Crime · 08 May, 2026 · 2 min read
Judge Kenneth Karas Unseals Jeffrey Epstein Purported Suicide Note From Nicholas Tartaglione Case
Judge Karas unsealed Epstein suicide note from his cell, drawn from Tartaglione's court records. Handwriting analysts say the notes share distinctive similarities, indicating same author.
Whether the purported suicide note is authentic or a fake.
9 of 10 outlets skipped it: NYT: note links to DOJ transparency law and record trove.
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Turns on whether language similarities prove authorship or enable easy imitation.
Unsealed Note Dispute
A federal judge unsealed a suicide note purportedly written by Jeffrey Epstein in July 2019, after it had been kept for years under seal as part of a separate criminal case involving Nicholas Tartaglione.
The note, handwritten in barely legible scrawls on lined paper, was allegedly found by Tartaglione after Epstein was found unresponsive with a strip of cloth wrapped around his neck, and it was made public on Wednesday by Judge Kenneth Karas of the federal district court in White Plains, New York.
The Times reported that the note’s authenticity has not been assessed by federal investigations, while it said the handwriting appears to resemble examples of notes written by Epstein in the Epstein files released earlier this year by the US Justice Department.
The note itself says, “They investigated me for months — FOUND NOTHING!!!” and continues with “It is a treat to be able to choose one’s time to say goodbye. Watcha want me to do — Bust out cryin!! No fun — not worth it!!”
Handwriting Experts Weigh In
Handwriting experts consulted by The Associated Press reviewed two jail notes tied to Epstein and concluded they have or appear to have common authorship, citing shared characteristics like spacing, letter shapes, usage of capital letters and unique punctuation. Thomas Vastrick, president of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners, said, “These are the kinds of things that would suggest that we're dealing with the same writer,” while Bart Baggett said, “They are written by the same person.”
The experts told AP they were not able to say definitively that Epstein wrote the notes, in part because there are few if any confirmed examples of his handwriting in the millions of pages of records the Justice Department recently released. The AP reporting also described how Warmbier ruled out Nicholas Tartaglione as the author, finding “significant dissimilarities between his handwriting and the handwriting in question,” while Vastrick said he would not eliminate Tartaglione as a potential writer.
FBI Says Another Letter Fake
Separately from the unsealed suicide note, the FBI confirmed that a purported letter sent by Jeffrey Epstein to Larry Nassar is false, with the Department of Justice saying the writing “parece no coincidir” with Epstein’s. The N+ report said the DOJ added that the letter was matasellada three days after Epstein’s death, procedente del norte de Virginia, and that the sender address did not include the jail where Epstein was detained or his inmate number needed for outgoing mail.
It also quoted the DOJ warning that a DOJ document release does not mean the accusations or claims inside it are veraces, even as the FBI concluded the letter itself was not genuine. In the same N+ account, the DOJ said it was investigating the validity of the letter that allegedly mentioned the “presidente,” without explicitly naming Donald Trump, before the FBI’s confirmation.