The document, made public by a federal judge on May 6, 2026, had remained sealed in an unrelated criminal case. Nicholas Tartaglione, a former police officer now serving a life sentence for four murders, claims he found it inside a book shortly after Epstein was discovered with a strip of bedsheet around his neck on July 23, 2019.
The unsigned note contains expressions of frustration with investigators and a reference to choosing when to say goodbye. Its closing words suggest despair. But whether Epstein actually wrote it remains unresolved.
The most significant development came two days after its release, when three handwriting specialists consulted by the Associated Press compared the document with another note found in Epstein’s cell after his death. All three concluded that the two documents appeared to share the same author. None could definitively identify Epstein as that author.
The evidence is intriguing. The handwriting exhibits similar letter shapes, spacing, punctuation and distinctive expressions. One phrase also resembles language Epstein had used in earlier emails. Yet these similarities do not establish a conclusive attribution.
The document’s history raises questions of its own. It had been submitted during proceedings involving Tartaglione, who disputed accusations that he had assaulted Epstein. The Justice Department said it had not previously seen the note, even though its existence had been referenced in a chronology included among the Epstein records.
Epstein’s death on August 10, 2019, was officially ruled a suicide. A 2023 Justice Department inspector general investigation documented serious failures in prison supervision and security, but the FBI found no criminal involvement in his death.
The newly released note does not overturn those findings. Nor does it resolve the circumstances of Epstein’s death. If authenticated, it could offer insight into his state of mind before he died. Until then, it remains a potentially important piece of evidence rather than a definitive answer.
The central question is deceptively simple: who actually wrote it?
