New Mexico doctor’s ex husband accused of dognapping and murder plot

Kim Lark said the breakup with her estranged husband turned into something far more dangerous when Jon Green took her three search-and-rescue dogs from outside a hospice facility in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Felony, Storm and Zero were inside Lark’s locked SUV with the air conditioning running in May 2022, and Green also allegedly took her vehicle, setting off a search that lasted weeks.

Lark, a New Mexico doctor and FEMA-certified canine handler, said the dogs had traveled with her on disaster deployments across the country. One dog’s lineage traced back to search efforts at the Pentagon after Sept. 11. Zero was pregnant when taken and later gave birth to eight puppies, all eventually reunited with Lark after a private investigator hired by her found the animals safe.

What began as a dognapping case later widened into a far more serious criminal case. Green, who was formerly known as Ted Maher, was convicted in 2002 in connection with the arson death of billionaire Edmond Safra in Monaco. CBS says prosecutors later alleged that while Green was jailed in Eddy County, he tried to arrange for a cellmate, Greg Markham, to kill Lark. According to that account, Green allegedly told the man to hold a gun to one of Lark’s dogs and force her to drink fentanyl-laced water.

Green denied the charges. He was arrested in San Antonio, Texas, on June 13, 2022, on burglary, larceny, forgery and fraud charges tied to the stolen dogs and alleged check forgery. KRQE reported that the marriage had deteriorated after two years and noted that Green had previously served eight years in prison in Monaco-related proceedings.

The case has drawn renewed attention because it shows how domestic breakdown can escalate into stalking, coercive control and violence long before a case is treated as a life-threatening threat. Police searched for Green for weeks after the dogs disappeared, but the allegations that followed suggest a deeper pattern than a family dispute over property or pets. Authorities and courts now face the harder question of how to recognize when personal betrayal becomes an organized attempt to intimidate, isolate and silence a victim.

CBS News will air a new 48 Hours episode, The Man with Two Names, on Saturday, May 16, 2026, at 10:00 PM ET/PT on CBS and Paramount+. The program includes interviews with Lark, Green, Green’s ex-wife, Markham, prosecutors, defense counsel and law enforcement, and centers on the link between the Monaco arson case and the New Mexico murder-plot allegations.