A woman who Tallahassee police allege was the facilitator of a murder-for-hire plot targeting prominent Florida State University law professor Dan Markel was arrested Saturday afternoon on a warrant for first-degree murder.[...]
Markel, a nationally renowned criminal justice scholar, was killed in July 2014, shot twice in the head while sitting in his car in his garage. Police have alleged that the motive for the murder was the bitter divorce between Markel and ex-wife Wendi Adelson, and her family's "desperate desire" to have Wendi and her two children move closer to them in south Florida, where the family runs a lucrative dental practice. Markel had successfully fought in court his ex-wife's attempt to relocate with the children.[...]
In May of this year, police arrested Sigfredo Garcia and Luis Rivera, two south Florida men with criminal histories, and charged them in Markel's murder. Both are facing the death penalty if convicted. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Magbanua is suspected of being the link between the two alleged hit men and Wendi Adelson's family. In a probable cause affidavit police allege that Garcia and Rivera were "enlisted to commit this egregious act." Authorities contend Garcia and Rivera traveled from Miami to Tallahassee two days before the murder in a rented green Toyota Prius, shot Markel in broad daylight, and then drove back to Miami immediately following the murder.
The first person Garcia called after the murder, police say, was Magbanua.
She is the mother of Garcia's two children and has also had a romantic relationship with Wendi Adelson's brother, Charlie, a well-to-do periodontist in south Florida.
At the time of the arrests of Garcia and Rivera, police also sought charges against Magbanua and Charlie Adelson, but prosecutors declined at the time to proceed against anyone other than the two alleged hit men.[...]
What a story! “Police have alleged that the motive for the murder was the bitter divorce between Markel and ex-wife Wendi Adelson, and her family's "desperate desire" to have Wendi and her two children move closer to them in south Florida, where the family runs a lucrative dental practice. Markel had successfully fought in court his ex-wife's attempt to relocate with the children….She is the mother of Garcia's two children and has also had a romantic relationship with Wendi Adelson's brother, Charlie, a well-to-do periodontist in south Florida….An affidavit for Magbanua's arrest prepared in May, alleged that she had deposited over $50-thousand in cash into her bank account in the 16 months following the murder, and that she had also started receiving regular checks from the Adelson family's dental clinic, that were signed by Wendi Adleson's mother, Donna.”
ReplyDeleteYikes! There’s a similarity to Aahron Friedman. Tamar Epstein’s family had a desperate desire to have Tamar’s daughter live closer to them. Aahron successfully fought Tamar’s attempts to publicly ostracize him with such as
(internet 2012):
“Supporters of Tamar Epstein, whose ex-husband, Aharon Friedman, refuses to give her a religious divorce, have been pressuring Friedman's boss, U.S. Rep. Dave Camp, R-Michigan, to fire Friedman. They have protested in front of Camp's office, signed a petition at change.org, started a website (freetamar.org) and in February, bombarded Camp's official congressional Facebook page. But Susan Aranoff, director of Agunah International, which supports Jewish women seeking divorces, said social media has little effect because many husbands still are resistant after all the bullets have been fired."
Goldfein, granted immunity, admitted paying $60,000 to Mendel Epstein, for the beating of Aaharon on that 9th day of Av. Seems Magbanua's $50,000 plus regular checks from Donna Adelson shows the price of hit.