Medical Examiner 'Confident' Jeffrey Epstein Killed Himself

The chief coroner of New York City, Dr. Barbara Sampson, stated on Sunday that she is 'confident' Jeffrey Epstein killed himself after beginning an autopsy over the weekend.

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Speaking to the New York Times on Sunday, Dr. Sampson said the autopsy was performed with a private pathologist on Sunday morning. She said the private pathologist is observing the autopsy on behalf of the financier's repsentatives, which she said is a "routine practice."

According to Dr. Sampson, determining the cause of death “is pending further information at this time”, but she believes the results will prove he hanged himself. 

In the New York Times article on Sunday, a source told the newspaper that Epstein was found hanging by his neck in the cell. The insider points out that the financier, awaiting trial on underage sex trafficking charges, was not on suicide watch in the Special Housing Unit of the Metropolitan Correctional Centre (MCC), where he was confined.

However, Epstein was reportedly placed on suicide watch in July after he was found with bruising on his neck in his cell. According to the publication, he was taken off additional monitoring on July 29th after he was deemed to be "no longer at imminent risk for suicide". At the same time, the Daily Mail cited a source, claiming that Epstein told guards and fellow inmates that he believed someone had tried to kill him.

Jeffrey Epstein was found unresponsive in his jail cell on Friday night and was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The Bureau of Prisons called his death an “apparent suicide”, although an investigation has yet to determine this conclusively. US Attorney General William Barr has ordered both the FBI and the Inspector General to open a probe into the circumstances of his death.

Epstein's death comes a week after he was denied bail on federal sex trafficking chargesand three weeks after he was found unconscious on the floor of his prison cell with marks on his neck.