Donna Adelson's Meddling in Wendi and Dan Markel's Marriage EXPOSED

Tony Brueski (0:01)

This is Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski.

Tony Brueski (0:11)

Just how much did Donna Adelson meddle in the marriage of Wendi Adelson's marriage to Dan Markel? Just how much? We all know the story of the money in the washing machine, the checks of McBannowa, of Charlie, of all of that. But let's go back in time. Let's back it up a bit. Let's go all the way back. Let's go all the way back. Let's start in like 1989, shall we? When Wendi was a young child. All we knew about Wendi was her name being brought up to Pat Sajak and Vanna White. Yes. On an episode of Wheel of Fortune, on the cool, crisp fall evening of October 6, 1989, Pat Sajak turns to a contestant from Coral Springs, Florida and asks her to introduce herself to the audience. She looks at the camera and says she's a domestic coordinator.

And look, there ain't nothing wrong with being someone who is a, quote, domestic coordinator. Creative choice of words, by the way. It's a difficult, busy ass job being someone who is working basically from home, not collecting a paycheck, but coordinating the lives of their family. We used to call it housewife. Some just call it mom. Domestic coordinator is what she called it on Wheel of Fortune. It's the person responsible for schedules, classes, and lessons for her sons and daughters, and all of that. And I'm not knocking that at all. But it is interesting, the choice of words she uses. Always trying to appear to be something a little different than reality may be. Because the actual title might just be mom. And that's a good title to have. That's a title that for the rest of your life, should you lead a decent life, a loving life with your children in front of you, that those people in that world for the rest of their existence, when they ask who's one of the most important people to them, the answer is going to be mom. It's not going to be domestic coordinator. It's not going to be my boss in 1989

See mom, that's a good, that's good. That's a good thing. That's an amazing thing. Not a lot of people make that kind of impact in other people's lives. So let me be clear there, not knocking the fact that Donna was a mom, or she called a domestic coordinator when asked by Pat Sajak, because it seems just being mom, being the emotional person, the person that could be there for her family on those levels, this wasn't quite enough for her. She had to give it a better title, a bigger title, because just dealing with reality on reality's terms, being proud of who she is and where she is, and she had every reason to be. They had a good life going on. This wasn't quite good enough. Had to make it sound a little more important than she was. I know it's a silly little thing to say about Wheel of Fortune, but it says so damn much.

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Responsible for the schedules, classes, lessons for her son Robert, her son Charlie, and her daughter Wendi, her husband Harvey, and her dog Sam.

Notice the order there? Literally listed her husband between her youngest child and the family pet. Then she solved the puzzle. The answer to the board, and you can't make this shit up, mischief maker. She walked away with 2,900 bucks. Now Donna, if you're listening, if you're watching, I know you probably are because I know you've been watching a lot of us from behind bars on your tablet. I want to say hi.

And you're probably feeling pretty good so far. I just maybe, I don't know, I've already criticized your being a domestic or whatever the hell you called yourself.

I'm not playing down your role as being a mom. It's just you failed at that miserably. Time and time again for your entire existence. You weren't a mom. You were a cult leader. You made sure people followed your will, blindly. Even if it drove the people who loved and trusted you, because your title was actually mom, not domestic coordinator in their mind, off a fucking cliff.

That's what you did in your title as domestic coordinator and not necessarily being mom.

Donna, that right there is where we have to start, not with the murder, not with the trial, not even with the guilty verdict. We start with the game show, because you stood on national television and told America exactly who you were. You just wrapped it up in a nice cute package. Domestic coordinator, mischief maker. Everybody in the studio laughed. And you've been running the exact same playbook ever since, performing this charming little routine to cover up something that is anything but charming.