Wendi Adelson has reportedly started a new relationship years after her former husband’s murder—and despite the intense scrutiny surrounding her family’s role in the case, which was recently revisited in a popular true-crime documentary.
Adelson, 47, is said to be dating George Estrada, 12 years after Dan Markel, 41, was shot outside the Tallahassee, Florida, home they once shared amid a bitter custody dispute.
She has since relocated to Austin to live with Estrada and appears to use his surname online, although it has not been confirmed whether the couple are married. Meanwhile, her mother, Donna Adelson, 76, and her brother, Charlie Adelson, 50, remain behind bars after their convictions in connection with Markel’s first-degree murder.
The case centers on the killing of Markel, a law professor who was shot by contract killer Sigfredo Garcia in his garage. It was recently examined in Hulu’s documentary Welcome to the Family: The Murder of Dan Markel.
Wendi Adelson has never been charged in connection with Markel’s death. Prosecutors, however, described her as an alleged “unindicted co-conspirator.”
She received immunity from prosecution and later testified at the trials of the five people ultimately convicted in relation to the killing.
Katherine Magbanua, Charlie Adelson’s former girlfriend, was also convicted after prosecutors said she helped connect Adelson with Garcia.
Donna Adelson, Charlie Adelson, Magbanua and Garcia are each serving life sentences plus an additional 60 years in prison.
Wendi Adelson has relocated to Austin to be with Estrada and appears to have adopted his surname online. The couple were photographed together in 2024; Adelson’s previous husband was killed in a contract shooting.
Wendi married Dan Markel in 2006 before the couple separated in 2012. Two years later, he was fatally shot during a contentious custody dispute.
Donna Adelson is pictured after being sentenced to life in prison for her role in Markel’s murder in October last year.
Luis Rivera, who supplied the gun and served as the getaway driver, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and is serving a 19-year sentence.
Wendi and Dan Markel married in 2006 and separated six years later.
Markel, a University of Florida academic, reportedly returned from a work trip to find that his two sons had been taken, much of the household furniture was gone and divorce paperwork had been left on his bed. Two years later, he was shot outside the couple’s former home.
Adelson’s sons now live with her and Estrada at their Austin residence, reportedly valued at $550,000. She has also appeared to make her relationship public through social media posts.
In an Instagram post shared last September, another woman uploaded a photograph of Adelson and identified her as “Wendi Estrada.”
Images also show Adelson and Estrada together at a legal conference in 2024.
Estrada previously worked at Amazon Web Services as an executive strategist. He now serves as chief technology and innovation officer for a credit union.
Estrada’s former wife, Maggie, died unexpectedly in 2021, according to tributes posted by relatives on social media at the time.
Family members did not publicly disclose further details about Maggie’s death.
Wendi herself was never charged in relation to Dan Markel’s death, although prosecutors alleged that she was a ‘conspirator’ to the crime
According to court records Wendi is now living with Estrada inside this Austin, Texas, home
In 2012, Markel returned from a work trip to find the couple’s two sons gone, furniture missing and paperwork for the dissolution of the marriage on his bed
Posts Maggie made to her own Instagram profile indicate that at the time of her death she and Estrada had already split.
There are no new legal clouds on the horizon for Wendi as regards her ex-husband’s murder.
Under questioning in court in 2019, she partially revealed the immunity deal she struck with prosecutors.
It was agreed that any testimony was never to be used against her, but it does not stop the state from ever charging her.
After Donna was found guilty last year, State Attorney Jack Campbell was questioned over what would happen next in the case.
He told reporters: ‘I understand everyone’s curiosity and interest, but for now, we’re going to let our team rest.’
The murder case sparked intense public interest for more than a decade due to the sordid details of the divorce, tensions with wealthy in-laws and custody battles.
And Estrada will likely be thankful that his prospective mother-in-law Donna Adelson is locked behind bars, after bloodcurdling details of her schemes were outlined during her trial for murdering Markel.
She was painted as a controlling matriarch who had all the money and the motive to orchestrate the murder of Markel, who she ‘hated.’
Charles Adelson and his ex-girlfriend Katherina Magbanua are both serving life in prison
Magbanua served as the intermediary for the two men hired to carry out the killing,Garcia, left, and Rivera, right
They said Donna planned out the murder after Markel stood in the way of letting her daughter move her two grandsons to South Florida to be closer to her family.
They played calls in court which revealed Donna’s plans to flee to Vietnam just one week after her son, Charlie, was convicted of Markel’s murder in 2023.
She was arrested attempting to board a one way flight to the country, which has no extradition treaty with the United States, alongside her husband Harvey.
Prosecutors said she signed checks that were given to Magbanua, and that she also dropped off the cash used to pay the gunmen at Charlie’s home the day of the killing.
Prosecutor Georgia Cappleman said in her closing arguments: ‘She was paying for a murder. She knew it was going to be murder; she’s the one who wanted it done.’
Cappleman said that all of the evidence against Donna proved she was ‘all about psychological warfare’ and was willing to do ‘whatever it took to get a win.’
Donna’s defense attorneys said that the state didn´t have sufficient evidence to link the grandmother to the murder plot.
The murder case sparked intense public interest for more than a decade due to the sordid details of the divorce, tensions with wealthy in-laws and custody battles
Harvey Adelson is seen here in court last year as his wife was sentenced
They instead sought to emphasize the roles played by others and cast suspicion on two of Donna´s adult children.
Attorney Jackie Fulford told the court: ‘She meddles in her children’s lives, gets involved in their divorce. She’s just being a parent, not a killer. She’s a meddler – not a murderer.’
When the judge announced that the jury had convicted Donna of first-degree murder, she shouted out: ‘Oh! My God’ and started shaking and crying.
‘Mrs. Adelson, control yourself,’ the judge told her, warning her that he would remove her from if she did not.
Our News Outlet contacted Estrada and Wendi for comment.
