TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The prosecution began the cross-examination Friday of Broward County Periodontist Charlie Adelson, who is accused of being the mastermind behind the murder of his former brother-in-law, Florida State University professor Daniel Markel in 2014, in Tallahassee.
Assistant State Attorney Georgia Cappleman asked Adelson:
“Have you ever heard the saying that the simplest explanation is always the most likely. Was your explanation over the last day the simplest?”
“It was the truth,” Charlie Adelson answered.
Cappleman asked Adelson whether he thought Katherine Magbanua, Charlie Adelson’s girlfriend at the time, was the one extorting him.
“As I sit here today, I believe it was Katherine Magbanua and I believe Sigfredo Garcia, but I’m not sure,” Adelson said.
Adelson told the prosecution that the murder was planned without his knowledge and that the three were hitting up the Adelson family for more than $300,000.
Cappleman continued to press Adelson to discredit his extortion claim.
“Do extortionists send a girlfriend of their victim to collect their extortion money? Is that the way it’s done, doctor?”
Adelson responded: “I’m telling you what happened to me and I was told if I didn’t pay in 48 hours, I would be killed.”
(Watch Friday’s testimony below)
The assistant state attorney said that Adelson had a motive for hiring the hitmen; that Markel and Adelson’s sister, Wendi, were in the middle of a bitter custody battle over their children. Previous testimony said Adelson’s mother, Donna, was often “worried sick” about Wendi and the status of her divorce
“Did she hate Dan Markel?,” asked Cappelman.
“I think she liked him in the beginning and I think when he was being a jerk to my sister, I don’t think anyone particularly liked him,” Adelson responded.
Markel was shot in the head twice on July 18, 2014, in his parked car, just outside of his home in Tallahassee, and died about 14 hours later, according to the FBI.
Adelson said he was working in Palm Beach County when his mother messaged him and he called her back. He said she told him that Markel had been shot in Tallahassee.
“I was pretty upset about what I had just heard,” Adelson said.
During their testimonies in court, Adelson’s ex-girlfriend Katherine “Katie” Magbanua and Adelson both agreed that she had served as a mediator between the killers and Adelson. The two also agreed that she came to his Fort Lauderdale apartment the night after the shooting.
“It’s my fault for running my mouth the way I did,” she told Adelson about Markel’s murder, according to Adelson. She also allegedly said, “Listen, this is all my fault ... My friend killed Dan. He wants you to pay him.”
Adelson said Magbanua instructed him to pay her in installments, so she could then pay the killers. She also allegedly asked him to avoid telling anyone or the police, so the killers wouldn’t hurt him or his family.
“She was just apologizing and telling me that her friend is crazy and she was telling me that she was going to protect me,” Adelson said.
Wendi Adelson filed for divorce in 2012 and moved to South Florida with their two sons. A Leon County judge denied her motion for relocation in 2013 and Markel sought to enforce the ruling in 2014, records show.
Luis Rivera, who admitted to being the head of the Latin King’s North Miami branch, confessed to getting the gun used in the murder and renting the getaway car. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in exchange for 19 years in prison in 2016.
Magbanua and the father of her children, Sigfredo “Tuto” Garcia, were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Her appeal is pending.
The prosecution has also named Wendi and Donna Adelson as co-conspirators, though the two women have not yet been indicted.
Both the defense and the prosecution rested on Friday for the week.
The trial resumes on Monday.