(NBC)
Stomach turning.
To girls without much money who needed help with college or a career, visiting Jeffrey Epstein’s 10,000-acre New Mexico ranch felt like being treated to an exclusive resort. Flown in from around the country to the gated compound, they rode horses across a mesa dotted with ancient rock carvings. They posed for pictures at Epstein’s 26,700-square-foot mansion. They hiked, swam, shopped and watched movies.
Hanging out with a wealthy middle-aged man was weird, but Epstein made the girls feel special. He asked about their goals, offered advice and handed them cash. And then the trips turned dark.
Epstein touched their thighs, had them strip for a massage or attacked them with a sex toy, and the girls grew confused and frightened. Alone, far from home and surrounded by photographs of Epstein with celebrities and politicians — some of whom had visited the ranch — they believed there was nothing they could do to stop him.
One victim, 15 at the time, jumped on an ATV the day after Epstein assaulted her and went racing across the property with another young guest and crashed into a tree. “Don’t worry,” the other girl said, the victim later recalled. “No one gets in trouble for anything here.”
The victims eventually understood that Epstein had used money and power to exploit them for sex.
Fast forward.
New Mexico authorities didn’t open their first investigation into Epstein until 2019, after the statutes of limitations had expired for some crimes. That investigation was shut down at the urging of federal authorities in New York, who were building their own multistate case but left the ranch largely unexamined.
Revelations in the Epstein files have sparked new investigations of the ranch, which is being renovated by a new owner.
Only now, with revelations about the ranch turning up in the Department of Justice’s newly released Epstein files — including an unverified tip that two “foreign girls” died during sex and were secretly buried on the property — are state officials promising to finally figure out what happened out there in the high desert.
Two fresh investigations have been launched: one by the New Mexico Department of Justice, and one by a truth commission of four state lawmakers. On Monday, state authorities conducted the first ever search of the ranch — six years after Epstein died.
h/t Scout211 for the article.
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