‘Welcome to the Family: The Murder of Dan Markel’: Hulu’s Chilling Docuseries, Explained

Divorce and separation can get ugly, but how far would someone go to keep a family together? Or get exactly what they want when it falls apart?

In the case of Florida State University law professor Dan Markel, a bitter custody battle became the starting point for a shocking murder-for-hire plot that would take more than a decade to fully unravel.

In the new Hulu series Welcome to the Family: The Murder of Dan Markel, the shocking case is revisited through new interviews, exclusive audio, and firsthand accounts from people at the center of the investigation. The docuseries digs deep into the bitter custody battle and murder-for-hire plot, revealing how investigators spent more than a decade piecing together who was responsible and why.

Here is everything we know about the new Hulu true crime series.

When does Welcome to the Family: The Murder of Dan Markel premiere?

Welcome to the Family: The Murder of Dan Markel premieres Tuesday, September 1, on Hulu. All four parts begin streaming that day.

What is Welcome to the Family: The Murder of Dan Markel about?

Dan Markel was going through a bitter divorce and custody dispute with his wife, Wendi Adelson. He wanted their two sons to remain in Tallahassee, while Wendi wanted to move with them to South Florida, where her family lived. In July 2014, Markel was shot in the head in his Tallahassee garage and died the following day.

What initially looked like a mysterious murder eventually unraveled into a murder-for-hire conspiracy connected to members of Wendi’s family. Prosecutors alleged that her brother Charlie helped arrange Markel’s killing, working through his then-girlfriend Katherine Magbanua, who connected him to hitmen Sigfredo Garcia and Luis Rivera. Charlie was convicted of murder in 2023 and sentenced to life in prison. Their mother, Donna, was later prosecuted as another alleged participant in the plot.

That’s where the title Welcome to the Family comes in. This isn’t simply a “who killed Dan Markel?” documentary. The case became a sprawling saga about the Adelson family, their relationships with one another, and how far members of a wealthy, seemingly respectable family were allegedly willing to go for a custody battle.

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'Somebody Knows Something': New Hulu True-Crime Series, Explained

Who is behind Welcome to the Family: The Murder of Dan Markel?

Welcome to the Family: The Murder of Dan Markel is produced by Curious Films for ABC News Studios. Sebastian Smith directs the series, which is produced by Lily Fletcher and executive produced by Curious Films’ Dov Freedman and Charlie Russell and ABC News Studios’ David Sloan and Claire Weinraub

Is there a trailer?

Indeed. Watch it above.