Will We Ever See Jeffrey Epstein’s Alleged Suicide Note?

Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photos: House Oversight Committee, Getty Images

The Justice Department released over 3 million pages of documents in the Jeffrey Epstein files in January, yet none of them appears to include the suicide note the sex criminal allegedly wrote before his death in custody in August 2019. Even the federal investigators who examined Epstein’s body and phone did not have access to the note, which was found by his cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, in the days leading up to Epstein’s death.

But a legal motion from the New York Times could unseal the note nearly seven years after the suspicious circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death generated a wave of conspiracy theories suggesting nefarious activity. On Thursday, the Times petitioned a federal judge in New York to release the note, which had been sealed in 2019 as part of Tartaglione’s own case.

At the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, Epstein was initially bunked with Tartaglione, a former cop accused of a quadruple homicide. But after jail officials noticed Epstein had red marks on his neck consistent with a suicide attempt, he said Tartaglione had attacked him and he did not want to take his own life. According to a document in the Epstein files labeled only “Chronology,” Tartaglione then found the note and gave it to his lawyers to prove he hadn’t assaulted his cellmate, a claim he has long maintained. Tartaglione was convicted of the murder charges in 2023.

In an interview with the Times, Tartaglione said he found a note from Epstein written on yellow legal paper that had been placed inside a graphic novel. (Unfortunately, the report does not state which graphic novel.) The note claimed the Feds had “found nothing” despite investigating Epstein for months. “What do you want me to do, bust out crying? Time to say goodbye,” the note read, according to Tartaglione’s recollection.

Soon after finding the letter — and before Epstein’s death — Tartaglione gave the note to his lawyers so he could prove Epstein was suicidal. According to the “Chronology” document, Tartaglione’s lawyers were able to verify that Epstein had written the note. But after it was filed as part of Tartaglione’s lawsuit, it was sealed to protect attorney-client privilege as part of a dispute between his attorneys and was not made available to investigators.

The petition to unseal the alleged suicide note is part of a slow trickle of Epstein-related developments this week, including a separate Times story on how Epstein decorated his “mosque” on Little St. James with a tapestry that was once inside the Kaaba. Also on Wednesday, the House Oversight Committee announced that former attorney general Pam Bondi will testify on May 29 about the DOJ’s handling of the Epstein-files rollout.