2026-05-16T22:58:00-0400 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
新墨西哥州卡尔斯巴德这座被广袤红色荒漠笼罩的小城,是乔恩·格林2017年的家。正是那一年,一次常规体检成为他和他的医生金·拉克的人生转折点。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 他第一次走进诊室那天,你会怎么形容他?
金·拉克医生: 面带笑容,心情愉悦,愿意聊天。总能让人感觉放松自在。
几个月后,他们开始互发短信,继而约会。
金·拉克医生: 他喜欢我喜欢的一切……我们一起滑雪,一起骑车。
失踪的支票簿与被盗的爱犬
交往初期,金称格林告诉了她自己不堪的过往——20多年前他曾被诬告纵火,那场火灾造成两人死亡,其中包括摩纳哥的一名亿万富翁银行家。
金·拉克医生: 我起初相信了他。我更愿意相信他的说法。
她说她只想相信身边这个新伴侣是个好人。
金·拉克医生: 他说得天花乱坠……他完全符合我对挚友的所有期待。
金·拉克医生与乔恩·格林于2017年相识。金·拉克
到2020年情人节两人结婚时,他们已经过上了安稳舒适的生活。金拥有收入丰厚的行医执照、一笔80万美元的退休储蓄,以及城外4英亩土地上的住宅。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 那时你有没有意识到他本性如何?
金·拉克医生: 完全没有。
纪录片制片人、哥伦比亚广播公司新闻顾问莫莉·福斯特多年来一直在报道格林的故事,相关内容将在EPIS在线平台上新推出的系列节目中播出。
莫莉·福斯特: 我认为他的动机是金钱……还有权力。
她说这个自称乔恩·格林的男人一生都在欺骗。
莫莉·福斯特: 他骗过了很多人,也造成了……无数创伤。
金说,这些创伤最终在短短几年内摧毁了他们的婚姻。
金·拉克医生: 就因为他毫无底线地撒谎、欺骗、偷窃……
2022年4月,金发现自己的支票簿不见了。
金·拉克医生: 就在那时银行打来电话问我,“你有没有开这张支票?”
银行监控录像拍到乔恩·格林试图用妻子的签名兑现伪造的支票。卡尔斯巴德警察局
她得知丈夫——银行监控录像里的那个人——正试图在全城多家银行伪造她的签名,兑现数千美元的支票。金提出离婚,并更换了家门锁。大约一个月后,他偷走了对她而言比金钱更珍贵的东西。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 他绑架了你的狗?
金·拉克医生: 还有我的车,没错。
金说,风暴、零号和重罪不仅是珍贵的宠物,更是价值不菲、训练有素的搜救犬,而她正是这些狗的训导员。
金·拉克医生: 我们之间有着特别的羁绊。我的狗狗24小时都陪着我。
多年来,金和她的搜救犬伙伴们协助美国联邦应急管理署参与全国救灾行动,也配合执法部门勘查犯罪现场。
金·拉克医生: 他本可以拿走任何东西……除了我的狗。
从左至右依次为零号、风暴和重罪。金·拉克医生的搜救犬曾协助FEMA参与全国救灾及执法部门犯罪现场勘查。金·拉克
当时零号正怀有身孕。
金·拉克医生: 我当时吓得要死。
金怀疑分居的丈夫把狗带到了德克萨斯州,她在那里找到了能帮忙的人——阿贝尔·佩尼亚。佩尼亚曾在联邦调查局工作26年,退休后创立了非营利组织“失踪者计划”,帮助寻找失踪人员。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 寻找失踪的人和寻找失踪的狗有什么不同?
阿贝尔·佩尼亚: 狗不会在网上留下……爪印痕迹。找狗要困难得多。
过了一个多月,佩尼亚才得到一条有用的线索,但线索指向的不是狗,而是格林本人。2022年6月13日,佩尼亚联系执法部门协助在圣安东尼奥的一处停车场布控。格林开着宝马车抵达后不久,当局将其逮捕,指控其犯有伪造文书和盗窃罪。此时的他已经改头换面,剃光了头发。
2022年6月13日,乔恩·格林在德克萨斯州圣安东尼奥被捕。他被控伪造文书和盗窃罪。阿贝尔·佩尼亚
阿贝尔·佩尼亚: 我跑到车边,透过后车窗看狗在不在……嗯,狗不在车里。
但佩尼亚还有另一条线索,他前往格林一名朋友的姑姑位于附近的住宅。
阿贝尔·佩尼亚(与莫里亚蒂在屋外交谈): 我敲了敲门,一位年长的女士开了门……她说:“我知道你们为什么来。进来吧。”
他在后方卧室找到了金的狗。那时零号已经生产——箱子里多了八只幼犬。
零号产下八只幼犬后,与主人兼训导员金·拉克团聚。金·拉克
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 当时你是什么心情?
阿贝尔·佩尼亚: 我欣喜若狂。
佩尼亚带着全部十一只狗回到自己家,等着金赶来。
金·拉克医生: 我的孩子们见到我开心极了。我终于松了口气。
阿贝尔·佩尼亚: ……那真是完美的结局。
金万分感激,将其中一只幼犬命名为阿贝尔,以纪念救回它们的人。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 那时你以为一切都过去了吗?
金·拉克医生: 是的。
伪造文书和盗窃罪让乔恩·格林被关押在卡尔斯巴德的埃迪县拘留中心,在那里他结识了因毒品罪名被关押的格雷格·马克汉姆。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 他对金很愤怒吗?
格雷格·马克汉姆: 哦,他对她怒不可遏。
马克汉姆说他们通过下棋熟络起来。
格雷格·马克汉姆: 我每天都和他下棋。慢慢了解了这个人……他不停地问我认不认识能杀掉他妻子的人。
马克汉姆说他当时觉得有机可乘,想把乔恩·格林当成自己的棋子。
格雷格·马克汉姆: 我当时就想,“好吧,伙计,我找不到人,我可以帮你。你想怎么动手?”
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 所以……你答应要杀他的妻子?
格雷格·马克汉姆: 我说:“没错,兄弟,我来干。我帮你搞定。”
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 你真的打算这么做吗?
格雷格·马克汉姆: 不!绝不!
马克汉姆说他只是个骗子,不是职业杀手,从来没认真想过要杀金·拉克。
他说他当时急需保释金,为了救自己的狗阿特拉斯免于被安乐死。
格雷格·马克汉姆: 我一直独自生活,只有我和我的狗……
格雷格·马克汉姆: 我得说服这家伙……保释我出去,这样我才能去照顾我的狗,确保它没事。
他说格林帮他交了保释金。
格雷格·马克汉姆: 等他确信我会动手后,就不停地跟我念叨……他一直在说:“我们再聊聊细节。你打算怎么做?”
马克汉姆说格林对妻子的死法有明确的要求。他策划了一场致命的投毒阴谋,强迫金喝下掺有芬太尼的水,伪装成服药过量身亡。
格雷格·马克汉姆: 没错,我要把芬太尼药片碾碎……确保她把整瓶水都喝下去。
马克汉姆说,如果金拒绝,格林的残忍计划是用枪瞄准她心爱的狗狗,而不是她本人。
格雷格·马克汉姆: 这样……她就会乖乖听话。
乔恩·格林极力否认所有指控,并决心对抗这起案件——就像他在另一个大陆的法庭上做过的那样。26年前,一场熊熊烈火吞噬了摩纳哥的一处顶层公寓,造成一名亿万富翁和他的私人护士死亡。这起纵火案的核心嫌疑人正是同一个人,只是当时用着另一个名字。
特德·梅尔与摩纳哥的致命火灾
阳光明媚、悠闲惬意的新墨西哥州卡尔斯巴德,并不是这个男人唯一登上头条的地方。
这已经不是他第一次被控重罪。金·拉克也不是唯一爱过他的女人。
我第一次见到海蒂·沃斯特劳是在2002年。
海蒂: 他送我的每一朵玫瑰我都留着。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 从你认识他起他送的每一朵?
海蒂: 没错。
当时她的丈夫就是后来改名为乔恩·格林的那个男人。那时他的名字是特德·梅尔。这个名字后来举世皆知。两人在纽约生活,育有两个孩子,是在护理学校相识的。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂(2002年采访): 他是个什么样的护士?
海蒂: 他是新生儿重症监护室的护士。
特德曾告诉她自己曾是特种部队绿色贝雷帽成员。他给人的印象是既果断又富有同情心。
海蒂(2002年采访): 他总是把别人放在第一位……那么有爱心,那么体贴……你懂的,我就想找这样的人。
1999年夏天,特德工作的新生儿重症监护室里,两位心怀感激的新生儿父母将他介绍到了一份绝佳的工作,也展现了他的同情心。
海蒂(2002年采访): 去照顾一位我们从没听说过的富有的银行家……做他的私人护士。他患有帕金森症。
埃德蒙·萨夫拉就是那位富有的银行家。他不仅有钱,更是全球最富有的人之一。他拥有萨夫拉银行,与优雅的妻子莉莉住在摩纳哥蒙特卡洛区一家银行分行上方的顶层公寓里,这片区域坐落于奢华的法国蔚蓝海岸,宛如钻石般闪耀。
海蒂(2002年采访): 显然,我们从没见过那样的世面。
海蒂说,当萨夫拉提出邀约时,特德无法拒绝,尽管这意味着要离开家人。
海蒂(2002年采访): 我们以为……这只是暂时的,之后我们还有一辈子的时间可以团聚。
就是那年10月,特德·梅尔来到摩纳哥,开启了这份令人艳羡的新工作。
海蒂(2002年采访): 他总说那是个完全不同的世界……他很喜欢那里。他非常喜欢萨夫拉先生。他们相处得很好。
梅尔有时会值夜班,偶尔会和护士薇薇安·托伦特搭档。除了私人护士团队,萨夫拉还配备了私人安保力量负责保护自己。
海蒂(2002年采访): 我们当时不知道这个人是谁。一切都很陌生。
随后,1999年12月3日到来了。
海蒂(2002年采访): 我像往常一样早上送孩子们上学。这时接到了一个电话……是特德的姐姐,她听起来心烦意乱、哭哭啼啼……她让我打开电视看新闻。
丹·拉瑟(1999年哥伦比亚广播公司新闻报道):两名持刀蒙面歹徒闯入了埃德蒙·萨夫拉位于蔚蓝海岸的顶层公寓。
这是一则关于萨夫拉顶层公寓遭遇入侵者并发生火灾的惊人报道。就在她丈夫前往摩纳哥仅五周后,这位聘请特德前来的亿万富翁和护士薇薇安·托伦特双双身亡。尸检结果显示,两人均死于“烟雾中毒”。而特德则身负重伤,浑身是血。
特德向当局讲述了一个随后被反复讨论和质疑多年的版本。他说有入侵者闯入顶层公寓,袭击并刺伤了他。他急忙去寻求帮助,而他的老板则躲进了浴室。
特德说他用蜡烛和纸巾在垃圾桶里点燃了一小簇火,以为消防队会迅速赶来。
海蒂(2002年采访): 他知道烟雾探测器直接连通消防部门,所以他想触发警报。
回到纽约的海蒂忧心忡忡,联系了萨夫拉的办公室。她对听到的消息并不意外。
海蒂(2002年采访): 他们说特德那晚是个英雄……我说,这就是特德。
几小时内,海蒂就前往了摩纳哥。
海蒂(2002年采访): 他们让我直接去医院看特德。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 你去了吗?
海蒂: 没有。
海蒂说,她抵达后不久就被警方拦截了。
此前有人告诉她特德表现得像个英雄,但情况很快就变了。海蒂说,在接受警方询问时,她明显感觉到警方怀疑她的丈夫就是凶手。她声称警方扣留了她的护照,以此作为胁迫特德认罪的武器。
海蒂(2002年采访): 他们拿走我的护照后,把护照拿给特德看,逼他认罪。然后他们告诉他,我被搜身并遭受了酷刑,还说我不能离开摩纳哥回到家人身边。
她说正是这个威胁导致特德被迫作了虚假供述。他现在改口说根本没有入侵者。是他持刀刺伤了自己,伪装成曾试图拯救他那位有权势的老板免受袭击者伤害的样子。
海蒂(2002年采访): 他们说他在刺伤自己之前注射了利多卡因。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 那么利多卡因,是用来——
海蒂: 用来麻醉的。
海蒂还说,他签署的供词是用法语写的,而特德根本不懂法语。
海蒂(2002年采访): 我觉得他们想要一个干净利落的结局,快一点……对摩纳哥来说,让国民感到安全是件好事。
特德·梅尔于2022年11月抵达摩纳哥法院,开始对1999年纵火案的审判,该案造成亿万富翁银行家埃德蒙·萨夫拉和一名护士死亡。:帕斯卡尔·居约 / 盖蒂图片社供稿
特德被关押起来,被控“故意纵火”,导致萨夫拉和托伦特死亡。如果罪名成立,他将面临终身监禁。
海蒂(2002年采访): 这个人我了解……我知道他没有这么做。
特德·梅尔是被诬陷的吗?
一根火柴的火光,便让特德·梅尔的梦想工作化为灰烬。两人死亡,而特德成了被指责的对象。
海蒂(2002年采访): 我认识他13年了。他绝不会伤害任何人。
丹·拉瑟(1999年哥伦比亚广播公司新闻报道):摩纳哥首席检察官称,一名美国男护士承认点燃了导致萨夫拉和另一名护士死亡的火灾……
埃德蒙·萨夫拉的死引发了轰动,让作家詹妮弗·托马斯和她的丈夫比尔·海耶斯着迷不已。
比尔·海耶斯: 如果你在屏幕上看到这一切……你会觉得——这完全说不通。这不可能发生。
有一些未经证实的说法,或许能支持特德最初关于入侵者的说法。有传言说萨夫拉有敌人,他可能是俄罗斯黑帮袭击的受害者。
比尔·海耶斯: 萨夫拉和俄罗斯有大量联系。
还有一个可疑的发现进一步加剧了谣言。海蒂告诉我们,火灾当晚,萨夫拉的私人安保团队奇怪地不在现场。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂(2002年采访): 这正常吗?
海蒂: 闻所未闻。
外界也对萨夫拉时尚的妻子莉莉议论纷纷。
詹妮弗·托马斯: 关于她和她前夫们的谣言。
莉莉曾有过四段婚姻,其中一位前夫也已去世,这引发了更多猜测。
詹妮弗·托马斯: 她被传说是黑寡妇,从几任丈夫那里继承了大笔财富。
但警方认定特德应对两起死亡事件负责。案件耗时三年多才进入审判阶段。在此期间,海蒂只能偶尔隔着地中海的监狱电话与特德联系。
特德·梅尔(监狱电话录音): 我不是纵火犯,也不是杀人犯。这违背了我……我一生的行事准则……
海蒂(2002年采访): 我必须坚强,因为我知道他也需要我的力量……
特德·梅尔(监狱电话录音): 永远别忘了这个,海蒂,永远,我——我爱你。
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海蒂: 我爱你。
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特德·梅尔: 一个男人……人生的幸福,海蒂,不在于……不在于……我不在了,而在于我心中留存和珍视的东西……
海蒂(2002年采访): 我只希望这不是我的人生。
纽约律师迈克尔·格里菲斯加入了特德的辩护团队;格里菲斯因在海外为美国人辩护而声名鹊起。特德·梅尔成了他的客户——一个很难对付的客户。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂(2002年采访): 我们来聊聊这个案子里一些奇怪的地方。除了特德最初的陈述,有没有任何证据证明有两名入侵者?……
迈克尔·格里菲斯: 据我所知,没有任何关于入侵者的证据。
相反,格里菲斯将辩称,特德确实如当局所说的那样:刺伤了自己并点燃了火灾。但他从未想过会有人死亡。他只是想让自己看起来像个英雄。
迈克尔·格里菲斯(2002年采访): 特德就像那个纵火的消防员。消防员纵火,不是为了伤人,而是为了救人……
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 你的意思是,你相信特德确实点燃了火灾,割伤自己来伪装成英雄?
迈克尔·格里菲斯: 我相信特德确实这么做了……
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 他真的告诉过你是他自己干的吗?
迈克尔·格里菲斯: 嗯,是的。他告诉我……是他自己这么做的。这也是我们辩护的基础。
格里菲斯辩称,如果警方和消防员能更快赶到受害者身边,当晚本不会有人死亡。他们花了大约两个半小时才找到萨夫拉和托伦特。但当局表示,他们几分钟内就抵达了现场,但由于特德告诉他们楼内有暴力入侵者,不得不谨慎行事,放慢了救援速度。
马克·邦南: 他完全对自己制造的局面负有责任。
2002年,律师马克·邦南接受了《48小时》的采访。他代表萨夫拉的遗孀莉莉。他说关于莉莉的谣言都是假的。
马克·邦南: 这不仅显然不是真的,而且是诽谤。
马克·邦南: 莉莉对所发生的一切悲痛欲绝。
2002年11月,海蒂前往摩纳哥参加审判。特德面临终身监禁的判决。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 你认为你的丈夫在摩纳哥能得到公平审判吗?
海蒂: 完全不可能。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 为什么?
海蒂: 他们要维护摩纳哥的声誉,绝不会冒这个险。
当特德作证说根本没有入侵者,实际上是他自己刺伤了自己时,她很不高兴。而当格里菲斯让特德承担她认为他并没有犯下的罪行时,她怒不可遏。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂(2002年采访): 海蒂坚信特德没有这么做。他是被迫认罪的……那么真相到底是什么?
迈克尔·格里菲斯: 好吧,我只知道特德是我的当事人。我知道特德告诉我的一切……
海蒂(对格里菲斯说): 他们跟他说这是最好的出路……
迈克尔·格里菲斯: 海蒂,我不知道该怎么跟你说。我只知道我是根据我的当事人告诉我的内容来开展工作的。我想你得——
海蒂: 但这是我们的人生。
迈克尔·格里菲斯: 这是你的人生。
海蒂: 这是特德的人生。
迈克尔·格里菲斯: 没错。
特德·梅尔因纵火致人死亡罪被判有罪。他被判处10年监禁。但对海蒂来说,这意味着她所熟悉的生活彻底结束了。
然而,同年1月,也就是审判结束仅七周后,特德从监狱给海蒂打了电话。
海蒂(2003年采访): 特德说:“是我,我出来了。”
他剪断了金属栏杆,翻过监狱围墙逃跑了。
海蒂(2003年采访): 我说“你在开玩笑吧”,他说“不,我真的出来了”……他向我要钱,我说不行,他就对我发火了。
特德的自由转瞬即逝。第二天,他就被重新抓获。海蒂对他不惜一切代价冒险,甚至可能延长刑期的行为感到愤怒。她说她对特德的信任已经耗尽。
海蒂(2003年采访): 我不需要他,也不想再见到他……我已经尽我所能把他拉回正轨,但现在看来他自己又在把一切搞砸。
海蒂提出了离婚。至于特德,他于2007年被释放。当他抵达肯尼迪国际机场时,那个曾经信任他的女人已经不见踪影。但特德最终还是找到了支持他的人——作家詹妮弗·托马斯和比尔·海耶斯。他们和特德一起合著了《蒙地卡罗蒙冤记》。特德再次坚称,在照顾埃德蒙·萨夫拉期间,他遭到了暴力入侵者的袭击。
詹妮弗·托马斯: 他们指控他的行为从一开始就说不通。所以当他给我们讲述这个故事时,一切都合情合理。
让托马斯和海耶斯感兴趣的是法国报纸的一篇报道。据《费加罗报》消息,在一场无关的听证会上,曾参与特德·梅尔案的一名法官声称,特德的判决在审判开始前就已经定好了。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 在你看来,真相就是这个男人被诬陷了?
比尔·海耶斯: 百分之百。
回到美国后,特德孤身一人。稳定的工作很难找——尤其是当你的名字是特德·梅尔的时候。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 那新名字呢?
詹妮弗·托马斯: 乔恩·格林。
所谓刺杀金·拉克的阴谋
回到美国后的头十年,乔恩·格林试图摆脱特德·梅尔这个身份。他找到了一份卡车司机的新工作,也开始了与金·拉克医生的新恋情,并于2020年与其结婚。但婚姻最终破裂,2023年格林面临一项新指控——教唆一级谋杀。
加勒特·席尔瓦侦探: 拉克医生在这个小镇上是名人。很多人都认识她。
格林仍因伪造支票和盗窃狗狗的罪名被关押在狱中,埃迪县警长办公室的侦探加勒特·席尔瓦开始调查格林与其狱友格雷格·马克汉姆共谋杀害金的案件。
加勒特·席尔瓦: 格雷格·马克汉姆受乔恩·格林雇佣,要杀掉他的妻子。
2023年9月,调查人员对格林进行约谈时,他极力否认这项指控。
2023年9月,乔恩·格林接受调查人员询问,被指密谋杀害分居妻子金·拉克。第五司法地区检察官办公室
调查人员: 关于伤害拉克医生一事,有没有什么我们需要注意的……关乎她的安全,或是……你的安全?
乔恩·格林: 没有,绝对没有。完全没有。
调查人员: 我想你知道我们的来意。
乔恩·格林: 你以为我会找人伤害金?……绝对不可能。
但当局并不相信他的说辞。乔恩·格林的审判于2025年3月3日开始。检察官马丁·沃尔夫森传唤了关键证人格雷格·马克汉姆出庭作证。
马丁·沃尔夫森(庭审现场): 马克汉姆先生,乔恩·格林有没有指示你该如何实施谋杀?
格雷格·马克汉姆: 有,详细地指示了。
金·拉克带我们查看了原本计划行凶的房子。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 他原本打算怎么做?
金·拉克医生: 切断房子的电源。
格雷格·马克汉姆: 我做了19年电工……我知道该怎么做。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 那时他会在哪里?
金·拉克医生: 他应该藏在车棚里……
格雷格·马克汉姆: 嗯,他说……她身体有点弱,你是个大块头……
马克汉姆说,他原本要制服金,抢走她放在汽车中控台上的枪。
金·拉克医生: 显然,他要把我拖进房子里……
金·拉克医生: 他跟他说过……该怎么控制我的狗。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂(对马克汉姆说): 演示一下……
格雷格·马克汉姆(做动作): 你把手举到最高,然后尽全力大喊“趴下”,再用力拍手,狗狗就会停下来,直到收到下一个指令才会动。
据马克汉姆说,格林还告诉了他金·拉克保险箱的位置。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: ……这只有别人告诉你才会知道,对吧?
金·拉克医生: 没错。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 你自己不可能知道。
金·拉克医生: 是的。
但辩方律师布雷克·达格告诉陪审团,格雷格·马克汉姆并非善类,他们不应该相信他的任何一面之词。
布雷克·达格(对陪审员说): 你们今天拥有的最强大的权力之一,就是判断证人可信度的权力。
布雷克·达格: 格雷格·马克汉姆这个人,有着不光彩的过往,他确实……试图利用乔恩·格林,也确实利用了他。
但检方出示了证据,称这些证据证明格雷格·马克汉姆说的是实话——马克汉姆绘制的房屋平面图与金家的内部结构有相似之处。他作证说,乔恩·格林曾将这些细节告诉他,作为谋杀计划的一部分。
格雷格·马克汉姆: 他描述了后门旁边的长走廊。
检方还拿出证据,证明格林急于凑钱付给马克汉姆作为雇凶报酬:格林与负责管理他狱中财务的作家詹妮弗·托马斯之间的狱中通话记录。格林多次致电她,要求她向中间人电汇2500美元。起初他说这笔钱是用来买拖车的,但说辞一直在变。
乔恩·格林(1月30日狱中通话): 这对你来说很麻烦吗?
詹妮弗·托马斯: ……我有很多办法可以给他转钱。
乔恩·格林: 好的。
托马斯最终按格林的要求做了,但当她得知检察官认为这笔钱其实是雇凶杀人的部分酬金时,她震惊不已。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 你帮他拿到了那笔钱。
詹妮弗·托马斯: 我吓坏了!
她说当检方决定他们并非明知故犯时,她和海耶斯都松了一口气。布雷克·达格坚称他的当事人也没有过错,他辩称,即使是格雷格·马克汉姆的平面图也不足以定罪,因为这可能是在与格林闲聊后编造出来的。
布雷克·达格(庭审现场): 一个男人自豪地向别人描述自己家的布局,这根本不算犯罪……
乔恩·格林没有出庭作证,达格也没有传唤任何证人,他认为检方未能证明其指控成立。仅经过两天的审议,陪审团就做出了裁决。
布雷克·达格: 我当时感觉很好。我真的觉得没问题。
乔恩·格林又名特德·梅尔接受《48小时》采访
陪审团仅审议了约一小时,便认定乔恩·格林犯有教唆一级谋杀罪。
金·拉克医生: 他的谎言终于反噬了自己。
法官戴维·芬格判处乔恩·格林——又名特德·梅尔——九年监禁。扣除服刑时间,他将在不到三年内获释。
近25年来,我们一直想问问特德·梅尔几个问题。新墨西哥州当局禁止我们的摄像机进入监狱,但2026年3月,特德的律师布雷克·达格安排了一次视频会面,特德同意接受我们的采访。
法官判处乔恩·格林——又名特德·梅尔——九年监禁。新墨西哥州惩教署
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 你有没有雇人去杀你的妻子?
特德·梅尔又名乔恩·格林: 没有,绝对没有……完全没有。
特德·梅尔又名乔恩·格林: 我本不该在这里,但不幸的是我现在确实在这里……
特德再次声称自己被诬陷——他说自己绝不会指使别人用枪指着狗狗的头,还声称他给格雷格·马克汉姆的2500美元只是为了帮助营救马克汉姆的狗——而不是为了谋杀金。
特德·梅尔又名乔恩·格林: 你不会花2500美元雇人杀人。这绝对荒谬。
但马克汉姆为何能如此清楚地了解金·拉克家的布局呢?
马克汉姆也给我们画了一张图,我们将其与实际房屋进行了对比。虽然不完全匹配,但存在令人不安的相似之处。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 图上标了电源的位置。
金·拉克医生: 没错……
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 还有保险箱的位置?对吗?
金·拉克医生: 是的。
“……这是基本布局……”格雷格·马克汉姆向《48小时》展示他绘制的金·拉克家平面图。哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
艾琳·莫里亚蒂(视频通话): 他画了她家的房子布局。如果不是你告诉过他细节,他怎么会知道?
特德·梅尔又名乔恩·格林: 那张图根本就不是……100%准确的。
特德呼应了他的律师在庭审中的论点:无论马克汉姆对房屋布局了解多少,都来自于 innocuous 的闲聊。
特德·梅尔又名乔恩·格林(视频通话): 我解释过我重新布置了配电盘。还说过我拆掉了一个书架,把保险箱装在高处,这样她就不用弯腰了。
事实上,他告诉我们,他曾是个体贴入微的丈夫,一心想让金的生活更轻松。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂(视频通话): 你说过你爱金·拉克……
特德·梅尔又名乔恩·格林: 我依然爱她!
他承认伪造了她的签名兑现支票,但称随着婚姻破裂,他没有收入,急需用钱。他还说,由于与金的离婚协议尚未最终敲定,他有权拥有那些狗。
特德·梅尔又名乔恩·格林(视频通话): 那些狗当时还是夫妻共同财产,女士。
就像他在摩纳哥时声称的那样,他告诉我们自己是无辜的,本质上是个好人——是被别人利用了。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂(视频通话): 今天坐在这里,你觉得自己对埃德蒙·萨夫拉的死负有责任吗?
特德·梅尔又名乔恩·格林: 不,我不觉得。
但曾经相信特德·梅尔无罪声明的那对夫妇,现在不禁怀疑12月那个蒙特卡洛的夜晚,到底发生了什么,最终导致那位亿万富翁和他的护士身亡。
“我不对两个人的死负责,”2002年,特德·梅尔在摩纳哥监狱院子里对着《48小时》制片人乔希·亚杰大喊。哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
詹妮弗·托马斯: 在我看来,现在他有可能策划了那起案件。
比尔·海耶斯仍然相信特德关于当晚遭到入侵者袭击的说法。但海耶斯和托马斯一致认为,当谈到特德试图杀害金·拉克的阴谋时——他们说他将他们也卷入其中——他罪有应得。
詹妮弗·托马斯: ……我觉得被背叛了。
比尔·海耶斯: 我想知道原因,你为什么要撒谎……
尽管我们可能永远无法完全知晓真相,但我们发现了证据,证明特德多年来反复强调的一个最基本的说法存在破绽。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 你实际上是不是特种部队绿色贝雷帽成员?
特德·梅尔又名乔恩·格林: 我完成了全部三个阶段的训练……
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 你的意思是你完成了训练课程……
特德·梅尔又名乔恩·格林: 我完成了三个项目的学习。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 得了吧,特德……别含糊其辞。
特德·梅尔又名乔恩·格林: 我从未被分配到绿色贝雷帽的任何单位。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 所以你从未以绿色贝雷帽的身份服役过。
特德·梅尔又名乔恩·格林: 我服过役……我进入过特种部队……没错,我确实服役过。
如果特德·梅尔没有给出明确答复,美国军方倒是给出了明确的答案,他们告诉我们:“没有证据表明西奥多·梅尔曾在特种部队服役。”
金·拉克医生: 他是个小偷,骗子,诈骗犯……
金·拉克说她担心自己还会再见到他。
金·拉克医生: 他出狱后,我就有麻烦了。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 金·拉克有理由害怕你吗?
特德·梅尔又名乔恩·格林: 不,绝对没有。
加勒特·席尔瓦侦探: 谁也说不准他会做出什么事来。
协助侦破这起雇凶杀人案的加勒特·席尔瓦侦探已晋升为K9部门的警长。他告诉我们,如果他处于金的位置,他会养一只狗作为护卫。而金·拉克也确实这么做了。
金·拉克与她信任的伙伴们。哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
金·拉克医生: 我谁都不信任。我时刻保持警惕……
她告诉我们,特德曾在离婚过程中向她索要钱财,这让她怒不可遏。金承认,这种愤怒可能会让她感到孤独,但任何认识金的人都知道,有狗狗陪伴,她从来都不是真的孤单。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 金,它们是不是时时刻刻都跟着你?
金·拉克医生: 是的。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 天啊,这真有意思。
金·拉克医生: 狗狗就是想一直陪着你。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 而且你可以信任它们!
金·拉克医生: 是的。没错。
艾琳·莫里亚蒂: 好的。
乔恩·格林,又名特德·梅尔,对其定罪提出上诉,被驳回。
他预计将于2029年获释。
Ted Maher, convicted in billionaire’s arson death in Monaco, reinvents himself & orders hit on estranged wife
2026-05-16T22:58:00-0400 / CBS News
Carlsbad, New Mexico, a small city dwarfed by a vast, dirt red desert, was home to Jon Green in 2017. That was the year a routine medical exam would become a turning point for him and his doctor, Kim Lark.
Erin Moriarty: The very first day when he walks in, how would you have described him?
Dr. Kim Lark: Smiling, happy, wanted to talk. Just kind of made you feel comfortable.
Months later, they began texting, then dating.
Dr. Kim Lark: He liked everything that I liked. … We started skiing together. We started riding bikes together.
A missing checkbook and stolen dogs
Early in their relationship, Kim says, Green told her about his troubled past — that he had been falsely accused of arson more than 20 years ago causing the deaths of two people, including a billionaire banker in Monte Carlo.
Dr. Kim Lark: I believed him at first. I kind of believed his side of the story.
She says she wanted to believe the best about the new man in her life.
Dr. Kim Lark: He said all the right things. … He did all the things that I needed my best friend to be.
Dr. Kim Lark and Jon Green met in 2017. Kim Lark
By the time they married on Valentines Day 2020, they’d already settled into a comfortable life. Kim had a lucrative medical practice, an $800,000 retirement account tucked away and a home on 4 acres outside of town.
Erin Moriarty: At that time, did you realize what he was capable of?
Dr. Kim Lark: No, I had no idea.
Molly Forster, a documentary filmmaker and CBS News consultant, has spent years reporting Green’s story for a new series streaming on the EPIS online platform.
Molly Forster: I think he’s motivated by money … motivated by power.
She says the man who calls himself Jon Green has led a life of deception.
Molly Forster: He’s been able to fool a lot of people and caused … a lot of trauma.
Trauma that would eventually crumble their marriage in just a few years, says Kim.
Dr. Kim Lark: Just because he’s so willing to lie, cheat, steal …
In April 2022, Kim noticed her checkbook was missing.
Dr. Kim Lark: And that’s when the bank called me and said, hey, did you write this check?
Jon Green is seen on bank security video, where he was trying to cash checks he had forged with his wife’s name. Carlsbad Police Department
She learned that her husband – seen on bank security footage – was trying to cash thousands of dollars in checks by forging her name at banks all over town. Kim filed for divorce and changed the locks on her house. About a month later he stole something from her that mattered a lot more than money.
Erin Moriarty He’s kidnapping your dogs?
Dr. Kim Lark: My dogs and my vehicle, yeah.
Storm, Zero, and Felony are not only precious pets, they’re extremely valuable, highly-trained search and rescue dogs, says Kim. And she is their trainer.
Dr. Kim Lark: And we have a really special bond. My dogs are with me 24/7.
For years, Kim and her canine companions have assisted FEMA during national disasters, and law enforcement at crime scenes.
Dr. Kim Lark: He could’ve taken anything … except my dogs.
From left, Zero, Storm and Felony. Dr. Kim Lark’s search and rescue dogs have assisted FEMA during national disasters and law enforcement at crime scenes. Kim Lark
And Zero was pregnant at the time.
Dr. Kim Lark: I really was scared to death.
Kim believed her estranged husband might have taken the dogs to Texas, and she found someone there who could help. Abel Peña had 26 years with the FBI before he retired and founded a non-profit called Project Absentis to help find missing people.
Erin Moriarty: What is the difference between looking for missing people and missing dogs?
Abel Peña: Dogs don’t maintain a … a paw print online. It’s more challenging to try and find dogs.
It was more than a month before he got a good tip, and it wasn’t about the dogs, but about Green himself. On June 13, 2022, Peña called law enforcement for help staking out a parking lot in San Antonio. Shortly after Green arrived in a BMW, authorities arrested and charged him with forgery and larceny. He had changed his appearance, shaving his head.
Jon Green was arrested in San Antonio, Texas, on June 13, 2022. He was charged with forgery and larceny. Abel Peña
Abel Peña: I ran over to the vehicle, looked in the back windows to see if the dogs were there … um the dogs were not there.
But Peña had another lead and headed to a nearby house belonging to the aunt of one of Green’s friends.
Abel Peña(with Moriarty outside the house): I knock on the door and I’m greeted by an older woman. … she was like, “I know why you’re here. Come on in.”
He found Kim’s dogs in a back bedroom. By then Zero had multiplied — there were now eight puppies in a box.
Zero gave birth to eight puppies before she and her pups were reunited with owner and trainer Kim Lark. Kim Lark
Erin Moriarty: And how did you feel?
Abel Peña: I was ecstatic.
Peña took all 11 dogs to his house and waited for Kim to arrive.
Dr. Kim Lark: My girls were so happy to see me. I was so relieved.
Abel Peña: … It was a fantastic ending.
Kim was so thankful, she named one of the puppies, Abel, after the man who had found them.
Erin Moriarty: Did you think at that point, you had it all behind you?
Dr. Kim Lark: Yes.
The forgery and larceny charges landed Jon Green locked up in the Eddy County Detention Center in Carlsbad, where he met Greg Markham, who was detained on drug charges.
Erin Moriarty: Was he angry with Kim?
Greg Markham: Oh, he was furious with her.
Markham says they bonded over a chessboard.
Greg Markham: I played chess with him every day. Got to know the guy. … He kept asking me if I knew somebody that could kill his wife.
Markham says he saw an opportunity to make Jon Green his pawn.
Greg Markham: And I was like, “you know what, man, I can’t find anybody. I’ll do it. How do you want it done?”
Erin Moriarty: So … you promised to kill his wife?
Greg Markham: I said, “Oh, yeah man, I’ll do it. I’ll do it for you.”
Erin Moriarty: Were you going to?
Greg Markham: No! No!
Markham says he’s a con man — not a hit man — and was never serious about killing Kim Lark.
He desperately needed bail money, he says, to save his own dog Atlas from being euthanized.
Greg Markham: I’ve been living on my own. It’s me and my dog …
Greg Markham: I gotta convince this guy … to bond me out so I can go take care of my dog, make sure he’s OK.
He says Green paid for the bail.
Greg Markham: Once he was convinced that I was gonna do it, he wouldn’t stop talking about it. … He was … “Let’s talk about it again. What are you gonna do?”
Markham says Green had a specific way he wanted his wife to die. He concocted a lethal plot to poison Kim, forcing her to drink water laced with fentanyl to look like an overdose.
Greg Markham: Yeah, I was supposed to mix up fentanyl pills … and make sure she drank the whole water bottle.
If she refused, says Markham, Green’s grisly plan was to aim a gun — not at Kim — but at her beloved dogs.
Greg Markham: And … she’ll do whatever you want done.
Jon Green fiercely denies all of it and was determined to fight the charges against him — as he had before in another courtroom on another continent. Twenty-six years earlier, a roaring inferno engulfed a Monte Carlo penthouse killing a billionaire and his private nurse. At the fiery center of that mystery was the very same man — with a very different name.
Ted Maher and the firey deaths in Monaco
Sun-drenched, laid back Carlsbad, New Mexico, isn’t the only place where this man made headlines.
It isn’t the first time he was accused of a major crime. And Kim Lark is not the only woman who loved him.
It was 2002 when I first met Heidi Wustrau.
Heidi: I’ve saved every rose he gave me.
Erin Moriarty: Every rose he’s given you since you’ve known him?
Heidi: Yeah.
She was married to the man who would one day become Jon Green. His name then: Ted Maher. That name would become known around the world. The couple lived in New York and had two children together, meeting in nursing school.
Erin Moriarty(2002): What kind of nurse is he?
Heidi: He’s a neonatal intensive care nurse.
Ted told her about his time serving as a Special Forces Green Beret. He seemed defined by intensity and compassion.
Heidi(2002): He always put others first. … He was just so loving, so caring. … You know, and I wanted someone like that.
His compassion was on display in the summer of 1999, in the neonatal unit where Ted worked, when two grateful new parents connected him to the job of a lifetime.
Heidi(2002): To take care of a rich banker who we never heard of. … To be his private nurse. He had Parkinson’s disease.
Edmond Safra was that rich banker. And he wasn’t just regular rich. He was one of the richest men on earth. The bank? Safra owned it, living with his elegant wife Lily in a penthouse above a bank branch in the Monte Carlo district of glittering, diamond-sized Monaco, tucked along the exclusive French Riviera.
Heidi(2002): Obviously, we’ve never seen the world, you know, like that.
So, when Safra made the offer, Ted couldn’t refuse, says Heidi, despite having to leave his family.
Heidi(2002): We thought … this is just temporary, and we have the rest of our lives to get together afterwards.
It was that October when Ted Maher’s fascinating new job brought him to Monaco.
Heidi(2002): It was just a different world he kept saying. … He liked it. He liked Mr. Safra very much. They got along well.
Maher sometimes worked the night shift, at times with nurse Vivian Torrente. Along with his private-duty nurses, Safra also kept a personal security force for protection.
Heidi(2002): We didn’t know who this man was. It was all new to us.
Then came Dec. 3, 1999.
Heidi(2002): I was getting the kids off to school in the morning as usual. And I got a phone call … and it was Ted’s sister, who sounded upset and crying. … She asked me to turn on the news.
DAN RATHER (1999 CBS News report): Two masked men armed with knives invaded the Riviera penthouse of Edmond Safra.
It was a startling report about intruders and a fire in the Safra penthouse. Just five weeks after her husband left for Monaco, the billionaire who brought him there and nurse Vivian Torrente were dead. Autopsies would determine they had both died from “smoke poisoning.” And Ted was wounded and bloody.
Ted would tell authorities a story that would be discussed and debated for years. He said that intruders broke into the penthouse, attacked and stabbed him. That he scrambled to get help, while his boss took shelter in a bathroom.
Ted says he lit a small fire with a candle and paper towels in a trash basket thinking the fire department would respond quickly.
Heidi(2002): He knew the smoke detectors were direct access to the fire department, so he wanted to set that off.
Back in New York, Heidi was worried, and she contacted Safra’s office. She wasn’t surprised at what she heard.
Heidi(2002):They said that Ted was indeed a hero that night. … I said that’s Ted.
And within hours Heidi headed to Monaco.
Heidi(2002): I was to go straight to the hospital to see Ted.
Erin Moriarty: Did you?
Heidi: No.
Instead, soon after arriving, Heidi says she was intercepted by police.
She had been told that Ted acted like a hero. That was about to change. As police questioned her, Heidi says it became clear they thought her husband might be a killer. She alleges they took her passport and used it as a weapon against Ted.
Heidi(2002): When my passport was taken they brought it to Ted to get him to confess for this. And he was told then that I was strip searched and tortured, and I would not be allowed to leave the state of Monaco back to our family.
She said that threat caused Ted to falsely confess. He would now say there were no intruders. That he had taken a knife and that he had stabbed himself to make it look like he had tried to save his powerful boss from attackers.
Heidi(2002): They’re saying he gave himself a lidocaine injection prior to stabbing himself.
Erin Moriarty: And lidocaine, what, deadens –
Heidi: Would numb it.
And Heidi says the confession he signed was written in French, which Ted did not understand.
Heidi(2002): I feel they wanted a nice clean ending to this, quick. … It would be good for the state of Monaco to have their citizens feel safe.
Ted Maher arrives at the Monaco courthouse in November 2022 for the start of his trial for the 1999 arson that killed billionaire banker Edmond Safra and a nurse. : Pascal Guyot / Contributor via Getty Images
Ted was locked up, charged with “arson” — an intentional act — leading to the deaths of Safra and Torrente. He faced life in prison if convicted at trial.
Heidi(2002): This is someone I — I know. I know he didn’t do this.
Was Ted Maher framed?
With the strike of a match, Ted Maher’s dream job went up in smoke. Two people were dead and Ted was now being blamed.
Heidi(2002): I’ve known him now 13 years. He would never hurt anyone.
DAN RATHER (1999 CBS News report): Monaco’s chief prosecutor says an American male nurse confessed to starting the fire that killed Safra and another nurse …
The death of Edmond Safra exploded into a sensational story that would fascinate authors Jennifer Thomas and her husband Bill Hayes.
Bill Hayes: If you saw this on the screen … you’d be going this — none of this makes sense. This doesn’t happen.
There were allegations — none of them substantiated — that might have supported Ted’s original claim about intruders. Talk that Safra had enemies, that he had been the victim of a Russian mob hit.
Bill Hayes: Safra had an awful lot of connections to Russia.
And rumors were inflamed by a suspicious discovery. Heidi told us that the night of the fire, Safra’s private force of security guards were, oddly, not on site.
Erin Moriarty(2002): Was that usual?
Heidi: Unheard of.
There were also whispers about Safra’s stylish wife Lily.
Jennifer Thomas: The rumors about her and her previous husbands.
Lily had been married four times — with one other husband also deceased, prompting more conjecture.
Jennifer Thomas: She’s rumored to be a black widow who has inherited a lot of money from her husbands.
But police believed Ted was responsible for two deaths. It would take three long years to bring Ted to trial. And in that time, Heidi was only occasionally able to speak to Ted from his prison on the Mediterranean Sea.
TED MAHER (prison phone call): I’m not an arsonist or a murderer. It goes — it goes against everything that I’ve done in my — in my entire life. …
Heidi (2002): I try to be strong because I know he needs my strength too. …
TED MAHER (prison phone call): Never forget this Heidi, never, I – I love you.
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HEIDI: I love you.
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TED MAHER: The — the happiness of — of a man in, in his life, Heidi, doesn’t consist of — of — in my absence but in, in what I retain and hold in my heart. …
Heidi(2002): I just wish this wasn’t my life.
New York lawyer Michael Griffith joined Ted’s defense team; Griffith had made a name for himself defending Americans abroad. Ted Maher became a client — and a tough one.
Erin Moriarty (2002): Let me go through some of the odd things about this case. Is there any evidence, other than what Ted said initially — any evidence of two intruders? …
Michael Griffith: There is no evidence that I know of of any intruders.
Instead, Griffith would argue that Ted did what the authorities said: he stabbed himself and set the fire. But that he never intended for anyone to die. That he was just trying to make himself look like a hero.
Michael Griffith(2002): Ted is the fireman who started the fire. Firemen who start fires do it not to hurt people, but to save people. …
Erin Moriarty: Are you saying that you believe Ted actually did start the fire, cut himself to make himself look like a hero?
Michael Griffith: I believe that’s what Ted did. …
Erin Moriarty: Did he actually tell you he did this himself?
Michael Griffith: Well, yeah. He told me that — that he did this to himself. And that’s the basis of our defense.
Griffith contends that no one would have died that night if police and firefighters had gotten to the victims faster. It took them about two-and-a-half hours to reach Safra and Torrente. But authorities say they got to the scene in minutes but had to be careful and slow their response because Ted told them there were violent intruders inside.
Marc Bonnant: He’s totally liable of the circumstances that he created.
In 2002, attorney Marc Bonnant spoke to “48 Hours.” He represented Safra’s widow, Lily. He says the rumors about her are false.
Marc Bonnant: Not only it’s not true, obviously, it is scandalous.
Marc Bonnant: Lily is devastated by what happened.
In November 2002 Heidi traveled to Monaco as the trial began. Ted was facing possible life in prison.
Erin Moriarty: Do you think your husband will get a fair trial in Monaco?
Heidi: Not at all.
Erin Moriarty: Why not?
Heidi: They have the reputation of Monaco on the line, and they would never risk that.
She wasn’t happy when Ted testified that there had been no intruders and that he had in fact stabbed himself. And she was furious that Griffith allowed Ted to take the blame for something she believes he didn’t do.
Erin Moriarty(2002): Heidi believes with all her heart, Ted didn’t do this. That he’s being forced to say he did it. … I mean what’s the truth here?
Michael Griffith: Well, all I know is that Ted is my client. I know what Ted has told me. …
Heidi (to Griffith): He was told this is the best way to go. …
Michael Griffith: Heidi, I don’t know what to tell you. All I know is I’m doing my job based upon what my client’s told me. And I guess you’re going to have to –
Heidi: And this is our life.
Michael Griffith: This is your life.
Heidi: This is Ted’s life.
Michael Griffith: Right.
Ted Maher was convicted of arson, leading to the death of two people.He was sentenced to 10 years. But to Heidi, it was the end of life as she had known it.
And then, in January, just seven weeks after the trial, Ted called Heidi from outside the prison.
Heidi (2003): Ted said, “It’s me, I’m out.”
He had cut the metal bars, scaled down the prison walls, and escaped.
Heidi(2003): I said, “you’re joking,” and he says, “no, I’m out.” … He asked for money, and I said no, and he got angry at me.
Ted’s freedom was short-lived. The next day, he was back in custody. Heidi was furious that he would risk so much, including having his sentence extended. She says her faith in Ted had run out.
Heidi(2003): I don’t need him, and I don’t want him. … I did the best I could to bring him home, but now it seems like he’s doing his own job of screwing up.
Heidi filed for divorce. As for Ted, he was released in 2007. When he landed at JFK, the woman who had believed in him was nowhere to be found. But Ted would eventually find others in his corner — those authors Jennifer Thomas and Bill Hayes. Together with Ted, they would write “Framed in Monte Carlo.” Ted was back to insisting that while caring for Edmond Safra, he was attacked by violent intruders.
Jennifer Thomas: What they had accused him of doing didn’t make any sense why anybody would do that in the first place. And so, everything he said made perfect sense when he told us the story.
What Thomas and Hayes found intriguing was a report in a French newspaper. According to Le Figaro, at an unrelated hearing, a judge who served on Ted Maher’s case had claimed Ted’s sentence had been predetermined before the trial even began.
Erin Moriarty: And in your mind, the real story is this guy was set up?
Bill Hayes: 100 percent.
Back in the States, Ted was alone. Steady work was tough to find — especially if your name was Ted Maher.
Erin Moriarty: And that new name?
Jennifer Thomas: Jon Green.
The alleged plot to kill Kim Lark
In his first 10 years back in the United States, Jon Green tried to shed his alter ego, Ted Maher of Monaco. He found a new job driving trucks and began a new romance with Dr. Kim Lark, who he went on to marry in 2020. But the marriage crumbled and in 2023 Green found himself facing a new charge – solicitation to commit first-degree murder.
Det. Garrett Silva: Dr. Lark is a big name in this town. She’s well known by a lot of people.
Green was still behind bars for forging those checks and stealing the dogs, when Detective Garrett Silva of the Eddy County Sheriff’s Office began investigating the alleged plot that Green made with his jail mate Greg Markham to murder Kim.
Det. Garrett Silva: Greg Markham was hired by Jon Green to kill his wife.
It was a charge that Green vigorously denied when investigators interviewed him in September 2023.
Jon Green is questioned by investigators in September 2023 about an alleged plot to kill his estranged wife Kim Lark. Fifth Judicial District Attorney’s Office
INVESTIGATOR: On harming Dr. Lark, is there anything that we need to be aware about … for her safety and … or yours?
JON GREEN: No, absolutely not. None.
INVESTIGATOR: I think you know where we’re going with this.
JON GREEN: You think that I’m gonna have somebody harm Kim? … Absolutely not.
But authorities weren’t persuaded. Jon Green’s trial began on March 3, 2025. Prosecutor Martin Wolfson called his star witness Greg Markham to the stand.
MARTIN WOLFSON (in court): Mr. Markham, did Jon Green instruct you on how you should carry the murder out?
GREG MARKHAM: Yes in great detail.
Kim Lark took us through the house where it was supposed to happen.
Erin Moriarty: What’s he supposed to do?
Dr. Kim Lark: Turn off the power to the house.
Greg Markham: I’ve been an electrician for 19 years. … I knew how to do that.
Erin Moriarty: And where was he gonna be?
Dr. Kim Lark: He was supposed to be hiding in the carport. …
Greg Markham: Well, he said … she’s kind of pretty frail, you’re a big guy …
Markham says he was supposed to overpower Kim and grab the gun she kept in the center console of her car.
Dr. Kim Lark: Apparently, he was going to bring me into the house …
Dr. Kim Lark: He told him … how to control my dogs.
Erin Moriarty(to Markham): Show it to me …
Greg Markham(motioning): So you’re raising your hands up as high as you can get. And you yell “down” as — as loud as you can and slam your hands down and then dogs stop, and they won’t move until given another command.
According to Markham, Green also told him where he could find Kim Lark’s safe.
Erin Moriarty: … you would only know that if somebody told you that, right?
Dr. Kim Lark: Right.
Erin Moriarty: There’s no way you would.
Dr. Kim Lark: Yeah.
But defense attorney Blake Dugger told the jury Greg Markham is no angel and that they shouldn’t believe a word he says.
BLAKE DUGGER (to jurors): One of the greatest powers you have today is the power to judge someone’s credibility.
Blake Dugger: Greg Markham is an individual, uh, with a checkered past who really um tried to take advantage and did take advantage of Jon Green.
But the state presented evidence they said proves Greg Markham was telling the truth — a diagram Markham made with similarities to the interior of Kim’s house. He testified Jon Green had detailed it to him as part of the murder plot.
Greg Markham: He described the long hallway beside the back door.
And prosecutors had evidence that Green was in a hurry to get money to pay Markham for the hit: jail calls between Green and author Jennifer Thomas, who was managing his finances while he was behind bars. Green called her multiple times asking her to wire $2,500 to an intermediary. First he said he wanted the money to buy a trailer, but his story kept changing.
JON GREEN (Jan. 30 jail call): Would that be a pain for you to do?
JENNIFER THOMAS: … There’s many ways I can send money to him.
JON GREEN: Alright.
Thomas eventually did what Green asked, but she was stunned when she learned that prosecutors believed the money was really partial payment in a murder for hire.
Erin Moriarty: You had gotten the money for him.
Jennifer Thomas: I was freaked out!
She said she and Hayes were relieved when the DA decided they had not knowingly done anything wrong. Blake Dugger insisted his client didn’t either, arguing even Greg Markham’s diagram wasn’t damning because it could have been cooked up after a casual conversation with Green.
BLAKE DUGGER (in court ): It is not a crime for a man to proudly describe how his house looks to other people …
Jon Green didn’t testify and Dugger didn’t call any witnesses believing that prosecutors had failed to prove their case. After just two days, it was in the jury’s hands.
Blake Dugger: I was feeling good. I was feeling good.
Jon Green aka Ted Maher speaks to “48 Hours”
The jury deliberated for only about an hour. They convicted Jon Green of solicitation to commit first-degree murder.
Dr. Kim Lark: His lying has finally caught up with him.
Judge David Finger sentenced Jon Green – aka Ted Maher – to nine years in prison. With time served, he’ll be out in less than three.
For nearly 25 years, we’ve had questions for Ted Maher. New Mexico authorities barred our cameras from the prison, but in March 2026, Ted’s attorney Blake Dugger arranged a video visit with him and Ted allowed us to interview him.
The judge sentenced Jon Green – aka Ted Maher – to nine years in prison. New Mexico Corrections Department
Erin Moriarty: Did you try to hire someone to kill your wife?
Ted Maher aka Jon Green: No, I did not. … Absolutely not.
Ted Maher aka Jon Green: I shouldn’t be here, but unfortunately, I am here …
Once again, Ted says he was framed — he would never instruct someone to hold a gun to a dog’s head he says, And he claimed that he only gave Greg Markham the $2,500 to help rescue Markham’s dog — not to murder Kim.
Ted Maher aka Jon Green: You don’t pay somebody $2,500 to kill anybody. That is absolutely ridiculous.
But how then did Markham seem to know so much about the layout of Kim Lark’s house?
Markham made us a diagram too, and we compared it to the house itself. It wasn’t exactly a match, but there were disturbing similarities.
Erin Moriarty: It shows where the power source is.
Dr. Kim Lark: Right. …
Erin Moriarty: And where the safe was? Is that right?
Dr. Kim Lark: Yes.
“… this was the basic layout …” Greg Markman shows “48 Hours” his diagram of Kim Lark’s home. CBS News
Erin Moriarty(video call): He did a drawing of her house. How would he have those details if you didn’t give it to him?
Ted Maher aka Jon Green: That drawing was not all, at all there, uh 100% factual.
Ted echoed what his lawyer argued in the trial: whatever Markham knew about the home’s layout came from innocent conversations.
Ted Maher aka Jon Green(video call): I explained how I had re-put, done electrical panels. And I talked about how I took out a bookcase to put a safe at a high level, so she wouldn’t have to bend down.
In fact, he told us he was a doting husband devoted to making life easier for Kim.
Erin Moriarty(video call): You said you loved Kim Lark …
Ted Maher aka Jon Green: I still love her!
He admitted he forged her signature on a check, but said, as the marriage crumbled, he had no income and needed money. And he said he had a right to the dogs since his divorce settlement with Kim hadn’t been finalized yet.
Ted Maher aka Jon Green(video call): Those dogs were still community property ma’am.
Just like he once claimed in Monaco, he told us he’s an innocent and fundamentally good man — taken advantage of by others.
Erin Moriarty(video call): As you sit here today, do you feel responsible for Edmond Safra’s death?
Ted Maher aka Jon Green: No, I don’t.
But the couple who once believed Ted Maher’s proclamations of innocence now wonder what really happened on the December night in Monte Carlo that ended with the deaths of a billionaire and his nurse.
“I’m not responsible for the death of two people,” Ted Maher yells out to “48 Hours” producer Josh Yager from the prison yard in Monaco in 2002. CBS News
Jennifer Thomas: There is a chance in my mind now that he did orchestrate that.
Bill Hayes still believes Ted told the truth about intruders attacking him that night. But Hayes and Thomas agree that when it comes to Ted’s plot to kill Kim Lark – the plot they say he sucked them into – he is guilty as charged.
Jennifer Thomas: … I feel betrayed.
Bill Hayes: I would want to know why, why you lied …
And while we may never know thew whole truth for sure, we found evidence that Ted had hedged one of his most basic claims which he repeatedly made over the years.
Erin Moriarty: Were you, in fact, special forces and a Green Beret?
Ted Maher aka Jon Green: I went through all three phases …
Erin Moriarty: You’re saying you went through the training …
Ted Maher aka Jon Green: I finished the three programs.
Erin Moriarty: Come on, Ted … don’t double talk here.
Ted Maher aka Jon Green: I never was assigned to a unit at the Green Berets.
Erin Moriarty: So, you never served as a Green Beret.
Ted Maher aka Jon Green: I served … I went down into special forces … Yes, I did.
If Ted Maher didn’t give us a straight answer, the Army certainly did, telling us “There is no evidence that Theodore Maher served in the special forces.”
Dr. Kim Lark: He’s a thief, he’s a liar, a con artist …
And Kim Lark says she’s worried she hasn’t seen the last of him.
Dr. Kim Lark: When he gets out, I’ll be in trouble.
Erin Moriarty: Does Kim Lark have a reason to be scared of you?
Ted Maher aka Jon Green: No, absolutely not.
Det. Garrett Silva: There’s no telling what he may do.
Detective Garrett Silva, who helped piece the murder solicitation case together, was promoted to sergeant with the K9 unit. He told us that if he were in Kim’s position, he would keep a dog by his side for protection. And that’s exactly what Kim Lark is doing.
Dr. Kim Lark with her trusted companions. CBS News
Dr. Kim Lark: I don’t trust anybody. I’m always on alert …
She told us Ted has demanded money as part of their divorce and she’s infuriated. Kim admits that anger can be lonely, but anyone who knows Kim knows, with her dogs, she’s never really alone.
Erin Moriarty: Kim, do they follow you everywhere?
Dr. Kim Lark: Yes.
Erin Moriarty: Oh my god that makes me laugh.
Dr. Kim Lark: Dogs just want to be with you all the time.
Erin Moriarty: And you can trust them!
Dr. Kim Lark: Yes. Yes.
Erin Moriarty: OK.
Jon Green, aka Ted Maher, appealed his conviction and was denied.
He is scheduled for release in 2029.
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