Newly released Department of Justice records show investigators reviewing surveillance from the night Jeffrey Epstein died noticed an unidentified “orange-colored figure” moving toward the housing tier that contained his cell, raising fresh questions about his final hours.
The documents say video from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York captured a roughly orange-colored shape ascending a stairway toward Epstein’s locked, secluded tier at about 10:39 p.m. on Aug. 9, 2019. The same figure appears to descend the stairs roughly two minutes later, at about 10:41 p.m. Epstein was found dead in his cell early the next morning.
Video observation logs suggested the person may have been an inmate being escorted to the tier, but investigators reached differing conclusions. The FBI described the figure as “possibly an inmate,” while the DOJ Office of the Inspector General later characterized it as an unidentified corrections officer who may have been carrying orange bedding or linen.
The Inspector General’s final report acknowledged the individual’s presence on the stairway but did not definitively establish identity or purpose, noting the person briefly entered and exited the camera’s view within a two-minute window.
CBS News reported that official accounts of Epstein’s final night did not mention the orange figure, prompting renewed scrutiny because authorities have repeatedly said no one entered Epstein’s housing tier during that period.
Epstein, a wealthy financier facing federal sex‑trafficking charges involving underage girls, died while awaiting trial. His death was officially ruled a suicide but has been questioned amid reports of surveillance camera malfunctions, guard negligence and inconsistencies in records. The DOJ disclosure comes amid ongoing public and political demands for transparency more than five years after his death.
