Judge Unseals Purported Epstein Suicide Note

Handwritten note released as part of legal proceedings for one of sex offender’s former cellmates

07.05.2026 13:00

By Alyssa Lukpat, The Wall Street Journal

Judge Unseals Purported Epstein Suicide Note

A document including the line "It is a treat to be able to choose one’s time to say goodbye.", described as a suicide note purportedly written by the late Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and accused sex trafficker who was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 in what was ruled a suicide, is seen after its release by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas in New York City, U.S. May 6, 2026. U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York/Handout via REUTERS  THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. THIS IMAGE WAS PROCESSED BY REUTERS TO ENHANCE QUALITY, AN UNPROCESSED VERSION HAS BEEN PROVIDED SEPARATELY. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

07.05.2026 13:00

The Wall Street Journal

By Alyssa Lukpat, The Wall Street Journal

Handwritten note released as part of legal proceedings for one of sex offender’s former cellmates

A federal judge on Wednesday unsealed a purported suicide note from Jeffrey Epstein .

The handwritten document, which is unsigned, had been filed under seal in a case involving one of Epstein’s former cellmates, who said he found the document in July 2019. Epstein died in jail the next month.

The note, written in messy scrawl on lined paper, said, “They investigated me for month—Found nothing!!!”

“It is a treat to be able to choose one’s time to say goodbye,” the note said. “Watcha want me to do—Bust out cryin!! No fun—Not worth it!!”

Authorities haven’t verified Epstein wrote the note and it wasn’t included in the Justice Department’s publicly released files of the Epstein case. Judge Kenneth Karas in New York’s Southern District ordered the note to be unsealed at the request of the New York Times.

The cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, briefly shared a Manhattan jail cell with Epstein. Tartaglione said he found the letter and gave it to his lawyers. The former police officer was later convicted of multiple murder counts and sentenced in 2024 to life in prison.

Epstein died in August 2019 in jail after he was arrested and charged by federal prosecutors with sex trafficking conspiracy. His death was ruled a suicide by the city’s medical examiner.

Write to Alyssa Lukpat at alyssa.lukpat@wsj.com