Man accused of stealing wife's search and rescue dogs now charged with plotting her murder

A man incarcerated at the Eddy County Detention Center was accused of planning the murder of his wife with another inmate, a plot foiled when a third inmate sent the woman a letter warning her.

Jon Green was incarcerated on other charges in Eddy County when police alleged he paid the $2,500 bond of Greg Markham, another inmate, in exchange for Markham killing his wife Kim Lark.

Lark allegedly received a letter warning her of the plot from an inmate at the Taylor County Detention Center in Abilene, Texas. In the letter the man said he roomed with Green for two months and overheard Markham and Green's plan.

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Green was charged with solicitation to commit first-degree murder, and Markham was charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, both second-degree felonies.

Markham was arrested by the Eddy County Sheriff’s Office Sept. 12 and made his first appearance before Carlsbad Magistrate Judge Kellie Calicoat Sept. 13, with a preliminary exam scheduled for Oct. 18.

He was released from custody that day pending court proceedings.

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For his role in the alleged plan, Green made his first appearance before Carlsbad Magistrate Judge Megan Fish and was held without bail.

Investigators met with Lark March 27 to discuss a letter she received from the inmate at the Abilene jail, who was asking Lark for help with his $40,000 bond in exchange for information on the plan to have her killed.

She told police she believed Green could pay someone to hurt her or do it himself, read a criminal complaint, and that he burglarized her home, stole $50,000 from her father and wrote several fraudulent checks.

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Green also used an alias Theodore Maher to purchase items, police said, and had ties to San Antonio.

That’s why Lark told investigators she went to San Antonio and spoke with an FBI agent there who said Green was not welcome in San Antonio due to an investigation from 10 years ago, the complaint read.

Police went to the Taylor County Detention Center on March 28 to speak with the inmate, who told them he was incarcerated at the Eddy County Detention Center in January and stayed in the bunk above Green.

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That’s where the inmate told police he overheard Green and Markham discussing the plot to kill Lark because “if Green did not kill her, he would lose everything,” read the criminal complaint.

The plan, according to the inmate, was for Green to bond Markham out of jail.

Markham would then pick up a camper Green had purchased, kill Lark and steal the money they believed she had hidden in her house.

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They developed a code word to use when the murder was completed: “walked the dogs,” the complaint read.

The inmate told investigators the two rehearsed their plan “over and over again" in their jail cell.

They intended to force Lark to consume fentanyl and overdose to make the death look accidental, the complaint read.

The inmate said Markham asked him multiple times if he knew anything about Mexico, because Green was planning to bury Lark there when the murder was done, read the complaint.

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The inmate said Green was open about his plans to have his wife killed, planning to offer up to $60,000 for the murder-for-hire.

Police used phone records and data from Cash App to document the movement of money to Green from outside of the jail, and then to Markham to bond him out.

Investigators interviewed Markham on May 25 at the Detention Center as he was in custody for a parole violation.

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Markham admitted that Green hired him to kill Lark, but that Markham decided not to go through with it once he was out of jail, the complaint read, but “was afraid of Green now.”

He told police the plan was for Markham, who had experience as an electrician, to cut power to Lark’s home, ambush her when she pulled into the garage at night and force her to overdose on fentanyl.

The men believed since Lark as a hospice doctor had access to large amounts of prescription narcotics, people would believe she’d overdosed herself, read the complaint.

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Green arrested in 2022 for stealing dogs from wife

Green was arrested in June 2022 and pleaded no contest on Sept. 8 to larceny of more than $20,000, while other charges of larceny, burglary and tampering with evidence were dismissed by the prosecution.

Those charges arose from Green’s theft of Lark’s three trained search and rescue cadaver dogs. She is a trained dog search specialist with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The three dogs were valued at $70,000 each, according to an affidavit of the arrest warrant in that case.

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Carlsbad police also accused Green of stealing Lark’s 2015 Ford Expedition, which contained the dogs at the time of the theft.

He was arrested by the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office in Bexar County, Texas at a local hospital when Green arrived for an appointment.

Lark used a private investigator to track Green across state lines into Bexar County, which contains San Antonio, along with the dogs and eight newborn puppies that were also in the vehicle.

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The search for Lark’s dogs ignited social media in the Carlsbad area, as a Facebook group was formed and veterinarians throughout the country were contacted to be on the lookout and to aid the search.

The dogs were ultimately found at a home in Bexar County, police said.

Green also pleaded no contest on Sept. 8 to two counts of forgery between $2,500 and $20,000, and one count of attempt to commit forgery in a separate case.

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In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dismissed a count of non-residential burglary, larceny, two counts of fraud, three counts of forgery and a count each of resisting, evading or obstructing an officer and concealing his identity.

That case stemmed from accusations in April 2022 from Lark that Green had stolen her paycheck, and checkbook according to a criminal complaint.

An employee at Carlsbad National Bank called police when Green attempted to withdraw $9,000 and $44,000 on a cashier’s check where police said he forged Lark’s signature, read a criminal complaint.

When confronted by police at the bank, Green fled.

Lark later told police Green stole her paycheck and checkbook, transferring $17,000 from her savings into a checking account without authorization, the complaint read.

She told police she had filed for a restraining order against Green. Records show the couple filed for divorce April 25, 2022.

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on X, formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Eddy County Detention Center inmate accused of plotting wife's murder