The ABC News '20/20' Segment On The Dan Markel Murder Case

ABC claimed that Luis Rivera is cooperating, but his lawyer denied that report to us.

ABC 2020 Dan Markel case inlaws and outlawsLast night, ABC News aired “In-Laws and Outlaws,” its eagerly anticipated 20/20 episode on the investigation into the murder of Professor Dan Markel. Much of the broadcast consists of information already known to those of us who have been following the case, but the segment does offer some new tidbits, as well as excellent footage giving viewers a better sense of the people and places involved in the case. You can watch the episode, which on the whole was quite well done, here.

Let’s start with the bombshell that ABC News saved for the very end: the claim that Luis Rivera, one of the two alleged hitmen, is cooperating with the police and negotiating a plea deal. If true, this would constitute a major break in the case.

Alas, it appears not to be true. After the broadcast aired, a source close to the case told me that Rivera is not cooperating and that law enforcement floated the claim to 20/20 to see if it might shake anyone. To follow up, I reached out to Rivera’s lawyer, Chuck Collins. He denied the report to me: “While plea negotiations are always discussed, my client has never spoken to law enforcement or the State Attorney. We are preparing for our October 24th trial.”

With that out of the way, let’s discuss the rest of the episode.

As one might expect, the segment begins by profiling the attractive and overachieving couple, Florida State University law professors Dan Markel and Wendi Adelson, and what started off as a storybook romance. Most of this information is familiar, but we do get two new nuggets about Wendi: she once appeared on the Weakest Link game show, and she’s a former contortionist.

The episode quickly turns to the dissolution of their marriage. In December September 2012, Dan returned home after a work trip to discover Wendi and his children gone, along with much of the furniture. One of the few items left behind was a mattress — with divorce papers on top. This is what Dan colorfully described in their subsequent divorce litigation as a “Pearl Harbor-style separation” and “Visigoth-like sacking of the marital home.”

Zeroing in on the day of the murder — July 18, 2014 — we see significant footage from Wendi’s interview with the police. We learn that they treated her as a possible suspect by taking a mugshot-style photo of her, swabbing her hands, inspecting her cellphone, and searching her minivan. (This treatment, as even Wendi acknowledged, was understandable; murders are often committed by people close to the victim, and given the bitterness of their divorce and continuing litigation, Wendi would at least have to be considered as a possible suspect, even if later ruled out.)

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A highlight for me: footage from the interviews that police conducted of Wendi’s ex-boyfriend, FSU professor Jeffrey Lacasse (who, the broadcast notes, bears a “striking likeness” to Dan Markel). Lacasse — with his big gestures, bold statements, liberal use of profanity, and somewhat hyperactive manner — comes across as quite a character. When asked about his feelings for Wendi, he gushes, “I was in love with this girl.” Citing her “charisma” and “sexuality,” he declares, “I’d throw myself in front of a bus” for her. He admits to not having warm feelings for Dan Markel — “I’d like to kick his ass for making Wendi suffer” — but at the same time denies having anything to do with the murder. “I’m a professor,” he says. “I wouldn’t do any s**t like that.”

The next piece of new information: star litigator Orin Snyder — the Gibson Dunn partner who represents celebrities like Mark Zuckerberg and Bob Dylan, and major companies like Apple and Goldman Sachs — is representing Dan Markel’s parents. Appearing on 20/20, Snyder says of the Markels that it’s “impossible for them to move on until the killers and all those responsible for this brutal murder are held responsible.”

(How did Snyder and Gibson Dunn come to get involved? I’ve been told by a source that the firm has been representing the Markel family — on a pro bono basis — since shortly after the murder, and playing a behind-the-scenes role assisting law enforcement in the investigation. Snyder got involved after friends of Dan introduced him to the Markels because they wanted the family to have top-notch legal representation.)

The segment turns to how law enforcement cracked the case. What jumped out at me: the genius of the investigator who decided to pull the footage from all the cameras installed on Tallahassee city buses, in the search for the green Prius that was a vehicle of interest after it was seen by one of Dan’s neighbors leaving the murder scene. This footage found a green Prius with a dashboard toll transponder — e.g., E-ZPass, for those of us here in the northeast — and that was an important clue. There are very few toll roads in the Tallahassee area, so this suggested to investigators that the perpetrators were not from Tallahassee. That led the police to pull car rental records for Priuses throughout Florida, which in turn led them to Luis Rivera and Sigfredo Garcia.

The broadcast poses the next logical question: what connected Dan Markel to Sigfredo Garcia and Luis Rivera? The answer: Katherine Magbanua, who was dating Charlie Adelson at the time of the murder but was the “baby mama” — ABC’s term, not mine — of Sigfredo Garcia.

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ABC notes the Adelson family’s denial of involvement in Dan’s murder. Michael Weinstein, a lawyer to the Adelsons and close friend of Charlie, appears on camera to stress that “the family had no involvement whatsoever” and that Charlie, “a really easygoing, have a beer, relaxed kind of guy,” could never engage in such conduct.

The next highlight from the segment: footage of an undercover agent’s initial, in-person interaction with Donna Adelson (for background on that sting investigation, see here). Donna does seem confused by the agent’s reference to the “problem you guys had up north,” telling him, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” That is helpful evidence for Donna (but some of the subsequent, nervous communications she had with Charlie about the interaction are, well, less helpful).

The broadcast concludes with odds and ends. We see Charlie Adelson not talking to ABC News reps, instead driving off in his CL550 (referred to in the segment, and accurately so, as a “$100,000 Mercedes”). We see Orin Snyder again, talking about how Danny’s parents have been doing everything within their power to maintain a relationship with their grandchildren. We are reminded of how Wendi changed the surnames of her two children with Dan from “Markel” to “Adelson,” supposedly to protect their privacy (but possibly, at least in my opinion, “to sever her kids’ remaining ties to their father and his side of the family”).

Near the end of the 20/20 segment, ABC News asks of the Adelsons, “Are they headed from the penthouse to the big house?” So far they seem to be safe; they haven’t been charged with any crimes, and State Attorney Willie Meggs has referred to the evidence against them as “speculation.” But as Meggs himself noted last night, this case is far from over.

20/20: In-Laws and Outlaws [ABC News]
Never-Before-Seen Clip Shows Police Sting Against Mother of FSU Professor’s Ex-Wife [People]
State attorney speaks out in advance of Markel 20/20 [Tallahassee Democrat]

Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of the Dan Markel case


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.