MIAMI - The mother of a Fort Lauderdale dentist convicted last week for the 2014 shooting death of his former brother-in-law has been arrested at Miami International Airport.
The Miami grandma, Donna Adelson, 73, was taken into custody Monday night on a state warrant charging her with first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
The newspaper reports Adelson and her husband, Harvey Adelson, were intercepted at the airport by the FBI and other law enforcement with one-way tickets to Vietnam, which has no extradition treaty with the United States.
Adelson is being held at TGK without bond.
Last Monday, Charles Adelson, was found guilty of having paid to have Florida State University professor Dan Markel killed that year. Markel, was slain outside his Tallahassee home in the wake of a bitter custody battle with the Adelson's sister.
Adelson was convicted of first-degree murder along with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and solicitation of first-degree murder.
Wendi Adelson, the sister of Adelson, had divorced Markel and had joint custody of their two children. She wanted to move from Tallahassee to South Florida to be closer to her family. However, a judge ruled that she couldn't relocate without Markel's consent, which he refused to give. He argued that she couldn't move their children to Miami.
During the trial, prosecutors alleged that Adelson paid for the murder of Markel and used his girlfriend, Katherine Magbanua, to hire the father of her two children, Sigfredo Garcia, to carry out the killing. They claimed that Garcia enlisted the help of his childhood friend, Luis Rivera. Magbanua and Garcia were found guilty of first-degree murder, while Rivera pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in exchange for testifying against them and is serving a 19-year sentence.
Markel was shot while sitting in his car outside his home.
After nine years of twists and turns, Adelson took the stand as the only defense witness at his trial. He testified that he felt a sense of relief to finally reveal to the public that he was a victim of extortion and not the mastermind behind the hiring of the hitmen who killed Markel. Adelson maintained that he had no involvement in the murder and was shocked when Magbanua came to his home and implicated her friends as the killers. She allegedly demanded over $300,000 from Adelson within 48 hours, threatening to kill him if he didn't comply.
During the closing arguments, prosecutors presented the jury with a compelling case, highlighting numerous inconsistencies in Adelson's trial testimony.
