Questions remain over Jeffrey Epstein hanging in prison

Jeffrey Epstein died six years ago in a jail cell at the now-razed Metropolitan Correctional Facility in Lower Manhattan.

But from the moment the disgraced financier’s body was discovered hanging by a noose around his neck from a lower bunk bed in the cell, conspiracies have arisen that he didn’t simply kill himself.

They were stoked by what former Attorney General Bill Barr called a “perfect storm of screw-ups” that night: Epstein had no cellmate, the two people guarding the Secure Housing Unit fell asleep and didn’t perform checks and only one camera on the floor of the unit was working.

The recent release of the full 11-hours of footage from that camera was meant to help vindicate the government’s position — that incompetence and oversight allowed the most famous prisoner in the country to kill himself — but have only further muddied the waters.

Here are the key points to consider about Epstein’s death, and the answers we have.

The newly released video – and what’s missing

Critics say the 11-hour video isn’t complete, and time stamps show almost three minutes of footage are missing. However, that doesn’t mean anything has deliberately been edited out.

A recent CBS News analysis of a the video contradicts Barr’s claims the footage clearly showed no one entered the area near Epstein’s cell before he died.

In the video, only a small part of the staircase leading to Epstein’s wing is visible. Just before 10:40 pm on August 9, the night of Epstein’s death, an orange shape is seen moving up the stairs leading to Epstein’s area in the prison video.

A 2023 report by the Office of the Inspector General concluded the figure is a prison guard handing out bed clothes.

But video forensic experts who reviewed the video for CBS believe it could be a fellow prisoner in orange prison garb climbing the stairs toward Epstein’s unit.

Epstein’s body is found

Epstein was found in his prison cell at 6:33 am on August 10, 2019, an orange noose made from a sheet around his neck, according to reports.

Epstein was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges at the time. The way in which he hung himself has long puzzled many.

According to reports he tied the rope to the top of the bunk bed stairs, slipped the noose around his neck and dropped to his knees. He was found kneeling, leaning forward, so his bodyweight pulled the garrote tight.

Such a method of hanging is possible and reminiscent of the suicide of L’Wren Scott, a model and former girlfriend of Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger in 2014. She was found hanging from a doorknob in her New York City apartment with a noose tied with a black satin scarf around her neck, according to reports.

Evidence photos of the cell show torn strips of orange sheet in two separate holes on the bed frame. There is also sheet wrapped around one rung of the bunk bed ladder and tied high up near the ceiling on a wire mesh which covers the cell window. They could indicate previous attempts Epstein had made to hang himself that night.

Evidence spoiled

Upon finding Epstein, prison guard Michael Thomas, one of the prison guards, cut the noose, lifted Epstein under his arms and laid him down on the cell floor after discovering the body. Despite him clearly being dead, Thomas attempted CPR. “Breathe, Epstein breath,” said Thomas, according to the OIG report, adding, “We’re going to be in so much trouble.”

Crucial moves to preserve the death scene were not made. Epstein’s body was moved by prison staff. No photographs were taken of his remains in the cell, his position at the point of death and multiple people, including first responders went into the cell.

Inside the cell was a C-Pap machine, numerous extra bed linens and a second noose. This second noose not found around Epstein’s neck was first entered as evidence.

Some have pointed out that the flex of the C-Pap machine would have made a better material for Epstein to hang himself with.

Hospital dash

Despite having died during the night medics were called and Epstein was rushed to hospital. A photograph taken by Post photographer William Farrington on August 10, 2019 shows Epstein on a stretcher being wheeled into New York Downtown Hospital by FDNY-EMS personnel. The paramedics appeared to be trying to revive him at that time.

The autopsy

An initial autopsy was carried out by New York medical examiner and overseen by pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, at request of Epstein’s brother, Mark Epstein, his next of kin.

After, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Barbara Sampson ruled it a suicide and Epstein hanged himself. Dr. Baden maintains he was blindsided by the ruling and that he and the state pathologist had decided the autopsy was inconclusive.

He also provided an image showing Epstein suffered three fractures to his neck — injuries he claimed are more consistent with homicide than suicide.

A panel of six senior forensic pathologists prepared an exclusive report in 224 for The Post, re-examining the full autopsy, crime scene pictures and all available information, led by Tennessee-based Professor of Pathology, William R. Oliver.

Four of the six panel members concluded they would have classified this case as Suicide while two said they would have classified the case Undetermined based on the review material.

However, the panel had many unanswered questions, including why there had no been no tests for poison or DNA in Epstein’s cell. The panel also said its determination was hindered by a lack of key evidence such as photos of Epstein’s body as it was found.

Aftermath

The two corrections officers — Tova Noel and Michael Thomas — assigned to watch Epstein during the night had falsified records saying they had checked up on through the night.

The two guards were criminally charged, although after they cooperated with the investigation the charges were dropped to minor ones. Neither has ever spoken publicly about what happened that night. It has never been made clear how Epstein got the extra bed linens or who gave them to him.

Timeline

August 9

• 8 a.m.  — Epstein’s cellmate is transferred to a different facility in a prearranged transfer. No other cellmate is assigned.
• 12 p.m.  — Hundreds of pages of federal documents are unsealed in a defamation case accusing Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell of sexual abuse.
• 4 p.m. —Tova Noel begins the first of back-to-back eight hour shifts at the Special Housing Unit, where Epstein is housed.
• 7:49 p.m. — Epstein returns to his cell after a visit with his lawyer, escorted by Noel and another corrections officer.
• 10 p.m. — Inmates are locked in their cells for the night.
• 10:40 p.m. — an unidentified orange shape, possibly a figure or a person carrying linen is spotted on the camera, the last movement recorded on video before Epstein’s body was found.

August 10

• 12 a.m. — Corrections officer Michael Thomas begins his shift alongside Noel. Neither officer checks in on Epstein, although they falsify records that say they completed their rounds.
• 6:33 a.m. — An alarm sounds in the Special Housing Unit after Noel and Thomas find him hanging with a noose around his neck. Thomas tries to revive him with CPR as prison staff arrive to remove him from the cell.