Hey, it's Kate Snow, NBC News anchor, and host of The Drink. This month, Demi Lovato is my guest, the global superstar tells me that she is the happiest she's ever been right now. But getting there, it wasn't simple. Demi opens up about starting in Hollywood Young, and why she now thinks she may have started too soon.
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Streaming on Peacock. These men are going to come after me. Taking the bell, it's my only chance. Put a bullet in your head.
The co-creator of Ozark. Looks like a family was running drugs. Execution stopped killing its retro keys. And at least something they might have been running for.
The cartel killed my family. I'm going to kill them. Follow them. MIA, streaming May 7th, only on Peacock.
Tonight on Dateline. You guys are professional. Once you grab her, I don't know what's going to happen. Or I know that she's not going to battle.
A brand new twist in a mind-bending mystery. They'll take her and no one will ever find her body, which isn't that big. And then murder. To say that this case took a turn, no one expected is really the understatement of my career.
Nobody saw this coming. I'm a pre-actor, right? But I can play in the bottom very soon. He's trying to kill his wife.
He kills her. He has everything. There was a lot of money involved here. He was a doctor.
He just didn't expect this as a doctor. We can't remember. I can't even show you how to get him in there. She was the girlfriend.
I was the one who put into motion. Is there any way anyone can hit her and then say it wouldn't happen? We can make that happen. He'd already told me the guys were flying up from Florida.
The Black Ops. He said my guys don't back down from the plan. This is what you want to do. Someone tell me.
Did your jaw drop? Yes. It was shocking. Lightning was about to strike twice.
A sizzling of air. A secret murder plot. And a stunner of an ending that you'll never see coming. I'm Lester Holt.
This is Dateline. He was Andrea Canning with Take Two. The story you're about to hear may sound hard to believe. I don't think I've ever seen a twist like this in a date line before.
And you've seen a lot of date line. A murder for hire plot involving a luxury car salesman. She believed that I would harm the guy. A desperate housewife.
You are done. A seductive mortician. It was horrible. And a podiatrist.
I didn't know if it was hit me and I didn't know what it was. Total shock. Total shock. The crime was caught on camera.
One car will hit her. One car will hit her. Okay. But just when it seemed the case was closed, the plot re-ignited.
Even harder to believe. The target. This time. That was shocking.
Nine years later. A brand new ending. What were you thinking? Why would you do this again?
Our story begins in early April 2016 in Rockland County, New York. Nestled along the Hudson River. About an hour's drive north of New York City. It was late afternoon when a car salesman got a visit from a former customer.
What did this woman want to talk to you about? About planning on killing her boyfriend's wife. And you're a car salesman. Yes.
What are you thinking when this woman comes in to ask you this? Kind of blanked out a little bit. Obviously the only thing I could ask is why. She didn't want to come forward and give me the full information.
But she was given a little by little. Did she look like the kind of woman who would be coming in to hire a man? No way. Not a million years.
I wouldn't think that. Mark Kenzie, who asked us not to use his last name for privacy reasons, had been selling cars for more than 16 years. He said this was a first. Did you make a comment that would lead her to come back to you?
Oh yeah. Mark Kenzie thinks she misinterpreted something he said in an earlier conversation when she accused her ex-husband of harming their children. I just pictured that happened to one of my kids. And we were like, hey, what's going on?
If you need any help, any kind of situation, we know a few people that could help you out. Meaning that I have a friend of mine in a police station nearby. I always call for any reason whatsoever. Do you think she took what you told her the wrong way?
I think she did. She thought maybe that you meant I know some people who can rough your ex-husband up. Yeah. Now she was back talking about a different person.
Mark Kenzie worried was someone in immediate danger. He stayed composed and kept talking to his former customer. I had to start making her feel comfortable. I told her that it was not something that I do, but I could potentially get her in touch with the people that could possibly do.
And did you have any background in law enforcement? No. You're just a regular guy who hangs out with cops. Pick up a few things here and there.
Using his skills as a salesman, he kept the ruse going. Even telling her about men he would hire for the job. These guys are like top black ops. Was she interested?
She was. After she left, Mark Kenzie immediately texted his friend on the police force. I kept blowing up his phone to call me, call me. But he was off until he was playing basketball.
Even though he couldn't reach the officer, he arranged a second meeting for later that night. Here they are on this gas station security footage. What has she brought you? She brought me a picture and a Ziploc bag.
A picture of the target. Along with the phone number for the target. What did you think when you saw that photo? At first, I was like, okay, really now this is really serious.
And now I put myself out there and I have no idea how to go ahead for mayor. Eventually, his police officer friend called him back. Mark Kenzie didn't know if he should continue. He says his friend urged him to contact detectives.
He asked me, how would I feel in the next couple of days watching the news and find her dead in the news knowing that I could have stopped it. Mark Kenzie reached out to Ramaphone, New York detectives, Robert Fitzgerald and Peter Luzan. When we first heard it was like, it's a very unusual case to hear. We don't get too many cases like that.
So we were like, well, we'll bring him in. We'll see what if it's actually real or not. What do you ask him? We get into it like, hey, we're very interested in this story.
Let's hear what it is. And he's a listen. I was approached by a female. Had to get rid of somebody.
Who's the woman who wanted the hit? It was that Kelly Gribluk. What were you learning about Kelly? There was some background with Kelly.
She was formerly Orthodox Jewish. She was divorced. She had children. She had been involved with Kelly Gribluk prior to that in a different investigation.
So I was familiar with her. Detective Peggy Braddock had looked into Kelly's abuse claims about her ex-husband. That case had gone nowhere. Now, investigators were turning to the detective to learn more about Kelly.
What did you tell them and how could that help their investigation? I just thought that she wasn't a very honest person, that she was deceptive, and that she was someone to be concerned with. Kelly had three young boys and was a former mortician, turned aspiring model. So who was the woman Kelly wanted dead?
Did she give you a name? Yeah. What was the name? Susan.
Susan Bernstein. Susan Bernstein was a housewife who also had three young children. But why was she in Kelly's sights? The investigation was just getting started.
We wanted to set up another meet, and we wanted to make sure we had audio, video. This is where this whole story goes a little bit Hollywood. Yeah, literally. It's almost something like, are you sure?
Because this doesn't sound possible, right? Her jaw was on the floor. She was like shocked. This is dark.
A second murder for higher blood by the same person. We couldn't believe it. Detective sent out to catch Kelly Gribluk in the act of planning a murder. The thing we needed to do was to get Marcanzi's cooperation.
Marcanzi, the car salesman, and father of four, had earned Kelly's trust. So detectives asked him to keep playing a roll of bad guy. That's got to be really daunting. It was kind of cool, you know, in a way, you know, like, that's like double seven type thing.
They told him to set up another meeting with Kelly, the location, a Walmart parking lot directly across the street from the police station. We can literally see the police department. Yeah, I mean, you can throw a rocket hit the police station for me. This time they'd be watching.
They'd rigged Marcanzi's car with cameras and microphones. So show us where all the cameras were. Cameras was over here in the center, and the microphone was hanging over here. And under my seat here, I had a phone.
As detectives waited for the meetup to be sent, they scrambled to find out more about Kelly and her target, Susan Bernstein. Turned out the detectives' new Susan's husband, well, Dr. Ira Bernstein. He's your police foot surgeon.
Yes, a lot of the people that were involved in the investigation and the detective unit were patients of his. They discovered that Ira had been having an on-again off-again affair with Kelly. I've always wondered why someone chooses feet as a doctor. Feet are extremely important, yes.
He told us that he and his wife, Susan, were separated when in walked Kelly. It was not exclusive, and it was not like lightning at first sight. Ira says Kelly had been a welcome escape from a marriage that was falling apart. According to Ira, his wife had had it easy, raising their young children with the help of a live-in nanny.
Her days were filled with lunch days with friends, spa appointments, many petties. Well, he was working day and night at his foot surgery centers to keep up with a family's lavish lifestyle. My house was 13,000 square feet on 14 acres of land, and we had tennis courts, a pool, a pool house, a lake, a dock, boats. Did you have other houses?
I had about 20 different buildings and houses that I would rent out. He says Susan was the one spending most of the money. I overextended myself, and then her spending just started amplifying and amplifying to the point where, you know, 40,000 a month on her credit cards was standard operating procedure. What was she buying?
Everything from vacation she would plan, clothes, jewelry. Ira claims he was lonely and resentful and admits he cheated on Susan, but he says when she found out, instead of filing for divorce, they decided to stay together with unorthodox rules. We decided to have an open marriage, and she could start dating people. He says it wasn't long before Susan shut down that arrangement, and they legally separated.
Are you on the market again? Are you acting now that you're separated from your wife? I'm dating a couple of different girls. And that's when he met Kelly.
She had embarked on a new career selling shoe orthotics. She was actually a patient of mine about four years earlier, and so she was calling me out of the blue to say she'd like to meet with me and see if we can do business together. She asked Ira to be part of her company, and he agreed. Their professional relationship quickly turned personal.
Ira says he found Kelly hard to resist, described her for us like physically. I mean, physically she's very pretty. She's a model, she goes for photoshoots, she's well-built, and she's got a sexy kind of look to her. Ira says Kelly had gone through a traumatic divorce that left her family in tatters.
We could relate perfectly, and I think that's why we kind of meshed so quickly together. She was a big comfort to me. But after six months of dating Kelly, he says he and Susan decided to give their marriage one more try. He was tired of spending money on lawyers and missed his children.
I couldn't see them enough, I couldn't be involved in their life as much. I was frustrated, and I said to her, you know what, if there's a chance we can work this out still, I'm in, I want to work it out. And I told Kelly I feel like if I don't give it a try to see if I can make this work, I'll always regret it. And she said, I understand.
If you need to do this, you do it. So if she understood, why was she now trying to have Susan killed? Three days after Kelly first approached Mar Kenzie, he called the detectives to alert them that Kelly had agreed to meet again, and soon. A team of detectives raced to the parking lot to get in position, while Mar Kenzie sat in his car.
So she pulls up, as expected, where are you guys? Well, we'd have one car close, so we can get another car here, maybe a third there, and a fourth in case they leave or go somewhere we can follow. Mar Kenzie needed to convince Kelly to get in his car, to get her on tape. And she gets out of car and gets into that car, we're like, this is fantastic.
What are you hearing, coming from inside that car? Well, first they greet each other, remember, they know each other, so there's some friendly conversation, and then it comes around to the plan. They can't be aware of the chemistry they couldn't get in with that. Kelly suggested it should look like an accident.
He told her his men were ready, but they needed more information, like details about Susan's car. Then Kelly started talking money. Had you coached Mar Kenzie on how much it should be, what he should say? Well, we actually were trying to let her.
Matter of fact, I think Kelly was originally brought up a price of $200,000 to have it done, and he was like, he just went with it. This was just the first of many meetings to come. Right, yeah. It was a strong start, but it wasn't enough for an arrest.
No money had changed hands. Another meeting was in the works, and Kelly was about to dig herself in deeper. He was a young Marine. She didn't care about convention.
They made a life together. Then one night, the Marine died, and then the death investigation took a wild, unexpected, and utterly bizarre turn. I'm Josh Mako, and this is Trace of Suspicion, an all-new podcast from Dateline. Listen to all episodes of Trace of Suspicion now, wherever you get your podcasts.
As the day wraps up, get this scoop on what's been happening with Here's the Scoop, a new podcast from NBC News. With me, your host, Jasmine DeSugio. We'll take a deep dive into the day's top stories with NBC News' trusted journalist. It's a fresh take that's sharp, thoughtful, and informative, bringing you closer to the headlines and conversations that are shaping our world.
On the front page, the Zeitgeist. Here's the Scoop from NBC News. Listen daily on SiriusXM. Hey guys, Willie Geist here reminding you to check out the Sunday Sit Down Podcast.
On this week's episode, I sit down with one of the biggest bands in the world, Mumford & Sons, as we get the boys together to talk about their new number one album, Prize Fighter, and the evolution of that irresistible foot-stomping sound. You can get our conversation for free, wherever you download your podcasts. Mark Kenzie, the car salesman, was now fully committed to his role as the bad guy. Are you driving around with the cameras and microphones at all times?
Yes, we had a switch in the trunk where we turned the equipment on and off. With the other detectives like 20 minutes to half hour before I meet up with her, so we could make sure everything is up and running. On day two of the sting operation, detectives waited for Kelly to show up again, this time in a CVS parking lot. We're figuring out no hitman's going to be one in the same exact spot every time, so let's move it around just to change up locations to make it look more realistic.
Each time you were there. All the time, we would always be multiple cars with at least two officers or two detectives in each car. Like clockwork, Kelly pulled in and got into Mark Kenzie's car. They had coached him on how to handle the meeting.
We just told Mark Kenzie, just go along with whatever she says first of all, don't talk or answer anything, just go along with us and I can make that happen. We've had like a, either a hit and run when she came out of car. We're like, playing an accident when I stayed and said, I ain't fair. You know, I was playing an accident, so there's no investigation.
Kelly wanted to move fast. Detectives listened as she offered details on Susan's upcoming schedule. So this weekend, she's like going to a party on Saturday night, I'm sorry, Saturday night, I'm sorry, Saturday night, I'm going to go out with Bob. She's out there and here and everything.
Then Kelly revealed that Susan knew all about her relationship with Ira. In fact, she said Susan had recently texted her. Unbelievably, how can I say it? I'm an answer.
She took me like the last three weeks before week. Where'd she go? She's thinking with me. She called me a property with a lot.
She don't mean to you? Kelly moved on to lock in a price for the hit. What's with the credit? For the most part?
Before you, I'm making a difference. Detectives continued to listen in as she negotiated Mark Kenzie from 200,000 down to 100,000. Currently, you'll lose 100. I'm doing 400, but get up, yeah.
You know me, if I say something, I mean, I'm not. She bought up 100,000, I'll just try to get a little bit of money. No one's just gonna do a hit and not give a hitman some money. Don't pay me.
Yeah. So Mark Kenzie told her he needed good faith money to keep the hitman interested. At least give me some money. Give me some stuff.
Give me some stuff. She agreed to pay a deposit. But at the next meeting, she didn't bring it. Instead, she asked about his refund policy.
By the way, that's highly refundable. I couldn't believe she was saying it's where she's like, hey, it's just refundable. If it doesn't happen, you know, we were just like, if she wants to say it's refundable, tell her it's refundable. Just let it play out.
Let her try to give some money. He wasn't about the money. He wasn't about the money. He wasn't about getting the contract.
You're good at that, because you're car salesman. Thanks. Things were moving in the right direction. But detectives were convinced there was more to the story.
That Kelly wasn't working alone. She kept referring to someone else. We could tell during the conversations and Kelly we're like, I need to go back and talk to him. But the money's not the problem.
The problem is he's worried that he's gonna get investigated. Go break down. He's so weak right now. He won't be able to handle interrogation.
But Kelly was essentially doing all the dirty work. She was the point person. Eventually we actually do a wiretap on our phones too. So she was totally committed to the crime already and we already had her.
Now we just need to make sure that he commits as well. By now the detectives were pretty sure they knew who he was. But they needed him to meet with Markenzie and soon. They learned Kelly and her accomplice had approached other people about murdering Susan.
They had to talk to maybe two or three other people. Kelly was one putting out there, hey, do you know anybody that can help me? How did you learn that she'd been talking to other people? It just came up during investigation.
She actually mentioned it during conversation with Markenzie. Who were these other people? One person that Kelly worked with a long time ago, another person at Markenzie knew. It's from a core dealership once and a daughter of a nanny.
And they all said no? Yeah, they all just blew it off like no. It's just for real. It's kind of weird.
I'm not getting involved with this. So while this plot is unfolding, are you telling Susan that she could be a target? No. You know at that time because we weren't sure what would happen.
Meaning like she might blow it or the stage? She might, you know, take off for her own reasons, you know. Did you worry about Susan? Sure.
Absolutely. That's right. And we would always have Markenzie occasionally say, are you shopping around on me? Is there anybody else?
Again, we were up on Kelly's phones and we know she's safe. So you had this inside intel that was kind of giving you that sense that Susan's okay right now? Yes. We felt safe that we were controlling this.
They asked Markenzie to push Kelly for a meeting with her partner. Yeah. Yeah. And Kelly was about to deliver.
Well, son, I think he's pulling in. He finally showed. Right. So then we're all like, you know, bucking as we don't want him to see us.
As Ramapho detectives continue to investigate the plot to kill Susan Bernstein, they focused on flushing 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.
Detective suspected he was the one in charge, especially when it came to the money. Markenzie kept asking to meet him. And then one evening it happened a 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, bucking as we don't want him to see us.
Who was the other person? That was Ire Bernstein. Kelly's lover. And the police foot surgeon.
Is that just blowing your mind that it's Ira? Well, one of the funny things is we're both a lot of us. Now we had to be concerned. Is he going to recognize us when we're doing these surveillance?
Kelly and Ira didn't get in the car. I think it's a lot of us. I think it's a lot of us. I think it's a lot of us.
Now we had to be concerned. Is he going to recognize us when we're doing these surveillance? Kelly and Ira didn't get in the car. So Markenzie got out.
Hey, are you? Hey, I'm not talking to you. I already... They could hear Ira say he was worried about incriminating messages.
Kelly had been sending Markenzie on Facebook Messenger. I don't like him. He's very bad. Thinking on his feet.
Markenzie assured Ira the messages weren't a problem. Even though that wasn't true. A date I was thinking about you and you and you and you and you and you. You can't get it.
You can't get it. You can't get it. Kelly, still outside, said she was getting cold. Ira, you 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.
Don't you think you're going to get the right answer? I am. Whatever, make sure for the coffee. What's it going on?
It's from Crumhill. Yeah, I think it's A to the lesser. The better I agree with you. 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. And we had we had some stuff but we did not want to jump the gun on this. When Ira hesitated about going through with a hit.
Markenzie calmly told him he had to make a decision. No, I know, I know. Oh sh**. Listen to me multiple times.
That has nothing to do with you. We never had this company. We never met me. We never met me.
We don't know each other anymore. That's why I told her. I was trying to keep her at least fine. I know.
I know. No. No. No.
No. I never came back. A little while later, Kelly hopped back in. He feels so bad.
He gave me the money. He said that he wants me to hold it. No. No.
He said I... He doesn't show I have the money. But, until he makes a decision, he's like, no, what? He's scared?
What should I do? I can understand it, it's a natural thing. I can understand that. But, uh, at the end of the...
that's not the way I do it. Markenzie asked her again for a deposit. If you give it to me, now you're gonna have money in my hand. I can show my guy that, okay, you know what?
Definitely the business that is ready to go. We have more money. We don't have to let you down. Ah, I'm not laughing with you at the bottom of my side.
Kelly said Ira was worried about his children and what would happen after their mother died. Now he's thinking like, how do you take care of my kid? She saw another life for her. I think her and I were gonna just live together and be happy, you know I don't think she pictured the the negative side of it that the children are always not having their real mother She brought up the topic in an earlier meeting She talked about one time with my candy in the car She's like we're gonna have such parties after this when this is over and then at a time she felt guilty She's sitting in the car and she's like am I gonna go to hell for this?
Okay, here's the positive hold on to it. Let me get you the alecane actually. Well, let me get you the alecane too I have nothing to do. I didn't have to money my hands.
Give me a day. We're not Markenzie arranged another meeting hoping Ira would show again. He didn't but something big happened How are you? So I have a name and it's the pad that I was talking 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 for her. I would say he ran my car. They took me to my car to have it I was taken with the police car to the station. I was given a club hat, a joke hat, everything It sounded very much like the plan she proposed at their prior meeting Is there any way anyone can hit her and then say it wasn't active?
You take responsibility to say look I didn't see her. It was acting clearly. We can make that happen. Now once again he reassured her that was the plan Yeah, it's not gonna happen somebody's gonna have to see her tonight With that Kelly reached into her purse, pulled out a wad of cash then handed it to Markenzie So how much are you talking about?
Two, two, three thousand and how are you gonna be doing the rest? How many? What do you think 100? One hundred?
Okay Okay Nothing until we get you to go ahead. No Because she stands nearby No Once she turned that money over it I was next step and we had Kelly locked in now So Kelly's cooked? Correct But detectives didn't arrest her that 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 it's good to destroy it As detectives waited for Ira and Kelly to get 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 at 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 Azzan Well he didn't want him killed He wanted him 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 Maybe he's doing something fraud That they wanted to be other from an insurance company You know they wanted these two guys beat up and had to be ASAP And right away we're like oh no this is right in the middle of our investigation It's good to destroy it they might be testing us we're testing our Kenzie Detectives wondered if this new job was away for the couple to see if Mark Kenzie was the real deal And Kelly asked him are you a police officer? 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 And they were willing to pay quickly to get it done Kelly and Mark Kenzie 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 You want to make sure they're out of commission for a long time They finally get out of favor Detective 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 a person I don't want to tell them over the phone They said we're coming to Rocklin anyway because we have an investigation into I-reversity Luzan says they were investigating I-revers insurance fraud suspecting that he'd been patting 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 The detective asked the investigators for their help Because this is where this whole story goes a little bit Hollywood Yeah literally We all got together and came up when I did like listen This might sound crazy but maybe we can get a makeup artist Make it look like they were actually beat up How did they react to that idea? Well I think one of them was like I had to talk to my wife first But they agreed Police sat up in this parking lot next to the insurance investigator's office They had two undercover officers pretend to throw punches And we took a lot of pictures of them beating them up And we 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 Well like it was funny we were going back and forth on which ones we should choose This is a huge moment in our case you know in that If they believe this ruse about the beating up the investigators Then we can probably get to the big thing with you know where he's trying to kill Susan Now 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 gonna say I want to take these pictures to Ira Like you know we don't we want Ira to come out Now when we need them to study what can him commit 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 have any oil in the chicken oil plate With his heart pounding Mark Kenzie showed her the photos So he wants to make sure they're not going to come to work with a broken leg next week They're not what do they do She seems satisfied and just as the detectives predicted Kelly asked to take the photos to show Ira I think I'm going to get a picture so Come on that's better for you That's better for him Mark Kenzie followed the detective's 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 So he suggested to Ira that he could swing by his office to show the doctor the photos in person 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? Oh yeah you're kidding me this is it he's looking right at the camera but we're done Is it NBC news dot com slash infinity for full offer terms and details The murder for hire plot had taken a detour For now it was assault for hire Mark Kenzie 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 You know now we need Ira to come out This is a huge moment in our case Mark Kenzie convinced Ira to see the proof that the insurance investigators have been beaten up We're going to have the doctor look at pictures and this is going to commit him to the assault on investigators Here Ira and Kelly walking toward Mark Kenzie's car The fact that I'm out of his office he's in his scrubs that's into the car As soon as he got in the car I turned around I looked at her and I said can you excuse us for a minute Why did you want her out? To know if he was her putting the ideas in his head If he 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 oh you got them I said yeah I got them Mark Kenzie showed him the three photos But Ira immediately seemed suspicious 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 To distract Ira Mark Kenzie changed the subject and told him he needed to keep the photos Don't want to get them to because I don't get them Why are you worried? I don't know So he's done correctly I don't want to show it to work anymore No no It's all full full At this point Ira seemed satisfied He's like okay good good and I like it's big relief Shh Just remember he thinks they're fake Now he's really gonna think something's up here Detectives had coached Mark Kenzie 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 You know but it has to be his decision don't force him to do anything So now the big question is when he's the next job Then he'll wait to get better today All right and I'm gonna go ahead Don't want to be too pushy I know I'll give him a tweak Okay Well I'm gonna wait for him to do the job At the end of the week I'll do it Okay Then the good doctor said what law enforcement was waiting to hear So if I tell her if she's gonna be 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 Oh, I just want to say the first thing He was looking directly at the hidden camera Are you on the edge of your seats when he is pointing to that camera? Oh yeah, he's looking right at the camera when we're done Do you have a little moment of panic? Oh yeah My heart's just dropped And obviously By training I get to pick it right back up My Kenzie does a great job He leans back and goes on and has something for the kids' games When they plug into it Let me see her for the eye of this Dr.
Heber, I think we see her for the eye of this story Whatever it is, I tell him He believes it Because the only thing I was in his head is how he wants to get this thing done What is it? The family? Crisis averted Then without skipping a beat I removed onto the details of how Susan should be killed Agreeing she would be hit by a car A freak accident I'm having everything Right, I'm having things No problems Very smooth But I don't know where it's nothing I'm not gonna get back from you I don't know All right I relieve but you don't quite have what you need yet You're not all the way there You haven't crossed the finish line Yeah They need an eyebrow 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 And you'll have another meetup One more like No this is gonna be the answer Is it gonna be yes or no? If it's a no It's a good thing for Ira Bernstein Then you know he's not gonna kill The mother of his children So be it And part of this were actually You know morally It was a little part of his 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 he didn't know him And we're hoping Maybe he'll say no That's a happier ending Right So what would the ending be?
Later that day She shows up again in the Walmart parking lot This night 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 Cause we have audio I'm Markenzie himself But then she said there was a problem What the? She don't be prepared Pop that mic What? Was the detective's plan about to unravel?
We're like, we miss it We're like What just happened? What happened was far more complicated than it seemed At least that's what Ira and Kelly say Did you want Susan Bernstein dead? Standing 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 Do you want half of the night and half of the night? Okay So what are you going to do?
Sorry So now he's paranoid about what now The guys didn't get beat up No, that maybe You know, did they just put a set up or something? Well, I'm gonna Despite all of her reservations Detectives listened as Kelly spoke again Okay, so They answered it We don't hear any answer We're like, we miss it Like we heard him say Okay, well what's the next step? And we're like What just happened? She's holding up a phone She attacked the word yes Inside the phone so she wasn't very able 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 And how did this go down?
Was it like a SWAT situation? Was just a couple of officers? It was Well, there were several officers And playing close around in 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 Marcanzi 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 Suppose it hit man's arrested The gig is up Maybe she'll come back and talk to us Do you have any weapons right behind you? No They hope that seeing Marcanzi and custody Might be enough to get Kelly talking Do you understand each of these rights that I can't do?
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? Obviously Are you in the police department? Right I want you to just focus on you I remember seeing what I'm gonna do What's best for me Because in the end, you don't want You know, something like you take all the faults We know that Just don't make me answer No, look at me Kelly, you are Okay, it's not too hard They changed tactics and revealed that Marcanzi had been working undercover with them Well like did you see Marcanzi? I see Marcanzi's with us And we actually bring Marcanzi to the room What did she say?
She was just like her jaw was on the floor She was like shocked He's with us He's not we just put on here So that you would see that But he's with us Alright Is that the truth, Marcanzi? It's true Okay So I'm not lying to you Alright thanks I'm talking a little bit He's not under it So now who's the only one that's here in trouble? Who's you? But instead of coming clean She blamed Marcanzi Why was he so pressureing us?
Why was he? No, no, no, no Don't even play that after me You did not get pressure We did everything you can To let you guys walk away from this When pointing the finger at the car salesman didn't work Kelly went after Ira's wife, Susan And I really wanted just For him to divorce her But it wouldn't have helped Would have been worse She would try to get him I was actually scared for my life If you look at my phone I didn't even respond to her messages She called me all kinds of names And all these kinds of nasty things She would say to me And she would follow me And she poured coffee 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 you Don't make me answer me I know you love him I understand that Kelly, do yourself a favor Okay, just be honest Is that bad?
To be honest? I love him As you 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 And 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 was just killing myself At that point, right?
I had a little later on that Hey Are we suddenly in a few minutes? What's your voice going on? Oh my God How big is this? Is that two minutes?
What's that? That's with Mason? I don't know I don't know what's in my medicine I'm not looking anywhere for Sort of doing a medicine Is that something else to do, is that something else to say? Are you getting newspapers?
Honestly, I can tell you So, I'll finish one of your practice I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I never know how 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 As the day wraps up, get this scoop On what's been happening? With Here's the Scoop When you podcast from NBC News With me, your host, Gaz and the Sugium We'll take a deep dive into the day's top stories With NBC News's trusted journalists It's a fresh take That's sharp, thoughtful Hands informative Bringing you closer to the headlines And conversations that are shaping our world On the front page of the zeitgeist Here's the Scoop from NBC News Listen daily on Amazon Music Hey guys, Willie Geist here Reminding you to check out the Sunday Sit Down podcast On this week's episode I sit down with one of the biggest bands in the world, Mumford and Sons As we get the boys together to talk about their new number one album, Prize Fighter And the evolution of that irresistible foot stomping sound You can get our conversation for free Wherever you download your podcasts While 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 in her 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 big picture The lesser you to know, the better 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 She 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 This sheriff gives me 20 minutes to pack my stuff Whatever I could grab I am escorted out of my house I wound 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, they walk 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 Which she going for you? Everything She is literally doing everything From scheduling my appointments We were looking at properties We were negotiating things She was helping around 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 These are all the things you wanted Susan to do And these are all the things that I wanted Susan to do Susan had other plans He said she was out to ghetto 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 And 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 I'm going to expose you for everything and try to put you in jail Ira recorded Susan threatening him Ira claimed Susan was using that information to pressure him And to 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 post-nuptial agreement If they weren't under severe coercion and distress So you're the moron in this time?
This is Ira's version of what happened We're not sure of Susan's side She declined to speak to us Ira says it was during this volatile time that Kelly Went looking for a hitman He says she met with Markenzi five times Before he even knew about the plot She'd 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 What's hard is it? 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 Markenzi 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 I reclaims Markenzi told Kelly during an impromptu meeting Without cameras About a terrifying story Involving a former client of his who wanted out He said to her My job is to pick her up at a party Lower her way Bring her to the other guys And they're 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 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?
Yes, just at the time We did not feel like that was an option We didn't feel they were going to stop I did admit to paying to have those insurance investigators beat up I mean 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 was all shame and nothing happens Did you ever think that you could have been Part of a sting operation? You know, the weird thing is I was almost hoping it was Part of a sting operation at that point Because I wanted to get at it 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 You know, I guess that they would choose somebody on a lower pedigree I 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 spent 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? Definitely 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 He was my doctor After her divorce Kelly said she reached out to Ira to discuss her latest venture Her orthotics business We right away hit her 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? Ahh Chemistry He was going through something very similar And we came to realize that we had a lot of things in common The one flying 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 it 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 So 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 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 We're going to be so good if she just didn't come home Or you know If 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 We're having such a thought I 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 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 Did 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 He said there's no backing up Kelly also told us the story about the alligators He explains 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? Absolutely 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 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 Marcansey 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 I'm remorseful And I'm sorry and I'm acknowledging That my actions And my thoughts were horrible Is 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 He was a young Marine She didn't care about convention They made a life together Then one night the Marine died And then the death investigation Took a wild, unexpected And utterly bizarre turn I'm Josh Makowitz And this is Trace of Suspicion An all-new podcast from Bayline Listen to all episodes of Trace of Suspicion now Wherever you get your podcasts Prosecutor Moran thought Ira Bernstein might have made a misstep I reposted bail and was out of jail in four days But Kelly sat behind bars for five months Why didn't Ira bail her out? Because she'd have to ask him She might have the same question That's a quote correct Somebody direct quote 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 Reps, told us why If she were convicted after trial I'm fairly confident the judge would give her a close to the max Which would be eight and a third to 25 years And that's an awfully long time Pleadiel felt safe Anything involving state prison That is years and 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 I had 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 a real story When you look at the meetings and you listen to them Kelly couldn't make one decision Ira 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 that 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 having insurance investigators beat up or having his wife killed The cornerstone really of the defense of case is that Ira tried to call it off at the end But that there were threats if you don't go through with this harm could come to you That's simply not the case In fact, after they claimed it was subject to the rest They actually hire him to do the other job to be up to 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 hit me and now they're 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 On 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 Yeah, may I help you? Hi, I mean reservations last night, Chris did good in Iowa I wasn't sure if I told you 7.30 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 Kelly seems like she has this fierce loyalty to Ira She certainly does Kelly was now too much of a wildcard So instead of going to trial, the prosecutor offered Ira a deal 15 years in prison, eligible for parole in 5 There was a real defense here Ira's attorney, Jeff Milman, 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 2016 So 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 said 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 I love my children very much What I do is wrong I will spend every day for the rest of my life making it up It's 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 gonna 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 And if I could go back, I would do everything differently But I can't And I can see clearly that my emotions definitely over 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 After 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 this was true love And that they would be together She wanted absolutely nothing to do with him Kelly's lawyer Jonathan Rips 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 They'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 continue to battle it out in court He and Susan never got divorced Even within those four years that he was in prison There were doors were still ongoing Detective Peggy Braddock had kept tabs on Ira over the years Ever since her involvement in the 2017 investigation And a pretty good child That's a long divorce proceeding Yes Money and assets were still at the center of their ongoing feud Ira'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 He 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 when 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 a business That he had created from the ground up The landscaper should have watched Dateline I believe he did to be honest But I think and he still went into business with him He believed Ira's version that he was tricked by Kelly Braddock And that was all Kelly's idea The 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 case 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 Did 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 do is wrong I will spend every day for the rest of my life picking it up It's almost something like are you sure? Because this doesn't sound possible The landscaper saw it as an opportunity If he could get Ira on 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 So 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 out On the recording Ira sounded worried They'd get caught Whatever What are we going to find a way? Are you kidding? One walks away and they see someone over there You guys are professional Once they grab her, I don't know what's going to happen Well, I know that she's had a little battle And he can explore a certain stage of events You don't think? Like, basically, like, listen You heard the ex-husband, you were still in service You were behind this once About four days after this conversation The landscaper texted Ira that he 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 He didn't go to the police Mine is 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 have 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 She 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 So no Hollywood this time around Unfortunately now 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 says 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? I 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? What's sad and I really felt for Susan Trying the best that she can to raise the kids And Ira has a selfish person once everything forms health 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?
As 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 clear 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 The 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 It's important to know that if he signs over the business Are you willing to do what you said earlier and get rid of the recording? So 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 Well 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 him? His girlfriend at the time of the investigation Married him After who was arrested?
Now 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 Do you also admit that what he reported was regards to a solicitation to how Susan nursing kills? 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 a solicitation He needed to be held accountable That he was asking somebody to have his wife killed What would you say about doing this? In March of 2026 Ira arrived for his sentencing Sprew me on the first interview while I talk again What were you thinking?
Why would you do this again? Do you have anything to say Susan? All right 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 multi-millionaire 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 These men didn't know me but recognized his evil Mr Bernstein When it was Ira's turn to speak 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 If you were here by sentence 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 were to have absolutely no contact or communication with any of these individuals Do 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 landscape forgot his business back he did Ultimately 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 It's a nightmare, an awful and disgusting 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 I'll 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 She always needs to be careful Mark Kenzie 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 may would speak from time to time how they age the kids you know Um she's just a wonderful person I would do it all over again for her you know for anybody That's all for this edition of Dateline And don't forget to check out our Talking Dateline Podcast In which we'll 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 Some really fascinating folks who shared their defining moments Their triumphs, their challenges Their stories are funny And fuck Kenzie So I hope you'll join me each week And who knows? You might just come away with your own glass apple Search glass apple with Craig Melvin from today On YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts