Amid word the man who conned her had died, a CT woman cried. It was not tears of grief

Yahoo

27-03-2025

When Elizabeth Ballard learned recently that Jonathan Kern of France had died she burst into tears and toasted with a glass of wine.
They weren't tears of grief, but rather relief. And that wine? It was celebratory
'I didn't feel bad, but was relieved,' Ballard said.
After 30 years of reminding the world and Kern of the way he allegedly conned her out of money and broke her heart, he was gone from a massive heart attack.
'I felt like I had protected other women,' she said of the journey these last 30 years. For her, there's no more looking over her shoulder wondering if he was back to harm her
Her case made worldwide news when it aired in a 1996 episode of Unsolved Mysteries, she still gets emails on the episode; she wrote a self-published book; she traveled across the ocean to testify against him in court in another case and she started a now globally popular Facebook group, 'Conned But Not Conquered' to help other victims.
In Milford, where the Milford Police Department had an arrest warrant on file for decades for Kern in Ballard's case, Detective Marilisa Anania wrote in an email to Ballard this week, 'I am sorry we were unable to ever serve the warrant, but your dedication to your case has helped many others in similar situations.'
The charges were felony criminal impersonation, second-degree forgery and second degree larceny.
Ballard never forgave nor forgot, even though she went on to have a great career, life and marriage.
Kern stood accused of numerous scams around the globe involving women, luxury cars. He'd even done jail time for scams.
Ballard kept the case alive and illuminated his missteps along the way, spreading the word.
In Ballard's case Kern posed as Formula One race car driver Jonathan Palmer on a business trip.
He wooed her with a British accent, designer clothes, luxury cars and promise of a future that included activities such as skiing in the Swiss Alps.
In addition to breaking her heart Kern allegedly squandered all her money, driving her to file bankruptcy on her 40th birthday.
When Ballard discovered the deceit, she had to rebuild her career and heal emotionally from the heartbreak.
'It left me financially devastated,' she said. 'I couldn't pay my rent.'
In a video on his Facebook page years ago Kern admitted to impersonating famous people, said it was wrong, but wrote it off as 'youthful indiscretion.' He even once impersonated Mick Jagger, he said.
Although Ballard had an intuition that something wasn't right from the beginning, she hadn't listened to that voice inside, she has said.
Her 'gut' told her something wasn't right.
Kern told her he came from a wealthy family, but his money was tied up in overseas banks, she said. That seemed plausible to Ballard because at one point he had a Mercedes Benz dealership deliver a car to Milford for his use. They had also allegedly been scammed.
He allegedly bilked Ballard out of $15,000 through use of her ATM card and other money he 'borrowed' until his money from England could be transferred, she said.
Ballard said she learned that in addition to using her ATM to withdraw up to $250 per day, he was also seeing other women during his daily trips to Manhattan. Seeing other women in New York was part of his agenda, she said.
At one point, Kern reimbursed her $7,000 plus through a check from an Italian bank, but that bounced about a year later, leaving Ballard on the hook for the money, she said.
When she learned he wasn't Palmer, 'That was the moment my heart just sank,' Ballard said. 'I had fallen in love with him. He conned me. It's conflicting.'