Practically two years handed earlier than investigators interviewed the 2 key corrections officers on responsibility the night time Epstein died in his cell within the Metropolitan Correctional Middle in downtown New York Metropolis, in what was later dominated a suicide, in keeping with courtroom paperwork. A kind of officers was the one particular person to attest to seeing Epstein hanging by a bedsheet from his bunk.
The cell on the Metropolitan Correctional Middle, the place Jeffrey Epstein’s physique was discovered on August 10, 2019 was a scene of disarray.
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“The FBI literally has all of the best tools. I mean, spared no expense. They have every tool you can imagine. And they used none of it as far as we can tell,” forensic analyst Nick Barreiro stated after reviewing the photographs, a lot of which have by no means been printed. “How are there not way more people pointing out the absurdity of this?”
The outcomes of the federal investigation have been made public in 2023, 4 years after Epstein’s demise, in a report by the Division of Justice Workplace of Inspector Common. It concluded that the financier, who entered a responsible plea in 2008 on state-level expenses of procuring a toddler for prostitution, died by suicide. That matched the findings shared by Legal professional Common William Barr, who instructed Congress in August he had no doubts that Epstein had taken his personal life. However lingering questions, raised by people together with Epstein’s attorneys and brother, have fueled continued hypothesis and suspicion.
“I do not believe he died by suicide, no,” Epstein’s co-defendant, Ghislaine Maxwell, stated this summer time throughout her interview in August with the Deputy U.S. Legal professional Common Todd Blanche.
Epstein’s brother, Mark, instructed “60 Minutes” in 2020 that, in his view, the proof he has seen up to now factors extra to homicide than suicide. 5 years later, he nonetheless questions the investigation.
“Evidence photography 101”
The primary FBI brokers arrived on the cell greater than seven hours later, at 1:35 p.m., in keeping with the 2023 report. However after they arrived, photographs present they discovered a disorganized, rifled-through muddle. Crucially, Epstein’s lifeless physique had already been faraway from the cell, eliminating a important supply of data investigators would want to find out how and when he died, forensic pathologist Michael Baden stated.
“The fact that he was moved diminishes the ability to determine how long he was dead before he was found,” Baden stated.
Jeffrey Epstein’s private belongings and medicines have been lined up on the highest cell of his bunk after his physique was discovered on the Metropolitan Correctional Middle on August 10, 2019.
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“In those photographs, it was obvious that things were moved around,” stated former New York Police Division detective Herman Weisberg, who’s now managing director of Sage Intelligence. “It definitely appeared to me that the scene was, for lack of a better term, staged a bit.”
Epstein’s medicines, a particular masks for treating sleep apnea, and at the least one piece of cloth tied right into a noose appeared elsewhere over the course of 90 minutes, when a photographer from the medical expert’s workplace was documenting the scene.
Weisberg and different specialists emphasised that, no matter whether or not Epstein’s demise was a suicide, the cell ought to have been handled as a criminal offense scene utilizing normal investigatory practices.
“It almost appears to me that whoever was investigating this just took it at face value that it was a suicide with no foul play whatsoever, suspected,” Weisberg stated. “But in a situation as high-profile as this, I would always, as an investigator, consider that there might be foul play.”
Whereas some specialists questioned federal investigators’ therapy of the scene, forensic pathologist Judy Melinek, who used to work on the New York Metropolis Medical Examiner’s workplace, stated her former employer seems to have dealt with the case by the ebook.
“It’s just people doing what they normally do for any other case,” Melinek stated. “The majority of [cases] if you weren’t such a high profile decedent, the scrutiny would not apply. This is how they treat every other jail death of somebody who is not high profile.”
The sequence of proof photographs begins with an image of the steps main as much as Epstein’s cellblock, Tier L. Underlying knowledge from the photograph exhibits it was taken at 9:34 a.m. — three hours after Epstein’s physique was discovered, and 4 hours earlier than federal investigators arrived.
Time glided by even because the nation’s high regulation enforcement officer sought a fast investigation.
“I was obviously covering it very quickly and wanted to rule out anything other than suicide,” Barr instructed Congress in August, including that “within an hour, or minutes of finding out about it, I directed the [inspector general] to have people in New York go to the scene and conduct an investigation.”
On the again wall, a surveillance digicam is seen. It was streaming, however was not recording. This was because of a hard-drive malfunction that had beforehand been recognized however not fastened, in keeping with a Justice Division report.
Subsequent is a blurry picture of the door to Epstein’s cell, quantity 220. Working beneath the door was a cable that supplied energy to a CPAP machine. Epstein had initially been assigned to a cell in a unique tier, however he was moved to cell 220 for simpler entry to an outlet, in keeping with Bureau of Prisons data.
Two paperwork on the door are proven in photographs after Epstein’s demise. One was a printout with Epstein’s private particulars and a reserving photograph. Above that was the ID card for Epstein’s former roommate, Efrain Reyes.
Cells usually maintain two inmates, and following a suspected suicide try two weeks earlier, Epstein was mandated by correction officers to have a cellmate. The day earlier than Epstein’s demise, nonetheless, Reyes was transferred out of the detention middle. Investigators finally concluded that Reyes’ transfer allowed Epstein the solitude wanted to kill himself.
From the primary photograph to the final, it’s clear the scene within the cell was chaotic — a lot in order that investigators by no means conclusively decided which strip of bedsheet was round Epstein’s neck when he died.
Linens and mattresses piled within the cell the place Jeffrey Epstein’s physique was discovered on August 10, 2019, on the Metropolitan Correctional Middle in downtown Manhattan.
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Images of the mattress additionally elevate questions. One exhibits an orange string hanging from a bar. This image was included in a 2023 report by the Division of Justice’s Inspector Common, alongside an outline of how Epstein was discovered, suggesting investigators believed that was what he had used to hold himself.
If that was the case, and the room hadn’t been disturbed earlier than the photographer arrived, Epstein’s rear would have come to relaxation on a mattress, as an alternative of hovering over the ground — complicating investigators’ clarification of how he hanged himself.
Among the proof was not photographed in Epstein’s cell, however as an alternative seemed to be in a wholly completely different room — one with ground tiles distinct from the naked concrete of Epstein’s cell. These footage present a defibrillator and one other strip of orange fabric tied right into a noose-like form. It’s visibly completely different from the one proven hanging from Epstein’s mattress body.
An orange noose-like string and a defibrillator present in what seemed to be a wholly completely different room than the cell the place Jeffrey Epstein’s physique was discovered on August 10, 2019.
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There isn’t any indication in official experiences the place this noose was discovered, or which of a number of knotted strips of mattress linen might have been faraway from round Epstein’s neck. A rendering of this noose was included in Epstein’s official post-mortem. However the Justice Division later revealed in its 2023 report that “the noose depicted is not the ligature Epstein used to kill himself.”
By the point FBI brokers arrived, it was clear their work can be scrutinized by the highest brass contained in the Justice Division.
“After the suicide, I told the headquarters to make sure that they flooded the zone,” Barr instructed Congress in an August deposition.
There isn’t any indication in any official report that an FBI crime scene investigators, formally referred to as an Proof Response Crew, ever ran fingerprints or DNA checks on something discovered within the cell.
A 2024 report by Division of Justice researchers warned that investigators danger lacking an necessary “opportunity” to collect proof “if DNA is not collected at the scene as needed or at the time of examination.” They suggested that “body swabs should be considered both at the scene and during autopsy.”
Weisberg stated investigators left too many stones unturned, lacking the chance to shut the case in a manner that will really feel conclusive to the general public.
“In the back of any good investigator’s mind, he’s preparing this to be scrutinized by counsel. In this case, you’re preparing it to be scrutinized by a lot of desktop detectives … so you better have all of your facts straight,” Weisberg stated.
The FBI “inspected the cell and retrieved what [they] believed to be relevant to its investigation into the cause of Epstein’s death, which included one torn sheet, miscellaneous papers, and an MP3 player,” inspector basic investigators wrote within the 2023 report.
Headphones belonging to Jeffrey Epstein have been present in a Metropolitan Correctional Middle cell on August 10, 2019.
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Forensic analyst Barreiro stated he thought-about the company’s therapy of the scene to be hanging.
“Some really shoddy work here, if you can even call it that,” Barreiro stated. “I mean there’s an absence of work here.”
One primary process, which Barreiro known as “evidence photography 101,” is photographing scenes in a development that goes from a large shot to close-ups, with markers figuring out proof.
“There’s no evidence markers in any of these photographs. Like, how do you keep track once you get the stuff back to the crime lab? This is essentially useless,” stated Barreiro, a former police detective and an FBI-trained member of the Digital Imaging and Video Restoration Crew.
Interviews
Two witnesses who did present eyewitness accounts, with their attorneys current, have been within the cell instantly throughout from Epstein’s the night time he died. One described seeing Thomas, the primary corrections officer on scene, enter Epstein’s cell and start performing CPR, solely to emerge holding a rope and a defibrillator. The opposite stated he noticed Thomas enter and shake Epstein. He stated Thomas tried to select Epstein up, however fell over. He then started giving chest compressions, the inmate stated.
The accounts, which seem within the official report, don’t clarify what’s seen in photographs of the jail tier — their cell home windows lined by papers that would have obscured any view outdoors.
It’s not clear if the cell window was papered over within the time after Epstein’s demise however earlier than the primary photographs have been snapped. The Bureau of Prisons declined to remark.
Makes an attempt to achieve Thomas have been unsuccessful. A lawyer for his former coworker, Tova Noel, stated she wouldn’t remark. The previous officers agreed to be interviewed by investigators in 2021, as a part of a deal that noticed prosecutors drop expenses of falsifying data associated to obligatory checks on Epstein and different inmates, after falling asleep on the job.
Proof luggage displaying the phrases “Epstein bedding” and “Epstein clothing” are seen after Jeffrey Epstein’s physique was discovered on August 10, 2019.
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One lawyer who visited Epstein 9 days earlier than his demise was David Schoen. He stated Epstein instructed him he was actively planning to combat the prison expenses levied in opposition to him.
“And this is why I’ve said, that in my view — I don’t have anything to base it on other than anecdotal — I don’t think he committed suicide, because he was very engaged in the idea of fighting the case,” Schoen stated. “He hired me. And to kill himself nine days later wouldn’t have made a lot of sense.”
Whereas many who have been near Epstein have publicly questioned that he died by suicide, Barr has stated it was — and stays — essentially the most logical conclusion. The choice would’ve been too difficult, Barr stated in his August deposition.
“This would’ve required coordination from probably two dozen people, maybe, within the prison. And all these people were in different groups,” Barr stated. “You recognize, the individuals who have been repairing the cameras, the individuals who, you recognize, have been answerable for opening and shutting the door, the individuals who have been answerable for placing in a brand new cellmate, issues like that. “
