New Mexico probes allegation of bodies buried near Epstein ranch
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Zorro Ranch, one of the properties of financier Jeffrey Epstein, seen in an aerial view near Stanley, New Mexico.
PHOTO: REUTERS
New Mexico’s Department of Justice said on Feb 18 the state was investigating an allegation, which emerged from documents released by the US Department of Justice,
New Mexico Department of Justice spokeswoman Lauren Rodriguez said it had requested from the US Justice Department an unredacted copy of an e-mail in 2019 containing the allegation.
The US Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) declined comment.
“We are actively investigating this allegation and are conducting a broader review in light of the latest release from the US Department of Justice,” Ms Rodriguez said in an e-mailed response to queries about the case.
On Feb 17, New Mexico’s legislature launched the first comprehensive investigation into accusations that Epstein sexually abused girls and women at Zorro Ranch, 48km south of Santa Fe, for more than two decades. Pressure from Democratic lawmakers to uncover Epstein’s crimes has become a major political challenge for US President Donald Trump.
The redacted 2019 e-mail, contained in the latest release of Epstein-related documents by the US Justice Department, was sent a few months after Epstein’s death to Mr Eddy Aragon, a New Mexico radio show host who had discussed the Zorro Ranch on his programme.
The sender, claiming to be a former Zorro Ranch employee, requested payment of one bitcoin in return for videos that the e-mail said had been taken from Epstein’s house and showed the financier having sex with minors.
Mr Aragon said in a phone interview that he believed the e-mail to be legitimate and immediately forwarded it to the FBI. He said he did not receive any payment from or have any further contact with the sender, although he recently tried to respond to it for the first time, but the address was no longer functioning.
The redacted e-mail to Mr Aragon said two foreign girls had been buried on Epstein’s orders “somewhere in the hills outside the Zorro”, and that the two had died “by strangulation during rough, fetish sex”.
A 2021 FBI report, also contained in the latest Epstein file release, said Mr Aragon visited an FBI office to report the e-mail, which offered seven videos of sexual abuse and the location of two foreign girls buried on Zorro Ranch in return for one bitcoin.
A Reuters search of other documents among the Department of Justice’s disclosures did not find any other references to the allegations in the redacted e-mail, or what investigators made of its claims.
The Justice Department warned in 2025 that some of the files it disclosed from its investigation of Epstein “contain untrue and sensationalist claims”, and that they include anonymous accusations that investigators did not corroborate, or in some cases determined to be false.
In an interview on Feb 18, New Mexico State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard said her office found the redacted e-mail during a recent search of the latest Epstein file release.
In a Feb 10 letter to the US Justice Department and a statement, she called on federal and state justice officials to fully investigate allegations of criminality on Epstein’s ranch and state lands adjacent to it.
Epstein leased around 503ha of state lands around the ranch in 1993. Ms Garcia cancelled the leases in September 2019 after her office determined Epstein did not use the land for ranching or agriculture, but as a privacy buffer around his ranch.
Epstein died in a New York jail in August 2019. His death was ruled a suicide. REUTERS
