Officials made decoy Epstein body to ‘thwart’ media, move corpse unnoticed after suicide
Officials created a decoy body resembling Jeffrey Epstein in an effort to mislead reporters gathered outside the hospital on the morning of his death, according to newly released Department of Justice files.
Staff from New York City’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner, along with guards from the Metropolitan Correctional Center, reportedly assembled the fake form using boxes and sheets. The decoy was placed in a white medical examiner vehicle that members of the press followed, while Epstein’s actual body was transported separately in a different van.
“In order to thwart the media, officials used boxes and sheets to create what appeared to be a human body, which was put into the white OCME vehicle that the press followed, allowing the black vehicle to depart unnoticed with Epstein’s body,” an FBI interview document from 2019 states.
Hospital personnel also staged activity to suggest Epstein would be moved through the emergency room entrance, drawing reporters to the front of the building. Meanwhile, his body was discreetly loaded into an unmarked vehicle parked at the rear of the hospital.
However, a photographer from the New York Post was not misled. Staff photographer William Farrington captured exclusive images of Epstein’s body being wheeled into NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital at approximately 7:30 a.m. on Aug. 10. The photos showed emergency responders attempting to revive him.
Farrington also photographed the body in a black bag as it was placed into a black van at the back of the hospital while other reporters remained gathered at the front.
Epstein, a financier who had been jailed on federal sex-trafficking charges, was found dead in his cell at about 6:30 a.m., apparently after hanging himself with a bedsheet.
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