A famed pathologist says he believes Jeffrey Epstein’s death was actually a homicide, in spite of the official ruling that it was death by suicide.

Epstein was found dead in August in New York City, after being arrested for sex trafficking. Since his death, the deceased financier’s ties to prominent figures in American media and politics — including presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump — have fuelled rampant conspiracies that he was silenced.

Dr Michael Baden, the former chief medical examiner for New York City, has added fuel to that fire with a recent interview with Fox News in which he said he thinks the evidence presented suggests Epstein did not take his own life.

Download the new Independent Premium app

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

“I think that the evidence points toward homicide rather than suicide,” he said during an interview last month.

Mr Baden was hired by Epstein’s brother, Mark Epstein, to observe the autopsy that was conducted after the paedophile was found dead.

Shape Created with Sketch. Jeffrey Epstein: Controversies surrounding paedophile billionaire

Show all 9
left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch.

“The brother is concerned that if [Epstein] was murdered, then other people who have information might be at risk,” Mr Baden continued. “If they think he has information, his life could be in jeopardy.”

Mr Baden said that there were signs of “unusual” activity surrounding Epstein’s death, and that his wounds were “more consistent with ligature homicidal strangulation” than suicide.

He also said that, during his 50 years of examining bodies, he had never seen the fractured bones seen in Epstein’s thyroid from other hanging deaths.

“Hanging does not cause these broken bones and homicide does. A huge amount of pressure was applied,” he said.

He also said that Epstein’s brother is seeking DNA evidence taken from the dead man’s fingernails, and from the torn sheets used in the hanging. Adding to his argument are questions about the breakdown in security at the New York City jail where Epstein was housed, with Mr Baden saying it was “extremely unlikely” that two guards happened to fall asleep while the video camera in Epstein’s cell and hallway stopped working.

Comments

Share your thoughts and debate the big issues

Learn more
Please be respectful when making a comment and adhere to our Community Guidelines.
  • You may not agree with our views, or other users’, but please respond to them respectfully
  • Swearing, personal abuse, racism, sexism, homophobia and other discriminatory or inciteful language is not acceptable
  • Do not impersonate other users or reveal private information about third parties
  • We reserve the right to delete inappropriate posts and ban offending users without notification

You can find our Community Guidelines in full here.

Create a commenting name to join the debate

Please try again, the name must be unique Only letters and numbers accepted
Loading comments...
Loading comments...
Please be respectful when making a comment and adhere to our Community Guidelines.
  • You may not agree with our views, or other users’, but please respond to them respectfully
  • Swearing, personal abuse, racism, sexism, homophobia and other discriminatory or inciteful language is not acceptable
  • Do not impersonate other users or reveal private information about third parties
  • We reserve the right to delete inappropriate posts and ban offending users without notification

You can find our Community Guidelines in full here.
Loading comments...
Loading comments...