The suicide note penned by Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender, is kept in the vault of a New York courthouse for almost seven years in secret.
Even the Department of Justice does not know about its existence.
The New York Times recently filed a petition with the court asking for the unsealing of the document.
US District Judge Kenneth Karas instructed both the parties involved in the litigation to respond to the unsealing motion by 4 May.
It should be noted that the letter was neither written before Epstein’s death on 10 August 2019 nor at any other time prior to it.
As reported by his cellmate Nicholas Tartaglione, Epstein attempted to commit suicide several weeks before writing this letter.
In interviews by The New York Times through telephone from the California federal prison where he is currently serving four consecutive life sentences for the quadruple murder related to drugs.
In it, according to Tartaglione, Epstein wrote that months after the investigation, nothing was uncovered, concluding with something like this, what do you want me to do, break down? Time to say goodbye.
Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York were not aware of any suicide note left by Epstein.
However, in a two page timeline in the greater collection of documents relating to the case compiled by the Department of Justice, the letter was mentioned as having been authenticated by Bruce Barket, Tartaglione’s attorney, in January 2020.
This note did not get to the federal investigators working on the Epstein case.
The note got caught up in a legal fight between the defense attorneys for Mr. Tartaglione. Ultimately, Judge Karas ordered the return of the note to court and hired a third party attorney to review the dispute and seal all documents because of attorney client privilege.
Importantly, the note never got included in any investigation of the death of Epstein, including the 2023 Inspector General report from the DOJ office of the inspector general.
Furthermore, the note did not make it into the millions of pages released as a result of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which is the bipartisan legislation enacted by former President Donald Trump in November 2025 requiring the release of all unclassified documents about Epstein.
The spokesperson for the Department of Justice stated to The NYT that the department had made a thorough attempt to gather all pertinent information but had not found the note in question.
The spokesperson from the court refused to comment on the matter and stated only that such documents are kept in vaults inside courthouses.
This latest development is bound to draw fresh attention to the events surrounding Epstein’s demise
Two surveys taken last year showed that more than half of adult Americans surveyed thought Epstein was assassinated, while just 16% agreed with the determination that he took his life.
Whether the suicide note would be released by Judge Karas depends on him now.
Unsealing the document would give insight into the mind of Epstein during his last days and reopen old wounds that have never been addressed through official investigations.
