A cement truck worth $50,000 was shipped express to financier Jeffrey Epstein’s multimillion private Caribbean island home last November, according to reports.
The cement truck was delivered on Nov. 7 last year, just three weeks before a series of articles titled ‘Perversion of Justice’ were published by the Miami Herald.
The damning reports ultimately led to his arrest on July 6. At the time of his death, Epstein was being held without bail and faced up to 45 years in prison on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges unsealed in July.
Epstein, on Aug. 10 apparently suicided in his cell while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. The possibility that he intended to use the machine to “literally cover up evidence cannot be discounted,” shipping experts told the outlet.
According to court documents, the 66-year-old sexually exploited and abused dozens of underage girls—some as young as 14—at his homes in New York City and in Palm Beach, Florida, among other locations.
A dentist’s chair was also shipped to Epstein’s home in September 2013. He also sent a carpet and tile extractor that weighed 191 pounds to his New York home, according to the outlet.
The cement mixer can hold 7,600 liters of cement in its drum as well as 600 liters in its loading shovel. It arrived at Epstein’s home 23 days before the financier began his attempts to pay off witnesses, George explained.
It was also delivered using an Express Bill Of Lading to ensure it arrived as quickly as possible. Epstein also agreed to terms that he would be held responsible if the machine were to sustain damage while in transit.
“Considering both the scope of Brown’s article and the urgency of the shipment, the possibility that the cement mixer was used to bury evidence under concrete cannot be discounted.”
According to maritime records, Epstein also shipped himself a shredder which weighed 53 pounds to his New York home from the U.S. in July 2008. Shortly after that, he was convicted of soliciting child prostitution, for which he served 13 months.
Epstein was found unresponsive in his cell in the Special Housing Unit at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City at 6:30 a.m. on Aug. 10.
The Post reported that he had broken neckbones near his Adam’s apple. According to the TMZ report, officials think that the violent fall after he threw himself from the top bunk bed in his cell is why the hyoid bone was broken.
Jonathan L. Arden, president of the National Association of Medical Examiners, told the newspaper that the hyoid bone can be broken in a number of ways. However, he said that it is more associated with homicidal strangulation than suicidal hanging.
A broken hyoid, he added, requires pathologists to carry out a more thorough investigation.
“If hypothetically, the hyoid bone is broken, that would generally raise questions about strangulation, but it is not definitive and does not exclude suicidal hanging,” he said.
On Sunday night, New York City’s chief medical examiner, Barbara Sampson, said that an autopsy was completed, but the cause of death wasn’t yet clear.
Attorney General William Barr has said the criminal investigation into any possible co-conspirators would continue.
