Epstein’s Final Days: Hidden Suicide Note Found in New Records

More than six years after Jeffrey Epstein’s death at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in New York, a landmark investigation by The New York Times has assembled the most comprehensive account yet of his final 35 days in federal custody. Drawing on over three million pages of documents released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act and interviews with more than 40 inmates, jail employees, lawyers, and federal officials, the investigation reveals a previously hidden suicide note, multiple unreported suicide attempts, and a cascade of institutional failures that created the conditions for his death.

The Arrest and Early Days

Epstein was arrested on July 6, 2019, at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey upon returning from Paris, charged with sex trafficking of minors and facing up to 45 years in prison. As he was booked into the MCC, he told staff, “Oh, this is bad. This is really bad,” according to the Times report.

Despite his high-profile status, Epstein was initially placed in the general population, where he was accosted by another inmate known as “Loco Tron.” The following day, Warden Lamine N’Diaye ordered him moved to the Special Housing Unit (SHU), where he was placed with Nicholas Tartaglione, a former police officer convicted of killing four men.

A Pattern of Suicidal Behavior

The Times investigation establishes that Epstein showed a clear and sustained pattern of suicidal ideation from nearly the moment he entered custody. On July 18, after a federal judge denied him bail, Epstein asked Tartaglione, “How do you make a noose?” Tartaglione later reported catching Epstein preparing for suicide twice — tying a sheet to a window grate and hiding a noose under his mattress. Guards reportedly dismissed these concerns.

On July 23 at 1:27 a.m., Tartaglione found Epstein hanging from a noose, cut him down, and performed chest compressions. Despite this first suicide attempt, Epstein was returned to the SHU after a week in psychological observation.

The Hidden Suicide Note

Perhaps the most significant revelation is a suicide note Epstein wrote and hid inside a graphic novel belonging to Tartaglione. The note read in part: “They investigated me for month — Found NOTHING!!! … It is a treat to be able to choose one’s time to say goodbye.” Tartaglione’s attorney, Bruce Barket, kept the note sealed in court filings for years rather than turning it over to jail officials, arguing his obligation was to protect his client. The New York Times successfully petitioned for its unsealing in May 2026.

In other jailhouse writings, Epstein expressed profound despair, writing: “ONLY PAIN to Me & Others in the future. NOT very much fun! Why should people I Lov suffer for my problem.”

The Final 24 Hours

On August 9, 2019, Epstein’s cellmate Efrain Reyes was transferred to another facility. Before leaving, Reyes warned staff: “Get him a good bunkie. He’s not good to be alone.” Despite orders that Epstein should never be left alone due to suicide risk, no new cellmate was assigned. Multiple corrections officers noted this, but no action was taken.

That evening, Epstein was allowed an unmonitored phone call — against Bureau of Prisons (BOP) policy — in which he claimed he wanted to call his deceased mother but instead called his girlfriend, Karyna Shuliak, telling her, “They are trying to keep me safe.”

Nearly half of the SHU’s 11 surveillance cameras were not recording due to a hardware failure. Replacement hard drives had arrived that day but were not installed. Guards failed to conduct required rounds for hours, and two officers later falsified records to make it appear they had performed their duties.

Epstein was found unresponsive in his cell in the early hours of August 10, hanging from a noose made of orange jail fabric. The New York City medical examiner ruled his death a suicide.

Institutional Failures at the MCC

The investigation paints a damning picture of the MCC, a Brutalist federal jail in Lower Manhattan that the DOJ Office of the Inspector General later described as posing “a safety and security threat to inmates and employees alike.” Understaffing was severe — 11 officers were absent the week Epstein died, and those present routinely worked 16-hour shifts and second jobs.

Six months before Epstein’s death, Serene Gregg, president of the corrections officers’ union at MCC, had written to BOP officials warning: “Quite frankly, at this point, we are one incident away from a staff or inmate fatality.” The jail was closed in October 2021 due to substandard conditions.

Addressing the Conspiracy Theories

The phrase “Epstein didn’t kill himself” has become a cultural touchstone, with theories of murder circulating across the political spectrum. The Times investigation directly addresses these claims, concluding that the evidence points not to murder but to a “convergence of longstanding institutional failures, human errors and chance events” that allowed Epstein to act on a well-established desire to end his life.

Both the initial DOJ/FBI inquiry and a yearslong DOJ Inspector General investigation (released June 2023) concluded Epstein died by suicide, citing numerous failures by MCC staff. Independent pathologists who reviewed the evidence determined that discrepancies were likely due to cataloging errors, not foul play.

What Remains Unanswered

While the investigation provides the clearest picture yet of Epstein’s death, some questions remain. The identity of a figure captured on surveillance footage moving toward L Tier that night cannot be definitively determined. The whereabouts of Officer Ghitto Bonhomme during key hours are unaccounted for. And some evidence from Epstein’s cell was not properly cataloged, creating lasting ambiguities.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed into law in November 2025 with bipartisan support, mandated the release of more than three million pages of Epstein-related documents. The DOJ continues to process and release additional materials through the Epstein Library portal.

A Cautionary Tale

The Times investigation serves as both a definitive account and a damning indictment of systemic dysfunction within the federal prison system. As Rolling Stone noted in its coverage of the 2023 DOJ report, the failures at the MCC were “numerous and serious” — from staffing shortages and malfunctioning cameras to management failures and widespread disregard of BOP policies.

For the victims of Epstein’s crimes, the investigation offers the fullest accounting yet of how a man who had evaded justice for decades ultimately met his end — not through a grand conspiracy, but through the grinding failure of the institutions meant to hold him accountable.