EXCLUSIVE: Florida State law professor who was shot dead in his garage 'was murdered by career criminal who was hired as hitman amid bitter divorce and custody battle with his academic ex-wife'

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Daniel Markel, 41, was found shot dead in his driveway two years ago in what police believe was a murder for hire plot

The Florida State University law professor killed nearly two years ago as he parked his car in his garage in his Tallahassee home may have been the victim of a murder-for-hire plot linked to his bitter divorce from another ex-FSU law professor, authorities now believe.

And after arresting a South Florida career criminal and an alleged accomplice, police said they expect other arrests in the execution-style murder of dad-of-two Daniel Markel, 41.

In a startling probable cause affidavit unsealed last week and obtained by Daily Mail Online, police in the Florida state capital named two suspects: Luis Rivera, a Miami-based alleged Latin Kings gang leader who was just sentenced to 12 years in a federal prison in an unrelated case; and Sigfredo Garcia, whose rap sheet includes 22 arrests since 1997 on charges ranging from burglary, car theft, cocaine possession, threatening a witness and possession of an explosive device.

Shocking new details in the paperwork spell out ties between one of the two men who allegedly drove a Prius six-and-a-half hours to north Florida for the killing, Garcia, to the close-knit family of Markel's ex-wife, Wendi Adelson.

According to police, Garcia has a direct connection with Wendi Adelson's brother, Charles Adelson. Charles, the documents show, 'did not like Markel and did not get along with him.'

What's more, authorities in Tallahassee say in the unsealed charging papers that Charles' girlfriend at the time of the killing, Katherine Magbanua, had two children from a previous relationship with alleged Markel killer Garcia.

On July 18, 2014, about 11 a.m., according to the probable cause affidavit, police called to Markel's modest home in the quiet neighborhood of Betton Hills found the professor sitting in the driver's seat of his car in the open garage with the engine running.

Prosecutors say Sigfredo Garcia (left) killed Markel on request from his wife's family after the couple divorced. Charles Adelson (right), the wife's brother, knew Garcia and was dating the mother of his children

After Wendi Adelson divorced Markel she left for South Florida with the couple's children, but was forced to return after a court ruling which prosecutors say could have motivated the murder

The Harvard Law School graduate was slumped over the wheel of the idling car, a gunshot to the head.

'The investigation of the crime scene showed no indication that this incident was part of any other criminal intent, such as burglary or robbery,' the unsealed charging documents read.

The shooting was heard by a witness who spoke with Markel on his cellphone when Markel reported a person he did not recognize in his driveway The witness then heard a muffled conversation in the background and 'something that sounded like a loud grunt' before Markel started breathing laboredly into the phone.

Police now say a light-colored Prius was tailing Markel that day, from the time he dropped his children off in daycare then stopped by a gym for his morning workout.

When he left the gym about half an hour before the shooting, cellphone GPS records and surveillance footage showed a Prius was tailing him. Police tracked down video from city buses as well as commercial buildings along Markel's route home, and the ominous Toyota was behind him.

A neighbor described seeing two men leaving Markel's house – sold in December for 280,000 -- in a hurry. The passenger described as Hispanic, carried a black object in his hand and fell into a canal while hurrying to a small carparked in an adjacent neighborhood.

The affidavit shows detectives started to focus on Markel's divorce early on while looking for a motive.

After Wendi filed her divorce petition in September 2012, Markel returned home to find, the charging papers read, 'his family gone, a majority of the contents of the house missing and the paperwork of the dissolution of marriage displayed on his bed.'

It turns out Wendi had moved to her parents' home near Fort Lauderdale with the couple's two boys.

In a startling probable cause affidavit unsealed last week, police in the Florida state capital named two suspects: Luis Rivera, a Miami-based alleged Latin Kings gang leader and Sigfredo Garcia, whose rap sheet includes 22 arrests since 1997 on charges ranging from burglary, car theft and cocaine possession

Shocking new details in the paperwork spell out ties between one of the two men who allegedly drove a Prius six-and-a-half hours to north Florida for the killing, Garcia, to the close-knit family of Markel's ex-wife

Detective believe that the close-knit Adelson family plotted to have Markel killed after he dragged Wendi away from where they were living in South Florida  

In time, Markel went back to court and was successful in obtaining a court order forcing Wendi to move back to Tallahassee with their sons.

In June 2013, according to records, family court Judge Barbara Hobbs denied Wendi's request to move officially away from the Florida's capital city.

A month later, the couple signed a settlement agreement and the divorce was finalized.

The atmosphere, however, remained poisoned as Markel started questioning in court papers the veracity of his ex-wife's financial disclosures and accused her of hiding ample financial assets.

Wendi, according to emails obtained by police, was also getting pressure from her mother, Donna Adelson, 66.

The elder woman repeatedly asked her daughter to 'coerce' Markel into allowing her to return to South Florida. And, divorce papers show she allegedly made disparaging remarks about Markel to her two grandsons.

Markel had filed a motion to prevent the boys from spending unsupervised time with Wendi's mother, but Judge Hobbs never heard the motion.

It was scheduled to take place soon after Markel was killed.

'Investigators believe the motive for this murder stemmed from the desperate desire of the Adelson family to relocate Wendi and the children to South Florida, along with the pending court hearing that might have impacted their access to the grandchildren,' the affidavit states.

In their affidavit, investigators wrote they also focused on ties between Wendi's brother Charles, a dentist like his dad, and alleged murderer Garcia.

At the time of the shooting, Charles was dating the woman who had two children with Garcia.

'Charlie was involved in a personal relationship with Katherine Magbanua … Sigfredo Garcia is the father of Magbanua's two minor children, both with the last name Garcia,' the paperwork reads.

Police say a light-colored Prius was tailing Markel that day, from the time he dropped his children off in daycare then stopped by a gym for his morning workout

Markel, a world-renowned legal professor, was found dead from a single gunshot wound to the head behind the wheel of his car in July 2014

Through a payment transponder to travel Florida's Turnpike and cellphone records, police say they are sure Garcia and Rivera were in Tallahassee, and even in Betton Hills, on the day of the shooting.

What's more, a witness at a local motel reported to police he rented a room to the duo on the afternoon of July 17. They checked out early on July 18.

So far, Garcia is denying ever going to Tallahassee.

South Florida records, meanwhile, show the Adelsons to be a tightly-knit family where business, including the successful dental practice and extensive real estate holdings, and blood ties are intertwined.

Patriarch Harvey, 71, founded the Adelson Institute For Aesthetics and Implant Dentistry in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Tamarac, corporate records show. He is listed as manager.

Billing itself The Florida Smile Maker, the company was then joined by Wendi's father Charles Adelson, a periodontist known to travel to Jamaica several times a year to provide free dentistry to children in Kingston's poorest neighborhood.

Motor vehicle records show dad Harvey owns a half dozen black luxury cars, including three Mercedes-Benzes, two Lexus and a Ferrari. They are driven by Wendi and Charles.

Markel was internationally known legal thinker fascinated with applying the proper punishment to crime. He argued in scholarly papers in favor of the abolition of the death penalty in America.