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Murder is a life sentence for the victim’s family and friends. Closure is a myth perpetuated by the news media.
During three decades of investigative reporting, Robert Riggs has witnessed how the victim’s families often suffer in silence and are left out of the confusing criminal justice process.
In this episode of the True Crime Reporter® podcast, Ruth Markel shares a remarkable story of grief, resilience, and hope during an eight-year murder investigation that is not over.
Her son, Dan Markel, a Florida law professor, was ambushed in a murder-for-hire conspiracy allegedly masterminded by his ex-wife, Wendi Adelson, and members of her family, according to state prosecutors.
Wendi Adelson has denied those accusations during a police interrogation and under oath in court testimony.
The anatomy of the murder has been highly publicized on television crime shows and true crime podcasts.
But Robert Riggs is here with the “rest of the story” from behind the crime scene tape.
In this interview, Ruth Markel reveals how the victim’s family can become advocates for their lost loved ones. She inspired the Florida State Legislature to pass a grandparent visitation bill titled the “Markel Act.”
Before the murders, Markel had published eight books about the advancement of women in the corporate workplace. She never expected to write about such a horrific and powerless situation as the murder of her son.
Now Ruth Markel shares her story to help others survive their grief from murders and violent crime in her book titled The Unveiling: A Mothers’ Reflection on Murder, Grief, and Trial Life.
Riggs and Markel discuss her fight for justice on behalf of her son and the struggle to be legally reunited with her grandchildren.
Riggs starts the episode by recounting the key events of the contact murder in 2014.
Links to resources mentioned during the podcast:
Full coverage by Paul Caron, Dean of the Pepperdine University
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