Donna Adelson to Be Sentenced Monday in Dan Markel Murder Case

Don­na Adel­son, the matri­arch at the cen­ter of one of Florida’s most talked-about mur­der cas­es, will return to court on Mon­day for her for­mal sen­tenc­ing in the killing of Flori­da State Uni­ver­si­ty law pro­fes­sor Dan Markel.

Adel­son, 73, was found guilty in con­nec­tion with the 2014 mur­der-for-hire plot that claimed Markel’s life out­side his Tal­la­has­see home. Pros­e­cu­tors described the crime as a chill­ing fam­i­ly con­spir­a­cy root­ed in a bit­ter cus­tody dis­pute between Markel and his ex-wife, Wen­di Adel­son.

The case, which has cap­ti­vat­ed the nation for near­ly a decade, saw shock­ing twists — includ­ing wire­tapped con­ver­sa­tions, secret pay­offs, and the unrav­el­ing of a once-promi­nent fam­i­ly. With Monday’s sen­tenc­ing, Adel­son now faces the real­i­ty of a life behind bars.

Her con­vic­tion marks the lat­est chap­ter in a saga that con­tin­ues to stir both out­rage and fas­ci­na­tion — a true-crime sto­ry that blurs the lines between priv­i­lege, revenge, and tragedy.