Law enforcement officers have identified the death of FSU professor, Dan Markel as a homicide. There are many pieces to the puzzle and investigators are looking into a possible involvement of his ex-wife’s family. Through her attorneys, Wendi Adelson, Markel’s ex-wife, has distanced herself and her family from his death.
Luis Rivera and Sigfredo Garcia, who are South Florida gang members, traveled to Tallahassee in July of 2014 to kill Markel. The two men are in custody awaiting trial for the murder of Dan Markel.
Investigators are linking Markel’s murder to the bitter divorce from Wendi Adelson. Her parents desperately desired their daughter and grandchildren to move and live in South Florida. This connection came about after realization of a court case that would have restricted the Adelson family access to their grandchildren around the time of Markel’s murder.
For the two years that investigations have dragged on, the phone records, text messages, emails, internet searches, and financial records of the Adelsons’ have been under scrutiny by the investigators. On the morning of July 18, 2014, Markel met his death as he was pulling into his garage when he was shot by the two suspects. He was later found sitting in his car with a gunshot wound to his head.
A rental car driven from South Florida to the scene of the crime in Tallahassee was the connection to the murder. A witness said to have met the two men, helped them get a motel room on the night of July 17, 2014, a day before the murder.
In the statement by the attorneys representing the Adelsons, the family expressed hope for justice to be dealt to the perpetrators of the crime. They also expressed their grief for the children who will grow up without a father. The state prosecutors are seeking capital punishment for the two men if they are found guilty.
