Although disgraced financier and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein has been dead for almost six months, the circumstances leading up to his death keep getting weirder. This time, the circumstances concern the footage from Epstein’s first alleged suicide attempt in July.
In the latest development, prosecutors on Thursday told a judge overseeing the trial of Epstein’s former cellmate, accused murderer Nicholas Tartaglione, that surveillance footage of the hallway during Epstein’s failed alleged suicide attempt “no longer exists” because of “technical errors,” according to the Associated Press.
Last December, prosecutors believed they had found the footage after announcing only a day before that they had actually lost it, as previously reported by the Daily Wire.
According to AP, “the revelation came despite assurances that prosecutors made that jail officials were preserving the footage at the request of a defense attorney for Nicholas Tartaglione, a former police officer who shared a cell with Epstein in July” at the time of his first — and failed — alleged suicide attempt. The National Review reports that prosecutors explained that the footage “captured a different tier than the one where Cell-1 was located because the preserved video did not show corrections officers responding to any of the cells seen on the video.”
Marc Fernich, an attorney for Epstein, has said that the lost footage “only adds to the unanswered questions and deepens the air of of mystery surrounding (Epstein’s) death, feeding the perception that the public will never really know what happened — and that the powers that be aren’t really interested in finding out,” reports the AP.
“Nothing about Jeffrey Epstein’s prosecution and death in federal custody surprises or could surprise me at this point,” Fernich continued, according to the news agency.
The New York Times sought comment from the Bureau of Prisons on Thursday about the missing video footage, as well as from the United States’ attorney’s office. Both organizations declined to comment.
The Daily Wire reported on Monday that Dr. Michael Baden, a forensic pathologist hired by Epstein’s brother, appeared on Fox News to say that it’s too early to tell whether Epstein died by suicide or through homicide.
“I think there’s a lot of information that still hasn’t been revealed yet that is essential in order to arrive at a conclusion, whether this is a suicide or homicide,” said Baden. “I think the closing out of the case as a suicide so quickly was premature.”
On an episode of 60 Minutes, Baden told CBS that “the forensic evidence released so far, including autopsy, point much more to murder and strangulation than the suicide and suicidal hanging,” reports the Daily Wire. “I hesitate to make a final opinion until all the evidence is in.”
“The forensic evidence released so far, including autopsy, point much more to murder… [but] I hesitate to make a final opinion, until all the evidence is in.”
Dr. Michael Baden, a renowned forensic pathologist, is investigating the death on behalf of his Epstein’s brother. pic.twitter.com/rVO73WhH5P
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) January 6, 2020
According to the Times, “the New York City medical examiner’s office concluded in August that Mr. Epstein had hanged himself in his jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.”