The Monaco Matriarch (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE)

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0:42Visit usaa.com slash bundle auto property to see how much you could save. Multiple product savings do not apply in all states or to all situations. Savings subject to change. Restrictions apply. Membership eligibility and product restrictions apply and are subject to change. USAA means United Services Automobile Association and its affiliates, San Antonio, Texas. On the morning of May 17, 2014, a detective furiously scribbled notes as she sat next to the hospital bed of a mortally injured 77-year-old woman. This woman had been in a coma for the last 10 days, and the detective had been desperately working to figure out who had tried to kill her.

1:20And now that the woman had woken up, the detective was finally getting the chance she'd been waiting for, to ask her victim directly what happened. But right as the woman was about to say something, she stopped. Her eyes were wide with panic, and she just told the detective that she was afraid. She did have a lot to say, and she wanted to say it to police, but she said she couldn't say it here, not at the hospital. Then she looked around one more time and just told the detective she was still in danger. But before we get into that story, if you're a fan of the strange, dark, and mysterious delivered in story format, then you've come to the right podcast because that's all we do and we upload twice a week, once on Monday and once on Thursday.

2:00So if that's of interest to you, please take the follow button out for a beach day, but make sure you first replace their sunscreen with cooking oil. Okay, let's get into today's story.

2:38Late in the afternoon on May 6th, 2014, 77-year-old Helene Pastor sat at her office desk in Monaco with her beloved dog, Belle, at her feet and a phone pressed to her ear. On the other end was one of Helene's many tenants, doing what they did best, which was complain. This time, there was a problem with their water heater, and the plumber was late. Helene listened patiently, because she was a landlord and that was her job. But when her tenant was finished, Helene told them in a soft but firm voice that the plumber would be there eventually, and they were not too important to wait. Then she hung up.

3:14Now, Helene knew her tenant would not like that comment, but she also didn't have patience for entitled wealthy snobs. But unfortunately for her, she actually spent a lot of time with people like that because Helene was actually the single richest woman in Monaco and therefore attracted a lot of these people. So, Monaco is a country located on the Mediterranean coast, and it's surrounded on three sides by France. So, the two countries share a lot of cultural similarities. But Monaco is very small, just under a mile wide, and has only about 39 ,000 citizens. And many of those citizens are incredibly wealthy.

3:51It's essentially a country of millionaires and billionaires living in luxury condos and high-rises that cover the entire tiny coastline. And Helene and her family, the Pastors, owned most of those condos, which meant they had thousands of high-income tenants and were among the wealthiest landlords on the planet. The Pastors' multi-billion dollar real estate empire had begun three generations earlier, and Helene was now in charge of it. Now, it was obviously a ton of work, and Helene theoretically could pass it off to somebody else to do. But she was a pastor, and Pastors worked for what they had.

4:27Which was why Helene was a very hands-on landlord and spent long days in her office with her staff, dealing with accounting and handling tenants' requests. Now, Helene leaned back in her chair to scratch her dog Belle's head, and she watched as Belle closed her eyes and suddenly Helene felt the urge to do the same thing. However, she still needed to call her daughter, Sylvia, before she left for the day. Sylvia was 53 and had been diagnosed with breast cancer two years earlier, so Helene naturally worried about her a lot and made sure to check in on her daily. Helene reached for the phone again and dialed Sylvia's number.

5:02When she heard her daughter say hello on the other end, Helene asked her how she was feeling. But Sylvia said she couldn't talk, because her massage therapist had just arrived. So she excused herself and hung up. Helene stared at the receiver as the dial tone blared through it, trying hard not to feel hurt. It was moments like these where Helene wondered if her own daughter even liked her. But deep down, Helene knew exactly who to actually blame here. Sylvia's boyfriend, Wojciech. Sylvia had been with Wojciech for almost three decades, and it seemed like everybody in Monaco absolutely loved him.

5:37He was charming and gregarious and gave a ton of money to charity, but Helene had always felt like there was something off about him, and she worried that he was taking advantage of her daughter's famous last name. But she couldn't bring herself to actually tell Sylvia about her suspicions, so instead they had a lot of unspoken tension, which caused lots of little arguments. Helene looked over at the time, then stood and smoothed out her Chanel suit. She needed to get on with it if she wanted to see her son, Gildo, tonight. Gildo had been at the hospital for the last few months after having a stroke, and so Helene visited him daily, making the 45-minute drive from Monaco to where he was hospitalized in Nice, France.

6:16Now, the daily commute was a lot, especially because Helene was always so busy, but she never even considered doing anything else. Gildo was 47 years old, but he was still her child, and the whole ordeal had been awful and emotional for Helene. especially on top of Sylvia's cancer diagnosis. Seeing her children suffer like this had reminded Helene that money really couldn't save you from everything, even in Monaco. Helene grabbed her very expensive Hermes purse, then told her dog Belle it was time to go. Helene and Belle walked out the door of her office and climbed into a black minivan that was waiting on the curb.

6:53As soon as Helene slid into the back seat, she was greeted by her 64-year-old driver, Mohamed Darwich. Mohamed had been working with Helene for the past 15 years, and while he primarily was her driver, he also did cooking and other things, and basically whatever Helene needed, which sometimes was just to be a friend. And that's really what she needed today. So the two spent the 45-minute drive to Nice talking about their kids. Helene filled him in on Sylvia's cold shoulder that day, and how she was also feeling relieved that Gildo might be released from the hospital soon. Then Mohamed told her about how he was missing his own daughter, who lived back in Egypt with her mom.

7:29And he also updated Helene on his son, Wassam, and how he liked living in France. Their conversation made the drive go a lot faster. And before Helene knew it, they were at the hospital. By about 6 p.m. that night, Helene was sitting by Gildo's bedside, helping him drink some water. Like his mother, Gildo had been both blessed and cursed with the pastor work ethic. Despite all the family money, Gildo was constantly starting new ventures and investing in businesses. His latest thing was a new electric racing car, and he really wanted to focus on it, but obviously he couldn't because he was in the hospital.

8:05And Helene knew that. She knew that this hospitalization had been really hard for him, not just physically, but you know, sort of emotionally. He wanted to get back to work. Gilda was awake and alert, but he was still partially paralyzed, and he couldn't speak very well. Helene sat with her son, talking to him and checking in with his doctors, and after about an hour, she kissed his forehead and told him she would see him soon. Just after 7 p.m., Helene left the hospital and walked over to the minivan where Mohamed was. She climbed into the front passenger seat this time because Belle had stretched out in the back seat.

8:40Mohamed started the car and began making his way out of the lot towards the busy streets of Nice. The exit was very congested, with cars trying to get around one another and pedestrians kept crossing the street, but eventually, Mohamed was finally able to pull out of the lot and turn right before pretty much immediately getting stopped again by traffic. Helene simply leaned back in her seat and just let the noise outside fade to a blur as she tried to just accept that she'd be in traffic for a while, and so she should just relax. But as soon as she put her head back, suddenly something out her window caught her eye.

9:13It was a person jogging straight towards them. This person had a hat pulled down low around their eyes, so Helene didn't know who it was, but then she saw what they were holding. And immediately she screamed at Mohammed to drive. But before Mohammed could react, Helene heard a loud bang and the sound of shattering glass. Then Helene was dimly aware of the pedestrians all around the car screaming before she heard another bang, and then everything went black.

9:47About 15 minutes later, the commissioner of the Nice police, Philippe Frisson, pulled up to the hospital with the sirens on. He'd been in his office, about to finish up for the day, when he heard a call about potential shots fired, but he had no idea how serious it was. So when he got to the scene, he parked and jumped out of his car, and the first thing he saw was this big crowd of people gathered on the street right across from the hospital. And they all appeared to be staring at this parked black minivan with Monaco plates and a shattered passenger side window. Frisson jogged over. He was the first officer on the scene, but a firefighter standing by the minivan told him a few details based on what he'd seen and what the crowd had been saying.

10:26Apparently, a man dressed in black had come out of nowhere on foot and fired two shots into the minivan, hitting both the man and the woman who were inside, both in the head. There had been a dog in the car, but it was uninjured. The shooter had disappeared back into the crowd, and witnesses saw a second man, also dressed in black, follow after him. The firefighter said the two victims had been rushed to the hospital and were clearly in critical condition, but beyond knowing it was a man and a woman, he had no other information on their identities. Immediately, Frisson's mind went to carjacking.

11:00Nice didn't have a huge amount of crime, but one of its more common issues was something called the car door grab, which was when criminals would target cars stuck in traffic for robbery. He wondered if maybe the carjackers, in an effort to rob this car, had somehow gotten flustered or something had happened which caused them to open fire, and then they quickly realized the area was far too crowded to just get away, so they abandoned their robbery and just disappeared. Frisson radioed back to the station for backup. A crime like this clearly needed more officers than just him. And when Frison got through to the dispatcher, not only did she say she would dispatch more officers, but also she had some new information, the identities of the two victims.

11:43And the reason she already had their identities is because one of the two victims was incredibly famous. The woman who had been shot was the Helene Pastor, and the other victim was her driver, Mohamed Darwitch. Frison instantly froze, because of course he knew Helene Pastor's name. everyone did. She was the matriarch of the Pasteur dynasty, who owned most of Monaco. She not only had billions of dollars, but she had connections to Monaco's actual royal family. And so even though Frisson had been on the force for over 30 years by this point, when he heard this new piece of critical information, suddenly he felt nervous.

12:23This was going to be, by far, the most high-profile case he had ever worked. And also now that he knew the identities of his victims, his theory of what actually happened here completely changed. There was no way the richest woman in Monaco just happened to be targeted by random carjackers. This had to be a hit. Frisson got off his radio and walked over to the minivan and looked inside. He could see there was a purse on the dashboard covered in glass shards, and this solidified his belief that this was no robbery. But then he noticed something else. The front seats were covered in all these little holes, these little punctures, almost like somebody had fired a BB gun repeatedly into the seat.

13:05But Frison knew what this actually meant. He was looking at the blast from a shotgun. And this struck Frison as being very strange. A shotgun was just an odd weapon to use if this really was a hit, because it was big and bulky. You really couldn't carry it around in public without attracting a lot of attention. And so if you were a skilled hitman, a shotgun is not your first choice for a weapon. And so this fact, combined with the broad daylight approach, told Frisson that whoever had shot Helene and her driver was likely not an experienced hitman, but an amateur, which was not what he would have expected.

13:41Just then, Frisson heard police sirens cut through the air. His backup had arrived. Minutes later, the scene was surrounded by dozens of uniformed officers, crime scene tape, and technicians who were gathering swabs and other evidence from inside the van. The witness reports were hugely helpful, but Frisson also wanted to check if there was surveillance in the area. So when he was done taking statements, he pulled another officer aside and asked him to go look for CCTV cameras. So in France, many cities and towns have what's called closed-circuit television in outdoor public places, which is a network of surveillance video that law enforcement can access.

14:19Nice has more of these cameras than any city in France, so Frisson was hopeful they'd find at least one camera that caught the attack. And so the officer hurried off to go look, and Frisson decided to head back to the station while the crime scene techs finished processing the scene. After all, it was getting late, and he needed to meet with his team and make a game plan.

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18:00A few hours later, Frison was back at the station talking to his team, which now included one of the city's very best detectives, investigator Catherine Messineo. At this point, both of their victims, Mohamed and Helene, were in comas, and their attack was already the leading news all around Europe. The actual Prince of Monaco had already issued a statement of support for the Pastors. But Frison wasn't worried. Of course there'd be pressure. But he knew he would have some answers soon. Because police had already found two CCTV cameras at the scene that likely recorded the whole shooting. And so Frison was waiting on that footage.

18:36But in the meantime, he wanted to speak to Helene's immediate family and friends to see if maybe she had any enemies. Helene's children, Sylvia and Gildo, would likely know if there was anybody who wanted their mother dead. But Frisson also knew that Sylvia and Gildo were not just sources of information. They were also suspects. Now, Frisson did not have access to the details of Helene's estate, but he knew enough about the family to guess that whatever inheritance Helene left behind was likely in the billions, which meant her death would likely make Sylvia and Gildo billionaires. Now, Frisson didn't think that either of them had actually pulled the trigger.

19:14To start with, these shooters were apparently male, and Sylvia was a woman. And secondly, Gildo was in the hospital, but he was very unwell after his stroke. However, what Frisson did think was that both of these siblings had the motive and certainly the means to hire somebody else to do the shooting on their behalf. However, Frisson had one big problem. Sylvia and Gildo, and all of the people he wanted to speak to, lived in Monaco. Since Frisson and his team were French and his crime had happened in France, they had no jurisdiction there. They could not just walk up to citizens of Monaco, especially very notable citizens like the Pastors, and demand an interview.

19:55So, in order to talk to Helene's children and her inner circle, they really couldn't even imply that they were suspects. They had to treat them really nicely and just hope they cooperate. The next morning, Frisson sat inside of a very expensive-looking living room in one of the Pasteur's many Monaco apartment buildings. He had been up all night and was basically running on pure adrenaline. But he hoped it was worth it. Because across from him on the other couch was Helene's daughter, Sylvia, and her 64-year-old boyfriend, Vojcek. A large white dog paced around them. It was Helene's dog, who had been in the car during the shooting.

20:34When Frisand had reached out to Sylvia and Wojciech for this interview, they were both eager to give it. And now, sitting here face-to-face with them, it seemed fairly obvious that they were completely devastated by what happened. Sylvia appeared to be somewhere between shock and panic, but appeared to be doing everything she could to try to stay calm. She kept taking deep breaths and looking out the living room window at the view of the Monaco Harbor. As for Wojciech, he kept a hand on hers at all times, although Frisson couldn't tell if the gesture was protective or possessive. Frisson wanted to tread carefully here, because Sylvia and Bojcik could actually just kick him out at any moment, and he couldn't do anything about it.

21:12And the last thing he needed was a headline that said the French police were bullying the Pasteurs. So he started with just some light background questions about Helene. And in a shaking voice, Sylvia described her mother as tough but incredibly generous. She admitted that she and her mom actually did fight a lot, but it was just over silly things and they were actually very close. She said Helene called her frequently because Sylvia had been battling breast cancer and her mother liked to check in and make sure she was okay with her treatment. When Frisane asked her about enemies, Sylvia shook her head.

21:45She said that her mother tended to keep to herself and didn't typically engage with the Monaco social scene. And so the idea that somebody would want to hurt her just didn't make sense. Wojciech seemed equally mystified. He told Frisson that he and Sylvia had been together for 28 years and they had a daughter together. And so he knew Helene very well and she was a very involved grandmother and so he said that he and Helene had always had a great relationship and he said that she had always been very generous with his family financially, even though he had his own businesses and income, separate from the pastores.

22:17The mention of finances made Frisson perk up. He stopped Wojciech and asked him to be a bit more specific about Helene's financial generosity, and that's when he noticed a look of uncertainty cross Wojciech's face. For a second, Frisand wondered if he had touched on a sore spot. But Wojciech recovered quickly, and with an easy smile, he explained that Helene gave both Gildo and also Sylvia a monthly allowance of about 500 ,000 euros each, which is about 600 ,000 US dollars. When Friesan heard this, he had to force himself not to raise his eyebrows. That was a staggering amount of money to get every month.

22:54It was so high, in fact, that it actually made Friesan doubt whether either of Helene's kids would feel a need to kill her. But boy check wasn't done. He cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably in his seat, before saying that he and Sylvia used the money Helene gave them on household expenses. But if he was being honest, he'd heard that Gildo had spent his money on other stuff. Wojciech said that Sylvia's brother owned some companies that were not doing well, so he was presumably very deep in debt. And this, for Frisson, opened a new investigatory door. He jotted down this information on his notepad.

23:31He was meeting with Gildo next, and if Wojciech was right, the debt was a huge red flag, and made Gildo look like a pretty good suspect. The detective spoke to the couple for a bit longer, but they didn't have much else to say. So eventually, Frison thanked them for their time, and he got up to go.

23:52When Frison walked into Gildo's hospital room 45 minutes later, he was shocked by what he saw. He had known that Gildo was sick, but he hadn't been prepared for just how sick. Gildo could barely move or speak. In fact, the only way he could reasonably communicate was by blinking. And so Frison sat down at his bedside and started with a few simple questions. It took a long time for Gildo to blink out his answers, and he also couldn't communicate anything more than maybe a few words at a time. And so it was obvious very quickly that due to this communication snafu, Frison wasn't going to get much, and Gildo was very frustrated.