The Florida dental clinic's director has been accused of masterminding the 2014 murder plot against his son-in-law.
Confined to a shackle and a purple jumpsuit, Donna Adelson made a shocking revelation when she appeared at Leon County Courthouse Wednesday seeking release from prison.
“I wasn't afraid of being arrested,” she told the court. According to Courttv. “My husband and I were literally shocked and realised what happened to Charlie. He said, “We just need to get peace, we need to breathe, we're going to leave somewhere.” ”
Adelson, 75, was arrested at Miami International Airport in November 2023 when she and her husband Harvey were trying to use a Vietnamese one-way ticket through Dubai.
The couple understood what the US flees would look like to law enforcement officials.
However, they had enjoyed the Southeast Asian country during their previous holidays, so they decided to set Vietnam as their destination, bought back plane tickets and worked together to turn themselves.
Adelson assumed that US police would contact the extradition country counterparts who had held the couple in their prisons because of “how long God knows.”
Calling Vietnam a “place of peace,” Adelson claimed she came up with the idea so that her husband would not stay in a foreign prison waiting to be handed over to Florida.
“He said, “If we go to a non-attacking country and law enforcement decides to arrest you or me, we won't be sitting in a foreign prison waiting to return in months,” Adelson recalls. “My understanding is that we could go home and if that was what they wanted, I could have changed myself.”
“I couldn't think straight, so I thought it was a good idea,” she argued in court.
Adelson was charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation in the 2014 death of Dan Markel, a law professor at Florida State University.
Marquel, who was fatally shot dead in the head inside the Tallahassee Garage in July 2014, held controversial custody between his ex-wife and Adelson's daughter Wendy, who wanted to move to South Florida with his two sons.
The death remained unresolved for almost a decade before Adelson's son, Dr. Charlie Adelson, was arrested in April 2022.
He was found guilty of first-degree murder and hired an assassin who made a hit in Markel.
Sigfredo Garcia is found guilty of being a murder trigger man and has been sentenced to lifelong sentence behind bars.
Garcia, along with his accomplice Louis Rivera, is a member of the ruthless Latin Kings Gang and is contacted by young Adelson to commit a vicious murder.
Garcia is the ex-husband and father of Katie Magbanua, who was dating Adelson at the time.
Magbana was sentenced to life in prison for her role, but Rivera pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was handed over 19 years after he testified against his accomplice.
The belief of a dentist in Fort Lauderdale was the catalyst for his parents' attempts to escape to Vietnam two weeks later.
“I wanted to get away, he wanted to get away, that's what we wanted to do,” Adelson said.
She admitted to calling her attorney who told her there were no pending charges or warrants against them.
The couple is said to have been warned that they could be stopped at the airport and arrested, but they are still on the trip.
“I thought I told you if you asked your lawyer and they told you that,” she added.
