Dan Markel murder: Records show Charlie Adelson now imprisoned in South Dakota

Charlie Adelson, who’s serving a life sentence in the 2014 plot to kill Florida State law professor Dan Markel, has been moved again apparently — this time 1,800 miles or more from the scene of the crime.

Florida Department of Corrections online records show Adelson, a once-successful traveling periodontist from Fort Lauderdale, as being incarcerated somewhere in South Dakota. No other details are listed.

The 47-year-old Adelson was convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation last November, after an eight-day trial at the Leon County Courthouse.

He had been held at the Wakulla Correctional Institution Annex outside Crawfordville, but was moved in February to the Columbia Correctional Institution Annex in Lake City.

The Florida Department of Corrections did not respond immediately to questions about Adelson’s incarceration.

State has moved prisoners out of state for safety reasons

The department has a history of moving inmates in particularly notorious cases to out-of-state prisons for safety and security reasons.

Zachary Wester, a former Jackson County deputy convicted of planting drugs on unsuspecting drivers, was moved in 2021 to the custody of Hawaii, which houses its prisoners in Arizona. Wester now is incarcerated in Colorado.

Markel, Adelson’s former brother-in-law and the father of his two nephews, was fatally shot by hired hitmen July 18, 2014, in the garage of his Betton Hills home. The murder occurred as Markel was feuding with his ex-wife, Wendi Adelson, and her family, including Charlie Adelson, her brother.

The hit men, Luis Rivera and Sigfredo Garcia, and Charlie Adelson’s ex-girlfriend, Katie Magbanua, were convicted in the murder. Charlie Adelson’s mother, Donna Adelson, was arrested in connection with the murder plot shortly after her son’s conviction. Her trial is set to start in September, court records show.

Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-222-1697.