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By Josh Nathan-Kazis February 14, 2017

Two prison inmates may have provided a long-awaited break in the mysterious slaying of Jewish law professor Dan Markel.

According to the Tallahassee Democrat, the alleged hit man charged with killing Markel confessed to a fellow inmate that Markel’s ex-mother-in-law had ordered the murder.

The inmate told police that Sigfredo Garcia, claimed that his girlfriend, Katherine Magbanua, told him that “a mother-in-law or grandmother” wanted Markel killed to gain custody of their two children.

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Garcia, who is awaiting trial in connection with Markel’s killing, reportedly referred to the woman as “Don Adelson.”

Markel’s ex-wife’s mother is named Donna Adleson. She and her son, Charlie Adelson, remain suspects in the murder, the paper said. They deny any involvement and have not been charged.

Magbanua is also awaiting trial. Garcia’s alleged accomplice, who has pled guilty to second-degree murder, implicated Markel’s ex-wife, Wendi Adelson, in the murder plot.

Wendi Adelson, for her part, told police that she feared that someone had had her husband killed on her behalf.

“Danny didn’t treat me very well, and I’m so scared that maybe someone did this … because they thought this was good somehow,” Adelson said.

Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected]

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