Donna Adelson‘s story is one of a dramatic and tragic fall from grace. For decades, she appeared to be the matriarch of a successful South Florida family, living a comfortable life built around her husband, children, and their prosperous dental business. However, that carefully maintained image shattered when she found herself at the center of one of Florida’s most gripping criminal cases, accused of orchestrating a murder-for-hire that would ultimately lead to a life sentence in prison. Her personal life, including her long-standing marriage and the family wealth, became a focal point of the legal drama, painting a complex picture of privilege, motive, and tragedy.
This is the story of how Donna Adelson went from a life of domestic stability to a conviction that would see her spend her remaining years behind bars. The details of her ties and finances are no longer just personal trivia; they have become essential pieces of the public narrative, revealing the powerful forces that prosecutors argued led to a devastating crime.
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Family Life and the Path to a Crime
Donna Adelson was married to Harvey Adelson, a retired dentist who founded the Adelson Institute for Aesthetics and Implant Dentistry in Tamarac, Florida. For decades, Donna was not just a wife but an active participant in the family business, working as the bookkeeper who managed the practice’s finances. Together, they built what appeared to be a stable and prosperous life in Coral Springs, raising three kids: Wendi, a law professor; Charlie, a periodontist; and Robert, a physician. Friends remembered her as a devoted and fiercely protective mother, a woman who kept her loved ones very close.
This seemingly ordinary family life, however, was fractured by the bitter divorce and custody battle between Donna’s daughter, Wendi, and Wendi’s ex-husband, Dan Markel, a prominent law professor at Florida State University. Prosecutors would later argue that Donna’s devotion to her daughter morphed into a dangerous obsession. They alleged she was the “calculated and controlling matriarch” who masterminded a plot to take the life of Markel, motivated by a desire to end the custody dispute and allow her daughter and grandchildren to relocate to South Florida. The case against her included dramatic evidence, such as signed checks to an alleged intermediary in the plot and recorded jailhouse conversations where she discussed suicide and plans to flee the country.
The legal proceedings reached their climax when Donna was convicted in September 2025 of first-degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation. Just a month later, in October 2025, she was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus an additional 30 years to be served consecutively. Throughout the sentencing, the judge noted her “utter lack of remorse” for the crime. Her son, Charlie Adelson, is already serving a life sentence for the same murder, making Donna the fifth person convicted in the complex plot that led to Dan Markel’s death.
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Wealth and a Dramatic Downfall
Donna Adelson has an estimated personal net worth of $1–2 million as of 2025. This figure is primarily derived from her role as a bookkeeper for the family’s dentistry practice and associated profits, though much of her assets have been impacted by ongoing legal battles, including her recent conviction and life sentence on October 13, 2025, for first-degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation. In contrast, the Adelson family’s overall net worth is estimated at $5–10 million in 2025.
Prosecutors argued that this financial comfort was what enabled the murder-for-hire plot in the first place, providing the means to pay for the crime. Furthermore, her wealth became central to the drama of her arrest. In November 2023, just a week after her son Charlie was convicted, Donna and her husband, Harvey, were intercepted at Miami International Airport. Authorities arrested them as they were about to board a one-way flight to Vietnam, a country with no extradition treaty with the United States. Prosecutors cited her “considerable financial resources” as the very thing that allowed her to attempt this escape, a stark contrast to the image of the grandmother she once was.
Donna Adelson sentenced to life without parole plus 30 years for her role in the murder of her ex-son-in-law, Dan Markel. pic.twitter.com/E4lsVj5uKm
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 13, 2025
The story of Donna Adelson is a jarring tale of how loyalty and financial privilege can twist into something dark. The comfortable life she built with her husband, Harvey, over many years, was ultimately destroyed by the very actions prosecutors said were taken to protect that family. Her story now ends not in a luxurious retirement, but with a life sentence, a permanent reminder of the terrible cost of the crime that captivated a nation.
