Even years later, there are still doubts about the cause of Jeffrey Epstein’s death. An interrogation protocol now shows what the responsible forensic doctor told investigators.
March 10, 2026, 05:5903/10/2026, 06:23
Anna-Lena Janzen / t-online
Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his prison cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan on the morning of August 10, 2019. The financier, who was convicted of sexual crimes, was awaiting trial there on serious charges of human trafficking. The coroner’s office determined suicide as the cause of death. But even seven years later there are still doubts about that.
Documents with redacted passages contained in the Jeffrey Epstein files declassified by the US Department of Justice.Image: keystone
Epstein’s brother Mark recently said in an investigation by the Australian broadcaster ABC that he had initially expected that the autopsy would confirm a suicide. “I fully expected that after the autopsy they would say, ‘It’s tragic, but Jeffrey committed suicide,'” he told the station. It wasn’t until New York’s chief medical examiner Barbara Sampson officially classified the death as a suicide by hanging five days after the autopsy that he began to have doubts. “Let me be very clear: Barbara Sampson was not at the autopsy,” Mark Epstein told the ABC.
The autopsy was conducted by medical examiner Kristin Roman the day after Epstein’s death. Roman did not check “suicide” or “homicide” on Epstein’s death certificate on August 11, 2019. Instead, she noted “ongoing investigations.” The forensic pathologist Michael Baden, whom Epstein’s brother Mark had commissioned as an observer, was also present at the inquest. Baden later publicly stated that injuries to Epstein’s neck were unusual for a suicide and could instead indicate a homicide.
The US Department of Justice published the first autopsy findings: In it, Kristin Roman ticked the cause of death “subject to further investigation.”Image: DOJ
Forensic doctor: Findings after autopsy “fairly clear”
An interrogation protocol with pathologist Roman from the newly published Epstein files now provides further details. In it, New York medical examiner Roman explains in detail why, after the autopsy, she initially hesitated to officially classify Epstein’s death as a suicide – even though, from her point of view, the findings were “pretty clear.”
“If he had been a less prominent person who no one wanted to kill, I probably would have classified it as a hanging on the day of the autopsy,” Roman said, according to the transcript. In particular, she wanted to speak to the prison employee who discovered Epstein’s body. «Was he completely hanged? Where exactly was it hanging? Things like that,” she wanted to clarify.
However, Roman told investigators she was not allowed to speak to corrections officials or view Epstein’s cell herself. Instead, she was only shown photos of the room. However, this was not crucial for her medical evaluation. “Even without additional investigation, this case looked very clearly like a hanging from an autopsy perspective,” she said. Further information would have served primarily for “completeness”.
The transcript was created in May 2022 as part of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) into the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death. The investigators primarily checked possible omissions at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. The coroner testified under oath as part of the inquest at the time.
Dispute over neck injuries
The pathologist Michael Baden hired by Epstein’s family still contradicts the suicide assessment to this day. He points to three fractures in the neck area of the corpse, which he believes could be more consistent with strangulation. “That would be more consistent with fatal strangulation than suicide by hanging,” Baden told the ABC.
The experienced forensic pathologist also told the broadcaster that the strangulation mark on the neck was unusually horizontal. In the case of suicide by hanging, the trail usually runs diagonally upwards and ends below the jaw.
The forensic pathologist Roman gave a different assessment in her testimony. The hyoid bone was broken at the tip where it pressed against the spine – a finding that, in her opinion, was consistent with hanging. In the case of manual strangulation, irregular fractures would have been expected.
Published in the Epstein files: Post-autopsy notes on neck injuries.Image: DOJ
The noose also remains controversial
Another point of contention is the noose with which Epstein is said to have hanged himself, according to the official version. Coroner Roman said that when Epstein’s body arrived at the coroner’s office, a noose made from bed sheets was lying next to the body. However, photos from Epstein’s cell released by the US Department of Justice show several possible nooses made from torn bedsheets.
Roman admitted that she was “not as convinced as I would like to be” about which one was actually used. However, that doesn’t change their conclusion. However, the pathologist hired by Epstein’s family, Michael Baden, later stated that he had not seen such a noose during the autopsy.
Other details on the night of death cause irritation
Other details of the night of his death also spark speculation. After Epstein’s death, investigators found several “protocol errors” and technical problems at the detention center, according to U.S. Department of Justice documents. On the night of Epstein’s death, mandatory checks were not carried out and some cameras in the prison did not work, according to investigative documents.
In addition, according to ABC’s research, the cell was not treated as a crime scene. As a result, possible forensic traces were lost, the station reported.
The Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York.Image: EPA
August 9, 2019: Jeffrey Epstein is taken to his cell by two guards.Image: DOJ
The Epstein files also show that an analysis of the surveillance videos shows a scene that has so far received little attention. In footage from a camera filming a staircase leading to Epstein’s isolated cell block, an orange flash can be seen moving up the stairs – possibly an inmate in prison fatigues, according to an FBI observation log. Officially, however, it has long been said that no one entered this area on the night of Epstein’s death.
Epstein’s brother Mark maintains his belief that his brother was murdered. “Where I come from, you can’t get away with murdering my brother with impunity,” he told the ABC. His goal is a new investigation into the case.
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