Inside the Prosecution’s Case Against Donna Adelson
With three co-conspirators already convicted in the Dan Markel murder case — including her son Charlie — Donna Adelson is now the next alleged link in the chain to face trial. Prosecutors will need to convince jurors that the 73-year-old wasn’t just aware of a conspiracy to kill Markel, but actively participated in it.
In this Hidden Killers episode, Tony Brueski and Eric Faddis discuss what the prosecution’s strategy might look like: leveraging hard-to-explain financial transactions to convicted co-conspirator Katherine Magbanua, highlighting Donna’s deep involvement in the custody dispute with Markel, and presenting the $1 million “relocation offer” as evidence of her willingness to go to extreme lengths.
Eric outlines how prosecutors may also use jail calls with coded language, the Vietnam one-way ticket, and the established conspiracy convictions of other players to strengthen their case. At the same time, the defense will likely push to frame Donna as a peripheral, sympathetic figure caught up in family turmoil.
