themes.