Jonathan Kinder was recommended to Erica by Olga to prescribe painkillers to her for her back pain. He knowingly gave Erica too many drugs to make her dependent on him. After aiding in the demise of Erica's marriage, he brainwashed her into a short affair before realizing that he had to get her the help she needed at Betty Ford. He has had a past affair with Liza Colby that has led to his blackmailing her for money he needs in order to continue some type of illegal activity with his cohort Christopher. The root of the blackmail was that Liza believed that she was responsible for the death of Jonathan's wife, Toni. Secretly, Toni was alive and was kept in a drug-induced stupor in an unknown hiding place. Janet Green came to work for Kinder and soon found out about the woman that he was keeping drugged. She blackmailed Kinder into finding her a plastic surgeon for her own scheme by telling him she had a safe deposit box containing incriminating evidence against him that would be opened upon her death. Kinder kidnapped Janet and held her in a room next to Toni's in the same drug-induced stupor. He found her key to the safe deposit box and has blackmailed Liza into impersonating Janet to retrieve its contents. Jonathan was on the run from the police after Marian helped him escape from the hospital were he was recuperating from a beating at the hands of Dimitri Marick. Later Jonathan kidnapped Bianca in an effort to obtain money by blackmailing Erica for the safe return of her daughter. Janet and Erica figured out who the kidnapper was and inadvertently tracked him down. As they rushed in to save Bianca, Bianca pushed Jonathan down the staircase. He hit his head several times and was "killed" instantly. Jonathan was later tracked down in St. Justin by Marian Colby.

When Marian learned that Jonathan's romantic interests were just a ploy to swindle her out of her fortune, Marian called Erica, Skye, and Janet, The three women flew to the island paradise and flew Jonathan back to Pine Valley where he was promptly arrested and sent to a Pennsylvania correctional facility.