Judge releases note cellmate says he found after Epstein’s suspected
suicide attempt
[May 07, 2026]
By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER
NEW YORK (AP) — A note Jeffrey Epstein’s former cellmate claimed he
found after the millionaire sex offender’s first suspected jail suicide
attempt was made public Wednesday, years after being sealed and locked
in a courthouse vault as part of an unrelated legal dispute.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas in White Plains, New York, ordered the
release of the note after The New York Times asked him last week to
unseal it and other documents in a case involving the former cellmate,
Nicholas Tartaglione. Federal prosecutors did not oppose the request.
Few people had known about the note until Tartaglione, a former police
officer serving a life sentence for killing four people, mentioned it
last year on writer Jessica Reed Kraus’ podcast.
Tartaglione claimed he discovered the note in a book after Epstein was
found on the floor of their cell at a Manhattan federal jail on July 23,
2019, with a strip of bedsheet around the financier's neck. That was
about three weeks before Epstein was found dead in his cell in what
authorities concluded was a suicide.
“They investigated me for month -- found nothing!!!” said the short
note, which is hard to decipher in some places. “It is a treat to be
able to choose” the “time to say goodbye," the note continues. “Watcha
want me to do -- Bust out cryin!!”
“NO FUN,” the note concludes, with those words underlined. “NOT WORTH
IT!!”
It is unclear who wrote the note Tartaglione claimed to have found. It
wasn’t mentioned in the lengthy government reports examining the
circumstances of Epstein’s death, nor did it surface in the Justice
Department’s recent release of files on the late financier.
In a written ruling, Karas said he weighed the privacy interests of
third parties, including Epstein, before ruling to release the note. He
said existing case law suggests that privacy interests of a deceased
person, such as Epstein, "are vastly reduced and disclosure of the
deceased’s information is unlikely to ‘work a concrete harm.‘”
According to jail records, Epstein had friction marks and skin
irritation on his neck from the suspected July 23 attempt. Jail officers
said he was breathing heavily but responsive. One officer reported at
the time that Epstein said he believed Tartaglione had tried to kill
him, according to a memo included in the Justice Department’s files.
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Jail officials placed Epstein on suicide watch for 31 hours after
the incident before downgrading him to psychiatric observation — his
status when he killed himself. According to jail records, he denied
trying to harm himself, telling a jail psychologist that suicide was
against his Jewish religion and that he was a “coward” who didn’t
like pain.
A chronology included in the files states that Tartaglione told his
lawyer about the note four days after the suspected July 23 attempt.
The note was later submitted as evidence in Tartaglione’s criminal
case and was placed under seal amid a dispute over his legal
representation.
Both men were interviewed by jail personnel on July 31, 2019,
according to jail records.
Epstein said he had never had any issues with Tartaglione, wasn't
threatened by him and didn't “want to make up something that isn’t
there.” Tartaglione said he didn't have any issues being Epstein’s
cellmate, though he said they kept their conversations to a minimum.
On July 23, he said, he thought Epstein was having a heart attack
because his eyes were open and he appeared to be snoring.
Epstein and Tartaglione shared a cell for about two weeks, beginning
soon after Epstein’s July 6, 2019, arrest and ending with the
suspected suicide attempt. Both were awaiting trials — Epstein on
sex trafficking charges and Tartaglione on charges that in 2016 he
killed four men, including a man he tortured and strangled over
stolen drug money.
Tartaglione, who had been an officer in the Hudson River Valley
village of Briarcliff Manor, was convicted in 2023. He is currently
incarcerated at a federal penitentiary in California and has
petitioned President Donald Trump for a pardon.
Epstein was without a cellmate when he was found dead at the
Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, on Aug. 10, 2019.
Authorities have pointed to a series of missteps by jail personnel —
including browsing the internet and sleeping when they should've
been checking on Epstein — for allowing him to take his own life.
Officials said they found a handwritten note in Epstein’s cell at
the time of his death, but that it didn't appear to be a suicide
note. Rather, they said, it appeared to be a list of grievances
about conditions at the jail, including about food, showers and the
presence of bugs.
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