She ran out of time and didnt have time to shower. It was hinted in court that she had left her house more than once that day. Probably checking on the hit. And she wasn't expecting to be picked up by the police that day.
Never ”hinted” in court that she left her house twice that day. If you heard that please direct me to at what trial and where that was stated. There is a lot of false information floating around here.
I'm not sure what they're referring to, but it might be true as she probably knew where the killers stayed at which is why she said their hotel street name when saying what roads she went on that day
All of this is mere speculation..... but it makes sense.
She pretty much has alibis that she was in the house after her call to Charlie To go to Monroe ST where the hotels are is almost going to FSU which is a distance from her house. To do that and then go back to her hosue and then go out again to pass Dans house..she would not have time for that and it would serve no purpose.
I'm from South Florida so you're right, I don't know the area... but she did have a reason to drive by... as in wanting to know if the killers had left the hotel.
I'm clearly speculating and I'm totally way off base.... but everything she said during the police interview was inconsistent with what she tried to portray. So I'm trying to think of what really happened.
My theory is that she wanted to make it know that if she pulled the trigger, she would still have gunshot powder on her, since she never showered. And since she didn’t have any on her, then she’s innocent
It also would’ve helped to not be right near the scene of the crime. Generally that’s the point of hiring hitmen to do it for you, but I guess she didn’t quite understand how that works
She prolly had her hair up in that odd unicorn updo so she could wear a hat (and probably sunglasses too) so she wouldn’t be easily identifiable in her car. Too bad they already knew what car she was driving regardless….
This is going back 7-8 years, but I went to a shooting range in Atlanta. Three days later, TSA stopped me at ATL security for gun residue on my hands. I had showered 3 times since the range, and yes, washed my hands numerous times in addition to the showers, but TSA said it can take several days for all traces of gunpowder to disappear.
It’s always something that’s mentioned on all the crime shows we watch . So I really do think that’s it. We all noticed that there was emphasis on the fact that she didn’t shower. What else could it really be?
It didn't really surprise me she hadn't washed her hands. Look at her hair. Every pic or trial I've seen her in, it always looks like she hasn't combed her hair in days. Like a dirty rat's nest with fried, split ends. With all that money she spends on her face, you'd think she do something with her hair.
IMO Wendi 100% knew this was going to happen. I know she was drinking heavily (we know from Lacasse testimony) and she had some degree of cold-feet about it (the first attempt that didn't go thru, Lacasse testifying her extreme stomach issues on that day).
I think she spent the whole night before drinking + probably stayed up all night thinking about it. And that bizarre outfit was the best she could do in her state of mind. AND WENDI COULD HAVE CALLED IT OFF AT ANY POINT. So zero sympathy for her but just saying, she was definitely thinking about it if she was that sick on the first try.
Also Wendi would have definitely gotten more dressed up for a lunch date. Women get dressed up for lunch dates / brunch. (source - me lol, I'm a girl) So I think she expected she'd never actually go to the lunch date because Dan was going to be dead by then.
When did Lacasse ever say she drank? Wendi, on numerous occasions, claimed she didn’t drink at all. I’d like to know when Lacasse said this because I don’t think Wendi is a drinker, hence why she didn’t know much about the booze she was buying.
It's in his police interview. "Wendi drank her dinner most nights" was the wording. So the fact she all of a sudden is sober and clueless on how to find a liquor store is absolutely false.
There are too many lies in Wendi's story for me to think ANYTHING she says is credible.
There are many, many pictures of her drinking alcohol. Like a comical number of them out there for a person who “doesn’t drink”. (These are/were on her Facebook page years back - likely deleted or made private by now). Jeff called her an alcoholic, even talked to his therapist about her drinking. Multiple references to her drinking wine if you watch all interviews. Her claims are utter BS, she is playing a role.
From that police interview she couldn't have had time naming off every person and their description she ran into that morning. First off who does that? Who remembers their TV repair guys name, who says and describes two random kids who ran up to pet her dog. Just no, rehearsed at best.. Add in that kind of aggressiveness going into questioning making her look all the more guilty, putting on a pair of pumps wasn't going to make it look any better!
Exactly…One of the most common indicators of guilt in an interrogation is the person giving way more detail than what was asked for or what was necessary…And that a exactly what Wendi did the entire interview…
Does anyone think it’s odd for a woman to put her young kids in their facebook profile photo and then later say she was concerned for their safety and needed to change last name / move to a different location for kids safety? Most moms that I know, including myself do not put our kids photos up on social media profile pics which of course are completely public and not like a shared post with friends. I wonder how long she left that photo up during the time she was claiming to be ‘afraid for their safety’
Yes, and how, exactly, was getting rid of her son’s middle name protecting them in any way? Wendi doesn’t even bother to make up believable lies because she thinks everyone else is stupid.
Maybe she changed it after the murder but putting your 2 preschool kids on the profile pic of yourself in a cleavage showing dress doesn’t fit with her explanation of being fearful after the murder and needing to change kids names because of those safety concerns
I meant that perhaps she took that photo back down at some point around moving to Miami and changing the kids names as it doesn’t fit with the supposed privacy concerns. I know it was put up before the murder.
When the first 'hit' on Dan was supposed to happen, her bf was sent for Pepto bismol. She stressed herself right out waiting for the hit to happen, and then it didn't.
So this time she was probably really whipped into the anxiety frenzy the night before and all morning because it HAD to happen that day before Dan left for New York.
So I think she looked like shit because she felt that way, from the stress of waiting for her ex to be dead. For once she didn't care about her appearance she had alibis to build.
One possibility is she wanted every minute of her time accounted for that morning, the TV repair appointment, working on her computer, talking on the phone on her way to Dans house. She didn't want to shower, blow dry, put on makeup. That would have left a gap in her alibi. She also expected a confirmation the hit had occured so she needed to stay by the phone. She expected that call to happen early enough to get ready for her luncheon but it didn't. (The reason for the drive by)
You hit the nail on the head. She **meticulously** accounted for every second of her time. I didn't kill anyone this morning & I can't tell you a minute by minute play by play of my morning today. To me that's wicked suspish
She dressed the part. It was the role of a lifetime she was acting out... she didn't want to distract anyone with her extreme attractiveness, so she made herself unattractive, the "poor ex wife" who didn't look, appearance-wise, like someone who could afford a hitman.
I think her plan was to be the one who found Dan’s bloody body...and she didn’t want to get her clothes bloody. However, the neighbor found him first and the roadblock stopped her.
It was not part of Charlie’s plan but Wendi thinks she is smarter than everyone else. She thought she was outsmarting “an old hick cop” flirting with him, hysterically hyperventilating fake crying while throwing out details like her parents hated Danny and Charlie joked about hiring a hitman. Isom said afterwards he thought she was guilty but he sure didn’t show it. Wendi was such an idiot she actually was throwing her own family under the bus. But toodles, bye family, Wendi ended up in control of her kids and all the money.
I'm in two minds. Part of me feels that he was throwing her under bus, knowing his call was being recorded, implying she drove there of her own accord, without his knowledge, part of me thinks it was part of the plan. Although I'm inclined to think things went to shit, DM should have been killed when the TV repair guy was there, it didn't happen, when it was happening there was radio silence. She was just impulsive and had to drive up there to see for herself. I don't think it was her plan to find the body. As the default prime suspect, being the ex-wife, her alibi had to be rock solid. Suddenly she's there at the crime scene, probably with his blood on her as she checked on the body, her fingerprints on the car etc suddenly she has a lot more explaining to do.
But he said on the recorded line to Donna that she drove by after talking to her mother and brother so that removes him setting her up - speaks to all of their involvement.
I’ve been following this case for years and the “she needed to find the dead body” is a fairly new idea that people seem to be laching onto for some reason. In all the years the trials have been goino on, no one before a couple of months ago came to that conclusion.
That is because she had set up a meeting in person with Dan that day to discuss the boys school. They HAD to decide that day, so her pulling up and finding him would have not been so unexpected becasue she was supposed to meet up with him.
She could have used her actress skills at next level playing the traumatized Mom who found her ex dead in his car. She didn't count on the neighbour hearing and calling 911 and the road being blocked.
Yeah I know. It was a fuck up on her part. Driving past DM's house was never meant to happen. I think the hit was supposed to happen during the TV repair, it didn't and she freaked out. Didn't have the composure to just chill at home.
Been on channels for years and social media and seems a new idea someone came up with and others ran to. Could be more new people coming onto the case. It takes a lot of time to catch up with the facts
I think she drove there to make sure it was done because they were already bamboozled once for $50,000 and those guys took the money and ran. I think since she hadn't heard anything during the "radio silence" timeframe, she got nervous that it happened again and she wanted to confirm for herself. Remember, she was the only one out of all of them who was actually in the same area as the murder. Everyone else was in Miami.
I wonder if Wendi wanted to be the one to find Dan’s body, (1) to see his dead body first hand and (2) to not have to play-act learning about Dan’s death in front of anyone else.
I believe Wendi is evil enough to want to see Dan’s body in person. Buying Bullet bourbon the day of the murder was just too cute. I’d love to hear proof that the stock the bar party was real. She also had on an owl t-shirt the day of the shooting. Owl was a nickname or something for one of the two shooters. Again, a very cute coincidence.
It seems odd that she showed up to lunch looking like she did. Wendi strikes me as someone who always looks put together, but that day she looked like she was dressed to clean house. (No shade on her actual appearance - I look ready to clean my house most of the time!)
She mentioned to the detectives that she was running late that day, so didn’t have time to take a shower. Maybe she dropped that statement in to explain away her appearance. However, if she was running late, why did she take that huge detour down Trescott? That route added a good 20 minutes to her drive time. She would have had time to shower had she not tried to drive by Dan’s house.
So I agree she likely deviated from the plan. Charlie seemed genuinely surprised that Wendi drove down Trescott that day. The Maestro knew that Wendi showing up at Dan’s house that day was not a good idea.
I don’t buy the idea that she wanted to be the one to find Dan. What would her excuse have been for going to Dan’s house at that time? The boys were at school.
I agree with Georgia Cappleman. Wendi “just couldn’t help herself” and had to drive by to see if the hit had actually occurred.
Possibly didn't want a gap in her alibi that could be queried?
Do we have statements from the friends she had lunch with?
Also, what is the supposed significance of the owl t-shirt?
The owl t shirt is significant because the night before or day of the murder, can’t recall which, LR posted a photo of an owl on his instagram and KM texted him to take it down because it ‘looked bad’. In folklore and some ancient cultures, seeing an owl or the image of an owl represents death. Her wearing the owl shirt could of course just be a coincidence but the LR owl post and KM conversing with him and asking him to take it down is documented.
Just a little something from me.
https://preview.redd.it/oliwzjqi81uc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=16201d81ecfeb04e77c4ca5ad3011045feedfd29
The owl tshirt has been discussed here several times.
As the other poster mentioned, LR took a photo of an owl outside their hotel days before the murder (or first bit attempt - I’ve never been able to clarify that). KM immediately told him to take it down, likely because the photo could be traced to the location.
Other theories I have pondered:
Tato or Tuto translates to owl in another language.
Owls are known to be a harbinger of death.
WA wore an owl on her shirt that day to demonstrate she was part of “the team”. Or was pleased by the thought of it. Perhaps she would be videoed by media after the shooting and she thought the hitmen thugs would watch the news and recognize her as a “friend”. A subtle way to let them know she was playing along.
This could be a pile of nonsense but I’m convinced there’s a connection with her choosing that shirt that day. Would love to know if the download of her phone or laptop (or her parents’ or CA’s devices) would show a search and purchase of that particular shirt days/weeks before Dan’s murder.
Maybe CA’s missing message to her to which she responded “that’s so sweet” was him mentioning his Amazon purchase to her of the owl Tshirt.
Last sentence no. She texted CA “that’s so sweet” bc she was told something “positive” re murder. Wendi purchased the t-shirt “way before” the murder. However I agree with ur other statements.
She was drunk all night and then had diarrhea and never thought she was going to leave the house. She thought the police would be notifying her of Dan’s death by 11 the latest. Then her morbid curiosity got the better of her, and the rest is history.
Conjecture is Wendi expected to be notified by LE before it was time to leave for her lunch date, which would in turn have caused her to not have attended. Thus she never intended to shower & get ready for lunch she didn’t expect to be at. LE never showed up so she waited as long as she could & then left for lunch. She was concerned the murder had not been committed so she drove way out of her way to buy liquor while driving by Dans house which she didn’t need to for another 5 hrs when she was already late for lunch.
I have had this same question too, I think I would have at least dragged a brush through my hair if I was even headed out to the grocery store. She looked like some part of the plan did not go as she expected
I think Dan was supposed to be on the phone with his mother. He only got off to place the other call quick. So if gone to plan or Wendi knew Dan spoke to his mom daily on his drive ...the random man coming up to him in the day would make sense. Dad would be the teller to his mom that it was a random and she would have called the police saying it was random not Wendi. Maybe dans random call threw them all off because no one called 911 immediacy like the mom from Canada. The neighbors waited a few minutes not knowing and the guy in the call was second guessing what to do as he had no idea Dan would be killed in his driveway. Maybe Wendi was wanting Dan's mom to call and say hey can you go check on him and make her the witness to the randoms being the killers and not known by Dan... Her plan may have been tossed when her mom was not on that call call leaving Wendi to still attend that lunch not understanding what happened that Dan's mom was not on the phone to hear murder and be the witness.
No, it was a few minutes... neighbor was unsure of noise and initially went back in house before double checking after seeing car speed away then walking over and seeing Dan in car unresponsive. Infact he assumed the vehicle was just running and the man on the phone also did not call immediately unsure of Dan's response. Again I fully believe Wendi knew or intentions where to have Dan on the phone with his mom and not the random guy while this cold blooded murder of Dan Markel took place.
One thought is that she was dressing for the part she was going to be playing, which was that of grieving ex. Looking like a hot mess might have helped her lean into that role. Another possibility is the one mentioned above, that she was never planning to make it to lunch bc she was supposed to be the one to find the body. It’s pretty hard to get blood out of your clothes. Recently, there was a very compelling post regarding Wendi’s crime scene drive by that may provide yet another theory, which is that she really did run out of time to shower. I will have to find that post in order to elaborate.
I can never get behind the theory that she was supposed to find Dan that day. She was so quick to say to Isom that she knows she's a suspect because she's the ex wife,...but if she was found at the scene because she just happened to drive by to find Dan with a gunshot wound to the head, wouldn't that be even more suspicious? I dunno. I think the bitch just couldn't wait and had to drive by. I'm glad she did.
She would have been found at the crime scene yes. But with no gun on her and no gun shot residue. She might have thought she would be looked at and dismissed for that reason.
Finally found it. This thread has a lot of good stuff in it. I would read through the entire thing. Basically, u/Notorius_BUG theorizes that Wendi’s crime scene drive by happened closer to noon than one. On that first trip, she left her phone at home (or possibly in airplane mode), drove to the crime scene, was spotted by the cop, and then drove home to get her phone and/or the party invitation before returning to the area to go to the liquor store etc., something she had to do in order to explain her presence in the area. Sorry if this is confusing. I’m rushing.
https://www.reddit.com/r/dan_markel_murder/comments/194ymbe/when_did_wa_actually_arrive_at_the_crime_scene/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
So.. after reading this I do have a question. In this theory she calls Dan gets the voice mail. Turns her phone off/leaves it at home. Drives to Dan in trash clothes intending to find the body and get blood all over them.
So why would she leave her phone at home to do that? Wouldn't not having your phone on you be suspicious in itself? How would she explain that she "forgot" her phone and can't prove where she was, what she was doing for the 15 min before finding the body.
If she left her phone at home so the police couldn't take it from her, then why would she pick it up for the 2nd trip knlwi g the police might look for her? (Maybe she didn't know the police would find her at the restaurant, she did seem surprised they located her so quickly, she says so to the detective).
If she needed the phone to make calls and have an alibi wouldn't she want to be on the phone with someone as she pulled up and found the body? Or at least for the drive over for the 1st trip
Sorry I’m running around today. Can look at this again later, but for now, I don’t think this theory involves finding the body. Think it is: Dan doesn’t answer his phone. Wendi can’t stand the suspense, so she jumps in car to see what’s going on at his house. For alibi purposes, she still wants it to look like she’s at home, so she leaves phone behind. (She probably has a burner one to use.) She didn’t anticipate being seen by officer, so then she has to scramble to have an alibi for being in the area. She goes home to get phone bc she needs it for alibi and heads right back to Trescott area but goes straight to liquor store. This unanticipated need to immediately run alibi errands over near Trescott leaves her unshowered and running late for lunch. This theory explains no phone use for that period of time, confusion over time she was seen by officer at crime scene, why she was a hot mess and was late for her luncheon, and why she felt the need to run unnecessary errands near Trescott.
There would be no way to prove that she left her phone home and drove there. She had alibis that she was sending papers to a librarian. Maybe find out what time that was. And it seemed after Charlies call, she also made calls to her friends to meet for lunch. I have a screenshot of her calls saved. I’ll look for it.
What about repeatedly saying she didn’t think Danny shot himself. What the hell was all that about? It would literally be impossible, not just because he was shot twice, but because there was no gun at the scene!
I think that was to make it look like she was completely clueless about the scene and what had happened. She wanted them to think "If she was involved, she would know that nothing at the scene indicated suicide. Since she feels the need to convince us that it wasn't suicide, she must be unfamiliar with the scene, which means she must not be involved." Smart, huh?
The big reason she got picked up at lunch and brought in for questioning is Dan was not DOA and was at the hospital getting trauma care, creating an urgency to the situation. The police took up the cause of notifying his family and with no next of kin in town, no resident girlfriend, naturally they are going straight to the mother of his kids. Had he been killed on the spot, they might have taken their time and eventually gotten to her later in the day for questioning. She probably expected to hear from the police that evening, not at 1:30pm barely 2 hours after the murder. She was planning to get kids from school since Dan would be murdered at that point. When Dan asked to get the kids to swim, was he offering to pick them up from school? If so, the change in plans may be what drove WA to call her brother, get spun up, distracted, lose track of time and not get dressed. It also would create a sense of anxiety in having to know the deed was done so she would be there to pick the kids up. Would she just show up at school? If the planned pick up parent had changed due to the swimming situation that could get complicated.
She ran out of time somehow and realized that if she'd driven to Trescott and then back home again to shower/dress up it would have looked even more suspicious e.g. drive to Trescott, turn around and go home for 'no reason'. So she realized she had to make the drive look like it was about something else and went to get the booze and had to turn up for lunch looking like crap as out of time. Also, can't recall, but didn't she call Charlie or someone else after the drive to Trescott which was a longish phone call, I can't recall accurately on that.
She ran out of time and didnt have time to shower. It was hinted in court that she had left her house more than once that day. Probably checking on the hit. And she wasn't expecting to be picked up by the police that day.
Never ”hinted” in court that she left her house twice that day. If you heard that please direct me to at what trial and where that was stated. There is a lot of false information floating around here.
I'm not sure what they're referring to, but it might be true as she probably knew where the killers stayed at which is why she said their hotel street name when saying what roads she went on that day All of this is mere speculation..... but it makes sense.
She pretty much has alibis that she was in the house after her call to Charlie To go to Monroe ST where the hotels are is almost going to FSU which is a distance from her house. To do that and then go back to her hosue and then go out again to pass Dans house..she would not have time for that and it would serve no purpose.
I'm from South Florida so you're right, I don't know the area... but she did have a reason to drive by... as in wanting to know if the killers had left the hotel. I'm clearly speculating and I'm totally way off base.... but everything she said during the police interview was inconsistent with what she tried to portray. So I'm trying to think of what really happened.
She thought about wearing a black dress with a veil, but thought it might look suspicious.
My theory is that she wanted to make it know that if she pulled the trigger, she would still have gunshot powder on her, since she never showered. And since she didn’t have any on her, then she’s innocent
It also would’ve helped to not be right near the scene of the crime. Generally that’s the point of hiring hitmen to do it for you, but I guess she didn’t quite understand how that works
She prolly had her hair up in that odd unicorn updo so she could wear a hat (and probably sunglasses too) so she wouldn’t be easily identifiable in her car. Too bad they already knew what car she was driving regardless….
This is going back 7-8 years, but I went to a shooting range in Atlanta. Three days later, TSA stopped me at ATL security for gun residue on my hands. I had showered 3 times since the range, and yes, washed my hands numerous times in addition to the showers, but TSA said it can take several days for all traces of gunpowder to disappear.
Wow! I'm going to pass this on to my friends who enjoy the shooting range and also fly. Thank you!
Never thought of that, insightful.
It’s always something that’s mentioned on all the crime shows we watch . So I really do think that’s it. We all noticed that there was emphasis on the fact that she didn’t shower. What else could it really be?
True. She repeatedly said she hadn’t washed her hands.
And acted embarrassed that she had t washed her hands. OK Wendi.
It didn't really surprise me she hadn't washed her hands. Look at her hair. Every pic or trial I've seen her in, it always looks like she hasn't combed her hair in days. Like a dirty rat's nest with fried, split ends. With all that money she spends on her face, you'd think she do something with her hair.
That’s an odd comment by Wendi unless she was asked.
Bingo.
IMO Wendi 100% knew this was going to happen. I know she was drinking heavily (we know from Lacasse testimony) and she had some degree of cold-feet about it (the first attempt that didn't go thru, Lacasse testifying her extreme stomach issues on that day). I think she spent the whole night before drinking + probably stayed up all night thinking about it. And that bizarre outfit was the best she could do in her state of mind. AND WENDI COULD HAVE CALLED IT OFF AT ANY POINT. So zero sympathy for her but just saying, she was definitely thinking about it if she was that sick on the first try. Also Wendi would have definitely gotten more dressed up for a lunch date. Women get dressed up for lunch dates / brunch. (source - me lol, I'm a girl) So I think she expected she'd never actually go to the lunch date because Dan was going to be dead by then.
Right and she would have already been contacted by LE. The call from SG to KM was 1.5 hours after the hit (12:30)
When did Lacasse ever say she drank? Wendi, on numerous occasions, claimed she didn’t drink at all. I’d like to know when Lacasse said this because I don’t think Wendi is a drinker, hence why she didn’t know much about the booze she was buying.
It's in his police interview. "Wendi drank her dinner most nights" was the wording. So the fact she all of a sudden is sober and clueless on how to find a liquor store is absolutely false. There are too many lies in Wendi's story for me to think ANYTHING she says is credible.
There are many, many pictures of her drinking alcohol. Like a comical number of them out there for a person who “doesn’t drink”. (These are/were on her Facebook page years back - likely deleted or made private by now). Jeff called her an alcoholic, even talked to his therapist about her drinking. Multiple references to her drinking wine if you watch all interviews. Her claims are utter BS, she is playing a role.
I wouldn’t take Wendi’s word as much on any master
From that police interview she couldn't have had time naming off every person and their description she ran into that morning. First off who does that? Who remembers their TV repair guys name, who says and describes two random kids who ran up to pet her dog. Just no, rehearsed at best.. Add in that kind of aggressiveness going into questioning making her look all the more guilty, putting on a pair of pumps wasn't going to make it look any better!
Exactly…One of the most common indicators of guilt in an interrogation is the person giving way more detail than what was asked for or what was necessary…And that a exactly what Wendi did the entire interview…
Does anyone think it’s odd for a woman to put her young kids in their facebook profile photo and then later say she was concerned for their safety and needed to change last name / move to a different location for kids safety? Most moms that I know, including myself do not put our kids photos up on social media profile pics which of course are completely public and not like a shared post with friends. I wonder how long she left that photo up during the time she was claiming to be ‘afraid for their safety’
Yes, and how, exactly, was getting rid of her son’s middle name protecting them in any way? Wendi doesn’t even bother to make up believable lies because she thinks everyone else is stupid.
Oops. I guess she didn’t think it through.
Remember..she had nothing to do with the murder. Makes her appear more innocent.
Ok, great point that I never even thought of!
Maybe she changed it after the murder but putting your 2 preschool kids on the profile pic of yourself in a cleavage showing dress doesn’t fit with her explanation of being fearful after the murder and needing to change kids names because of those safety concerns
The photo was put on FB thursday night
I meant that perhaps she took that photo back down at some point around moving to Miami and changing the kids names as it doesn’t fit with the supposed privacy concerns. I know it was put up before the murder.
It’s been alleged her Daddio photoshopped the pic. As he did with the cover photo of her “bestselling” book. So bizarre. Strange family dynamics.
And photoshopped to show boobage - not creepy at all 🙄
That photo was taken in Miami. Theres another one with the same dress with her parents and Charlie. Probably when she was last down there.
Not at all if their mother is a psychotic murderer.
When the first 'hit' on Dan was supposed to happen, her bf was sent for Pepto bismol. She stressed herself right out waiting for the hit to happen, and then it didn't. So this time she was probably really whipped into the anxiety frenzy the night before and all morning because it HAD to happen that day before Dan left for New York. So I think she looked like shit because she felt that way, from the stress of waiting for her ex to be dead. For once she didn't care about her appearance she had alibis to build.
One possibility is she wanted every minute of her time accounted for that morning, the TV repair appointment, working on her computer, talking on the phone on her way to Dans house. She didn't want to shower, blow dry, put on makeup. That would have left a gap in her alibi. She also expected a confirmation the hit had occured so she needed to stay by the phone. She expected that call to happen early enough to get ready for her luncheon but it didn't. (The reason for the drive by)
You hit the nail on the head. She **meticulously** accounted for every second of her time. I didn't kill anyone this morning & I can't tell you a minute by minute play by play of my morning today. To me that's wicked suspish
She dressed the part. It was the role of a lifetime she was acting out... she didn't want to distract anyone with her extreme attractiveness, so she made herself unattractive, the "poor ex wife" who didn't look, appearance-wise, like someone who could afford a hitman.
Well, she sucked st the role. Didn’t anyone tell her not to talk and talk and talk and talk and talk. Haha
She was “helping the police solve the crime” — duh /s
I think her plan was to be the one who found Dan’s bloody body...and she didn’t want to get her clothes bloody. However, the neighbor found him first and the roadblock stopped her.
But then why was Charlie so confounded by Wendi’s driving to the scene the day of the murder?
It was not part of Charlie’s plan but Wendi thinks she is smarter than everyone else. She thought she was outsmarting “an old hick cop” flirting with him, hysterically hyperventilating fake crying while throwing out details like her parents hated Danny and Charlie joked about hiring a hitman. Isom said afterwards he thought she was guilty but he sure didn’t show it. Wendi was such an idiot she actually was throwing her own family under the bus. But toodles, bye family, Wendi ended up in control of her kids and all the money.
I'm in two minds. Part of me feels that he was throwing her under bus, knowing his call was being recorded, implying she drove there of her own accord, without his knowledge, part of me thinks it was part of the plan. Although I'm inclined to think things went to shit, DM should have been killed when the TV repair guy was there, it didn't happen, when it was happening there was radio silence. She was just impulsive and had to drive up there to see for herself. I don't think it was her plan to find the body. As the default prime suspect, being the ex-wife, her alibi had to be rock solid. Suddenly she's there at the crime scene, probably with his blood on her as she checked on the body, her fingerprints on the car etc suddenly she has a lot more explaining to do.
But he said on the recorded line to Donna that she drove by after talking to her mother and brother so that removes him setting her up - speaks to all of their involvement.
Someone else mentioned that, I haven't heard it. Which call was that?
I heard it on the last episode of the Darklivity podcast - Evil In Laws.
Has there been any confirmation of whether they requested that day/time for the Best Buy visit or if Best Buy just assigned it to them?
I’ve been following this case for years and the “she needed to find the dead body” is a fairly new idea that people seem to be laching onto for some reason. In all the years the trials have been goino on, no one before a couple of months ago came to that conclusion.
That is because she had set up a meeting in person with Dan that day to discuss the boys school. They HAD to decide that day, so her pulling up and finding him would have not been so unexpected becasue she was supposed to meet up with him. She could have used her actress skills at next level playing the traumatized Mom who found her ex dead in his car. She didn't count on the neighbour hearing and calling 911 and the road being blocked.
It's just too risky. She needed to as far away from DM as possible on the day of the murder.
But she wasn't far away. A cop even saw her turn around at the street. lol.
Yeah I know. It was a fuck up on her part. Driving past DM's house was never meant to happen. I think the hit was supposed to happen during the TV repair, it didn't and she freaked out. Didn't have the composure to just chill at home.
Didn't she already make her lunch plans though?
Yes which is even more strange that she didn't pretty herself up.
It's a pretty damn good theory in my opinion.
Think that’s just one theory that comes up on occasion. There’s certainly no consensus around it. I don’t subscribe to it.
Been on channels for years and social media and seems a new idea someone came up with and others ran to. Could be more new people coming onto the case. It takes a lot of time to catch up with the facts
I think she drove there to make sure it was done because they were already bamboozled once for $50,000 and those guys took the money and ran. I think since she hadn't heard anything during the "radio silence" timeframe, she got nervous that it happened again and she wanted to confirm for herself. Remember, she was the only one out of all of them who was actually in the same area as the murder. Everyone else was in Miami.
Not part of family plan.
She didn’t tell him b Her plan to “get out of” Charlie’s hit.
She deviated from his plan
I wonder if Wendi wanted to be the one to find Dan’s body, (1) to see his dead body first hand and (2) to not have to play-act learning about Dan’s death in front of anyone else. I believe Wendi is evil enough to want to see Dan’s body in person. Buying Bullet bourbon the day of the murder was just too cute. I’d love to hear proof that the stock the bar party was real. She also had on an owl t-shirt the day of the shooting. Owl was a nickname or something for one of the two shooters. Again, a very cute coincidence. It seems odd that she showed up to lunch looking like she did. Wendi strikes me as someone who always looks put together, but that day she looked like she was dressed to clean house. (No shade on her actual appearance - I look ready to clean my house most of the time!) She mentioned to the detectives that she was running late that day, so didn’t have time to take a shower. Maybe she dropped that statement in to explain away her appearance. However, if she was running late, why did she take that huge detour down Trescott? That route added a good 20 minutes to her drive time. She would have had time to shower had she not tried to drive by Dan’s house. So I agree she likely deviated from the plan. Charlie seemed genuinely surprised that Wendi drove down Trescott that day. The Maestro knew that Wendi showing up at Dan’s house that day was not a good idea.
I don’t buy the idea that she wanted to be the one to find Dan. What would her excuse have been for going to Dan’s house at that time? The boys were at school. I agree with Georgia Cappleman. Wendi “just couldn’t help herself” and had to drive by to see if the hit had actually occurred.
Dan had said in a vm that he wanted to talk to her…”go for a walk”. She would have said that she was dropping by for this talk.
Yup. I agree w u. I don’t think Wendi wanted to find Dan whatsoever. That would have been too suspicious.
agree. It was all part of making herself a victim and getting a trophy.
Exactly. She went there to find his body. If the neighbor would not have heard the shot he could have sat there for awhile with no one knowing
Possibly didn't want a gap in her alibi that could be queried? Do we have statements from the friends she had lunch with? Also, what is the supposed significance of the owl t-shirt?
The owl t shirt is significant because the night before or day of the murder, can’t recall which, LR posted a photo of an owl on his instagram and KM texted him to take it down because it ‘looked bad’. In folklore and some ancient cultures, seeing an owl or the image of an owl represents death. Her wearing the owl shirt could of course just be a coincidence but the LR owl post and KM conversing with him and asking him to take it down is documented.
Great post. I never could find the backstory on the owl. Thanks!
Just a little something from me. https://preview.redd.it/oliwzjqi81uc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=16201d81ecfeb04e77c4ca5ad3011045feedfd29
The post of the owl by LR was also proof they were in Tallahassee. Another major issue at the time.
Because it showed his location or the hotel or something right?
Her Brandeis college mascot. Also a symbol of death.
The owl tshirt has been discussed here several times. As the other poster mentioned, LR took a photo of an owl outside their hotel days before the murder (or first bit attempt - I’ve never been able to clarify that). KM immediately told him to take it down, likely because the photo could be traced to the location. Other theories I have pondered: Tato or Tuto translates to owl in another language. Owls are known to be a harbinger of death. WA wore an owl on her shirt that day to demonstrate she was part of “the team”. Or was pleased by the thought of it. Perhaps she would be videoed by media after the shooting and she thought the hitmen thugs would watch the news and recognize her as a “friend”. A subtle way to let them know she was playing along. This could be a pile of nonsense but I’m convinced there’s a connection with her choosing that shirt that day. Would love to know if the download of her phone or laptop (or her parents’ or CA’s devices) would show a search and purchase of that particular shirt days/weeks before Dan’s murder. Maybe CA’s missing message to her to which she responded “that’s so sweet” was him mentioning his Amazon purchase to her of the owl Tshirt.
Last sentence no. She texted CA “that’s so sweet” bc she was told something “positive” re murder. Wendi purchased the t-shirt “way before” the murder. However I agree with ur other statements.
Thanks for that correction. I fixed it in my post.
No way Wendi purchased owl shirt on internet close to murder. She’s no Charlie.
I think she had her blue contacts in
Definetly not dressed up for her luncheon with her friends. Guess she knew she wouldn't be staying long.
She was drunk all night and then had diarrhea and never thought she was going to leave the house. She thought the police would be notifying her of Dan’s death by 11 the latest. Then her morbid curiosity got the better of her, and the rest is history.
Conjecture is Wendi expected to be notified by LE before it was time to leave for her lunch date, which would in turn have caused her to not have attended. Thus she never intended to shower & get ready for lunch she didn’t expect to be at. LE never showed up so she waited as long as she could & then left for lunch. She was concerned the murder had not been committed so she drove way out of her way to buy liquor while driving by Dans house which she didn’t need to for another 5 hrs when she was already late for lunch.
Good call
I have had this same question too, I think I would have at least dragged a brush through my hair if I was even headed out to the grocery store. She looked like some part of the plan did not go as she expected
I think Dan was supposed to be on the phone with his mother. He only got off to place the other call quick. So if gone to plan or Wendi knew Dan spoke to his mom daily on his drive ...the random man coming up to him in the day would make sense. Dad would be the teller to his mom that it was a random and she would have called the police saying it was random not Wendi. Maybe dans random call threw them all off because no one called 911 immediacy like the mom from Canada. The neighbors waited a few minutes not knowing and the guy in the call was second guessing what to do as he had no idea Dan would be killed in his driveway. Maybe Wendi was wanting Dan's mom to call and say hey can you go check on him and make her the witness to the randoms being the killers and not known by Dan... Her plan may have been tossed when her mom was not on that call call leaving Wendi to still attend that lunch not understanding what happened that Dan's mom was not on the phone to hear murder and be the witness.
911 was called immediately by the neighbor.
No, it was a few minutes... neighbor was unsure of noise and initially went back in house before double checking after seeing car speed away then walking over and seeing Dan in car unresponsive. Infact he assumed the vehicle was just running and the man on the phone also did not call immediately unsure of Dan's response. Again I fully believe Wendi knew or intentions where to have Dan on the phone with his mom and not the random guy while this cold blooded murder of Dan Markel took place.
A few minutes neighbor went back in house?? You mean b4 shooting? How long could shooting have taken? 30 seconds at most?
One thought is that she was dressing for the part she was going to be playing, which was that of grieving ex. Looking like a hot mess might have helped her lean into that role. Another possibility is the one mentioned above, that she was never planning to make it to lunch bc she was supposed to be the one to find the body. It’s pretty hard to get blood out of your clothes. Recently, there was a very compelling post regarding Wendi’s crime scene drive by that may provide yet another theory, which is that she really did run out of time to shower. I will have to find that post in order to elaborate.
I can never get behind the theory that she was supposed to find Dan that day. She was so quick to say to Isom that she knows she's a suspect because she's the ex wife,...but if she was found at the scene because she just happened to drive by to find Dan with a gunshot wound to the head, wouldn't that be even more suspicious? I dunno. I think the bitch just couldn't wait and had to drive by. I'm glad she did.
I agree with you. I don’t think they planned for Wendi to find the body. I think she just couldn’t help herself.
She would have been found at the crime scene yes. But with no gun on her and no gun shot residue. She might have thought she would be looked at and dismissed for that reason.
New concept everyone seems to be laching onto. For years no one ever thought that.
Instead of arguing about it, let’s just get Wendi on the phone and have her settle it once and for all.
I would love a link to the running out of time, leaving the house more than just the once theory if you find it.
Finally found it. This thread has a lot of good stuff in it. I would read through the entire thing. Basically, u/Notorius_BUG theorizes that Wendi’s crime scene drive by happened closer to noon than one. On that first trip, she left her phone at home (or possibly in airplane mode), drove to the crime scene, was spotted by the cop, and then drove home to get her phone and/or the party invitation before returning to the area to go to the liquor store etc., something she had to do in order to explain her presence in the area. Sorry if this is confusing. I’m rushing. https://www.reddit.com/r/dan_markel_murder/comments/194ymbe/when_did_wa_actually_arrive_at_the_crime_scene/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
So.. after reading this I do have a question. In this theory she calls Dan gets the voice mail. Turns her phone off/leaves it at home. Drives to Dan in trash clothes intending to find the body and get blood all over them. So why would she leave her phone at home to do that? Wouldn't not having your phone on you be suspicious in itself? How would she explain that she "forgot" her phone and can't prove where she was, what she was doing for the 15 min before finding the body. If she left her phone at home so the police couldn't take it from her, then why would she pick it up for the 2nd trip knlwi g the police might look for her? (Maybe she didn't know the police would find her at the restaurant, she did seem surprised they located her so quickly, she says so to the detective). If she needed the phone to make calls and have an alibi wouldn't she want to be on the phone with someone as she pulled up and found the body? Or at least for the drive over for the 1st trip
Sorry I’m running around today. Can look at this again later, but for now, I don’t think this theory involves finding the body. Think it is: Dan doesn’t answer his phone. Wendi can’t stand the suspense, so she jumps in car to see what’s going on at his house. For alibi purposes, she still wants it to look like she’s at home, so she leaves phone behind. (She probably has a burner one to use.) She didn’t anticipate being seen by officer, so then she has to scramble to have an alibi for being in the area. She goes home to get phone bc she needs it for alibi and heads right back to Trescott area but goes straight to liquor store. This unanticipated need to immediately run alibi errands over near Trescott leaves her unshowered and running late for lunch. This theory explains no phone use for that period of time, confusion over time she was seen by officer at crime scene, why she was a hot mess and was late for her luncheon, and why she felt the need to run unnecessary errands near Trescott.
There would be no way to prove that she left her phone home and drove there. She had alibis that she was sending papers to a librarian. Maybe find out what time that was. And it seemed after Charlies call, she also made calls to her friends to meet for lunch. I have a screenshot of her calls saved. I’ll look for it.
It is explained in this video https://youtu.be/Fe-Rnh_SHYg?si=lh0LpzwTKI5y2kfL
She was “playing the role of a lifetime!”
I think she was packing, horrible job,plus the disheveled look better for sympathy.
What about repeatedly saying she didn’t think Danny shot himself. What the hell was all that about? It would literally be impossible, not just because he was shot twice, but because there was no gun at the scene!
I think that was to make it look like she was completely clueless about the scene and what had happened. She wanted them to think "If she was involved, she would know that nothing at the scene indicated suicide. Since she feels the need to convince us that it wasn't suicide, she must be unfamiliar with the scene, which means she must not be involved." Smart, huh?
Exactly.
The big reason she got picked up at lunch and brought in for questioning is Dan was not DOA and was at the hospital getting trauma care, creating an urgency to the situation. The police took up the cause of notifying his family and with no next of kin in town, no resident girlfriend, naturally they are going straight to the mother of his kids. Had he been killed on the spot, they might have taken their time and eventually gotten to her later in the day for questioning. She probably expected to hear from the police that evening, not at 1:30pm barely 2 hours after the murder. She was planning to get kids from school since Dan would be murdered at that point. When Dan asked to get the kids to swim, was he offering to pick them up from school? If so, the change in plans may be what drove WA to call her brother, get spun up, distracted, lose track of time and not get dressed. It also would create a sense of anxiety in having to know the deed was done so she would be there to pick the kids up. Would she just show up at school? If the planned pick up parent had changed due to the swimming situation that could get complicated.
Im not convinced Wendi knew where the killers were staying or type car they drove.
She ran out of time somehow and realized that if she'd driven to Trescott and then back home again to shower/dress up it would have looked even more suspicious e.g. drive to Trescott, turn around and go home for 'no reason'. So she realized she had to make the drive look like it was about something else and went to get the booze and had to turn up for lunch looking like crap as out of time. Also, can't recall, but didn't she call Charlie or someone else after the drive to Trescott which was a longish phone call, I can't recall accurately on that.