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'Time to say goodbye,' Epstein allegedly wrote in newly released purported suicide note

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Purported Epstein suicide note allegedly found by ex-cellmate unsealed
Rick Friedman/Corbis via Getty Images
ByAaron Katersky, Peter Charalambous, Kerem Inal, and Tonya Simpson
May 06, 2026, 11:03 PM

A suicide note purportedly left behind in his jail cell by the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein before his first attempt to kill himself said, "It is a treat to be able to choose one's time to say goodbye." 

Epstein's former cellmate Nicholas Tartaglione -- a convicted quadruple murderer -- claimed that he found the note tucked in a book in the days after Epstein's first suicide attempt in July 2019. At the time, Epstein denied being suicidal and told a psychologist, "I have no interest in killing myself." 

A federal judge ordered the note unsealed on Wednesday, giving the public and investigators their first look at the purported suicide note. 

A suicide note was purportedly left behind in Jeffrey Epstein's jail cell before his first attempt to kill himself.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

Related Articles

Federal prosecutors support unsealing purported Jeffrey Epstein suicide note

The cryptic, one-page handwritten note offered few new details about Epstein's purported motivations, and there is no confirmation that Epstein himself authored it.

"They investigated me for month -- found nothing!!!" the note said.

Jeffrey Epstein in Cambridge, Ma., Sept. 8, 2004.
Rick Friedman/Corbis via Getty Images

"Whatcha want me to do -- burst out crying!" the note continued. "NO FUN -- NOT WORTH IT!!" 

One line of the seven-line note is unclear because a word is indecipherable.

Epstein died in jail while awaiting trial on August 10, 2019. His death was ruled a suicide by hanging by the New York Medical Examiner's Office, and the Justice Department concurred with that finding. 

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