The FBI raided Epstein's Manhattan mansion, his Palm Beach estate, and his private island in the Caribbean.
They never touched Zorro Ranch in New Mexico.
What just surfaced explains why – and what the feds did when someone handed them the one lead that could have blown the whole thing open.
How a Deep State Prosecutor Shut Down the Zorro Ranch Investigation
In September 2019, prosecutors from the Southern District of New York contacted New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas – a Democrat – with a simple request: stand down.
The stated reason was that parallel investigations create conflicting witness statements. Defense lawyers exploit those inconsistencies. Hand over everything you have, the feds said, and we'll share our own findings in return.
New Mexico complied immediately.
The prosecutor who brokered that deal was Maurene Comey – daughter of disgraced, fired former FBI Director James Comey. On September 8, 2019, she confirmed in writing that Balderas had agreed to halt his office's probe and surrender all materials.
By September 17, New Mexico's Chief Deputy Attorney General had sent the SDNY everything: police reports, recorded witness testimony, documents detailing Epstein's use of state lands.
By July 2020, Balderas had received nothing in return. He sent a letter demanding federal prosecutors seize the ranch through civil forfeiture.
"We believe that this ranch was utilized by Epstein and others to facilitate and conceal the ongoing trafficking of children," the letter stated. He received no response.
A December 2019 internal federal email – buried for six years before surfacing in the January 2026 document dump – confirmed that agents had "not searched the New Mexico property," four months after Epstein's death. There is no public evidence they ever did.
Maurene Comey killed the one state investigation that could have put boots on that desert compound. Her father's FBI never searched it. And the feds who took New Mexico's evidence never gave anything back.
The Buried Bodies Tip From the Epstein Files the FBI Never Acted On
In November 2019, a local New Mexico radio host named Eddy Aragon received an encrypted email from someone claiming to be a former Zorro Ranch employee.
The sender alleged two foreign girls had been killed during violent sexual acts and buried in the hills outside the property on Epstein's direct orders – with Ghislaine Maxwell identified as the co-conspirator who gave the command.
As proof of the claim, the sender said he had seven videos of Epstein abusing minors and offered to provide everything, including the burial location, in exchange for one bitcoin.
Aragon forwarded the email to the FBI the same day.
He never heard back.
That tip sat in government files for six years until the DOJ released 3.5 million pages of Epstein documents in January 2026 under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. When New Mexico officials found it, they sent an urgent letter to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche demanding the unredacted version and every document referencing Zorro Ranch.
The state is now investigating whether two girls were murdered on that property while the FBI – under James Comey's leadership – looked the other way.
Maurene Comey Is Gone and the Truth Commission Is Coming
The pattern isn't complicated.
Maurene Comey shuts down New Mexico's investigation in 2019 with a promise the feds would pick it up. The FBI – the agency her father ran – confirms in writing it never searched the ranch. New Mexico gets nothing back.
A tip about buried bodies gets filed and forgotten. Then in July 2025, Trump's DOJ fires Maurene Comey without explanation, citing only presidential authority under Article II.
She sued to get her job back. It hasn't worked.
New Mexico Democrat Attorney General Raúl Torrez reopened the criminal investigation on February 18. The state House voted unanimously to create a bipartisan truth commission – subpoena power, $2 million budget, first report due July 31.
U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, who has reviewed unredacted federal files, confirmed multiple prominent New Mexicans are named in the documents. The alleged burial site sits on state trust land directly west of the former property – land that has never been searched.
The ranch was sold in 2023 to a Texas businessman who plans to turn it into a Christian retreat. The Comeys' FBI left whatever was in those hills exactly where it was.
Balderas said it plainly: "The inquiry should have been expanded, not restricted."
Maurene Comey made sure it wasn't.
Sources:
- José Niño, "Feds Told New Mexico to Back Off Epstein. Then They Did Nothing," Headline USA, March 3, 2026.
- Danielle Prokop, "Feds asked New Mexico to halt Jeffrey Epstein Zorro Ranch sex trafficking probe, records show," Albuquerque Journal, March 1, 2026.
- Staff, "New Mexico attorney general reopens investigation into Epstein's Zorro Ranch," Santa Fe New Mexican, February 20, 2026.
- Staff, "Investigation called for Epstein's Zorro Ranch after email alleges two girls' bodies were buried nearby," Albuquerque Journal, February 10, 2026.
- Staff, "New Mexico probes allegation of bodies buried near Epstein ranch," Reuters/Honolulu Star-Advertiser, February 19, 2026.
- Staff, "New Mexico reopens probe of alleged illegal activity at Epstein's former Zorro Ranch," PBS NewsHour/AP, February 20, 2026.
