Veteran medical examiner Dr. Michael Baden claimed that an independent autopsy conducted on disgraced billionaire and suspected sex offender Jeffrey Epstein revealed injuries more consistent with “homicidal strangulation” than suicide, which was determined as the cause of his death in August.
Epstein was found dead in his prison cell just days before he was scheduled to testify in a Manhattan court and potentially reveal the names of multiple high-profile individuals who were involved in his alleged sexual abuse of women and underage girls. The timing of his death fueled theories from those skeptical that he committed suicide.
Epstein, who was 66 at the time of his death, faced accusations of sex trafficking, sexual abuse, rape, and several other charges stemming from accounts of his activities in the early 2000s. Epstein was known to travel with a close inner circle of high-profile celebrities and political figures, including Prince Andrew, who has denied having a close relationship with the late financier.
Dr. Baden, 85, was once the chief medical examiner of New York City and has given expert testimony in multiple high-profile criminal trials, including those of O.J. Simpson and Phil Spector. Baden noted in a Wednesday morning appearance on Fox & Friends that injuries to Epstein’s neck were more consistent with a violent attack by another individual than a self-inflicted death by hanging.
Citing several fractures in Epstein’s neck that indicated the involvement of another individual, Baden levied that the official New York medical examiner’s ruling that the death was by suicide could be inaccurate.
“Those three fractures are extremely unusual in suicidal hangings and could occur much more commonly in homicidal strangulation,” Baden said. “I’ve not seen in 50 years where that occurred in a suicidal hanging case.”
The longtime veteran of forensic science, who has examined over 20,000 bodies, also noted that hemorrhaging in Epstein’s eyes was more consistent with a homicidal strangulation than a suicide.
“The prominent hemorrhage in the soft tissues of the neck next to the fractures is evidence of a fresh neck compression that could have caused the death,” he said.
Though Dr. Baden expressed doubt that Epstein died by his own hand, he did note that the investigation was incomplete and that if another person had been involved in his death, their DNA would be found on the ligature that was found around Epstein’s neck.
“The investigation is not completed until all the information has come in,” Dr. Baden said.
