Epstein Suicide Note Found by Cellmate, Remains Sealed – NYT

(SeaPRwire) –   “Time to say goodbye,” was the alleged closing line of the message left by the deceased convicted US sex offender, per a source cited by the outlet

The purported suicide note of late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has been kept locked in a courthouse for years, inaccessible to investigators, the New York Times has reported.

Per the outlet’s Thursday article, the message was allegedly found by Epstein’s cellmate Nicholas Tartaglione in July 2019, after the disgraced US financier was discovered unresponsive with a piece of cloth wrapped around his neck at New York City’s Metropolitan Correctional Center.

Epstein survived that incident, but was found dead inside his cell on August 10 of the same year. The convicted sex offender is believed to have hanged himself using his bedsheets, but skeptics still maintain he was murdered to shield powerful people allegedly linked to his case.

Tartaglione, a former police officer serving four life sentences for killing four people, told the NYT in a phone call that the suicide note was written on a sheet of yellow paper torn from a legal pad and slipped into a graphic novel Epstein often read.

According to the cellmate, the financier stated in the message that investigators had “found nothing” on him despite searching for months. He said Epstein’s note ended with the words: “What do you want me to do, bust out crying? Time to say goodbye.”

Tartaglione claimed he handed the paper to his lawyers, noting it could help refute Epstein’s claims following the July 2019 incident that he had been assaulted by his cellmate.

The NYT said the note was eventually sealed by a federal judge as part of Tartaglione’s criminal case, and remains locked in a New York courthouse to date. It added that this meant investigators looking into Epstein’s death did not have access to what could be a key piece of evidence.

A US Department of Justice spokesperson confirmed to the paper that the agency has never seen the note. Per the article, the document was also not present in the large collection of Epstein files released by the DOJ earlier this year.

The New York Times said it submitted a petition on Thursday requesting the judge to unseal the note.