Crime, Dan Markel, Deaths, Murder

The Murder Of Dan Markel: Wendi Adelson Speaks (Part 1)

Here's a podcast that you MUST listen to.

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Wendi Adelson

Wendi Adelson (via Vimeo)

Sorry for the clickbait title. No, Wendi Adelson has not given any interviews since Sigfredo Garcia was arrested and charged with the murder of her ex-husband, Florida State University law professor Dan Markel. Nor has she spoken since law enforcement authorities alleged a connection between Garcia and Charlie Adelson, Wendi’s brother, and claimed that Markel’s murder resulted from the “desperate desire” of the Adelson family to relocate Wendi Adelson and her two sons from Tallahassee, where Markel lived, to South Florida, where the Adelsons live.

But I don’t think you’ll be disappointed by what I’m about to share with you; it’s fascinating. The upshot: Wendi Adelson took a writing class in which she wrote about Dan’s murder, and her presentation of this material showed up in two episodes of the podcast based on the class: episode 6, starting around 4:40, and episode 9, starting around 12:10.

(Some of you might have learned about the podcast already via TaxProf Blog and Websleuths — which, by the way, has some great discussion threads about this case. Apologies for my tardiness; I’ve been meaning to write about this for a few days now, but I’ve been distracted.)

Before we dig into the podcasts, a macro-level observation: I view this as additional evidence that Wendi Adelson did not know about, and was not involved in, the murder of Dan Markel. (I discussed other such evidence in this prior post.)

Many things have been said about Wendi Adelson around the web over the past two years, and folks are entitled to their opinions about her. But I personally do not believe that Adelson — a former law professor and current Eleventh Circuit clerk, a graduate of Brandeis, Cambridge, and Miami Law — is stupid. Nor do I believe that she is insane (even if she didn’t always act perfectly during her and Dan’s ugly divorce, which featured unfortunate actions and statements from both parties).

But if Wendi knew about or was involved in Dan’s murder and then wrote about it for a class and spoke about it on a podcast, she would have to be stupid, insane, or both. Much as I loved Gone Girl (affiliate link), it’s a book and a movie, not real life.

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That said, there are aspects of the podcast that some listeners might find chilling or insensitive. And in an interesting twist, Wendi herself at times acknowledges the creepiness factor. The resulting podcast is rich and has so many layers to it; I’ve listened to it about a half-dozen times now. I’m going to discuss some highlights below, but do yourself a favor and listen to the original during your commute or while at the gym. You won’t regret it.

Episode 6 : Wendi Tells the Story of her Ex-husband’s Murder. Writing Is an Exercise in Trust.

(Listen to the original here, starting around 4:40.)

Here’s what Wendi wrote in response to the prompt, “How are you, really?” This is a complete transcription of what she wrote, but I’ve broken it up into paragraphs to facilitate commentary.

On July 18, 2014, someone shot my ex-husband in the head while he was pulling into our garage after he dropped our then three- and four-year-old sons off at school. I only found out this information when the police picked me up from a lunch date I was having with two girlfriends and insisted that I come with them back to the station and then interrogated me for eight straight hours — because it’s usually the ex-wife.

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Wendi’s willingness to speak with the police for eight hours — and the fact that the police did not charge her with anything in the wake of that interrogation — sounds like evidence of her innocence (as I noted previously). So is her borderline flippant comment about how “it’s usually the ex-wife.” I reiterate my comment about how she’d have to be a sociopath of Gone Girl-proportions to have knowledge or involvement in the killing and then write and say such things.

I’m not really okay. I list the things that are going well when people ask this question. My children are thriving and happy. We live with my parents, who are incredibly devoted to our well-being. I started my own immigration practice, and I just signed up to do a one-year clerkship with the federal Eleventh Circuit in September, which means I can get off Obamacare and have one year guaranteed of a steady income.

In reading about this case, I’ve been struck by the obvious closeness of the Adelson family, and how her brother Charlie and her parents, Harvey and Donna Adelson, have been extremely involved in the lives of Wendi and her two sons. That can be a good or bad thing, depending upon one’s point of view.

(Minor note for anyone curious: Wendi’s reference to the “federal Eleventh Circuit” is not really redundant to a Floridian audience because Florida has an Eleventh Circuit as well.)

But the truth is that I miss my life. I was a professor at Florida State University College of Law. I was so proud to be a public interest attorney and a mentor to my students. The novel I wrote about my clients’ stories had just been chosen as the common read for all first-year students at FSU. In August I was supposed to be the commencement speaker, and then I was supposed to take my brain-cancer-surviving, just-turned-seventy father on a trip to Machu Picchu.

And I don’t get to complain that I didn’t do anything of those things because I am alive.

What to make of that last line? Is it powerful and eloquent, or maudlin and full of self-pity? It’s a polarizing quip.

Wendi’s reading is followed by discussion of the passage by some of her classmates. One of them cites a go-to phrase for the seminar, “hot topic, cold prose,” in reference to Wendi tackling an emotional subject in unsentimental language. And she reads it unsentimentally too, in a way that I initially found off-putting. Some armchair detectives on Websleuths and elsewhere view Wendi with suspicion on an “Amanda Knox” sort of theory: in their opinion, she doesn’t react the way she’s supposed to react to a horrific killing.

The class instructor urges the participants to focus on the writing, not the underlying events: “We’re not the podcast Serial.” If only she knew.

I’ll be discussing (and providing full transcripts) of Wendi’s other writings from the podcast in future posts. Please email us or text us (646-820-8477) with any information or thoughts you might be willing and able to share, about the podcast or about the case more generally. Please note that we might quote from what you share with us (anonymously, unless you specify otherwise). Thank you.

UPDATE (6/8/2016, 7:00 p.m.): The Murder Of Dan Markel: Wendi Adelson Speaks (Part 2).

UPDATE (6/9/2016, 7:15 p.m.): The Murder Of Dan Markel: Wendi Adelson Speaks (Part 3).

Wendi Adelson Discusses Her Ex-Husband Dan Markel’s Murder [TaxProf Blog]
Episode 6: Wendi Tells the Story of her Ex-husband’s Murder [Writing Class Radio via SoundCloud]
Episode 9: Who Cares About Your Story? What Are the Stakes? [Writing Class Radio via SoundCloud]

Earlier: More Details From The Dan Markel Murder Investigation, Plus A Closer Look At The Adelson Family
Investigators Allege Involvement Of His Ex-Wife’s Family In The Murder Of Dan Markel

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.

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