A forensic medicine professor is preparing to publish an analysis of Jeffrey Epstein’s autopsy records which, according to Epstein’s brother, questions the official conclusion that the disgraced financier died by suicide in prison.
Michael Freeman is due to present his findings at University College London on November 16 before publishing his research, along with files from the New York City Medical Examiner obtained from Mark Epstein.
Freeman, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, has reviewed the evidence using what he describes as a biomechanical analysis of the ligature pattern. He has also examined images which he says show injuries not accounted for by the medical examiner.
He has not disclosed his conclusions ahead of the presentation. “The death can only be a suicide or a homicide, and the lecture will describe the weight (of) evidence for both explanations,” Freeman said.
Mark Epstein said the review had strengthened his belief that his brother’s death required further investigation. “They looked at this whole thing, they looked at it scientifically, they truly investigated this,” he said.
Freeman’s review identifies what it describes as unusual features of the case, including the absence of photographs of Epstein’s body at the scene and the fact that the ligature was not preserved or examined. Investigators said bed sheets had been used.
“The cause on Jeffrey’s original death certificate — they further studied it in detail; this kind of study hasn’t been done before,” Mark Epstein said. “If this kind of study had been done before, they wouldn’t have come up with a suicide conclusion.”
He added: “This report was not done on my behalf, they did this on their own volition.”
Freeman is a professor at Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine and Maastricht University Medical Center. His previous work included advising an audit of Maryland’s medical examiner’s office.
The planned presentation comes amid renewed global interest in Epstein and his associates following the passage in 2025 of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which required the US Department of Justice to release investigative records concerning him and people in his orbit.
In May, a US district judge ordered the release of an apparent suicide note linked to an incident less than a month before Epstein’s death. The handwritten note had been sealed in 2021 as part of a murder case involving Epstein’s former cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione.
Tartaglione, a former police officer convicted of killing four people, said in a podcast interview that he found the note in a book the morning after Epstein’s death and handed it to his lawyers.
The note appears to read: “They investigated me for month — found nothing!!! So 15 year old charges resulted.” It also includes the phrases “time to say goodbye” and “No fun — not worth it!!” The note has not been independently verified.
