This line caught my attention in particular: “It’s a gift to be able to choose the time to say goodbye.” Epstein frames his death the way he frames his life: as a privilege most people don’t get.
The note was never authorized by the FBI or the Department of Justice. Earlier in 2026, the DOJ made a major public release of Epstein documents as part of a campaign for transparency. This note was not part of it. The DOJ says the document never reached the agency at all. The only people known to have checked it were handwriting experts employed by the prison’s security team.
In custody is Nicholas Tartaglione, who was convicted in 2023 of a quadruple murder in 2016 over a cocaine dispute. Before this murder, he was a police officer in Briarcliff Manor. Now he’s serving 4 consecutive life sentences in a state prison in California, he says he didn’t do it, and he has an appeal pending.
He was awaiting trial when he was housed with Epstein at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan in the summer of 2019, after Epstein was arrested on July 6 on sex trafficking charges.
On July 23, 2019, Epstein was found in custody with marks on his neck and a homemade cloth cord. He first criticized Tartaglione for the marks, then retracted them and said he “never had any problems” with him. Tartaglione has always denied the attack.
Epstein was relocated. According to the DOJ’s timeline, Tarttaglione found the note attached to the graphic novel between July 23 and July 27, after Epstein left. When he opened the book, the book was just sitting there.
Epstein was found dead on August 10, 2019. His death was officially ruled a suicide by hanging.
The guards who were on duty checked their logs and it was found that they were watching the internet when he died from the window. The cameras outside his cell were not working properly.
He had been placed on suicide watch and placed outside of jail, a violation of the July incident. Attorney General William Barr called it “a perfect storm.” MCC Manhattan was later closed.
Tartaglione kept the note and gave it to his attorney Bruce Barket, telling him it would refute Epstein’s lawsuit if it ever came to light. Barket’s team later used it as evidence that Epstein wanted to kill himself. This note became part of a closed war between Tartaglione’s lawyers and remained hidden for almost 5 years.
Tartaglione first explained it publicly on a podcast in 2025. The New York Times reported its existence on April 30, 2026, and filed a motion to have it removed.
On May 6, United States District Judge Kenneth M. Karas opened it, writing that “there is no sufficient reason to keep it closed.” Federal prosecutors supported the release, telling the court that “it appears that the public is very interested in the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death.”
Epstein’s brother Mark has long argued against the decision to take his own life. The doctor he hired, Dr. Michael Baden, said the injuries to the corpse, including a broken hyoid bone, were more consistent with strangulation than with suicide.
The note follows an incident in July. Epstein died on August 10, in a separate cell, alone.
