Two cameras pointed toward the outside of the cell holding now-deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein that had reportedly malfunctioned at the time of his death have been sent to an FBI crime lab for examination, an unnamed law enforcement source told Reuters.
Epstein was in a Manhattan jail facing trial on child sex trafficking charges when he was found dead in his cell on Aug. 10. His death was ruled a suicide by hanging by the New York City Medical Examiner’s office. But during a court hearing on Aug. 27, Epstein’s lawyers told a judge they had doubts about whether the office’s conclusion was correct.
Both cameras were within view of Epstein’s cell located in the Metropolitan Correctional Center’s Special Housing Unit. The cameras were sent to Quantico, Virginia, the site of a major FBI crime lab where agents and forensic scientists analyze evidence.
Previously, a source told Reuters that the two jail guards assigned to Epstein’s cell failed to follow a procedure overnight to make separate checks on all prisoners every 30 minutes.
The Justice Department and the FBI didn’t respond to requests for comment from The Epoch Times. Weinberg also didn’t respond.
“At least in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, they typically do not have cameras trained on the inside of a cell,” Lindsay said.
“I was just utterly shocked he had been removed from suicide watch,” Linsday told The Epoch Times previously.
Sixteen women testified in person to the court; some gave their names, others preferred to remain anonymous. Lawyers also read statements from seven other women who couldn’t, or didn’t want to, speak publicly.
A central point raised by many of the accusers is that Epstein robbed them of their innocence and their childhood. Some described how his female associates recruited them when they were very young and vulnerable.