Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Celebrity Pathologist Believes Jeffrey Epstein’s Death Was A Homicide, Not Suicide

A pathologist who gained some celebrity as an expert in the O.J. Simpson murder trial believes that Jeffrey Epstein’s death was a homicide, not a suicide. His report contradicts the findings of New York City’s chief medical examiner, and returns to the question of whether suicide could have caused certain broken bones in Epstein’s neck.

Epstein, the disgraced financier who was widely alleged to have sexually assaulted multiple minor girls, was arrested in New Jersey on sex trafficking charges in July. He was found dead in his cell in August. At the time, experts noted that strangulation is the most common cause for the breaking of a “hyoid” bone, but that suicide by hanging can also cause it.

This latest report, by Michael Baden, describes three broken bones in his neck and asserts that they could only be the result of homicide by strangling. Epstein’s brother, Mark Epstein, hired Bader to observe Epstein’s autopsy.

Baden’s findings are “self-explanatory,” Mark Epstein told the Forward Wednesday morning. He hired Baden, he said, “because I don’t think you could find anyone better.”

“Hanging does not cause these broken bones and homicide does,” Baden said on Fox Newson Wednesday. “A huge amount of pressure was applied.” Baden said he had never seen those three bones broken in a suicide.

Click here for a timeline of Epstein’s crimes and the media attention surrounding him.

Baden helped investigate the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. He hosted a show on HBO. Perhaps most famously, Baden testified for the defense during O.J. Simpson’s trial for the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.

Baden testified that Goldman could have struggled with his murderer for up to 15 minutes — crucial time that helped strengthen O.J. Simpson’s alibi.

Epstein was buried in an unmarked plot next to his parents in a Jewish cemetery in Florida.

Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @aefeldman

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.