The Man with Two Names | Post Mortem | Forensic Files

Welcome back to another episode of 48 Hours Postmortem. I'm your host Anne Marie Green, and today we are talking
about the man with two names. The first name, John Green, uh he is serving time for soliciting the murder
of his wife in New Mexico. He was also convicted uh for forging checks and larceny, but more than 20 years earlier
this same man, then known as Ted Maher, was at the center of an international mystery involving a billionaire in
Monaco. So, joining me now to unpack this intercontinental criminal decades-long
saga, our 48 Hours correspondent Erin Moriarty and producer Josh Yager. Thanks for joining us, Erin and Josh. Hi, Anne
Marie. It's a pleasure to be here. It's great being here because I think Josh would agree with me, this is one of the
more unusual defendants we've ever run into, wouldn't you say? I would say so. We've both been doing this job a long
time and it's hard to hard to get to know him, hard to know what to believe, and it's been an adventure covering him.
So, speaking of that, um you all have actually been covering Ted Maher, John Green, since 2002. Well, not exactly. I
mean, we really thought back then when that story ended, when he was convicted, that we had seen the last of him. So, I
mean, I think Josh and I were both surprised that he would come back into our radar screen with a whole other
crime. Okay, so there is obviously a lot to talk about. Before we get going, of course, a reminder for everyone, if you
haven't watched or listened to this episode, it's called The Man With Two Names, go check it out and then come on
back for our conversation here at Postmortem. So, first we're going to take you back to the late 1900s, uh more
specifically December 3rd, 1999. In the early morning hours, emergency responders arrived at the Monte Carlo
penthouse of billionaire Edmond Safra. There had been a fire and both Safra, along with his nurse, her name is Vivian
Torrente, they died from smoke poisoning. Well, soon after an American, then known as Ted Maher, was arrested.
Josh, Maher is working as a nurse. Um, but how does this American nurse find himself involved in in the life of an
international financier, one of the wealthiest men in the world? It's just an amazing story and an incredibly lucky
turn of events in his life. Um, at least it seemed so at the time. He'd been working as a nurse in a hospital in
New York City and he was in the the neonatal unit. According to his wife at the time, he'd taken care of twins at
the hospital. But when the babies were allowed to go home, the parents mistakenly left behind a
camera, which turns out to have had the very first pictures of the babies on it. And
he contacts them. Well, it turns out these parents, this couple, is a very wealthy
couple who live in New York, who happen to be friends of Edmond Safra and his wife, Lily. And
they're so grateful to Ted for returning their camera and they say to Ted, "We have someone we'd like to introduce
you to. A friend of ours happens to need a nurse." And the rest is history. His wife at the
time, she said that she felt that part of Safra's attraction to someone like Maher was that he was also purportedly a
Green Beret, right, Aaron? Yes, but Anne-Marie, remember, Safra had Parkinson's, so he was sick, he wanted
great care, but also Safra surrounded himself with security because he believed he had enemies who might come
after him. So, the fact that Ted Maher told people he was a Green Beret, this appeared to be a perfect fit. A nurse
who also had a military background. So, Ted took the job, moving around with the
Safra's, sometimes going back home to New York, and eventually ending up in Monaco with the Safra's. Mhm. But then
there is this fire, and there are all sorts of versions about how the events unfold, Aaron. What do we know? We know
for one thing that Safra and his nurse died from smoke poisoning, as you had talked about. And the two had locked
themselves into a secure room when Ted Maher alerted them that there were intruders in the apartment. Maher was in
fact found wounded. At that time, he claimed he was stabbed by two intruders. He also said that the reason why he lit
a small fire in a trash basket was cuz he thought that would set off the fire alarm and get help, thinking that the
fire department, especially in Monaco, that small country, they would respond quickly.
What did seem odd to observers at the time, this became a big deal afterwards, is that most of Safra's security wasn't
there that night. So, that seemed to be very strange. Maher's wife at the time told us that
her husband was initially seen as a hero, but then later he was charged with arson, and in part because Maher signed
a confession saying there were no intruders. He said he stabbed himself, then set that small fire. His lawyer
though maintained that Ted never intended to kill anyone. He just wanted to look like a hero by saving his boss.
And his attorney also said that no one would have died if the responders had gotten to the victims faster. But
authorities blamed Ted because they said they did get to the scene in minutes, but they had to be careful and they
slowed their response because Ted had told them that they were violent intruders inside at the scene. So, he is
arrested and Josh, uh you were in Monaco in uh 2002 and you are able to briefly film him in prison. You throw him a few
questions, but I need to hear that story about how you even managed to do that. Well, as a producer you encounter lots
of obstacles in the field and your job is to get around them, over them, under them. In this case we got got over one.
>> Above. Uh above one, exactly. Um Monaco did not make Ted Maher available to the
press for interviews and we were afraid we weren't going to get to talk to him. But over the course of the trial I
noticed that when the court wasn't in session, he would come out into the prison yard,
which was a sort of an asphalt surface with a cage around it, at roughly the same time every day.
And there was one building right up next to the prison yard, which happened to be something like 10 stories
tall. Um and so I took the crew and we somehow managed to talk our way through the lobby of this building and
got get permission to go up on the roof with our camera and our tripod and right
on schedule that day he came out and he was by himself in the prison yard. We started filming immediately. I leaned
over the wall and started yelling questions at him and I said, "Did you do it?" He heard me and started answering.
Oh my gosh. I I assume he said he didn't do it. He said he was as I recall, "I've been
innocent as charged and I'm not responsible for the death of two people." That's my recollection of what
he said. That is fascinating. See, that's the kind of uh work that that goes into getting these sort of amazing
interviews and this is next level. Um So, in the end Ted Maher was found guilty of arson uh leading to the death
of two people. He was then sentenced to 10 years in prison, but then weeks later, he escapes.
And we actually learned how he escaped from this prison because years later, he wrote a book about it, Erin. Yes, that
was the book Framed in Monte Carlo. According to that um he had cut the bars of his cell. I mean, this story is just
so crazy. Then he used a rope made of trash bags and scaled the wall. Um he claimed that he had had hacksaw blades
smuggled in, hid them in the lining of his bread, hid the trash bags in the prison library. doesn't sound like there
was great security there. Right. >> And then he had to saw through multiple layers of bars. Uh uh again, according
to the story he tells, um it took 5 and 1/2 weeks to cut his way out. There should have been a movie made about
this. Really, it's so crazy. >> You think you've seen everything in this job and and I've seen a lot since then,
but this still ranks up there among the most bizarre things that have ever happened.
This is about a month or two after he's convicted. And it just so happened that Erin and I were back in Monte Carlo sort
of tying up loose ends on the story and I'm in my hotel room fast asleep. It must be 2:30 or 3:00 in the morning when
my phone rings. I sit up in bed and I answer the phone and it is Ted Maher's wife. She said,
"My husband escaped. He just called me from outside of the prison telling me he was out and asking for my
help." Oh my gosh. I grabbed my mini DV camera and ran up to the prison. It wasn't very far away from the hotel.
And I look up and I see a window on the side of the prison that's been pried open. So, I film
the open window and I head back to my hotel room, lie down in bed, and there's a knock on the door.
And I'm suddenly surrounded by police. I I I speak enough French to know that that they wanted me to come down to the
station. Wow. >> It's by now probably 4:00 in the morning. I remember the the detective sitting there had a sort
of cigarette with a long ash dangling off the end and there was smoke curling up towards the ceiling. It was
very It's sort of something out of film noir and I was sitting there and >> Absolutely. I said,
"What's going on?" And I I think I got the feeling that what they were worried about was why did the American inmate
escape on the same night that the American TV producer was up lurking around the prison in the middle of the
night. >> Right. Finally, we cleared everything up and I got home and I saw Erin in the lobby,
filled her in. I remember the look on her face and that was just yet another weird little chapter in this. I would
have loved to see Erin's face when you were like, "Guess what I've been up to over the last 6 hours?"
Guess what Ted has been up to. I know. Freedom was not long for him. Uh the next day uh he was back in custody and
that is where sort of the the story sort of ends, you think, for you too, right?
Decades pass. Um but then, Josh, you just happen to be digging around recently. So, I'm sitting
there in my office probably 2 and 1/2 months ago, 3 months ago. And it just popped into my head,
"I wonder what some of the truly outlandish people you have covered in the in your 30 years at CBS,
what some of them are doing now?" And the name that went immediately to the top of the list was Ted Maher. So, I
literally Googled him. I put his name into Google and the first thing that popped up
was about a documentary made primarily on the Monaco case that happened to be dropping that night. But then, I look
below that on on the Google search and I learn that Ted Maher got out of prison in Monaco,
came back to the United States, changed his name to John Green, and just last spring, the spring of
2025, was convicted for soliciting the first-degree murder of his wife in New Mexico. And my next
move was immediately to call Aaron and say and say, "Remember Ted Maher?" So, now
Maher is charged with a new crime? You would think that he would come back to the United States, he would go back to
nursing or something like that, but he would lead a straight and narrow life. But now, this put a whole new wrinkle to
the story. Who was this guy? Welcome back. So, you were able to interview some key
figures in the life of John Green, as he's known now. Uh chief among them, his now ex-wife, uh Kim Lark. She's a
retired physician in Carlsbad, New Mexico, and also the trainer and owner of search and rescue dogs. Uh she met
Green when he came into her office for a biopsy. She said they really hit it off.
And Kim marries him in 2020. Did she know about his past and did any of that give her pause?
That was one of my first questions, Amalie, because you know, she's a very smart woman. She's a doctor.
But she said that very early in their relationship, John, cuz he went by the name John Green by then, he told her his
real name, Ted Maher, and then he gave her the book, Framed in Monte Carlo. And And of course, that book is all his side
of the story, and she said to me that she believed him. Um and she thought that it In fact, he
may have been unfairly blamed for the deaths, but I think she really wanted to believe him, too.
Right. >> Kim Lark said, I'm paraphrasing her, "Whatever I wanted my best friend to be,
he was. And he had a way of just being who you needed him to be. And that resonated with me as something he
perhaps has always known how to do." He's a chameleon. That's what I think he is. He's a chameleon.
I mean, the guy looks good on paper, right? Nurse, former Green Beret, and he loves dogs. But, even with all of that,
uh Kim is starting to have suspicions about this new man in her life. And I want to play an unaired clip of your
interview with Kim. Did you over time start thinking he would tell stories that put
him in a good light? >> Always. He liked to still tell stories and brag about things that he had done.
And just little by little, I realized that a lot of them were stories. Like what? What do you remember like any
kind of story or anything that seemed to be a red flag? We We took a concealed weapons permit.
Now, supposedly, Ted is a Green Beret? And I'm no Annie Oakley, but I really outshot him with with my right and my
left hand. What did you think? I thought, "Oh dear God, he's lying about that." When Kim told us that, we started doing
research and the army told us there was no evidence that he had served in the special forces. So, when I got a chance
to talk to him, I asked him directly about that. This is a man who could talk a lot and never give you a straight
answer. So, I kept asking him, "Were you a member of the special forces and a Green Beret?" And he would say something
like, "Well, I was never assigned to a unit with the Green Berets." So, I then go, "So, you never served as a Green
Beret?" He goes, "Yeah, yeah, I did." I was so confused. Um but, I'm going with the army on this
one. Yeah. I mean, one of the things we see a lot is in this job is is people who know how to
talk a lot whilst whilst saying almost nothing. Very little, yes. That's so true. Well, I'm sure when you're living
with him then this stuff pops up, you know, more and more and no surprise um his marriage go south. Uh really south.
Uh Green is charged for forging checks. He also receives several other charges that were later dropped. Kim then
initiates divorce, but about a month after Green received those initial charges, Kim said he drove away with her
dogs in the car. Why would he take them? Okay, so the first thing I think you have to bear in mind about Kim Lark is
she doesn't just love these dogs. Lots of people love their dogs. These dogs are the most important thing
in Kim Lark's life. But, they are also very valuable, very highly trained as search and rescue,
disaster response, cadaver dogs. In fact, one of them is a descendant of a dog that Kim took to the Pentagon
soon after 9/11 um and and helped look through the rubble of the Pentagon in response to that disaster. And
um one of the dogs, whose name was Zero, was even pregnant when Ted took them. So, these dogs were everything to Kim.
She was very scared that he might sell the dogs. I don't think she worried about him hurting the dogs because he
cared about dogs as well, but she was scared she'd never see the dogs again. Uh Green is arrested and then he ends up
in this detention center. But then, of course, things get even worse. Uh there's another person that is
introduced into the story, Green's jailmate. His name's uh Greg Markham. What did he say happened? So, this is
another unusual character. Greg Markham is a guy who was detained on drug charges when John Green
got to the Eddie County Detention Center. So, they were in jail together. And Markham said they struck up a sort
of a casual friendship and started playing chess every day. Until one day, Markham told us
that John Green asked him, "Do you know anyone who could and would kill my wife?"
Referring to kill Kim Lark. So, what happens, according to Greg Markham, is he said to John Green, "If
you help me get money for bail to bond out of jail, I'll do it." He said that he never really planned
to kill Kim Lark. But he wanted this bail money. So, Markham says that sort of this is
the plan. Green describes the layout of Kim's home. There's a diagram that's drawn out, and the idea was to make her
drink water laced with fentanyl, which seems like a plan that's got you know, a few holes in it. More than a few holes.
I mean, what if he doesn't drink the water? Markham, as Josh said, is quite the character. He He says that Green told
him that the way to force her to take fentanyl, okay, is by pointing a gun not at Kim, but at her dogs.
And that she cared about her dogs so much she would do whatever she was ordered. And then the whole idea was
once the deed was done, there was this like code phrase and it was supposed to be I walked the dogs. I mean, as you
pointed out, Adrienne Marie, it was a ridiculous plan. When I asked him about the plot, and remember, she's she's a
tough chick. She said she would have refused to drink anything and she would have fought like hell for her dogs if
she had to. And of course, then when we talked to John Green, he denied all of this. And the thing about Markham is
that he's certainly no Boy Scout at all. Well, Markham called himself a con man,
not a hit man. One thing that he was unequivocal about, though, was that I may be a lot of
things, but I'm not an assassin. And I would never I would never kill anyone. So then
how was the plot ultimately uncovered? So you have Green and Markham in in jail, and there is a another inmate who
apparently overhears Green and Markham talking about this plot. That inmate takes it upon himself to write Kim Lark
a letter. And in the letter, the inmate is saying to Kim, "Your husband is someone who's in jail
with me, and I have the feeling he's planning to do something to you. If you want to know
more details, um I'm willing to tell you and also even get up in court and testify to this Wow.
and do the right thing if you pay me. Oh [laughter] my gosh. So so what happens is he sends that letter to Kim, and she
immediately gives it to authorities who track down the author of the letter and interview him. He
leads them to Greg Markham who corroborates the story and alleged plot. So then Green goes on trial in March of
2025. He's charged with criminal solicitation to commit first-degree murder. Markham testifies against him.
Green's found guilty. He's sentenced to 9 years in prison, but with time served he could actually get out in less than 3
years. Aaron, you managed to talk to Green. You get an interview with him. His attorney
sets up a video conference and you can ask him some questions. I imagine you must have mapped out your questions and
you were ready to hit him. Well, and remember I he's with me, but he's on video. It's almost like a Zoom
interview. It really is. And so it was frustrating because while we could see him on screen, it's not quite the same.
In many ways even though you know, he's aged definitely over the years, he was the same guy after all these years.
Denied any kind of crimes just as he always had. And as we've been saying throughout this, he has a way of saying
a lot without answering your questions at all. It's very very frustrating. >> talking to people like that especially
when you know your time is limited. We saw some of the interview in the hour. Let's play some more of your
conversation. I followed your life for the last 25 years. I mean, when you read your book it's you seem to blame
everything on somebody else. Well, it's like I got framed in Monaco. I'm I'm just saying what I'm saying is
that when I look at your life over everything in Monaco and then here, you're you're always blaming somebody
else. It's Kim and not you. Do you take responsibility for any of this? Well, I took the responsibility for what I did
when I took the dogs, but the what I did with in most most most actions was community property. I
didn't take a gun to anybody's head. I didn't do anything that would harm anybody. Ted, somebody listening to
right now is listening to what sounds like a very angry man. I mean, did you want Kim Lark dead?
No, absolutely not. I mean, you sound very angry. You sure you didn't like bring this up with Greg Markham?
No, absolutely not. Like I said, you don't pay somebody $2,500 to kill somebody.
That's a convenient thing for him to say. You don't pay $2,500 to kill somebody because Greg Markham said the
$2,500 payment was only the initial installment of what he allegedly was promising to Markham.
And I just want to remind you, Emery, even though he says he never wanted to see his wife dead, the judge at
sentencing who had listened to all the evidence said that he was worried about Kim's safety. Green had appealed his
conviction, it was denied, but he was going to get out at some point. And as for Kim, she told us that even now, even
though Green is still behind bars as we speak, she still keeps a shotgun within easy reach.
>> And she also keeps those dogs around, too. She has the dogs still. >> Yeah, and you know, what what's so great
is that Felony and Storm are back with her. Zero has a new home, and I I just want to remind people that because Zero
was pregnant, she had puppies. So, there were a lot of dogs, and there were people who benefited
from Zero and her puppies. That's fantastic. Well, I I know. This is a hell of an odyssey, but thank you so
much for joining us for this podcast. Pleasure. >> It was fun talking about this.
Um and thank you all for watching or listening to Post Mortem. And if you like this episode, please rate and
review on Apple Podcast or Spotify.

Anne-Marie Green sits down with "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty and producer Josh Yager to discuss Jon Green, who was arrested for stealing his ex-wife's dogs and convicted in 2025 for soliciting her murder. But Erin and Josh first met Jon Green back in 2002, when he was then known as Ted Maher, and he had been convicted of arson, leading to the deaths of billionaire Edmond Safra and his nurse.

True crime. Social justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

For video licensing inquiries, contact: licensing@veritone.com

Brief Summary

John Green, formerly Ted Maher, is convicted of soliciting his wife's murder after a bizarre criminal history involving arson and escape from prison.

Key points

The Man With Two Names. Exploring the bizarre life of Ted Maher, now John Green, and his criminal past.
Ted Maher's Escape. After being convicted, Maher escapes prison using hacksaw blades and trash bags.
Kim Lark's Suspicion. Kim Lark, John Green's ex-wife, starts to doubt his stories and background.
The Interview Tension. An intense exchange reveals deep-seated anger and denial.
Kim's Ongoing Fear. Despite his imprisonment, Kim remains vigilant and armed.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This is one of the more unusual defendants we've ever run into.

Erin and Josh discuss the case.

0:55WatchMay 23, 2026

Tension

75/ 100High tension

More from 48 Hours

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.