Around 6:30 a.m. Aug. 10, 2019, two guards were making the breakfast rounds in a locked and isolated unit of the federal jail in lower Manhattan when one of them knocked on the metal door ofJeffrey Epstein’s cell.
“Come to the door,” officer Michael Thomas said. “Come to the door.”
Epstein did not stir. When Thomas entered the cell, which was unusually cluttered with extra blankets and linens, he discovered Epstein alone and unresponsive, hanging by a strip of orange cloth tied to the top of a bunk bed. Thomas yelled to the other guard, Tova Noel, to call for help, and tried to resuscitate Epstein, according to transcripts of their interviews with federal investigators.
“He kept saying, ‘Breathe, Epstein, breathe,’” Noel, who was the last person to see the convicted sex offender alive the night before, told investigators. Thomas “was like, ‘We’re going to be in so much trouble.’”
The events that unfolded at the now-shuttered Metropolitan Correctional Center, and thecascade of staff failuresthat precipitated Epstein’s suicide, are documented in interview transcripts and other investigatory files, videos and photos that the Justice Department recently made public under theEpstein Files Transparency Act. Epstein, a wealthy New York financier who cultivated influence with politicians, royalty, academics and other powerful elites, wasawaiting trial on federal sex trafficking chargesrelated to the sexual abuse of girlsas young as 14.
Within a week of his death, the city’s medical examiner determined Epstein, 66,died by suicidefrom hanging, and the official who performed the autopsy later told authorities that she had no doubt about this conclusion.
But the official finding did not stopconspiracy theoriesfrom spreading suggesting Epstein was murdered because of his high-profile connections and potential for implicating others. The release this year of millions of pages of the Epstein files — some previously unseen,some heavily redactedand many already made public through lawsuits and court filings — has only renewed speculation by highlighting inconsistencies in the official account and uncovering new questions.
Members of Congress are scrutinizing Epstein’s death and havecalled Noel to testifybefore the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is reviewing the federal government’s investigation into Epstein. A committee spokesperson said Wednesday that Noel would not appear this week as anticipated, but that the panel is continuing to communicate with her attorney.
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the chair of the committee, has also said that hecould subpoena Noel.
The committee is examining Noel’s actions ahead of Epstein’s death and wants to ask her about whether she searched online about Epstein shortly before he was discovered in his cell and why she deposited $5,000 in cash into her bank account days before he was found dead.
Neither Noel nor her lawyer returned NBC News’ requests for comment.
“That’s a mystery there, and that’s something that, according to the DOJ documents, they never looked into, never asked her about,” Comersaid on Fox Newsin reference to Noel’s bank deposit.
“No one is accusing this prison guard of any wrongdoing,” he added, “but we have a lot of questions about Epstein.”
The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Dave Aronberg, a former Palm Beach County, Florida, state attorney who took office years after Epstein was convicted there in 2008 for soliciting a minor for prostitution, said it’s easy to see why new information uncovered in the latest documents has revived questions about his death. Some details — like a strange orange-colored figure seen in jail surveillance video on the night before Epstein was found unconscious in his cell — are new to him.
