The first season tells the story of a brazilian author Mary Guedelha, known as Marileide Andersen, who met John Meehan in the hospital when she had completed brain tumor surgery. They started a romance. Even though John was charismatic, Mary realized there was a secret in him. She did everything she could to find out when he tried to steal her money and she reported him to the police after breaking into her house. She slept with a knife and was constantly being chased in her car. John Meehan turned into secrets, denial, manipulation and, finally, Mary was the only woman he had taken advantage of, who managed to put him in jail, after three months of persecution, suffering and the struggle for survival.

Mary Guedelha, devised a plan to arrest John Meehan, and had the help of the United States Police. A story never told, her expertise and courage in standing up to the man who wanted to kill her, but couldn't, because she was smarter than him.

John Meehan's story became known through the series Dirty John.

Dirty John is an American true crime anthology television series, based on the podcast of the same name by Christopher Goffard, that premiered on November 25, 2018, on Bravo. Outside the United States, it was made available through Netflix on February 14, 2019. The series was created by Alexandra Cunningham also an executive producer alongside Richard Suckle, Charles Roven, Mark Herzog, Christopher G. Cowen, and Chris Argentieri.