The Netflix documentary, Murder in Monaco, takes us back to the year 1999, when a billionaire named Edmond Safra was killed in his own penthouse. Often, in such documentaries, you get to witness certain strange characters, and no matter how much you try, you cannot fully grasp what’s happening in their mind. Ted Maher, Edmond Safra’s nurse, was one such person who was found guilty of murdering Edmond Safra. The most amusing thing about the incident was that Monaco, as a country, was considered to be a tax haven and in fact regarded as one of the most secure places in the world, with CCTV cameras installed at every nook and corner. Moreover, Edmond’s penthouse was no less than a fortress itself, with cameras and security guards making sure that no unauthorized individuals entered the house. It was guarded at all times of day, and it was almost impossible to trespass on the property and not be spotted and caught. Ted Maher might have been found guilty, but I am pretty sure that he didn’t act on his own accord. The way the investigation was conducted, the way the trial took place, and the way Lily Safra (Edmond’s wife) made certain suspicious transactions in the US—it did seem like the real truth never came out in the open. In fact, a senior judge of the country made a startling remark and said that it was already decided, even before the trial began, that Ted Maher would be held guilty in the Edmond Safra murder case. Safra’s brothers also said that it was Lily who had gotten their brother killed, but obviously there was no evidence to prove those claims. Ted Maher did end up spending time in prison, though all his life he claimed that he had nothing to do with it. So let’s find out what exactly happened on that fateful day, how Ted Maher ended up in such a mess, and where he is now.
How Did Edmond Safra Meet His End?
Ted was working in the US when he got an offer to be Edmond Safra’s nurse. He grabbed the opportunity with both hands, as the pay was really good and the perks that came with it were also unmatched. But then, on 3rd December, a fire suddenly broke out in Safra’s house, and Edmond and another nurse named Vivian Torrente were found dead by the authorities. Ted said in his testimony that two masked men had broken inside the penthouse and stabbed him. He said that he lit the fire to raise a security system alarm, though he didn’t know that it would get out of hand and eventually take Edmond’s life. Ted also stated that he had been kidnapped by Russian mobsters a day before the incident, and they told him to find a way to get them inside the penthouse. Now, according to Ted, his wife, Heidi, his brother in law and their kids were abducted by Lily’s staff who came to pick them up from the airport, and he was asked to confess to his crimes if he wanted to see them alive. The trial was conducted, and Michael Griffith represented Ted Maher, and he stated in the documentary that he was absolutely shocked to hear the arguments of the defense lawyer who was fighting Ted’s case before he came into the picture. He said that, at one point in time, he felt that they were intentionally trying to lose the case. The narrative that the prosecution had was that Ted started a fire with the intention of them saving Edmond’s life and becoming the hero. Ted was in need of money, and according to the head nurse, Sonia Herkrath, he was ready to go to any extent to get it. In my opinion, this theory does seem a little implausible to me. But the head nurse seemed quite sure that he was the one who killed Edmond.
Did Ted Maher Kill Edmond Safra?
Ted Maher stated in the court that it was the Russian mafia who had killed Edmond, as they were not happy with the way he had dealt with things. Apparently, Edmond had informed the FBI that a huge amount of money was being laundered into the Russian market by certain US-based banks. He stated that when he was kidnapped, the men spoke in Russian, because of which he got to know that they were after Edmond’s life. But the fact that Ted was kidnapped and then later his wife too was abducted was never taken into consideration. Another bizarre thing that happened in the case was that Ted escaped from the Monaco prison with his cellmate, Luigi Ciardelli, because he felt that he needed to prove his innocence and find evidence that could help his cause. But Ted was caught, and apparently it was his wife, lawyer, and church parish who reported to the authorities that he had run away.
Another interesting thing in the case was the involvement of Heidi in the entire mess. Some people stated that Lily Safra bought an expensive house for Heidi so that she didn’t intervene. Heidi was kidnapped, and some reporters did suggest that Lily could have had a role to play in it. The fact that the entire case, from the beginning of the investigation, was botched, and there were things that logically couldn’t be explained unless we presumed them to be intentional acts. So, for example, after the police arrived at the penthouse, they took more than 3 hours to get inside.
In fact, they didn’t even let the firemen go inside because, according to Ted’s testimony, there were armed men inside the house, and according to protocol, they needed to secure the area. Moreover, Lily Safra inherited all the wealth from her husband, and the most shocking thing was that her second husband (she married four times) had also died under similar mysterious circumstances. So this was not the first time Lily’s partner was found dead on a random day. In fact, it was stated that her second husband had committed suicide, and apparently he shot himself twice. I mean, you don’t need to be an expert to know that he was also murdered. One thing that I will say is that whoever planned it was resourceful enough to have some influential people on their payroll, as otherwise such inconsistencies could not have come about, especially as it was one of the richest people murdered in a city that is believed to be the most secure place in the world. So yes, according to the court of law, Ted Maher was the one who killed Edmond Safra, though the narrative of him wanting to become a hero by saving his boss from the fire isn’t believable for me.
Where Is Ted Maher Now?
I might have gotten fully convinced that Ted Maher wasn’t the killer, if Hodges Usry (the director of Murder in Monaco) hadn’t informed us what happened after they shot the documentary with Ted. Ted always stated that he’d served in the US Special Forces before starting to work as a nurse. But there were reports that suggested he was never a part of the special forces, and that that was merely a story he told others to establish his credibility. In 2007, Ted returned to America, where he changed his name to Jon Green, likely as an attempt to erase his past, but what he couldn’t change was his penchant for committing crimes.
After his divorce from Heidi, Ted, as Jon Green, married another woman, Dr. Kim Lark, a FEMA-certified canine handler and a family medicine physician in Carlsbad, New Mexico. However, it had become obvious by now that Ted was neither a good person nor a good husband. He started forging checks in Lark’s name after they became estranged, and finally in May 2022, he stole her car, kidnapping three search and rescue dogs that belonged to her. Dr. Lark immediately reported the crime to the authorities and even hired a private investigator to locate her missing dogs. On 13th June 2022, the FBI received a tip on Ted, aka Green, and arrested him at a Veterans Affairs hospital in San Antonio, Texas. As shown in Netflix’s documentary, the Eddy County Courthouse found Ted guilty of burglary, larceny, forgery, and fraud. But alas, that wasn’t the end of Ted’s crimes. He was capable of much more than that. While in Eddy County Detention Center, Ted paid his cellmate, Greg Markham, to kill Dr. Lark by overdosing her with fentanyl. It proved that he was indeed capable of hurting others, and so he might have killed Edmond too. In July 2025, Ted was found guilty of criminal solicitation to commit first-degree murder, and he was sentenced to 9 years. As of now he is still in prison, and he is supposed to be released in 2031.
