The federal government had one job when Jeffrey Epstein died in his cell six years ago.
They needed to conduct a competent investigation into the death of the world’s most notorious sex trafficker.
But an FBI failure in the Jeffrey Epstein case was revealed that raised this dark question: Was this incompetence or something far more sinister?
CBS News Exposes Shocking Investigative Failures
CBS News just dropped a bombshell report that should have every American asking serious questions about what really happened in that Manhattan jail cell on August 10, 2019.
The investigative failures are so glaring, so fundamentally incompetent, that they read like a masterclass in how NOT to investigate a suspicious death.
Start with this jaw-dropping fact: It took federal investigators nearly TWO YEARS to interview the two corrections officers who were on duty the night Epstein died.¹
Think about that for a second. The two people who had the most direct knowledge of what happened that night – and the feds couldn’t be bothered to talk to them for 24 months.
One of those officers was the only person who claims to have actually seen Epstein hanging from his bedsheet. You’d think that might be important enough to warrant a conversation before 2021, but apparently not.
FBI Crime Scene Work That Would Embarrass CSI Students
Here’s where it gets even more outrageous.
The FBI – supposedly the premier law enforcement agency in the world – showed up to process Epstein’s cell more than seven hours after his body was discovered.
By the time they arrived, the scene looked like a tornado had hit it. Linens thrown everywhere, mattresses shoved into corners, Epstein’s personal belongings moved around like someone was playing musical chairs with evidence.
Forensic analyst Nick Barreiro reviewed 90 photos from the scene and couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
"The FBI literally has all of the best tools. I mean, spared no expense. They have every tool you can imagine. And they used none of it as far as we can tell," Barreiro told CBS News. "How are there not way more people pointing out the absurdity of this?"
Basic Evidence 101 Completely Ignored
Want to know how bad this got?
The FBI didn’t use evidence markers. You know, those little numbered tags that every cop show on TV gets right? The ones that help investigators keep track of what they found and where they found it?
According to Barreiro, that’s "evidence photography 101" – and they completely skipped it.
Even more disturbing: There’s no indication in any official report that FBI crime scene investigators ran fingerprints or DNA tests on anything found in Epstein’s cell.
Think about what that means. The most high-profile prisoner in America dies under suspicious circumstances, and the FBI can’t be bothered to dust for fingerprints or collect DNA evidence.
This wasn’t some random street crime. This was Jeffrey Epstein – a man who had dirt on powerful people across the globe.
The Scene Was Compromised Before Investigators Arrived
Former NYPD detective Herman Weisberg reviewed the photos and immediately spotted the problems.
"In those photographs, it was obvious that things were moved around," Weisberg explained. "It definitely appeared to me that the scene was, for lack of a better term, staged a bit."
Epstein’s medications, sleep apnea mask, and even pieces of fabric tied into nooses appeared in different places over a 90-minute period while photographers were documenting the scene.
That’s not how evidence preservation works. Once you discover a body, you lock down the scene until investigators can process it properly.
Instead, Epstein’s cell became a free-for-all where critical evidence was moved, rearranged, and potentially contaminated.
Key Witnesses Never Interviewed
The investigative failures didn’t stop with the crime scene.
Federal investigators questioned 54 people before issuing their final report – but somehow managed to miss talking to key witnesses who had firsthand knowledge of what happened.
They never interviewed many of the inmates housed on Epstein’s tier the night he died. They skipped at least one staffer who arrived at his cell shortly after the body was found. They ignored nearly all of the visitors Epstein saw in the days leading up to his death.
Attorney David Schoen visited Epstein just nine days before his death and said the financier was actively planning to fight the criminal charges against him.
"I don’t think he committed suicide, because he was very engaged in the idea of fighting the case," Schoen told CBS News. "He hired me. And to kill himself nine days later wouldn’t have made a lot of sense."
Did investigators bother to interview Schoen or the rotating cast of young lawyers who spent hours with Epstein in his final days?
Nope.
The Surveillance Video That Wasn’t
Here’s another detail that should make your head spin: The surveillance camera in Epstein’s cellblock was streaming but not recording due to a hard-drive malfunction.
This wasn’t a surprise failure. Prison officials knew about the problem but hadn’t bothered to fix it.
So the most important prisoner in the federal system dies in a cell with a broken surveillance system, and nobody thought that might be worth addressing beforehand.
What This Really Tells Us
Look, this investigation was such a disaster that it would be laughable if the stakes weren’t so high.
Whether Epstein killed himself or was murdered, the American people deserved a competent investigation that followed basic forensic procedures. Instead, we got a sloppy mess that raises more questions than it answers.
Former Attorney General William Barr told Congress he wanted to "rule out anything other than suicide" and directed investigators to "flood the zone."
But flooding the zone apparently meant showing up seven hours late, not collecting DNA evidence, failing to interview key witnesses, and treating the scene like a yard sale instead of a crime scene.
The federal government had every resource at their disposal to get this right. They had the best forensic experts, unlimited funding, and the full attention of the nation’s top law enforcement officials.
And they still managed to botch it so badly that even basic police procedures were ignored.
Six years later, we’re left with more questions than answers about what really happened to Jeffrey Epstein – and a federal investigation that wouldn’t pass muster in a small-town police department.
The American people deserved better. Epstein’s victims deserved better. And anyone who cares about justice and accountability should be demanding answers about how our supposedly elite law enforcement agencies could fail this spectacularly.
¹ Daniel Ruetenik, Graham Kates, Cara Tabachnick, "In cell where Jeffrey Epstein died, a scene of disarray that never underwent thorough inspection, experts said," CBS News, October 9, 2025.
