Video footage capturing the arrest of a 73-year-old Florida grandmother, Donna Adelson, has been released after police nabbed her trying to flee the country.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Donna Adelson faces charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and solicitation of first-degree murder in connection with the 2014 killing of her daughter’s husband, Dan Markel.
Police arrested Adelson in November, right before her reported attempt to escape the US to Vietnam, which has no extradition treaty with the US.
Video footage obtained by DailyMail shows Adelson remarking, “Oh, here we go again,” as officers detained her at the Miami International Airport.
A brief scuffle unfolded when an officer tried to take Adelson’s cellphone from her grasp, while she asked to contact her attorney.
Markel, identified as a renowned law professor at Florida State University, was fatally shot while walking into the garage of his Tallahassee home on July 18, 2014.
Donna Adelson’s son, Charles Adelson, hired his former girlfriend, Katherine D. Magbanua, to kill Markel after his sister, Wendi Adelson, lost a bitter custody battle with the victim. Magbanua subsequently hired Sigfredo Garcia (her former lover who is the father of her children) and his friend Luis Rivera to carry out the hit.
Magbanua, Garcia, Rivera, and Charles Adelson were all subsequently convicted of murder.
Markel’s ex, Wendi Adelson, who denies any involvement and is not facing charges, shared custody of her children with Markel. She wanted to move from Tallahassee to South Florida to be closer to her family, but a judge ruled that she couldn’t move without Markel’s consent.
Before his murder, Markel reportedly refused, expressing concern about the children moving too far away.
Donna Adelson attempted to flee the country with her husband a week after a jury found Charles Adelson guilty. She remains jailed at the Leon County Detention Facility.
In a motion filed in December, Miami attorney Marissel Descalzo requested that Adelson be taken out of solitary confinement or, as an alternative, placed under house arrest. Descalzo outlined various concerns, including Adelson reportedly sitting “naked” on a mattress on the floor and being “forced to eat with her hands.”
The judge ultimately rejected Descalzo’s request and ordered her to undergo an independent psychological evaluation. The evaluation is designed to “move her off suicide watch.”
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[Feature Photo: Dan Markel/FSU College of Law faculty biographies; Donna Adelson/AP]
