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Love of Venezuelan prostitute inspires murder plot
By Nolan Clay
Staff Writer
A former Oklahoma City police officer paid to have his wife murdered because he'd fallen in love with a prostitute at a Venezuelan sex resort, court records reveal.
Kenneth John Griffin "was obsessed with figuring a way to get" the prostitute, Lezette, to the United States, a friend told authorities. Griffin said he had taken out "substantial insurance policies" on his wife.
The murder-for-hire plot unraveled when the friend told the FBI April 14. Griffin was arrested April 16 — the day he wanted his longtime wife murdered.
Griffin, 48, of Tuttle, committed suicide in the Oklahoma County jail April 17 after phoning his wife, Maya, to say he'd been set up. He hanged himself with a bed sheet, officials said.
New details of the plot emerged Wednesday when a judge made public a police investigator's five-page affidavit requesting permission to arrest Griffin.
Griffin gave his friend, Jonathan Eric Conlon, $1,000 in cash the evening of April 15 to pay a hit man, "Vic", for the murder, the police affidavit shows. FBI agents secretly watched.
Conlon, who has been to prison in his past, told authorities he'd made "Vic" up to string Griffin along. The two had a drywall business.
Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater said Wednesday that police officers arrested Griffin April 16 "because they felt that if he had come home and found that she was still alive or there in the house that he would do it himself."
"I really do believe that they saved her life," Prater said.
Conlon, 32, told The Oklahoman Wednesday, "I really wish I knew what went wrong with him because ... we were really good friends before this all happened."
He said, "I don't feel like I'm a hero. All I know is I couldn't let this happen ... Nobody's life is worth a price. That's the way I feel and that's the way I've always felt."
Griffin began talking about having his wife murdered after he and Conlon went to "Total Satisfaction Adult Resorts" in Venezuela in July 2007.
"This is a place where men go and pick a Venezuelan prostitute to spend their stay with," the police investigator wrote in the affidavit. "Conlon states Kenneth Griffin fell in love with 'Lezette,' the prostitute that Kenneth Griffin picked on this trip.
"Approximately one month later Kenneth Griffin informed Conlon that he would be going back to Venezuela to meet 'Lezette' again. After Kenneth Griffin's return from this trip, Conlon believed something to be wrong with Kenneth Griffin because he was obsessed with figuring a way to get 'Lezette' back to the United States."
Griffin brought up his plan in September 2007, asking his friend to do a "dirty deed," the police investigator wrote. "Conlon asked Kenneth Griffin how dirty of a deed and Kenneth Griffin stated a 'very dirty deed.' "
Griffin talked of waiting six months to a year to bring Lezette here "after the situation was handled."
During the plotting, Griffin gave his friend two photographs of Maya, a hand-written schedule of her travels, two hand-drawn maps and four Google maps "to assist in the murder of his wife," according to the affidavit.
Also, according to the affidavit, "Conlon states in recent days Kenneth Griffin had become very impatient in wanting his wife murdered. Kenneth Griffin recently told Conlon that if 'Vic' cannot get the job done he has three friends from Detroit who are on their way to Oklahoma City to take care of the business."
The district attorney said police were unable to verify whether Griffin had recruited hit men from Detroit.
Griffin quit the police department in 1996 when he was caught defrauding charities. He was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty.
The Total Satisfaction resort in Venezuela closed earlier this year, but the company now has a location in the Dominican Republic.
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