Jeffrey Epstein’s suspicious 2019 death while in prison has continued to fuel theories about the manner in which the disgraced financier died – and despite his death being officially ruled a suicide – but on Wednesday, famed journalist Julie K. Brown flagged a telling detail that she argued cast further doubt on the official suicide ruling.
“Barring some confession or eyewitness testimony, we may never really know whether Epstein killed himself,” Brown, whose reporting on Epstein won a Pulitzer Prize and helped lead to his 2019 arrest, wrote in a report published on her Substack Wednesday.
“But the course of events still has not convinced me that he had the courage and the physical strength to break three bones in his neck – at least not all by himself.”
That key detail, which Brown noted had been “buried for seven years,” was Epstein’s alleged suicide note, only made public last week after The New York Times successfully petitioned a federal judge for its release. While its authenticity remains in dispute – including by Epstein’s own brother – the timing of the alleged note, Brown argued, raised serious questions.
According to The Washington Post, Epstein’s alleged suicide note was discovered by his cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, tucked away in a book on July 27, four days after Epstein was found semi-conscious in his cell with “marks on his neck” and just over two weeks before his death. Epstein accused Tartaglione of attacking him – a claim he eventually walked back and that Tartaglione denied.
Former Attorney General Bill Barr – whose own ties to Epstein sparked calls for him to recuse himself from the investigation into the disgraced financier – viewed the July 23 incident as “an attempted suicide.” And on Aug. 10, 2019, Epstein would be found dead in his cell in what was ultimately ruled a suicide.
Just two days before his death, Epstein changed his will to leave “most of his estate” to Karyna Shuliak, Epstein’s “last partner” and “loyal companion,” who was also the last person to speak with him on the phone before his death.
How Epstein’s alleged suicide note complicates the official narrative about the disgraced financier’s death, Brown argued, was the timing around when it was supposedly drafted.
“Here is something else to think about: if Epstein intended to kill himself on July 23, wrote a suicide note and tucked it into Tartaglione’s book, why didn’t he change his will before then?” Brown wrote.
“He didn’t sign a new will until August 8, two days before he was found dead. Did he change his will because he intended to take his own life – or because he feared someone else would kill him?”
Furthermore, the confluence of oddities surrounding the night of Epstein’s death, Brown argued, only heightened doubts about the official account.
“Epstein was alone in his cell the night of August 9, despite strict instructions given to prison personnel that he be housed with an inmate, records show. Two corrections officers fell asleep and failed to do their rounds, nearly all the cameras in the unit where Epstein was housed failed that night,” Brown wrote.
“A forensic pathologist hired by Epstein’s estate attended the autopsy and said Epstein’s death was not a suicide. But the New York medical examiner ruled that it was. There were suspicious bank transactions on one of the guard’s accounts, and one inmate told authorities he overheard [an officer] mention covering up his murder. The officer, Tova Noel, is scheduled to testify before the House Oversight Committee on Monday.”
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