Epstein’s Alleged Suicide Note Kept Under Lock and Key, Raising New Questions

A suicide note that could offer vital insights into Jeffrey Epstein’s state of mind before his death has been kept hidden from public view for almost seven years, locked away in a courthouse in New York. The note was allegedly found in July 2019 by Epstein’s cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, shortly after Epstein was discovered unresponsive with a cloth around his neck in his Manhattan jail cell. Epstein survived that incident but died weeks later in what the New York City medical examiner ruled a suicide.

Despite the unprecedented transparency surrounding the government’s investigations into Epstein, including the release of millions of pages of documents, this note has never been made public. The New York Times recently petitioned a federal judge to unseal it.

Tartaglione, a former police officer convicted of a quadruple homicide and serving four life sentences, says he found the note tucked inside a graphic novel in their shared cell. According to Tartaglione, the note stated that investigators had “found nothing” after months of scrutiny and included the line “time to say goodbye.” He gave the note to his lawyers because it might have helped counter claims that he had assaulted Epstein before the earlier suicide attempt—a claim Tartaglione denies.

The note’s existence was sealed by a federal judge as part of Tartaglione’s legal case and was never mentioned in official investigations into Epstein’s death, including a 2023 report by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General. The Justice Department claims it conducted an exhaustive review of all records related to Epstein but says it never saw the note.

The timeline of the note’s journey through the legal system is murky. Tartaglione’s lawyers attempted to authenticate the note with handwriting experts. The note was eventually handed over to the court but remains sealed amid internal disputes among Tartaglione’s legal team.

This secrecy fuels further suspicion around Epstein’s death, which has long been the subject of conspiracy theories due to security lapses at the now-closed Metropolitan Correctional Centre. Epstein’s claims that Tartaglione attacked him were contradicted by his later statements that he felt safe with his cellmate.

The withheld note represents a missing piece in the puzzle of Epstein’s final days, raising urgent questions about what the government might be concealing and why transparency continues to be denied in one of the most high-profile cases of corruption, abuse, and possible cover-up in recent memory.