Kumari Shreya
As explored in ‘20/20: First Divorced Then Dead,’ the case of Dan Markel’s murder has remained a subject of interest in the minds of many in the public, especially given the suspicious circumstances in which his body was discovered in 2014. During the legal process that followed to find the people responsible for it all, one of the crucial testimonies came from June Umchinda, who was dating Charles “Charlie” Adelson at the time that he was arrested for his possible involvement in the death of his own brother-in-law. The events that followed have left the world wondering what she may be up to these days.
Who is June Umchinda?
Born in 1988, June Umchinda had been working as a credit union worker when she first met Charlie Adelson in 2015. The two eventually started dating and had been in a relationship for eight months in June 2016. At the time, while Adelson was suspected as one of the people involved in Dan Markel’s death, he had not been asked to answer for the same in the court of law. According to Umchinda, she only got to know about the case when someone confused her for Katherine Magbanua, one of the suspects and Adelson’s ex-girlfriend.
In June 2016, when Umchinda was still dating Adelson, she talked about how she did not think her partner was involved in the murder case. “I can understand why the police would think this. But there’s no way Charlie or anyone in the family is involved. They’re all so nice,” she told the Daily Mail. “I mean, he hasn’t been saying anything about this. I haven’t asked about it. But I know he’s been under intense pressure over the last couple of weeks, and I assumed it was something having to do with work.”
Umchinda then added that she had been to dinners with Adelson’s family, but they never brought up Markel. She confessed that she had asked once and was simply told that Markel had been killed. At the time, Umchinda was apparently “practically living” with Adelson and emphasized that he was a person whom she could not see committing such a violent action. However, in 2017, Umchinda and Adelson broke up, though she apparently had not let go of her feelings for him completely.
Where is June Umchinda Now?
Following Charlie Adelson’s arrest in April 2022, June Umchinda was asked to testify in the court of law in October 2023. She answered several questions regarding Adelson’s behavior at the time that they two had been dating, and Markel’s case was being investigated. Even back in 2019, when Adelson had not been formally charged, Umchinda was asked to testify in court regarding the same. Talking about the time when Adelson became a suspect, she had apparently noticed a change in his behavior.
“They were tracing things back to him, so he was nervous and worried and not himself. There was something about him he wouldn’t tell me,” Umchinda revealed in 2019. She also admitted to seeing large amounts of cash in Adelson’s residence, adding that this money may indeed have been what was given to Luis Rivera, which the latter had claimed had been given to him by Adelson to kill Dan Markel. “There was a staple on one of them. They were hundreds. I don’t know if they were stacks, but there was a staple on them,” Umchinda recalled about the money she had seen.
During her October 2023 testimony, Umchinda opened up some more. She revealed how Adelson used to sleep with a gun in his bedroom. She added that Adelson had asked her not to talk to the authorities and that she had met him just a day before he was arrested in 2022. Ultimately, Charlie Adelson was indeed found guilty of planning Dan Markel’s murder on November 6, 2023, and will be sentenced on December 12, 2023.
As for Umchinda, she is now a Professional Licensed Realtor for Brookfield Executive Real Estate, having joined the organization in January 2018. She is also affiliated with Penn-Florida Companies for Leasing and Administration of Executive Suites. Additionally, Umchinda took part in the Miss Florida Petite Pageant in 2020 and was given the title of Ms Boca Raton Petite 2020. As for writing, she is based in Boca Raton, Florida, and has an adorable dog named Mochi. The Florida resident also likes traveling, having visited Las Vegas, Nevada, in September 2023.
Read More: Charles “Charlie” Adelson: Where is the Killer Now?
