Suspect in Dan Markel Murder Confesses His Involvement on Camera

update:

Tallahassee Democrat

Wendi Adelson's attorney questions Rivera's credibility

Wendi Adelson’s attorney is questioning the credibility of a statement prosecutors say could implicate her in the murder-for-hire plot of her ex-husband Dan Markel.

In a statement to police, Luis Rivera – one of two men charged in Markel’s July 2014 shooting – said he and Sigfredo Garcia drove by Adelson near Markel’s Trescott Drive home the day before the murder.

On Tuesday, Assistant State Attorney Georgia Cappleman said the chance sighting could implicate Adelson as a player in the plot.

However, her attorney, John Lauro said Rivera’s statement was based on information he had no way to corroborate.

“Rivera is hardly a credible witness, and as everyone in this investigation recognizes, he has no personal knowledge about the statements he made concerning Wendi,” Lauro said. “All of his alleged information is second or third hand and none of it has been corroborated during the investigation.”
==================================

ABC News

One of the accused in the slaying of FSU professor Dan Markel in 2014 admitted on Monday that he was part of the "hit for hire" scheme surrounding the professor's death.

After Luis Rivera reached a plea agreement in court last week that sentenced him to 7 years in prison, he admitted to investigators on Monday that he was part of the operation to kill Markel.

In a newly released video, Rivera detailed the car ride between he and Sigfredo Garcia, the other man accused in Marke's murder.

He mentioned to investigators how during their first trip to Tallahassee, they drove by Wendi Adelson, Markel's ex-wife, while she was with her children.

Rivera told investigators that he noticed Garcia and Adelson making eye contact and said he began to wonder she was. That's when he said he began suspecting that Garcia was displaying to Adelson that they had arrived.

Rivera also admitted that he strongly believed Katherine Magbanua, a woman with ties both to the Adelson family and one of the alleged shooters in his death, had a hand in everything from the beginning.

He said he heard Garcia having several phone conversations with her throughout their trip.

Rivera also added that he did not know who Markel was before Garcia let him in on the plan.

Rivera's confession comes after a long, complex investigation into the law professor's murder.

Beginning with a messy divorce in 2013, Markel's wife Wendi Adelson was denied a request to move her children to South Florida. In July of 2014, Markel was shot multiple times and died from his injuries.[...]