New Mexico authorities are investigating allegations that the late financier Jeffrey Epstein may have ordered the burial of two foreign girls near his Zorro Ranch, following documents recently released by the U.S. Department of Justice.
A spokesperson for the New Mexico Department of Justice, Lauren Rodriguez, confirmed that the state has requested an unredacted copy of a 2019 email containing the claims. “We are actively investigating this allegation and conducting a broader review in light of the latest release from the U.S. Department of Justice,” Rodriguez said.
The allegations surfaced in a redacted email sent to New Mexico radio host Eddy Aragon a few months after Epstein’s death. The sender, claiming to be a former Zorro Ranch employee, offered videos showing Epstein sexually abusing minors in exchange for one bitcoin. The email stated that two foreign girls had been buried “somewhere in the hills outside the Zorro” and died “by strangulation during rough, fetish sex.”
Aragon reported the email to the FBI in 2019, and a 2021 FBI report confirmed that he had visited an FBI office to provide the information. However, the Justice Department has cautioned that some disclosed Epstein files include unverified or false claims, and the specific allegations in this email have not been corroborated.
The investigation coincides with a broader inquiry launched by New Mexico lawmakers into decades of sexual abuse allegations at the Zorro Ranch, located about 30 miles south of Santa Fe. The ranch sits on approximately 1,243 acres of state-leased land, which State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard canceled in 2019 after determining Epstein used it as a private buffer rather than for agricultural purposes.
Garcia Richard has called on federal and state officials to fully examine criminal activity on the ranch and adjacent state lands. Epstein died in August 2019 while in a New York jail; his death was ruled a suicide.
