Jon Green convicted of soliciting murder of ex-wife

Carlsbad, New Mexico, was home to Jon Green in 2017. That year a routine medical exam introduced him to Dr. Kim Lark. Months later they began texting and then dating. Green told Lark about his past, including a claim that he had been falsely accused of arson more than 20 years earlier that caused the deaths of two people, including a billionaire banker in Monte Carlo. Lark said she believed him at first.

By the time they married on Valentine's Day 2020, Lark had a medical practice, an $800,000 retirement account and a home on four acres outside town. In April 2022 she noticed her checkbook was missing. The bank called to ask about checks written in her name. Security footage showed Green trying to cash them. Lark filed for divorce and changed the locks. About a month later Green took her three search-and-rescue dogs and her vehicle. The dogs, Storm, Zero and Felony, were highly trained and had worked with FEMA and law enforcement. Zero was pregnant.

Lark believed Green had taken the dogs to Texas. She contacted Abel Peña, a retired FBI agent who runs Project Absentis. Peña received a tip and helped authorities arrest Green in San Antonio on June 13, 2022. Green was charged with forgery and larceny. Peña later found the dogs at a house in the area. Zero had given birth to eight puppies. Peña returned all 11 dogs to Lark.

While Green was held in the Eddy County Detention Center he met Greg Markham, who was detained on drug charges. Markham said Green asked him repeatedly if he knew someone who could kill Lark. Markham said he told Green he would do it himself to get bail money for his own dog. He said Green paid the bail and described a plan to poison Lark with fentanyl or threaten her dogs with a gun if she refused to drink the water.

Green denies the claims. Markham said he was never serious about carrying out the killing. Authorities charged Green with solicitation to commit first-degree murder. At trial in March 2025, Markham testified that Green gave detailed instructions on how to enter Lark's home, control the dogs and find her safe. Prosecutors presented jail calls in which Green asked an author managing his finances to wire $2,500 to an intermediary. The defense argued Markham was not credible and that the diagram he drew could have come from casual conversation.

The jury convicted Green after about an hour of deliberation. Judge David Finger sentenced him to nine years. With time served he is scheduled for release in 2029. Green, who also goes by Ted Maher, has maintained his innocence and appealed the conviction. The appeal was denied.