[16][20] While on a Dorot Fellowship in Israel, Markel completed graduate studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and earned a master's degree in political theory from Emmanuel College, Cambridge,[14][21] before receiving his J.D.

[20][22] Before entering teaching, Markel served as law clerk to Judge Michael Daly Hawkins of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit[23] and was an associate with the law firm Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel in Washington, D.C., practicing white-collar criminal defense.

[24] His work at the firm included representing a group of law professors in an amicus brief in a criminal case before the Ninth Circuit.

[34] On August 1, 2014, the Associated Press reported that emergency medical response was delayed because a dispatcher erroneously classified the call as less serious than it was.

[37] At that time, the one-year anniversary of the murder, the Tallahassee Police Department called a press conference and showed photographs of a silver pine mica Toyota Prius, asking the public for help in locating the vehicle.

[39] On May 26, 2016, a suspect, Sigfredo Garcia, 34, of Miami Beach, was arrested for first-degree murder based on a warrant issued by a Leon County judge.

Tallahassee police would not release further details, but told reporters that the killing was being investigated as a murder for hire, and sources said that they expected more arrests in the case.

The affidavit revealed investigators' belief that Garcia and Luis Rivera, 33, had traveled from the Miami area in a rented Toyota Prius, staying in motels the nights of July 16 and 17, 2014, to commit the crime.

[1][2] Evidence included a cellphone, banking and SunPass electronic toll collection records; security camera footage from buildings and city buses along the streets Markel and the alleged killers had driven, and the testimony of an unnamed informant along with a nearby witness.

The affidavit further noted that Wendi Adelson had been granted 50-50 custody when the couple's acrimonious divorce had been finalized in 2013, when Markel had won an order prohibiting her from moving to Miami with the children.

[41] On June 17, 2016, a grand jury in Leon County indicted Garcia and Rivera on charges of first-degree murder in connection with Markel's killing.

[2] At the time, Rivera was already in jail for a conviction on federal charges of racketeering conspiracy arising from his leadership of the North Miami group of the Latin Kings gang.

[45] Sigfredo Garcia was pictured in a Toyota Prius at an ATM in Pembroke Pines, wearing a white long-sleeved dress shirt.

Rivera also claimed that he did not know the names of the people who had hired Garcia and Magbanua but that the reason for the killing was "because the lady wants her two kids back.

[8] Her trial was set to begin September 17, 2024, but proceedings were delayed when Donna Adelson's attorney withdrew his representation of her on the first day of jury selection.

[72] Florida's grandparent visitation laws are among the most restrictive in the nation, leaving the Markels with no way to even petition a court for a ruling on whether they can be granted contact with their grandsons.

The Florida Legislature considered a bill in the 2020 legislative session, SB 1886 sponsored by Sen. Jeff Brandes, that would create an additional set of conditions in which grandparents would be granted standing to access courts.

"[76] In 2022, the legislation, informally known as the Markel Act, passed both chambers of the Florida legislature and was signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis.