Pathologist Claims New Evidence Points to Strangulation in Jeffrey Epstein’s Death

Dr. Michael Baden, a pathologist who observed Jeffrey Epstein’s autopsy, has raised concerns about the initial determination of Epstein’s cause of death, suggesting he might have been strangled rather than hanged. Epstein was found unresponsive in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center on August 10, 2019, while awaiting trial for sexual trafficking charges. Although the New York Medical Examiner’s Office ruled his death a suicide, Dr. Baden, engaged by Epstein’s estate, argues that the evidence points more towards strangulation. He has urged a new investigation into the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death, stating, “Given all the information now available, further investigation into the cause and manner of death is warranted.”

Though Dr. Baden did not perform the autopsy, he was present as an observer for Epstein’s family. He and the medical examiner initially agreed that more information was necessary to definitively determine the cause and manner of death. The release of over three million documents by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has reignited questions concerning Epstein’s death. Among these documents is previously unseen footage showing the moments when prison guards discovered Epstein’s body. Dr. Baden remarked, “At the time that the autopsy was done by the medical examiner, we both agreed that, on the basis of the autopsy report and the information available, more information was needed to determine the cause and manner of death.”

The footage reveals a prison guard approaching a desk near Epstein’s cell at 6:30 a.m. on the day of his death, followed by a quick move towards the cell. In just over a minute, guards can be seen shuttling between the security desk and Epstein’s cell area. Epstein was declared dead at 6:39 a.m., abruptly ending a high-profile federal case. Newly-released files also show investigators noting a suspicious “orange shape” moving towards Epstein’s cell on the previous night. The FBI and the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) noted this CCTV footage, suggesting it could have been “an inmate” heading to Epstein’s floor. The OIG report mentioned that at 10:39 p.m. on August 9, 2019, FBI agents noted “a flash of orange looks to be going up the L Tier stairs – could possibly be an inmate escorted up to that Tier.” However, the cause of the “orange flash” remains debated, with authorities divided on whether it was an inmate or possibly someone carrying linen or bedding up the stairs.

The final report by the Inspector General stated: ‘At approximately 10.39pm, an unidentified CO [correctional officer] appeared to walk up the L Tier stairway, and then reappeared within view of the camera at 10.41pm.’ The analysis from the two investigative bodies contradicts public statements made by at least two top US officials. Bill Barr, who was the US attorney general during Trump’s first term, claimed in a 2019 interview that he had personally reviewed security footage that confirmed that no one entered the area where Epstein was housed on the night he died. And last May, former deputy director of the FBI Dan Bongino told Fox News: ‘There’s video clear as day. He’s the only person in there and the only person coming out. You can see it.’ He added shortly before the release of the video last August: ‘We are working on cleaning it up to make sure you have an enhanced [version] and we’re going to give the original so you don’t think there were any shenanigans.’ In light of new information, Dr Baden is pushing for further examination into the financier’s cause of death. In December, a censored version of Epstein’s post mortem examination was published as part of the DOJ’s first release of the so-called Epstein files. On the document, the serial offender’s ‘manner of death’ is marked as ‘pending’, while boxes for homicide and [self-murder] are left blank. According to Dr Baden, his professional findings following the post mortem on August 11, 2019 were ‘inconclusive’.

Epstein’s death certificate was then published pending further investigation of the cause, he claimed. But five days later, this decision was allegedly ‘superseded’ by Dr Barbara Sampson, New York’s then-chief medical examiner. She ruled that the financier died by hanging, and the manner was [self-murder]. She was not present at the post mortem, Dr Baden claimed. At the time, Dr Sampson publicly dismissed Dr Baden’s theory about strangulation, saying she stands ‘firmly’ behind her conclusion. The financiers lawyers, meanwhile, said they were ‘not satisfied’ with the medical examiner’s findings, and said they shared Dr Baden’s concerns. ‘I have not seen any evidence of further study, nothing that indicated further investigation into the cause of death,’ Dr Baden, 92, said, adding that Dr Sampson’s ruling was just ‘accepted’. ‘The diagnosis was made a number of days after the first cause of death given,’ he added. In abnormal or highly suspicious scenarios, it can sometimes take weeks or even months to determine a final cause of death. The pathologist was one of the first people to raise alarm following the ruling, telling Fox News in 2019: ‘The evidence points toward homicide rather than [self-murder].’ ‘That was my opinion at that time, and I still stand by it,’ he told The Telegraph in a recent interview. ‘The autopsy findings are much more consistent with a crushing injury caused by homicidal strangulation than caused by hanging by [self-murder].’

Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s justice department and the FBI have both stated that Epstein took his own life and that there is no evidence indicating he was murdered in his cell. According to the official post mortem, three distinct fractures were identified on the financier’s neck: one on the left hyoid and one in the thyroid cartilage on the right side, and one on the left. The 92-year-old said he has never seen hanging by [self-murder] with three neck fractures throughout the 50 years he spent reviewing post mortem reports for prisoner deaths in all New York state and local jails. ‘Even one fracture, we have to investigate the possibility of a homicide. Two definitely warrant a full investigation,’ he said. ‘Findings in textbooks never see those fractures, and neither have I.’ But Dr Sampson disagrees with this, claiming that fractures of the hyoid bone and the cartilage feature in both [self-murder] and homicides. Discrepancies found in the three million files related to the disgraced financier released on January 30 have further fuelled speculation surrounding Epstein’s cause of death. For example, a federal statement announcing his death surfaced in the newly released documents, but it carries a date that appears to precede the moment he was officially found dead inside his New York prison cell.

The document, issued by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and dated Friday, August 9, 2019, states that Epstein had already been found unresponsive and pronounced dead . But prison records and official accounts show Epstein was not discovered unresponsive until the morning of August 10, 2019, when a corrections officer delivering breakfast found him in his cell. The financier’s death came amid a cascade of failures inside one of the federal government’s most secure detention facilities. Prison records show that guards assigned to monitor Epstein did not conduct required checks during the overnight hours before his body was discovered. Scheduled rounds at 3am and 5am were missed, according to official findings. Furthermore, cameras positioned outside Epstein’s cell were not functioning properly that night. Investigators later confirmed that at least two surveillance cameras had malfunctioned, leaving critical gaps in visual monitoring of the area. Because of those failures, officials were unable to establish a definitive timeline of Epstein’s final moments. According to an official report, a noose made out of an orange bedsheet discovered in the cell was later determined not to be used in Epstein’s death. Dr Baden claimed he noticed this fact during the post mortem and was worried at the time that the ‘noose didn’t match the [injury]’. ‘It wasn’t smooth like the sheet, the markings [on Epstein’s neck] would have required a different type of material,’ he said.

He also alleged that critical evidence was lost because of mistakes made by officials in the handling of Epstein’s body. ‘[They] moved the body, guards refused to say how the body was found, and he was moved to the infirmary,’ he said, which he claims is a ‘highly unusual’ chain of events. Most crucially, Dr Baden says, Epstein’s time of death was ‘lost’. To this day, no precise official time of death has been determined. Epstein, 66, had been held at the Manhattan jail since his arrest on July 6, 2019, after federal prosecutors charged him with sexual trafficking minors and conspiracy. He pleaded not guilty and was awaiting trial when he died in custody just over a month later. According to official accounts of the morning of August 10, Epstein was discovered unresponsive and medical personnel attempted to revive him, but he was pronounced dead soon afterward. The newly released files claim that jail guards overseeing Epstein used a decoy body to mislead reporters gathered outside the prison after his death. Meanwhile, his real corpse was secretly removed in a separate vehicle, the documents allege. According to an internal memo, a jail supervisor told FBI agents that staff at Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center staged the ruse amid an intense media presence following Epstein’s apparent [self-murder].

The files claim that boxes and sheets were arranged to resemble a human body and loaded into a white van marked as belonging to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, prompting reporters to follow it as it drove away. Unbeknown to the media, Epstein’s actual body was instead placed into a black vehicle that left the facility ‘unnoticed,’ allowing officers to transport the corpse privately. The alleged deception was carried out after an official warned guards about the large number of journalists gathered outside the jail and said he would arrive at the loading dock with a separate black vehicle to remove the body. The records also reveal investigators highlighted a handwritten note found inside Epstein’s cell at the time of his death, which was not treated as a [self-murder] note by the medical examiner. The note, which investigators said was ‘difficult to read’, appeared to list grievances about jail conditions, including complaints about food, showers and bugs.

After Epstein was pronounced dead at hospital, his body was returned to federal custody at the prison while arrangements were made for its transfer to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. One interview note states that because of the ‘large news media presence,’ staff devised a plan to ‘thwart’ reporters as the body was removed. According to the document, officers ‘used boxes and sheets to create what appeared to be a human body, which was put into the white OCME vehicle which the press followed, allowing the black vehicle to depart unnoticed with EPSTEIN’s body’. Other sections of the records describe how officers were stationed at a secure facility linked to the prison, where Epstein’s body was guarded while fingerprinting and other procedures were carried out ahead of its transfer.