The Man with Two Names

0:00Music

0:08John Green does what John Green does, right? He's a charmer. He's a smooth talker. I think he could talk his way in anyone's life. Beneath the surface, there's something really dark. Is this a man who just happens to have really bad luck, or is he a bad guy? He's a bad guy. We had good times together. I never felt like I'm with a bad person. I think he's unlucky. I think he's unlucky. We were so happy when he met Kim Lark, his wife. They went skiing together. They loved dogs together. I had not seen him so happy in all these years that we've known him. I think John Green saw Dr. Kim and saw dollar signs.

0:52You think he targeted her? Yeah, I do. It all turned sour really quick. They were not only separating, but he took the dogs. She loves her dogs. Those are her babies. It's like if he had taken her children. He's stealing your dogs. He's kidnapping your dogs. Oh, I was scared to death that he would get rid of them. Now it became just one thing after another. He's on the road, on the road and on the run. With the dogs. He's actually arrested in San Antonio. He's a thief. He's a liar. A con artist. At Eddy County Detention Center, I met John, and he kept asking me if I knew somebody that could kill his wife.

1:39So here's my husband in jail talking with somebody about the various different ways to kill me and take care of the body. Do you believe that this was a real plan? Yes. This isn't the first time he's been in question of a heinous crime. If he did it once, he can do it again. Who was this man, really? He wasn't John Green. His real name was Ted Maher. And he had been convicted of an arson resulting in the death of a billionaire. I am innocent as stars! So much of it still remains a mystery. I mean, this guy's story is just crazy.

2:42Carlsbad, New Mexico, a small city dwarfed by a vast dirt red desert, was home to John Green in 2017. That was the year a routine medical exam would become a turning point for him and his new doctor, Kim Lark. The very first day when he walks in, how would you have described him? Smiling, happy, wanted to talk, just kind of made you feel comfortable. Months later, they began texting, then dating. He liked everything. that I liked. We started skiing together. We started riding bikes together. 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.

3:44I 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. He said all the right things. He did all the things that I needed my best friend to be. By the time they married on Valentine's 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 four acres outside of town. At that time, did you realize what he was capable of? No, I had no idea. I think he's motivated by money, motivated by power. Molly Forster, a documentary filmmaker and CBS News consultant, has spent years reporting Green's story.

4:39for a new series streaming on the Epis online platform. He likes skiing. It's just like he was a chameleon. She says the man who calls himself John Green has led a life of deception. 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. Just because he's so willing to lie, cheat, steal. In April 2022, Kim noticed her checkbook was missing. And that's when the bank called me and said, hey, did you write this check? She learned that her husband, seen here on bank security footage, was trying to cash thousands of dollars in checks by forging her name at banks all over town.

5:38Kim filed for divorce and changed the locks on her house. About a month later, he stole something else from her that mattered a lot more than money. He's kidnapping your dogs? 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. 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. He could have taken anything except my dogs. And Zero was pregnant at the time.

6:30I 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 Pena had 26 years with the FBI before he retired and founded a nonprofit called Project Absentis to help find missing people. What is the difference between looking for missing people and missing dogs? Dogs don't maintain 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.

7:27Shortly after Green arrived in a BMW, authorities arrested and charged him with forgery and larceny. He had changed his appearance, shaving his head. I ran over to the vehicle, looked in the back windows to see if the dogs were there. 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. 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, and by then, zero had multiplied. There were now eight puppies in a box. And how did you feel?

8:12I was ecstatic. Abel Pena took all 11 dogs to his house and waited for Kim to arrive. Look what we have here. Come on, filly boy. My girls were so happy to see me. I was so relieved. It was a fantastic ending. Come on, come on. Come on, boy. Kim was so thankful she named one of the puppies Abel after the man who had found them. Bye. Bye. Thank you. See you later. Yeah. Did you think at that point you had it all behind you? Yes. The forgery and larceny charges landed John Green here, locked up in the Eddy County Detention Center in Carlsbad, where he met this man, Greg Markham, detained on drug charges.

9:10Was he angry with Kim? Oh, he was furious with her. Markham says they bonded over a chess board. 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. Greg Markham says he saw an opportunity to make John Green his pawn. And I was like, you know what, man? I can't find anybody. I'll do it. How do you want it done? So you promised to kill his wife? I said, oh, yeah, man, I'll do it. I'll do it for you. Were you going to? No, no. Markham says he's a con man, not a hit man, and was never serious about killing Kim Lark. Living on my own, it's me and my dog.

9:54He desperately needed bail money, he says, to save his dog Atlas from being euthanized. I gotta convince this guy to bomb me out so I can go take care of my dog, make sure he's okay. He says Green paid for the bail. Once he was convinced that I was going to do it, he wouldn't stop talking about it. Let's talk about it again. What are you going to 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. Yeah, I was supposed to mix up fentanyl pills and make sure she drank the whole water bottle.

10:34If she refused, says Markham, Green's grisly plan was to aim a gun, not at Kim, but at her beloved dogs. And she'll do whatever you want done. John 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. 26 years earlier, a roaring inferno engulfed a Monte Carlo penthouse, killing the billionaire and his private nurse. At the fiery center of that mystery was the very same man with a very different name.

11:37Sun-drenched, laid-back Carlsbad, New Mexico isn't the only place where this man made headlines.

11:48It isn't the first time he was accused of a major crime. And Kim Lark is not the only woman who loved him.

12:08I've saved every rose he gave me. Every rose he's given you since you've known him? Yeah. It was 2002 when I first met Heidi Wuestraal. She was married to the man who would one day become John 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. What kind of nurse is he? He's a neonatal intensive care nurse. Some pictures with kids, just some of the infants that he took care of. Ted told her about his time serving as a Special Forces Green Parade. He seemed defined by intensity and compassion.

12:55You 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. To take care of a rich banker who we never heard of to be his private nurse. He had Parkinson's disease. Edmund 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 this penthouse above this bank branch. Here in the Monte Carlo district of glittering, diamond-sized Monaco.

13:51tucked along the exclusive French Riviera. 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. We thought, well, this is just temporary and we have the rest of our lives to get together afterwards. It was that October when Maher's fascinating new job brought him to Monaco. 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.

14:41We didn't know who this man was. It was all new to us. DECEMBER 3, 1999. 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. Two masked men armed with knives invaded the Riviera penthouse of Edmund 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 Tarente were dead. Autopsies would determine they had both died from smoke poisoning, and Ted was wounded and bloody.

15:37Ted 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. 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. They said that Ted was indeed a hero that night.

16:20I said, that's Ted. And within hours, Heidi headed to Monaco. I was to go straight to the hospital to see Ted. Did you? 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. 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.

17:11She 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. They're saying he gave himself a lidocaine injection prior to stabbing himself. And lidocaine, what, deadness? Would numb it. And Heidi says the confession he signed was written in French, which Ted did not understand. I feel they want a nice, clean ending to this quick. It would be good for the state of Monaco to have their citizens feel safe.

17:56Ted was locked up, charged with arson and intentional act, leading to the deaths of Safran Torente. He faced life in prison if convicted at trial. This is someone I know. I know he didn't do this.

18:24The Second World War is the largest event in human history. A 20-part series with Tom Hanks. No part of the globe was untouched. No life unchanged. Experience the ultimate account of World War II. Every single person had a story. These are the stories that make us who we are. Listen to World War II with Tom Hanks on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

19:03With the strike of a match, Ted Maher's dream job went up in smoke. Two people were dead, and Ted was now being blamed. I've known him now 13 years. He would never hurt anyone. Monaco's chief prosecutor says an American male nurse confessed to starting the fire that killed Safra and another nurse. The death of Edmund Safra exploded into a sensational story that would fascinate authors Jennifer Thomas and her husband Bill Hayes. If you saw this on the screen, you'd be going, 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.

19:51Talk that Safra had enemies, that he had been the victim of a Russian mob hit. 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. Was that usual? Unheard of. There were also whispers about Safra's stylish wife, Lily. The rumors about her and her previous husbands. Lily had been married four times, with one other husband also deceased, prompting more conjecture. She is rumored to be a black widow who has inherited a lot of money from her husband.

20:40But police believe Ted was responsible for two deaths.

20:51It would take three long years to bring Ted to trial.

21:00Hello. Hello, Heidi. Hi. How are you doing? Okay. And in that time, Heidi was only occasionally able to speak to Ted from his prison on the Mediterranean Sea. I'm not an arsonist or a murderer. It goes against everything that I've done in my entire life. I try to be strong because I know he needs my strength too. Never forget this, Heidi. Never. I love you. I love you. The happiness of a man in his life, Heidi, doesn't consist of, in my absence, but in what I retain and hold in my heart. I just wish this wasn't my life.

21:48We're going to the prison that Miss Anderet. 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. Can we 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? There is no evidence that I know of any intruders. Instead, Griffith would argue that Ted did what authorities said. He stabbed himself and set the fire. but that he never intended for anyone to die. He was just trying to make himself look like a hero.

22:33Ted is the fireman who started the fire. Firemen who start fires do it, not to hurt people, but to save people. Are you saying that you believe Ted actually did start the fire, cut himself to make himself look like a hero? I believe that's what Ted did. Did he actually tell you he did this himself? Well, yeah, he told me that he did this to himself, and that's the basis of our defense.

23:02Griffith 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 Tarente. 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. He's totally liable of the circumstances that he created. In 2002, attorney Marc Benon spoke to 48 Hours. He represented Safra's widow, Lily. He says the rumors about her are false. Not only it's not true, obviously, it is scandalous. Lily is devastated by what happened.

23:55November 2002. Heidi traveled to Monaco as the trial began. Ted was facing possible life in prison. Do you think your husband will get a fair trial in Monaco? Not at all. Why not? 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. Heidi believes with all her heart that Ted didn't do this, that he's being forced to say he did it. I mean, what's the truth here?

24:41Well, all I know is that Ted is my client. I know what Ted has told me. He was told this is the best way to go. 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... And this is our life. This is your life. This is Ted's life. Right, right. Ted Maher was convicted of arson, leading to the death of two people. Do you remember the reaction to the verdict, please? Yeah, we were disappointed in the... He was sentenced to 10 years. Heidi? To Heidi, it was the end of life as she had known it. Yeah, she's upset.

25:26And then in January, just seven weeks after the trial, Ted called Heidi from outside the prison. Ted said, it's me. I'm out. He had cut the metal bars, scaled down the prison walls, and escaped. 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. 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.

26:28Heidi filed for divorce.

26:33As 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 Edmund Safra, he was attacked by violent intruders. 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.

27:25According to LeFigaro, at an unrelated hearing, a judge who served on Ted Meyer's case had claimed Ted's sentence had been predetermined before the trial even began. And in your mind, the real story is this guy was set up. 100%. Back in the States, Ted was alone. Steady work, tough to find. Especially if your name was Ted Maher. And that new name? John Green.

28:19In his first 10 years back in the United States, John 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. 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 jailmate, Greg Markham, to murder Kim.