The Dan Markel Case: A Notable New Document

These interview notes shed light on some of the key relationships in this case.

Charlie Adelson

Charlie Adelson

Earlier this week, we reported on prosecution efforts to find out who paid for the 2014 breast augmentation of Katherine Magbanua. If you’ve been following the investigation into the 2014 murder of law professor Dan Markel, you’ll recall that Magbanua is a key figure in the case. She is the mother of two children with Sigfredo Garcia, one of the two alleged hit men, and she is the ex-girlfriend of Charlie Adelson, the former brother-in-law of Dan Markel. At the time of his death, Dan was litigating against Charlie’s sister, Wendi Adelson, regarding various matters arising out of their divorce.

We previously outlined some possible theories for the relevance of Charlie Adelson reportedly paying for half the cost of Katherine Magbanua’s $6,000 to $7,000 procedure:

[O]ne argument might be that Charlie Adelson wanted to “thank” Katherine Magbanua for whatever role in she might have played in an alleged conspiracy with a gift of better breasts. But even if one doesn’t go that far, evidence that Charlie Adelson paid for Katherine Magbanua’s breast implants could be used to show the closeness of their relationship (which some in the Adelson camp have disputed).

We now have more information about the breast-implants issue — and it could be interpreted in a light favorable to Charlie Adelson. We have the FD-302 (aka FBI interview notes) for Yindra Velazquez Mascaro, the friend of Katherine Magbanua who apparently told law enforcement about Charlie covering half the cost of the procedure.

We’ve posted the document in full on the next page, but here are some highlights:

Yinda Velazquez Mascaro 1

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Per Mascaro, Katherine Magabanua and Charlie Adelson dated from late 2013 until early 2015. This means they were an item at the time of Dan Markel’s murder in July 2014, which could be viewed as evidence unfavorable to Charlie Adelson. But this also means their relationship was in its early stages as of July 2014, which could be viewed as evidence favorable to Adelson; it seems unlikely that you’d trust someone you had been dating for just a few months enough to get her involved in an alleged murder plot.

Yinda Velazquez Mascaro 2

Here’s the claim that Charlie Adelson paid for half of the cost of the breast enhancement surgery — evidence that yet again can be read in different lights. The sinister explanation: coming sometime in fall or winter 2014, a few months after Markel’s murder, the timing is right for Adelson’s contribution to the surgery constituting a “thanks” to Magbanua. The innocent explanation: the surgery came right in the middle of their relationship, Charlie Adelson was (and is) “well off financially” (as noted above), and perhaps he just wanted his girlfriend to have better breasts (which presumably he would reap the benefits of).

Yinda Velazquez Mascaro 3

This part of the 302 is the best for Adelson. If Sigfredo Garcia disliked or even hated Charlie Adelson, it seems unlikely that Garcia would have tried to “help” Charlie by performing a contract killing on his behalf — a killing that would put Garcia at risk of the death penalty if caught.

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Is it possible that this information is incorrect? Certainly; perhaps Mascaro was misinformed, or perhaps she was not telling the truth. But it’s usually not a good idea to lie to the FBI. And if taken at face value, this info helps Adelson.

Can this evidence be taken even farther, to argue that Sigfredo Garcia killed Dan Markel in order to frame Charlie Adelson? An interesting theory, but far-fetched and ultimately implausible. Although it sounds like Garcia was jealous of and did not like Charlie Adelson, it seems improbable for such jealousy to be so strong that Garcia would commit a murder in the hope that Adelson would come under suspicion for it. Furthermore, if Garcia wanted to frame Adelson, presumably Garcia would have done something to send the police toward Charlie Adelson at an earlier point in time. Recall that the theory of possible involvement by the Adelson family in the murder of Dan Markel didn’t surface publicly until June 2016, almost two years after Dan’s death.

Yinda Velazquez Mascaro 4

The takeaway from this excerpt: Katherine Magbanua and Sigfredo Garcia have a rather messy relationship (to put things mildly). Note that their supposed “break-up period,” from late 2013 through early 2015, overlapped heavily with Magbanua’s relationship with Adelson (which would explain Garcia’s jealousy toward Adelson).

It does seem that Garcia, with spotty employment and child-support obligations, might have been interested in getting more money — perhaps through a murder for hire, as law enforcement authorities allege. But one has to wonder whether he would have wanted to perform a contract killing at the behest of a man he disliked or even hated.

Here are some other possibilities to raise:

1. Charlie Adelson and/or another member of the Adelson family arranged for a hit on Dan Markel, but without any involvement by Katherine Magbanua — perhaps using an anonymous online marketplace (aka the “Dark Web”). In a pure coincidence, Sigfredo Garcia, a man connected to Charlie Adelson through a common girlfriend, happened to end up taking the job.

2. Someone totally unrelated to the Adelsons — as I wrote in a post shortly after Dan’s death, this could have been “a disgruntled student, an angry colleague, or someone else connected to his professional life as a legal academic” — arranged for a hit on Dan Markel through a transaction on the Dark Web. In a (very, very) unfortunate coincidence for the Adelsons, Sigfredo Garcia would up on the job.

UPDATE (3:30 p.m.): As one reader pointed out, many hits ordered over the Dark Web turn out to be scams to relieve people of their Bitcoin. Fair enough. My main point is that it’s possible — likely or not, I won’t opine, just theoretically possible — that a murder ordered through an intermediary (or series of intermediaries) wound up getting carried out by Garcia and Rivera without the two men knowing much about who ordered the murder or why.

3. Katherine Magbanua, acting on her own and without telling Charlie Adelson, arranged for Sigfredo Garcia and Luis Rivera to kill Markel. Maybe Adelson complained to Magbanua over the course of their relationship about the ugly legal battle his sister Wendi was engaged in with her ex-husband, and Magbanua, trying to help her boyfriend, decided to take matters into her own hands. But it strikes me as very unlikely, given that they had been dating for just a few months, that Magbanua would do such a terrible (and dangerous) thing, especially on her own initiative.

These are, of course, just theoretical possibilities. As we have repeatedly done throughout the course of covering this case, we remind our readers — mostly lawyers and law students, but extra emphasis never hurts — that everyone, charged or not charged, is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

If you have information or evidence (such as this 302) to share, we welcome it. Please email us (subject line: “Dan Markel”) or text us (646-820-8477). Please note that we might quote from what you share with us (anonymously, unless you specify otherwise). Thank you.

(Flip to the next page to read the FBI notes for the interview of Yindra Velazquez Mascaro.)

Earlier: The Dan Markel Case: Prosecutors Want To Know Who Paid For These Breast Implants


David Lat is the founder and managing editor of Above the Law and the author of Supreme Ambitions: A Novel. You can connect with David on Twitter (@DavidLat), LinkedIn, and Facebook, and you can reach him by email at dlat@abovethelaw.com.