Take Two

22:40I thought we'd say, you guys, talk about where you guys are planning on. Yeah, we did. And Kelly was about to deliver. All of a sudden, I think he's pulling in. He finally showed. Right, so then we're all like, you know, ducking because we don't want him to see us.

23:07As Ramapo detectives continue to investigate the plot to kill Susan Bernstein, They focused on fleshing out Kelly's partner. So far, she was the only one who'd shown up to arrange the hit. We wanted to make sure that it wasn't just Kelly saying it. So it was important to have him come to the scene. Detectives suspected he was the one in charge, especially when it came to the money. He's not comfortable with giving the 50, but he's going to give everything when it's done. Okay. Is that okay with you? I mean, he's not going to f*** the killers. Markenzie kept asking to meet him. And then one evening, it happened.

23:45A few days into the investigation, they both showed up. All of a sudden, I think he's pulling in. He finally showed. Right. So then we're all like, you know, ducking because we don't want him to see us. Who was the other person? That was Ira Bernstein. Kelly's lover and the police foot surgeon. Is that just blowing your mind that it's Ira? One of the funny things is we were both patients of this. Now we had to be concerned, is he going to recognize us when we're doing these surveillances? Kelly and Ira didn't get in the car, so Markenzie got out. Hey, how are you? Hey, how's that? All right, good to meet you.

24:23How are you? Okay, good. They could hear Ira say he was worried about incriminating messages Kelly had been sending Markenzie on Facebook Messenger. Am I concerned that he's doing Facebook? Thinking on his feet, Markenzie assured Ira the messages weren't a problem, even though that wasn't true.

24:55Kelly, still outside, said she was getting cold. I didn't fit in the car. Myra, he actually got in the car with the informant. It was a game changer. Back then, Richard Moran was a Rockland County Executive Assistant DA. He was on the case from the beginning. Will they just give you the rest afterwards? Whatever makes you feel comfortable. Once it's done, at least that's not a problem at all. Yeah, I'm thinking ASAT. The lesser you two know, the better you two know. I agree. Wasn't that enough to arrest him right then and there? No money had been exchanged in New York. You do need an overt act.

25:35And we had some stuff, but we did not want to jump the gun on this. When Ira hesitated about going through with the hit, Markenzie calmly told him he had to make a decision. No, I know, I know. Obviously, I'm scared. No s***. This has been done smoothly multiple times already. That has nothing to do with you.

26:13Ira never came back. A little while later, Kelly hopped back in.

26:26hold it. He wants you to know that I have the money. But until he makes a decision, he's like, you know what? He's scared. What should I do? I can understand. It's a natural thing. I can understand that. But at the end of the day, that's not the way of the business. Markenzie asked her again for a deposit. If you give it to me now, if I have money in my hand, I can show my guys that,

27:00Kelly said Ira was worried about his children and what would happen after their mother died.

27:10She saw another life for her, I think. Her and Ira were going to just live together and be happy, you know. I don't think she pictured the negative side of it, of the children always not having their real mother. She'd brought up the topic in an earlier meeting. What am I going to do? How am I going to be a parent? I said, I'll help you. I'm not trying to be a harness or anything. They're kids. I don't know if in your religion you do that. Take them somewhere to have fun, trust me. That's what I said. Take them to an arcade or something. Let them play basketball. Let them play games if they want to.

27:45Chuck E. Cheese. That's exactly what I said. She talked about one time with Mackenzie in the car. She's like, we're going to have such parties after this when this is over. And then another time she felt guilt because she's sitting in the car and she's like, am I going to go to hell for this? One step closer, you understand? No. One step closer will be Mackenzie. Okay, here is the deposit. Hold on to it. Let me get you the AOK next week. Let me get you the AOK in two days. There's nothing serious to me until I see money in my hands. Give me a day to work on it. Markenzie arranged another meeting, hoping Ira would show again.

28:22He didn't, but something big happened. How are you? So I have the thing we talked about, and it's a deposit like we spoke about. Cold, hard cash. Exactly what the investigators needed. But before Kelly handed it over, she wanted to talk again about how Susan would be killed. The staged accident. Turns out, it was something Kelly knew all about. She'd accidentally run over and killed someone when she was a teenager. I was in an accident before. He ran inside my car. They took it. My car was impounded. I was taken with the police car to the police station. I was given blood tests, drug tests, everything.

29:08It sounded very much like the plan she proposed at their prior meeting. Is there any way anyone can hit her and then say and say it was an accident? And take responsibility and just say, look, I didn't see it. It was an accident, clearly. We can make that happen. Now, once again, he reassured her that was the plan. The accident's going to happen. Somebody's going to stay on the scene. With that, Kelly reached into her purse, pulled out a wad of cash, and handed it to Markenzie. So how much are we talking about now? Two. Two thousand? Two thousand?

29:44And how is he going to bring the rest? How? Yes. How much? What did we say? A hundred? Mm-hmm. So 98? Okay. Nothing until we give you the go-ahead. All right. He said, just be on standby. All right. Once you turn that money over, that was the next step. We had Kelly locked in now. So Kelly's cooked. Correct. But detectives didn't arrest her then because they still didn't have enough on Ira. And just as they were about to get it, Kelly dropped a bombshell. We were like, oh no, this is right in the middle of our investigation here. This could destroy it.

30:37As detectives waited for Ira and Kelly to give the go-ahead to have Susan killed, their investigation took a dramatic turn. The couple had their sights on two new targets. Kelly shows up to one of the meetings and says, He hasn't committed yet, but he wants you to take care of two insurance investigators. So all of a sudden we're like, where's this going? Take care of as in kill them? He didn't want them killed. He wanted them to kind of be taught a lesson. And that would entail what? She basically said, we need to have these two investigators beat up. They're investigating him, and right away we assumed it was something to do with his medical profession.

31:19Maybe he's doing something fraud. Insurance claims. Yeah, they're from an insurance company. They wanted these two guys beat up, and it had to be ASAP. And right away we're like, oh no, this is right in the middle of our investigation. This could destroy it. They might be testing us. We're testing Markenzie. Detectives wondered if this new job was a way for the couple to see if Markenzie was the real deal. And Kelly asked them, are you a police officer? You're sure you're not violent for you, right? We believe that they don't think that someone working with the police would actually have two innocent people just doing their job beat up.

31:55And they were willing to pay quickly to get it done. Kelly and Markenzie had agreed on a$5 ,000 fee. She handed him a brown bag filled with$2 ,500 in cash, half now, half after the job was done.

32:15Detective Luzan reached out to the insurance investigators and discovered why they were in the couple's crosshairs. I called them and said, listen, I really want to speak to you in person. I didn't want to tell them over the phone. They said, well, we're coming to Rockland anyway, because we have an investigation into Ira Bernstein. Luzan says they were investigating Ira for insurance fraud, suspecting that he'd been padding his insurance claims. How did these insurance investigators feel when you told them that there's this plot out to have you beaten up? They couldn't believe it. They were shocked, and then they were very concerned.

32:48The detective asked the investigators for their help. This is where this whole story goes a little bit Hollywood. Yeah, literally. We all got together and came up with an idea like, listen, this might sound crazy, but maybe we can get a makeup artist to make it look like they were actually beat up. How did they react to this idea? Well, I think one of them was like, I had to talk to my wife first. But they agreed. Police set up in this parking lot next to the insurance investigator's office. They had two undercover officers pretend to throw punches. We took a lot of pictures of them beating them up.

33:22We had to actually tell the investigators, like, don't overdo it, just fight back a little bit. They took pictures from every angle, then had to choose which ones to show Kelly and Ira. We're being like editors. We're trying to figure out which looks... Which looks the most real. Right, the most real. and it was funny. We just kept going back and forth on which ones we should choose. This is a huge moment in our case. If they believe this ruse about beating up the investigators, then we can probably get to the big thing where he's trying to kill Susan. I think once this is done, they'll feel more comfortable to move ahead with that right away.

33:57Now the pressure was on the car salesman. He texted Kelly to meet him. He had three photos tucked inside a newspaper, ready to show her. And we had coached him ahead of time. No matter what happens, she's probably going to say, I want to take these pictures to Ira. Like, you know, we want Ira to come out. You know, we need him to commit. But no matter what happens, you make sure that the pictures stay with you. Everyone was in place, waiting. Kelly was late. Then she finally showed. I'm so sorry. You don't understand. I've been all over the freaking world tonight. With his heart pounding, Markenzie showed her the photos.

34:34I thought it was too much. So he wants to make sure they're not going to come to work with a broken leg next week. No. They're done. What'd they do to them? Thank you. Let's say you know the better. She seemed satisfied. And just as the detectives predicted, Kelly asked to take the photos to show Ira. I thought you were going to get a picture, sir. Come on. That's better for you. Not to have him. Better for him not to have him. So they got both guys? Oh, yeah. Markenzie followed the detectives' instructions perfectly. But then he came up with an idea all on his own. He knew law enforcement wanted Ira, so he told Kelly to call him.

35:13Go ahead. Hello? Hi, how are you? Hey, Doc. You want speaker with me? I can show them to her, but I don't want to give it to her. I just leave, so... Right. So he suggested to Ira that he could swing by his office to show the doctor the photos in person. We'll come through the office, through the parking lot. Yeah? That's a good idea, right? Hey, listen, you're the boss at this point, you know. Okay. All right. I want to, uh, come over here. I'll try to run outside for a second. Okay. All right. Okay, bye. It sounded like the perfect plan. But is there really ever such a thing? Are you on the edge of your seats when he's pointing to that camera?

35:57Oh, yeah. Are you kidding me? You know, this is it. He's looking right at the camera when we're done.

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37:27The murder for hire plot had taken a detour. For now, it was assault for hire. Markenzie, the informant, waited outside of Ira's medical practice to show him pictures of the insurance investigators. This is when you need Ira to come to the car. Yeah, Ira's already shown his face once already. Now we need Ira to come out. This is a huge moment in our case. Markenzie convinced Ira to see the proof that the insurance investigators had been beaten up. We're going to have the doctor look at the pictures, and this is going to commit him to the assault and the investigators. Here are Ira and Kelly walking toward Markenzie's car.

38:07The doctor comes out of his office. He's in his scrubs, goes into the car. Hey, how's it going? How are you? All right. As soon as he got in the car, I turn around, I look at her, and I say, can you excuse us for a minute? Why did you want her out? To know if it was her putting the ideas in his head, if it was her motivating him to do all that so she could jump in and inherit the money. Did she leave? Yes, she did. So you two are now man to man? With him, yeah. What's he saying? He said, you got them? I said, yeah, I got them. Markenzie showed him the three photos, but Ira immediately seemed suspicious.

38:53They didn't have me standing right next to each other? Yeah. So I think, well, I guess they want a break or something. And he's like, why are they wearing a baseball cap and, you know, regular jacket? I said, I don't know. You're really having to think on your feet. Mm-hmm. To distract Ira, Markenzie changed the subject and told him he needed to keep the photos. I don't want to give them to you because I don't need them. What do I need them for? I don't know. As long as it's done and done correctly, I just don't want them showing up at work anytime soon.

39:26At this point, Ira seemed satisfied. He's like, okay, good, good. And we're like, it's a big relief. Remember, if he thinks they're fake, now he's really going to think something's up here. Detectives had coached Markenzie on what to do after he showed Ira the pictures. Ask him what's going on with the wife or give him a deadline. Say, listen, it has to be by this time or we're walking away. But it has to be his decision. Don't force him to do anything. The big question is, when is the next job? Give me a week. It's better to be a day. All right? And then I'll give you a little ass. Don't want to be too pushy.

40:03I know, I know. I'll give you by this weekend. Okay. Well, I'm going to be awake for the weekend. But at the end of the weekend, I'll tell you. Okay. Then, the good doctor said what law enforcement was waiting to hear. So, I'll tell her. If she gives you the okay, then it came from me. To detectives' ears, Ira was admitting he was the one pulling the strings. not Kelly. It was a critical moment. But just as they were ready to high-five each other, Ira turned around and pointed to something in the back seat.

40:35He was looking directly at the hidden camera. Are you on the edge of your seats when he's pointing to that camera? Oh, yeah, are you kidding me? This is it. He's looking right at the camera when we're done. Do you have a little moment of panic? Oh, yeah. My heart drills drop. And obviously, with my training, I get to pick it right back up. Markenzie does a great job. He leans back and goes, oh, that's something for the kids' games, where they plug into it. And that's the receiver for the headsets. That's the receiver for the headsets? The receiver for the headsets. All right.

41:10Whatever it is I tell him, he believes it, because the only thing that was in his head is how he wants to get this thing done. What is this? Crisis averted. Then, without skipping a beat, Ira moved on to the details of how Susan should be killed, agreeing she would be hit by a car. A freak accident. It happens every day. Right, exactly. Nice and clean, no problems. Very smooth. I'm really smooth. Got no worries, nothing. Nothing, then I get back to you. Okay. All right. I'm fine, sir. Ira leaves, but you don't quite have what you need yet. You're not all the way there. You haven't crossed the finish line.

41:52Yeah. They needed Ira to give the final okay for his wife's murder. Five days later, Kelly set up a meeting. Finally, she calls. Hey, let's have another talk. Let's have another meet at the Walmart. This is going to be the answer. It's either a yes or no. If it's a no, it's a good thing for Ira Bernstein that he's not going to kill the mother of his children. So be it. And part of us were actually, you know, morally, there was a little part of us that was hoping maybe he won't go that far. Maybe he'll step back and say this is just wrong. Definitely. You know, because we did know him and we're hoping maybe he'll say no.

42:25That's a happier ending. Right. So what would the ending be later that day? She shows up again in the Walmart parking lot. This time she won't get into the car. Detectives were worried since Ira may have been onto their hidden camera. He could have warned Kelly to stay out of the car. So is that game over? No, it's not game over because we have audio on Markenzie himself. But then she said there was a problem. What's up? These are few confirmed. Huh? Red flag. What? Was the detective's plan about to unravel? Did we miss it? We're like, what just happened? What happened was far more complicated than it seemed.

43:07At least that's what Ira and Kelly say. Did you want Susan Bernstein dead?

43:24Standing outside the informant's car, Kelly was about to give their final answer, a yes or a no for the hit on Susan Bernstein. Then she hesitated. She told Markenzie Ira had been checking up on the insurance investigators to make sure they'd actually been beaten up. You call the hospital, then they're not any hospital up there. Okay. So what you want me to do? I just understand he's a little worried. So now he's paranoid about what now? The guys didn't get beat up? No, that it may be, you know, this is just like a setup or something? Come on now. Despite all of her reservations, detectives listened as Kelly spoke again.

44:04Okay, so the answer is this. We don't hear any answer. Did we miss it? Did we miss it? him to say, okay, well, what's the next step? And we're like, what just happened? She's holding up a phone. She had typed the word yes inside the phone, so she wasn't verbally going to say it. But it didn't matter. Detectives now had confirmation Ira and Kelly were in, and the date was set. The couple believed Susan would be run over in four days. The prosecutor was ready to greenlight their arrests. Once Kelly says yes and agrees to give him money, the investigation is, for the most part, complete. Detectives moved in on Kelly at the Walmart parking lot.

44:47And how did this go down? Was it like a SWAT situation? Was it just a couple of officers? It was, well, there were several officers in plainclothes surrounding the area, but it was just two officers who approached her. She was shocked. Yeah, she was shocked. Actually, I went to the door and I said, you know, I believe you know what this is going to be about. When Kelly entered the police station, another staged Hollywood moment was waiting for her. Detectives had Markenzie the informant handcuffed, sitting in a holding room. She saw him in there. I saw her eyes meet his eyes, and I was, all right, so now she knows the supposed hitman's arrested.

45:20The gig is up. Maybe she'll come back and talk to us. Turn around. Do you have any weapons or anything on you? No. They hope that seeing Markenzie in custody might be enough to get Kelly talking. Do you understand each of these rights that I explained to? But after reading her her rights, You're in some trouble. I'm not going to lie to you. Kelly let the detectives do most of the talking. They told her she was caught on tape planning the hit. Then they tried to convince her to turn on Ira. I don't know if you're worried about him, but right now Kelly should be worried about Kelly, right? So right now, are you in trouble?

45:52Obviously, you're in a police department, right? I want you to just focus on you and remember, I got to do what's best for me. Because in the end, you don't want, you know, something like you take all the fault. We know that. Please don't make me answer these questions. Hold on, look at me. It's too hard. Okay, it's not too hard. They changed tactics and revealed that Markenzie had been working undercover with them. Well, like, did you see Markenzie? I said, Markenzie's with us. And then I go out and we actually bring Markenzie to the room. What did she say? She was just like, her jaw was on the floor.

46:30She was like shocked. He's with us. He's not. We just put him there so that you would see that. But he's with us. All right. Is that the truth, Markenzie? It's true. Okay. So I'm not lying to you. All right. All right. Thanks. I'll talk to you a little bit. He's not under arrest. So now who's the only one that's here in trouble right now? Who is it? You. But instead of coming clean, she blamed Markenzie.

47:09When pointing the finger at the car salesman didn't work, Kelly went after Ira's wife, Susan.

47:28I didn't even respond to her messages. She called me all kinds of names and all these kinds of nasty things that she would say to me. And she would follow me and she poured coffee all over my coat. My coat is still in the cleaners. She would harass me. And I never, ever did anything back to her. Kelly was willing to throw everyone under the bus except Ira. Be honest with us. Was that your money or was it Ira's money? Kelly, I understand. Don't make me answer. I know you love him. I understand that. Kelly, do yourself a favor, okay? Just be honest. Is that bad, to be honest? I'll be honest. I love him.

48:10Has he ever said he loves you? Kelly, you know why I'm asking that? Because I'm on the phone. I was listening. Not one time did I ever hear him say I love you. A few hours later, on his way home from a dinner in New York City, 42-year-old Ira Bernstein was pulled over near his house and arrested. He was so nervous, he was shaking away. He was saying, my life is over, right? My life is over. I think he said, I should just kill myself at that point. A little later on that night. We'll be so many in a few minutes to let you know what's going on. Oh, my God. How bad is this? Does that do with medicine?

48:51What's that? Does that do with medicine? I don't know nothing about medicine. I'm not locking anybody up for something to do with medicine. Isn't that someone else that does that? Am I going to be in newspapers? Honestly, Ira. I couldn't tell you. I'm sorry, what's that? I'm never going to practice again. Ira and Kelly were charged with conspiracy and solicitation to commit murder. But if you ask Ira, there is far more to this story. he made it very clear that we were going to be fed to the alligators if we didn't go through with this

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51:07While out on bail in 2017, Ira Bernstein agreed to sit down with Dateline. There was no way in hell I was ever going to go through with this and hurt Susan. He says the video of him planning his wife's murder was just a snapshot of a bigger picture. Yeah, I think it's A.S.A.T. The lesser you two know, the better you two know. I agree. That there was so much more to the story. Things had reached a horrible point. I was living under horrible stress. The downward spiral began, he says, after he and Susan decided to have an open marriage. And I think we're getting along great, but what she's doing is she's plotting.

51:45She cleaned out the bank accounts. She took the jewelry. She took the kids, and she went to her parents' house in Maryland. After that, Ira says police knocked on his door. Susan had filed a restraining order. The sheriff gives me 20 minutes to pack my stuff, whatever I could grab. I am escorted out of my house. I wind up in my parents' house living in my old high school bedroom. This is the marriage from hell at this point. This is now the marriage from hell. Ira says Susan claimed he was physically and verbally abusive to her and their children. I am the least abusive person in the world. I don't even discipline my children, okay?

52:25They walk all over me like I'm a teddy bear. Several months later, Susan withdrew the restraining order, and Ira says she wanted to reconcile. He agreed to try, but soon enough, the fighting flared up, and that's when he fell for Kelly. And at this point, I had already hired her, and she's working for me. What's she doing for you? Everything. She is literally doing everything from scheduling my appointments. We were looking at properties. We were negotiating things. She was helping run the practice a little bit. And she was helping me in my house, too. I mean, she would help me go shopping. She would make sure I had food in the refrigerator.

53:01These are all the things you wanted Susan to do? These are all the things that I wanted Susan to do. Susan had other plans. He said she was out to get him. She knew he had a secret. It had to do with insurance fraud. Susan discovered he'd been overbilling for medical services. That's why Ira paid to have those insurance investigators beat up. Did you feel like Susan was trying to blackmail you in any way? She was trying to blackmail me in every way. She would look at me and she would say, Listen, I have broken into your emails. I have printed out and recorded all of your business dealings. And I'm telling you now, if you don't give me everything I want, I'm going to the prosecutor and I'm going to expose you for everything and try to put you in jail.

53:42Ira recorded Susan threatening him. Don't bother coming back! You're going to f***ing jail and f***ing court! Ira claimed Susan was using that information to pressure him into signing a post-nuptial agreement that stated if they divorced, he would give her most of their assets. Fearing Susan would make good on her threats, he signed it. Only a moron would have signed this postnuptial agreement if they weren't under severe coercion and distress. So you're the moron in this story? I am the moron. This is Ira's version of what happened. We're not sure of Susan's side. She declined to speak to us.

54:19Ira says it was during this volatile time that Kelly went looking for a hitman. He says she met with Markenzie five times before he even knew about the plot. She had already started negotiating price with him and everything. and I said, I don't know if I can bring myself to even consider anything like this. So Kelly did this on her own? Yes. She said, you know, I know people that might do this kind of thing. And in my frustration, I discussed it with her a little bit. Do what kind of thing? Hurt or kill people. I had a conversation with her about it. It was more fantasy. There was nothing legitimate to it.

54:57What's hard is that a respected doctor was capable of even going down this road. I don't know what to say. That was not me. That was a different person. He says the only reason he went along with it was because Markenzie told Kelly it was too late to back out. The black ops were in town. His friends flew up from Florida. They're mad that they're waiting around. They think that we're playing around with them and she doesn't think we can back out of this now. This is real now. This is real now. Ira claims Markenzie told Kelly during an impromptu meeting without cameras about a terrifying story involving a former client of his who wanted out.

55:34He said to her, my job is to pick her up at a party, lure her away, bring her to the other guys, and they are going to be feeding her to the alligators for playing around. And he made it very clear that we were going to be fed to the alligators if we didn't go through with this. You did have another option. You could have just paid them the money and walked away. We thought about that. It was$100 ,000 that he wanted at that point. I don't think they would have went away, and we both came to the same conclusion. But isn't it easier, though, to just not kill someone and walk away and take the money?

56:06Yes. It just, at the time, we did not feel that that was an option. We didn't feel they were going to stop. Ira did admit to paying to have those insurance investigators beat up. I made the biggest wrong decision of my life, which was to put the welfare of myself above the welfare of those investigators. and to allow them to be subjected to getting hurt. What would you say to them? I don't even know what I could say to them. What I did was disgusting. I will live with that forever. Thank God this is all sham and nothing happened. Did you ever think that you could have been part of a sting operation?

56:44You know, the weird thing is I was almost hoping it was part of a sting operation at that point because I wanted to get out of this so badly. Why should people believe you? People could think, yeah, he's just trying to change his story now because he got caught. Anyone that knows me knows that I am not a violent person. And I really believe that Susan knows me for 23 years. And even she knows there is no way I would have ever let this happen. You've heard Ira's story. Now you'll hear from the woman at the center of it all. Did you both imagine life without Susan? Of course. And what was that life without her around?

57:24Peaceful.

57:3836-year-old Kelly Gribaluck was also out on bail in 2017 when she agreed to speak to us. Just like her boyfriend Ira, Kelly says her story begins with a marriage from hell. In her early 20s, she joined the Hasidic Jewish community in Rockland County, New York. That's where she met her future husband. Was it a matchmaker situation? Yes. Arranged? Yes. Because she didn't grow up in the ultra-Orthodox community, she says it affected who the matchmaker chose for her. So you got like a low-level pick, is that what you're saying? You know, I guess that they would choose somebody on a lower pedigree.

58:14I only learned that later. There were a lot of things I learned later. You were clearly not a good match. Clearly. He had some deeper issues that I didn't find out until later, unfortunately. Still, she and her mismatched husband had three boys. This is what you wanted? Yes. How happy were you? I was very content with my children. I love taking care of them. I love the time we spend together. She says eventually the marriage became so toxic, she decided to leave the religious community and take her sons with her. But a judge wouldn't allow it, and gave her husband primary custody. Would you say that experience changed you, everything you went through with your ex-husband?

58:54Definitely. It was very traumatic. I lost a lot of trust in the justice system. I feel like it really failed me and my children. Then you met Ira. I met him while I was still married, actually. He was my doctor. After her divorce, Kelly says she reached out to Ira to discuss her latest venture, her orthotics business. We right away hit it off and there was a spark. So you're meeting him just for business reasons. Correct. But something else happens. Yes. What do you think it was? Chemistry. He was going through something very similar and we came to realize that we had a lot of things in common.

59:42The one fly in the ointment, if you will, was his relationship with his soon-to-be ex-wife. Yes. Was not good. No. And I tried to get them to work things out amicably because I went through a horrendous divorce, and I didn't want to see it tear apart another family. So when Ira told her he was going to give his marriage another chance... I wanted them to do what was best for their family. Why was it so important for you to see him try to work it out with his wife when you're in love with him? Because love is supposed to be unselfish. And you should want the best for the other person, not what's right for you.

1:00:26So I really, truly loved him, and I thought that whatever would make him happy is what I wanted for him. She says she not only stopped seeing Ira, she met with Susan to wish her the best. Did it start off friendly? Yeah, we got along, and at the end of the conversation, she actually said to me, if it doesn't work out between me and Ira, I want to see him end up with you. I think you're really good for him. Months later, the reconciliation with Susan wasn't going well. Ira ran back to Kelly. Nobody was happy, Kelly says, especially Susan. You're off with your girlfriend in the Bahamas. We can't get in touch with you.

1:00:59You have to call your dad, your office manager. Kelly says she saw firsthand how Susan's rage could take a toll on Ira. He was having panic attacks, couldn't sleep at night, nightmares. When do you have the conversation about what if Susan wasn't here on this earth anymore? It was around that time. Who brings it up? I guess we both were at that point, you know, like, wouldn't it be so good if she just didn't come home? or, you know, she wasn't in the picture. It was a horrible, horrible thought that I believe that every person has in their lifetime. I don't think that we're evil for having such a thought.

1:01:52I think the big difference is you both actually crossed over from just thinking about it to doing something about it. Unfortunately, we did. Did you worry about those kids not having their mom? I did. But it didn't stop you? No. Why was this more important than those kids having their mom? Because I saw someone that I loved being hurt, and it was not going to come to an end. She was never going to stop. Did you both imagine life without Susan? Of course. And what was that life without her around? Peaceful. She admits she was the one who went hunting for a hitman and says it wasn't until after she started negotiating with Markenzie that she told Ira.

1:02:38Did he give you the green light, though, to keep going? He didn't tell me not to. He wasn't sure what to do. He's very indecisive with every aspect of his life. Like Ira, Kelly claims they had a change of heart and tried to stop the hit. But there was a problem. did you say to Markenzie, we don't want to do this? Yeah, I told him. And what did he say? He said, there's no backing out. Kelly also told us the story about the alligators. He explained to me that he has to pick up a girl and bring her to the men, and they're going to be feeding her to alligators. Did you take that as they could feed us to the alligators?

1:03:20Absolutely. Kelly says she and Ira decided to back out anyway. Did you want Susan Bernstein dead? In the beginning, yes, but at the end, no. We both came to our senses. We're like, this is crazy. We're not doing this. I think people are going to have a hard time believing that you really didn't want it to go through after everything you had done to set the plan in motion. If we really wanted to do this, he would have been paid. Ira is very capable of financially making it happen. And he never transferred any money. He never withdrew any money. When I was arrested, I had a dollar on me. And you were supposed to have?

1:04:06$48 ,000. And that's when a car pulls up behind you. Correct. And it's the police. Kelly says she was stunned by the arrest and what she learned at the police station later about Markenzie, that he wasn't a hitman. I was in shock. What are you saying to yourself? Like, how could I have believed this? It was a horrible feeling. And I was kind of relieved. I was relieved that nobody was hurt. And why should people believe you, that you were relieved since you went through with it? Because I'm sitting here today and... And I'm remorseful and I'm sorry and I'm acknowledging that my actions and my thoughts were horrible.

1:05:03Is that why you chose to sit down with us? Yes. But was she remorseful enough to help the prosecutor? He was about to offer her a deal. Would she save herself and agree to be a star witness? Or would she continue to protect the man she loved? Kelly seems like she has this fierce loyalty to Ira. She certainly does.

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1:06:42This determines what's next for all of us. We are Marines. We were made for this.

1:07:05Prosecutor Moran thought Ira Bernstein might have made a misstep. Ira posted bail and was out of jail in four days. But Kelly sat behind bars for five months. Why didn't Ira bail her out? I think she'd have to ask him. She might have the same question. The prosecutor figured Kelly was angry at Ira and might roll on him. He offered her a deal while she was still in jail. In exchange for testifying against Ira, she would get 12 years in prison with a chance for parole in four. Kelly took the deal. Her attorney, Jonathan Ripps, told us why. If she were convicted after trial, I'm fairly confident the judge would give her close to the max, which would be eight and a third to 25 years, and that's an awfully long time.

1:07:49Plea deal felt safe? Anything involving state prison that is years in length is going to be an ugly number, but the alternative, had there been a conviction, would have been much more drastic. As Ira's case headed toward trial, it looked like his strategy was to blame it all on his girlfriend. He claimed he never gave the go-ahead to have his wife murdered. That was all Kelly. She came home on that evening and she told me she had to tell him yes. So she went rogue on you, you're saying? Pretty much. The prosecutor says Ira was rewriting history. The evidence told the real story. When you look at the meetings and you listen to them, Kelly couldn't make one decision.

1:08:29Ira was the one calling the shots. Was she the person who was the conduit? Sure. But in the end, Ira had a goal. This was all about money in your eyes? Yes. He believes Ira had no intention of honoring that post-nuptial agreement. the one where he consented to give Susan most of their assets if they divorced. Ira Bernstein was a man who wanted to keep everything that, in his eyes, he worked so hard for. And he was going to do what he had to do, whether it be have the insurance investigators beat up or having his wife killed. The cornerstone, really, of the defensive case is that Ira tried to call it off at the end, but that there were threats.

1:09:16If you don't go through with this, harm could come to you. That's simply not the case. In fact, after they claimed he was subject to the arrest, they actually hire him to do the other job to beat up the two men. And he says nowhere on the tapes or in text messages did Ira and Kelly say they changed their minds about killing Susan. Even if they did change their mind, they never called the police to tell the police, hey, there's a hitman out there hired to kill Susan. They never called Susan to say, watch out. They did nothing. And Moran says there was another indicator that Ira and Kelly planned to go through with the murder.

1:09:53On the day that Kelly told the informant yes, she called and made dinner reservations for the entire doctor's office for May 5th. And that was the day that Susan was going to be run over. Can I help you? Hi, I made reservations last night for Cinco de Mayo and I wasn't sure if I told you 730 or 8 o 'clock. It's an alibi. Kelly and Ira wanted everybody from work to see that they were with them, acting normal, when Susan got killed. As the trial date drew closer, Moran was feeling pretty good about his case and his star witness. But then, a major problem. After Kelly got out of jail, instead of rolling on Ira, she moved in with him.

1:10:37Kelly seems like she has this fierce loyalty to Ira. She certainly does. Kelly was now too much of a wild card. So instead of going to trial, the prosecutor offered Ira a deal. 15 years in prison, eligible for parole in five. There was a real defense here. Ira's attorney, Jeff Millman, says even though he believed Ira had a strong defense, he knew going before a jury could be a gamble. Here you have two people who've been talking about planning a murder, and then you're supposed to take their word for it that they were trying to call it off. It's one of the obstacles of trial, absolutely. And there were Ira's other charges, insurance fraud, and ordering the assault on those investigators.

1:11:19So he accepted the deal and pleaded guilty to grand larceny and conspiracy involving the plot to kill his wife. We resolved everything with the plea. All financial investigations, all crimes alleged to have been committed. As for his estranged wife Susan, the intended target, she set her peace at Ira's sentencing. She requested not to be on camera. Ira is evil and cold-hearted and a narcissist. The only remorse Ira has is that the murder did not occur. He is the scariest type of criminal, smart with no remorse. But Ira told us he is remorseful for all the pain he's caused his family, especially his children.

1:12:04I love my children very much. What I did was wrong. I will spend every day for the rest of my life making it up to them. So what would his and hers prisons do to Ira and Kelly's relationship? It depends on who you ask. I don't know where this is going to go. I know I still care about her a lot. I'm hoping we can get through this. The only good thing that came out of this was that we've both come to the realization that we really love each other. Kelly believed they'd stay together. Some people call this a twisted love story. I think it's true love. I think what we did was really, really wrong.

1:12:51And if I could go back, I would do everything differently. But I can't. And I can see clearly that my emotions definitely overruled my intelligence. Why do you think that love is still there? Because after everything that we've been through, we're still devoted to each other and care about each other and in a solid relationship. That's what Kelly said in 2017. She and Ira both spent four years in prison, but it appears only one of them learned their lesson. To say that this case took a turn no one expected is really the understatement of my career. Nobody saw this coming.

1:13:43After spending four years behind bars, both Ira and Kelly were released in 2021, finally free to be together again. How did Kelly feel when she got out? Because when she went in, she was saying that, you know, this was true love and that they would be together. She wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. Kelly's lawyer, Jonathan Ripps, says when she was in prison, she learned Ira tried to pin the whole thing on her. Ira had gone through the appellate process, and a lot of his motions involved throwing Kelly under the bus that she was the mastermind. That was something that broke her heart. He says Kelly has moved on, started a few small businesses, and is close with her children.

1:14:25They're all basically adults now, and she's got contact with them on a daily basis. And the children are doing okay? They're all doing very, very well. Meanwhile, Ira and Susan continued to battle it out in court. He and Susan never got divorced, even within those four years that he was in prison. Their divorce was still ongoing. Detective Peggy Braddock had kept tabs on Ira over the years. Oh, he's getting out right now. Ever since her involvement in the 2017 investigation. I got a pretty good shot of him. That's a long divorce proceeding. Yes. Money and assets were still at the center of their ongoing feud.

1:15:03Ira's felony conviction hadn't gotten in the way of his lavish lifestyle. He's living in a very big mansion in New Jersey. Life is good for Ira. He even had a new girlfriend. What he didn't have anymore was his medical license. So in 2022, Ira went into the landscaping business. But even that presented its challenges. He could not get a landscaping license because of his prior convictions, his criminal convictions. So he had to work under somebody else's license. That somebody was a landscaper Ira had used in the past. They partnered up, and Ira took on the role of manager. So he controlled all the money, and he controlled the accounts.

1:15:44He accepted all the payments from clients. The landscaper had relinquished that control, basically, to Ira. Detective Braddock says that turned out to be a big mistake for the landscaper. He claimed a large amount of money went missing from the company. The landscaper says that Ira stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from him. He stated that Ira basically stole his business from him, a business that he had created from the ground up. The landscaper should have watched Dateline. I believe he did, to be honest. Really? And he still went into business with him? He believed Ira's version that he was tricked by Kelly Gribulek, and it was all Kelly's idea.

1:16:23The landscaper was now certain he'd been duped, especially after what happened next. To say that this case took a turn no one expected is really the understatement of my career. Correct. Nobody saw this coming. The landscaper said he had been listening to Ira complain about Susan and the contentious divorce for months. Ira would tell him that his wife was trying to take him for everything. She wanted to take his houses. She had turned his kids against him. The detective says Ira had a solution that sounded eerily familiar. Incredibly, she says, he asked the landscaper if he could find someone to kill Susan.

1:17:03Did your jaw drop? Yes. It was shocking. It was disturbing. And to be honest, I didn't think he would be foolish enough to try that again. This was August 2022, one year after Ira had gotten out of prison, and several years after he told us this. I love my children very much. What I did was wrong. I will spend every day for the rest of my life making it up. It's almost something like, are you sure? Because this doesn't sound possible. Right. The landscaper saw it as an opportunity. If he could get Ira on tape planning his wife's murder, he could use that recording to convince Ira to walk away from the landscaping business and maybe get some of his money back.

1:17:49So the landscaper is really taking matters into his own hands. He was. He ordered recording devices on his own, and then he had tried to record the conversation himself. He was asking the landscaper if he had friends or people that he knew who could do this, and the landscaper said that he did. Does Ira just think that everybody has friends who are assassins? Apparently. I know I can make it happen. On the recording, Ira sounded worried they'd get caught. What happened to anybody? Let's talk to them. Nobody's going to find nobody. Are you kidding me? Are you not a professional? More than a street?

1:18:24No. You know what I'm saying? These guys... Because clearly there's a lot more factors than there were 15, 20 years ago. There's libraries. There's a million things out there now. In fact, they don't see ears, and they watch 20 blocks away, and they see someone over there. These guys are professionals. Once they grab her, I don't know what's going to happen. All I know is that she's not going back home. Can they convict someone on circumstantial evidence? You know what I'm saying? Like, basically, like, listen, you're the ex-husband. You were still going through a message board. You can't put me in the car.

1:18:50You've already tried this once. About four days after this conversation, the landscaper texted Ira that he'd recorded him and said he was going to the police. Ira didn't respond. But a few hours later, Ira's sister, 39-year-old Jacqueline Goldberg, did. That same day, she met the landscaper at a local restaurant, where he tried to play the recordings. But he wasn't able to do that on his laptop. The laptop wasn't working, so she never heard it. Jacqueline, who's a lawyer, had now created a problem for herself. So now she's all wrapped up in this. His sister is now as well, yes. The landscaper moved on to plan B.

1:19:29He didn't go to the police. Instead, he went straight to the target, Susan. And I am a certified high-conflict divorce and custody coach. Who's apparently made a career out of her experience with Ira. Reach out if you have an ex that is narcissistic, toxic, unstable. Her mind must be blown when she sits down. She was shocked. With the landscaper. Yes. That she's in danger yet again. Yes. Susan immediately contacted the Rockland County District Attorney's Office with this new information. And spoke with someone in the District Attorney's Office who passed the information on to me. That's how Detective Braddock got the case and started unraveling the dark details.

1:20:13She reached out to Susan. I called her and spoke with her. What was your advice to Susan during this time while you're investigating? Susan's a very cautious person because of the first event. So she knew to call the police if anything was out of the ordinary. She's a very smart person. Since the landscaper had already tipped off Ira to his secret recordings, The detective says another undercover sting was out of the question. Ira had shut off all communication at that time, and it just didn't seem probable. You know, we tried to make a controlled phone call to him, and he wouldn't pick up the phone.

1:20:49So no Hollywood this time around? Unfortunately, no. Instead, detectives focused on phone records and other digital evidence to solidify their case. Eight months later, Ira once again was charged with criminal solicitation, tampering with evidence and conspiracy. Were you at the sheriff's department when he came in? Yes. What's his demeanor, the look on his face? It was just like it was another day for him. He didn't seem stressed at all. His sister was charged with tampering with physical evidence, hindering prosecution and conspiracy. They both pleaded not guilty and were free to go. How did you find out that Ira was trying again to have Susan killed?

1:21:32I mean, I still have a few friends in the force, in the police department, so everybody was reaching out. What is your reaction when you hear that? It was sad, and I really felt for Susan, trying the best that she can to raise the kids. And Ira, as a selfish person, wants everything for himself. No. Detective Braddock and the DA's office prepared for trial. Did they have enough evidence to send Ira Bernstein back to prison? And keep him there?

1:22:16As law enforcement prepared for trial, they knew this case wasn't as clear-cut as the first time Ira got caught trying to have his wife murdered. The recording was done by the landscaper himself, and it was a little bit difficult to hear at times. It wasn't the clearest. Their case was built on those scratchy recordings and on what police learned from phone records. Any text messages that were of value to you? Yes. There was a text message, I believe, to Ira where he tells him he has the recording, and there was definitely a text message to Ira's sister. back and forth regarding the recording as well.

1:22:54The detective says those texts backed up the landscaper's story, that Ira and his sister Jacqueline wanted the recordings destroyed in exchange for giving him back control of the company. Jacqueline wrote,

1:23:13So this is just further proof you're gathering. Yes, this is something to substantiate. Detective Braddock believed Ira and his sister would fight the charges. I felt that he had already gone to prison once. More than likely, he wouldn't want to go back a second time. Also because of his sister. Meaning? Because she had a lot to lose. She's an attorney. She hadn't lost anything yet. And this was big for her. While both sides prepared for trial, two significant things happened. After a seven-year battle, Ira and Susan were finally divorced. And then Ira remarried. Who married her? His girlfriend at the time of the investigation married him after he was arrested.

1:23:56Now Ira was back in court, but not for a trial. He was ready to make a deal. Again. It was the summer of 2025 and Ira looked different. He appeared in court without his toupee. He actually took his toupee off, I believe, when he went in prison the first time. Apparently, he went to the gym and started working out, so when he went to prison, he wouldn't be as big a target. And when he came out of prison, he never put the toupee back on. Under this new agreement, Ira would plead guilty to tampering with evidence. In exchange, the conspiracy and solicitation charges would be dropped. But that didn't stop the prosecutor from getting Ira to own up to what he'd done.

1:24:38Do you also admit that the audio recording was in regards to a solicitation to have Susan Bernstein killed? Yes. Ira had to admit that the tampering with evidence was in connection to wanting his wife dead. Why was that important to the case? Because even if he wasn't actually being charged with the solicitation, he needed to be held accountable that he was asking somebody to have his wife killed. What were you saying about doing this? In March of 2026, Ira arrived for his sentencing. You screwed me on the first interview. Why would I talk again? What were you thinking? Why would you do this again?

1:25:13Do you have anything to say to Susan? All rise. The judge gave Susan a chance to say her piece, and again, she requested not to be on camera. First, she went after Ira. He is a multimillionaire who hired top attorneys to weasel his way out of his violent and harsh crimes to get himself the best possible plea bargain deal. She even went after Ira's sister. Jacqueline failed to intervene and report him to law enforcement or warn me or my children. Similar to him, she has no soul and used her wealth for a plea deal. My children and I live in a state of crisis. I thank God every night to the two men that he attempted to hire to have me killed.

1:25:59These men didn't know me, but recognized his evil. Mr. Bernstein, go ahead. When it was Ira's turn to speak, To Susan. He addressed Susan directly and denied asking anyone to harm her. I never asked or solicited him to hurt you in any way. I never wanted to have you harmed, and I said no to him. With that, the judge gave his ruling. You were hereby sentenced to an indeterminate term of one and a half to three years in state prison. He also issued an order of protection for Susan and her three children until 2037. You are to have absolutely no contact or communication with any of these individuals.

1:26:45Do you understand that? Yes. As for Jacqueline, she agreed to an adjournment contemplating dismissal, which means her charges will be dropped if she steers clear of violating the law for six months. Is she able to practice law? Yes. Really? Ira and the landscaper sued each other in civil court. The case was dismissed, but... The landscaper got his business back. He did. Ultimately, he did. Happy ending for him. Yes. Ira's legal troubles aren't over. It is a daily struggle for me and my three young children. Susan is currently suing the siblings for emotional distress. Years earlier, she spoke about how deeply the murder-for-hire plot affected her life.

1:27:28It's a nightmare. Awful and disgusting. thing. I think for a lot of people watching this, it's hard to imagine hating someone that much that you would want them killed not once, but possibly twice. I think for Ira, it's all about winning and it's all about money. His well-being and his comfort and happiness was more important than hers. It's all about Ira. The defendant is remanded to the custody of the Department of Corrections. Thank you. He is expected to be let out of prison in 2029. And then Susan will be looking over her shoulder again. I think Susan will always have to look over her shoulder, whether he's out of prison or not.

1:28:10She always needs to be careful. Markenzie, the man who helped stop the hit on Susan the first time, says he will always have her back. She's a friend of yours now. Yeah, we meet, we speak from time to time, holidays, the kids, you know. She's a wonderful person. I would do it all over again for her, you know, for anybody.

1:28:36That's all for this edition of Dateline, and don't forget to check out our Talking Dateline podcast, which will go behind the scenes of tonight's episode. Available Wednesday in the Dateline feed, wherever you get your podcasts. We'll see you again next Friday at 9, 8 central. I'm Lester Holt. For all of us at NBC News, good night.

1:29:04The wrongs we must right. The fights we must win. The future we must secure together for our nation. This is what's in front of us. This determines what's next for all of us. We are Marines. We were made for this.