Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide which some readers may find distressing.
A judge has ordered the release of an alleged suicide note attributed to Jeffrey Epstein, said to have been found by his cellmate.
The note was publicly released on Wednesday (May 6) after having remained sealed in a courthouse vault for almost five years. It had been kept under seal as part of a separate legal dispute.
Epstein died by suicide on August 10, 2019, aged 66, while being held on federal sex trafficking charges.
In the weeks before his death, he had made a prior attempt to take his own life. His cellmate at the time, Nicholas Tartaglione, later said he came across what appeared to be a suicide note inside their shared cell.
A Justice Department Office of the Inspector General report states Epstein was found with “an orange cloth around his neck” and had “friction marks” on his neck, NBC News says.
Tartaglione reportedly maintained that Epstein had attempted to hang himself and that the note was among items he found.
Written on lined paper, the note read: “They investigated me for month — Found NOTHING!!!”
While the remaining lines are harder to make out, the text appears to continue: “So 16 year old charges resubmitted.
“It is a treat to be able to choose one’s time to say goodbye. Watcha want me to do – Bust out cryin!! NO FUN, NOT WORTH IT!!”
The note was not signed, and officials have not confirmed whether Epstein wrote it.
US District Judge Kenneth Karas, based in White Plains, New York, authorized the note’s unsealing after The New York Times asked last week for it — and other records — to be released in a matter connected to Tartaglione.
Awareness of the note remained limited for years, until Tartaglione, a former police officer now serving a life sentence for killing four people, referred to it during a podcast interview last year.
Tartaglione has said he passed the note to his attorneys, describing it as something that could help protect him from any future allegation that he had assaulted Epstein.
After Epstein was found with red marks on his neck following the earlier incident, he claimed Tartaglione had attacked him — a claim Tartaglione has consistently denied.
According to The New York Times, Tartaglione’s legal team later consulted “handwriting experts” in an effort to determine who authored the note.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in a mental health crisis, help is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. You can also reach the Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741.