In this 2025 Year-in-Review Hidden Killers special, we examine one of the most explosive family implosions in any modern true-crime case: the unraveling alliance between Donna Adelson and her daughter Wendi, and why that break may define the future of the Dan Markel murder trial.

This combined episode covers two of the biggest developments of the year. First: the seismic moment when Wendi Adelson refused to testify for her mother. Donna’s defense team attempted a high-risk maneuver by subpoenaing her to the stand — but Wendi fought back, and the judge quashed it. Her refusal is more than a legal decision; it marks a profound fracture in a family once united by control, privilege, and secrecy. While Charlie Adelson — already convicted — remains fiercely loyal to his mother, Wendi has stepped away, choosing her own survival over Donna’s defense.

Then there’s Donna herself. Unlike most defendants facing overwhelming evidence and three prior co-conspirator convictions, Donna insists she will testify. Against the strong advice of her attorneys, she believes she can charm, persuade, or out-talk the jury. But is that confidence grounded in strategy — or in denial, ego, and the need to maintain control at all costs?

Psychotherapist Shavaun Scott and defense attorney Bob Motta join Tony Brueski to analyze what these decisions reveal psychologically:

• Why Wendi’s silence may be the loudest message of the entire trial.

• Why Charlie’s loyalty may be more about identity than innocence.

• How Donna’s need for dominance could lead her to self-destruct on the stand.

• And what this intergenerational collapse means for the Markel children, now old enough to understand the tragedy woven into their family name.

This is not just a trial update — it’s the psychological autopsy of a family once built on unity and now shattered in the public eye. Loyalty, silence, betrayal, survival — all playing out in real time.

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