Conflicting Reports Continue to Challenge the Ruling of Jeffery Epstein’s Death [EDITORIAL]

It’s not that Jeffrey Epstein dying is such a tragedy – the man was a wasteland of sexual assault allegations and pedophilia, shady money schemes, insidious business deals, and Nazi-ish ideas like a “baby ranch.” It’s a common trope for the mega rich to be mysterious and eccentric assumed truth, but for those who stumbled upon stories of Epstein, they often carried megalomaniac and curiously concerning undertones rather than amusing tales of fantastical wealth. The question now that Epstein is dead is how he passed. Concerning the potential nature of his life, and those he may have dealt with, it becomes more and more suspicious as the circumstances of his death are made public. A poll by Emerson Polling found that just one third of the people polled thought he committed suicide, roughly a third are unsure, and the rest think he was murdered. That poll is going to be tricky to unify as it becomes more and more evident how little momentum there is to find out what happened in Epstein’s cell on Aug. 10. He was found dead, ligature marks controversially similar to homicides on his neck, just days after being taken off suicide watch. Epstein was killed, either by someone connected to him, or by negligence shown to him at the jail.

Part of the mystery of this is the man himself. Epstein’s $550 million fortune comes from undetermined sources. He has served incredibly lenient time and punishments for the sexual assault allegations that were raised against him years prior. One of the people who helped him broker a deal against his sex crimes charges in 2008 was Alexander Acosta, Trump’s former labor secretary. Trump himself has been noted as a friend of 15 years and has been quoted as sharing the same taste in women as Epstein (not a flattering comparison). Trump has attempted to distance himself since the most recent controversy surrounding Epstein. That hasn’t stopped Trump from pointing the blame for Epstein’s death at the Clintons, and Bill Clinton was also a known business partner or compatriot with Epstein, visiting and traveling with him several times. Epstein didn’t just operate in political circles but also being seen with Kevin Spacey, Prince Andrew, and other socialites. A more popular conspiracy theory surrounding his death, and wealth, is that he used blackmail to coerce investors and garner an influential reach.

It’s only natural that someone whose life was circled by rumors sees more in their death. The autopsy report by New York City Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Barbara Sampson raised as many questions as it answered, namely the three fractures in the neck bone, normally unusual for a suicide. These fractures are seen as more common in people of Epstein’s age. There is a potential explanation but partnered with the rest of the circumstances, they are hard to swallow. Both guards were found to have allegedly been asleep at the time of death. Epstein had been taken off suicide watch days before – which should still have led to increased supervision either way, but the doctors did not deem him a threat to himself. Life isn’t a crime drama where the most dramatic sequence of events is the plot, but the powers that be do not seem to be interested in investigating any further his death. The investigation into Epstein’s criminal behavior continues by the FBI, but just as pressing is determining more about the night of Aug. 10. Finding out whether or not he was killed would be the only source of closure that any of his victims will receive from here on out.