Judge Unseals Cryptic Note Found After Epstein’s First Suspected Jail Suicide Attempt

A cryptic note that Jeffrey Epstein’s former cellmate claims to have found after Epstein’s first suspected suicide attempt in a Manhattan jail has finally been made public. The note was locked away for years in a courthouse vault but was unsealed Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas following a request from The New York Times.

Nicholas Tartaglione, a former police officer serving life for multiple murders, said he discovered the note tucked inside a book shortly after Epstein was found injured in their shared cell on July 23, 2019. Epstein was discovered with a bedsheet around his neck in what authorities called a suspected suicide attempt, just weeks before his actual death on August 10.

The note is short, hard to decipher in places, and carries a defiant, almost taunting tone. It reads in part: “They investigated me for month -- found nothing!!!” and “It is a treat to be able to choose the time to say goodbye.” The note ends with “NO FUN,” underlined, and “NOT WORTH IT!!” The authorship remains unknown, and the note was never mentioned in official investigations or government reports on Epstein’s death.

Judge Karas weighed privacy concerns but ruled that Epstein’s privacy interests had diminished since his death, and releasing the note would not cause concrete harm. The note’s release adds another piece to the puzzle of Epstein’s time in custody, which was marked by glaring security failures.

Jail records confirm Epstein suffered friction marks on his neck after the July 23 incident and was briefly placed on suicide watch. Officers reported Epstein was breathing heavily but responsive, and Epstein himself denied wanting to harm himself, citing religious reasons and claiming he was a “coward” who disliked pain.

Tartaglione and Epstein shared a cell for about two weeks after Epstein’s arrest on sex trafficking charges. They reportedly kept conversation minimal and had no conflicts. Tartaglione says he thought Epstein was having a heart attack during the incident.

Epstein’s death on August 10, 2019, was ruled a suicide, but investigations revealed multiple jail staff failures, including officers sleeping and browsing the internet instead of monitoring him. At the time of Epstein’s death, officials found a different handwritten note in his cell, which appeared to be a list of complaints about jail conditions rather than a suicide note.

The release of this note raises fresh questions about Epstein’s state of mind and the conditions of his detention in the critical weeks before his death. It underscores the ongoing struggle to fully understand the mysterious circumstances behind one of the most notorious cases of elite criminality and institutional failure in recent memory.