The Florida dental matriarch accused of masterminding the 2014 murder-for-hire plot against her former son-in-law wanted to flee the US with her husband to find “peace” in Vietnam before turning themselves in on their own will.
Donna Adelson, locked in shackles and a purple jumpsuit, made the shocking revelation as she sought her release from jail and appeared in Leon County court Wednesday.
“I wasn’t afraid of being arrested,” she told the court, according to CourtTV. “My husband and I – literally shocked and traumatized at what had happened to Charlie – and he said ‘we need to just get some peace, we need to catch our breath, we’re gonna go away somewhere.”
Adelson, 75, was arrested at Miami International Airport in November 2023 when she and her husband, Harvey, were about to use one-way tickets to Vietnam via Dubai — two countries without extradition treaties with the US.
The couple understood what fleeing the US would look like to law enforcement officials.
However, they decided on Vietnam as their destination because they enjoyed the Southeast Asian country during previous vacations and they could buy a plane ticket back and turn themselves in on their own accord.
Adelson assumed police in the US would have reached out with their counterparts in extradition countries that would have held the couple in their jails “for God knows how long.”
Calling Vietnam “a place of peace,” Adelson claimed her husband came up with the idea so they wouldn’t be kept in a foreign jail waiting to be extradited back to Florida.
“He said ‘if we go to a non-extradition country, then if the law enforcement decided that they wanted to arrest you or me, we won’t be sitting in a foreign prison waiting months to go back,’” Adelson recalled. “My understanding was we could go home and I could turn myself in if that’s what they wanted.”
“I thought it was a good idea because I just couldn’t think straight,” she claimed 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.
Markel – who was fatally shot in the head inside his Tallahassee garage in July 2014 – was in a contentious custody battle with his ex-wife and Adelson’s daughter Wendi, who wanted to move with their two sons to South Florida.
The death remained unsolved for nearly a decade before Adelson’s son, Dr. Charlie Adelson was arrested in April 2022.
He was convicted of first-degree murder and found to have hired the assassins who conducted the hit on Markel.
Sigfredo Garcia was found guilty of being the triggerman in the killing and is serving a lifetime sentence behind bars.
Garcia, along with accomplice Luis Rivera, were members of the ruthless Latin Kings gang and were contacted by the younger Adelson to commit the heinous murder.
Garcia is the ex-husband and father of Katie Magbanua, who was dating Adelson at the time.
Magbanua was sentenced to life in prison for her role, while Rivera was handed 19 years after pleading guilty to second-degree murder and testifying against his accomplices.
The Fort Lauderdale dentist’s conviction was the catalyst for his “shocked and traumatized” parents’ attempt to flee 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 lawyers who told her there were no pending charges or warrants against them.
The couple were allegedly warned they could be stopped and arrested at the airport but still began their trip.
“I thought if you asked your attorneys and they tell you that, I’m going,” she added.
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