On March 13, 2026, NBC’s Dateline broadcast an episode called Take Two. It featured the story of Ira Bernstein: the first plot, the sentencing and release, and what happened next. The reporter, Andrea Canning, interviewed Bernstein himself, his former girlfriend, the detectives, and anyone connected.
Now and then, a crime closes with a trip to the courthouse. The Ira Bernstein case did, then it all began again. Bernstein is a 51-year-old ex-podiatrist living in Montebello, a peaceful suburb just north of New York City. He had a job, a family, and a decent life. Then he attempted to have his wife murdered. He was discovered, imprisoned, returned, and, presumably, tried again. You don’t expect a story with a development like that. That’s why Dateline returned.
Dateline: Take Two – The New York podiatrist who plotted against his own wife
By 2014, the Bernstein marriage was in dire trouble. Ira and his wife, Susan, had three children together. However, Ira had been seeing another woman, Kelly Gribeluk, who worked selling orthotics and was previously one of his patients. When Susan discovered this, there was a rapid decline in their relationship. Allegations of abuse began to surface. A restraining order was put in place. Despite an attempt at reconciliation, this failed to work.
It went over an incredibly dark line somewhere along the way, as per Dateline.
The car salesman said no and called the police
The plot to murder Susan did not begin with a call to a hitman but at a car dealership, according to Dateline. Gribeluk approached a salesman she knew from her last purchase and asked him if he could put her in touch with a person willing to do a murder. The target was Susan Bernstein. The plan was for the murder to appear as an accident. The price was $100,000. A deposit of $2,000 was paid.
The salesman said no. Then, he called the police.
The sting, the records, and the arrest
Officers from the Ramapo Police were quick. They set up a sting. The salesman they initially dealt with turned informant. Secret cameras and microphones recorded Bernstein and Gribeluk talking over their scheme: the payment, the timing, the circumstances. The man they thought was their assassin was actually collecting evidence against them.
They were arrested together in April 2016. No one had been injured, but the recordings were incriminating.
Prison sentences for both
Both Bernstein and Gribeluk entered guilty pleas rather than face trial, according to Dateline. Bernstein went on to take a plea of conspiracy and was sentenced in 2017 to five to fifteen years in custody. His wife, Susan Bernstein, was given a ten-year protection order, while Gribeluk was sentenced to four to twelve years. The case was featured on a 2017 Dateline.
Most people thought there was nothing more to this.
However, Bernstein did not serve his full sentence. He was released in July 2021 after serving less than five years. It was a legal release granted on merit under the rules of the State of New York.
Less than a year and a half later, he was allegedly at it again.
According to prosecutors, during those few months in the summer of 2022, Bernstein again tried to have Susan murdered. This time, prosecutors said he enlisted his sister, Jaclyn Goldberg. As reported by Dateline, prosecutors said that she assisted him in trying to erase evidence of his solicitation, that is, an audio recording that recorded him asking someone to kill Susan.
Indicted, charged, and back in court
A grand jury in Rockland County charged Bernstein in May 2023. The indictment included criminal solicitation and tampering with evidence. His sister was also charged with assisting in the cover-up.
Bernstein decided to enter a second guilty plea. This time, he agreed he had tampered with the physical evidence, the audio recording. A state court judge sentenced Bernstein to one to three years in prison in March 2026, just a couple of days before the episode of Dateline aired.
Thomas Walsh, the Rockland County District Attorney, said that the decision was intended to be a message: that a person who commits all levels of domestic violence, and who finds ways to manipulate psychologically and legally, will be paid attention to.
Where does it all stand now?
Now, Ira Bernstein is back in prison. His sister, meanwhile, has her own set of legal cases to deal with. Susan Bernstein, who was the survivor of two separate murder attempts, remains protected by a court order, according to the Dateline episode.
The title Take Two is bitterly ironic. In film, it means a second chance to get it right. In this instance, it means just the opposite: a second chance wasted in the worst possible way.
Edited by Sahiba Tahleel