Naman Shrestha
NBC’s ‘Dateline: The Target’ and ‘Dateline: Take Two’ delve deep into the murder-for-hire plot orchestrated by a Ramapo-based podiatrist named Ira Bernstein and his girlfriend, Kelly Myzner Gribeluk, against Ira’s wife, Susan Bernstein. In 2016, when Kelly tried to hire a hitman for the killing, she and Ira were apprehended by the authorities before their murderous plot came to fruition. The documentaries explore Kelly’s involvement in the plan and her relationship with the podiatrist.
Kelly Myzner Gribeluk Attempted to Hire Her Friend to Get Susan Bernstein Killed
Kelly Myzner Gribeluk grew up in a secular household and, by the time she turned 21, joined the Satmar Hasidic sect, a strict form of Orthodox Judaism. Soon, Kelly married an Orthodox Jewish man, with whom she welcomed three sons over the next few years. With their marriage deteriorating, in 2013, she filed for divorce and sought custody of her three sons. While she claimed that he had been abusive towards her, the husband alleged that she had an affair with his teenage nephew. In 2014, she lost her custody battle. Also known as Heidi Morris, Kelly began an extra-marital affair with her podiatrist, Ira Bernstein, who was married to Susan Bernstein at the time. As Kelly and Ira grew closer, the latter talked about wanting to get rid of his wife to avoid the financial burden of the divorce proceedings and other formalities.
In order to get the job done, she approached her friend, Marckensy Louissaint, a luxury car salesman who had once sold her a car, and asked him to help her kill Susan. Instead of helping her, he went straight to the police and worked undercover with them to gather incriminating evidence against Ira and Kelly. As the authorities installed a hidden video camera in his vehicle, the car salesman pretended to be on the couple’s side. In one of the video recordings, Kelly was heard saying, “It can’t be a robbery. It can’t be a shooting. It can’t be anything like that.” In another meeting with Marckensy, she added, “What about like a — either a hit and run, like, when she’s getting out of the car, or, like, plain an accident. Somebody backed into her, and the guy stays and says, ‘I didn’t see her.’ You know, it’s plain an accident, so there’s no investigation.”
On April 4, 2016, Kelly allegedly provided him with Susan’s name, address, and photographs. She was also accompanied by Ira during some of the meetings with Marckensy. The murderous pair also asked the salesman to beat up two insurance investigators, who had been investigating Ira’s possible insurance fraud. On April 17, Kelly allegedly gave a $2,000 down payment for the killing of Susan Bernstein. With enough evidence against the duo, the authorities arrested them on May 3 and charged them with felony counts of conspiracy and solicitation. While Ira was bailed out by his family, Kelly remained at the Rockland County jail as she lacked the funds to pay her bond.
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Kelly Was Brought to Justice For Her Involvement in the Attempted Murder-for-Hire Plot
A few weeks after her arrest, on May 27, 2016, Kelly Myzner Gribeluk pleaded not guilty to plotting the murder of Ira Bernstein’s wife, Susan Bernstein. However, on September 28, she pleaded guilty to first-degree conspiracy and two felony counts of fourth-degree conspiracy at the Rockland County Courthouse. She claimed that the hitman she and Ira intended to hire had threatened her life, but the prosecution argued that no threats were made against her. Kelly, who offered $100,000 to Marckensy Louissaint for the murder-for-hire plot, also told the judge that she had called off the plan later.
Ultimately, her two felony counts were reduced to misdemeanor counts of fifth-degree conspiracy. Thus, the mother of three was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison for her involvement in plotting the murder of Susan Bernstein. According to reports, she was released from prison on probation about four years after her sentencing, in 2021, alongside Ira Bernstein.
