Woman planned brutal contract killing of her son-in-law

Donna Adelson took matters into her own hands when her daughter's ex became a "problem

- WORDS: GAIL SHORTLAND PHOTOS: PA

a loving father to two boys

n September 2012, Dan Markel, a Canada-born attorney and law professor, was away on a business trip.

The highly respected Harvard graduate wrote about criminal law and sentencing in the justice system. But Dan was also a devoted dad to two young sons and he couldn't wait to see them. Only, when he returned to his home in Tallahassee, Florida, he was blindsided.

His wife, Wendi, a clinical law professor, and their sons were gone, along with a lot of their furniture. Dan found divorce papers on the bed. Their six-year marriage was over and a bitter breakup began.

Dan and Wendi's divorce was finalised a year later in 2013, and a joint custody agreement was put in place. Wendi had wanted to move to Miami where her parents Donna and Harvey Adelson lived, but the judge said it was too far from Dan and refused the request as it wasn't in the best interest of the boys. This didn't go down well with the Adelsons.

Wendi's mum Donna was the matriarch of a wealthy family. They had a lucrative dentistry business where Adelson was the bookkeeper, and her son Charles was a periodontist. Adelson lived in a luxury Miami condo with her husband, and Charles drove a Ferrari with a license plate that read "Maestro". They had plenty of money, which is why Adelson reportedly told Wendi to offer Dan $1 million in exchange for her freedom to move back home.

Shortly afterwards, Dan applied for an order to stop Adelson having unsupervised visits with her grandchildren. Dan claimed Adelson would "disparage" him to his kids and that they had told him she had called him "stupid" and that she "hated him". They also told their father that Adelson said, "You're trying to take her sunshines away from her."