CARLSBAD, N.M. (KRQE) – There’s been a bizarre new twist in the search for three search and rescue dogs stolen in Carlsbad. Those dogs were taken from Dr. Kim Lark, allegedly by her ex-husband. KRQE news 13 has now learned that her ex-husband has quite the past that has made international headlines.

Dr. Lark has been searching for her search and rescue dogs Felony, Storm, and Zero for nearly three weeks. She says they were snatched along with her SUV from outside a hospice facility in Carlsbad. She says she saw her ex-husband Jon Green take them. “I could see him backing up with my vehicle and speeding out of the parking lot,” Lark said.

It turns out there is a lot more to “Jon Green” or rather the name he used to be known by, Ted Maher.

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Maher, an ex-Green Beret turned registered nurse spent eight years in prison for the death of billionaire banker Edmond Safra. Safra’s penthouse in Monaco was set on fire. Safra and a second nurse were found asphyxiated in a locked bunker inside, with Ted Maher being the sole survivor. It’s a bizarre story that was covered around the world by Vanity Fair, Forbes, 48 Hours, and Dateline.

Maher is accused of intentionally setting the fire not to kill Safra, but to gain favor with him. Maher was found with stab wounds police allege were self-inflicted in an effort to appear as a hero, fighting off two masked intruders who police say never existed.

Maher disputes that and spent the years after he got out of prison trying to clear his name. He wrote a book and he talked to Dateline. Somehow he made his way to Carlsbad as a crude oil truck driver and now goes by the name Jon Green. He met Dr. Lark when he went in for treatment of a lesion.

Lark says she knew of Green’s past and the so-called murder in Monaco, saying she believed his side of the story. After two years of marriage, things deteriorated. In April, Green is accused of forging Lark’s and her parents’ checks. Later that month, she filed for divorce.

Then came May 12, the day of the dognapping. Carlsbad police have been trying to find him since. There was a possible sighting in Amarillo but nothing since. In the days after the dognapping, Lark did start going through Green’s belongings and found something alarming – a box of rubber masks. “The only thing about that box of masks, I think is, what do people do with something like that you know? Something illegal,” Lark said.

While Lark continues to discover more, her main focus remains to find her dogs, one of which would have given birth after being taken. Police continue their search for a man with such a bizarre story.

“A person like Mr. Maher aka Jon Green is a person that you don’t wash that type of behavior off in the shower. This other side of him that he some way suppressed when it came alive or came to the surface, and I guess in some ways no turning back,” said Carlsbad Police Captain Jesse Rodriquez.

Carlsbad Police say they have reached out to law enforcement in other states based on tips and the FBI is always helping. Dr. Lark is offering a $50,000 reward for information that leads to the recovery of her dogs.