Camilla Jessen
In July 2019, Jeffrey Epstein claimed his cellmate tried to kill him before later saying he didn’t remember what happened.
Weeks before Jeffrey Epstein died in his Manhattan jail cell, he claimed his cellmate tried to kill him.
Then he changed his story.
A new CBS report revisits the murky details of what happened that night and the unanswered questions that remain.
Epstein’s First Brush With Death
On July 23, 2019, nearly three weeks before his controversial death, Jeffrey Epstein was found semi-conscious on the floor of his jail cell in Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center.
He had an orange cloth wrapped around his neck.
At the time, he pointed the finger at his cellmate, saying the man had tried to kill him.
“Not True”
“He sat up on the bed and began telling me that he thinks his bunkie … tried to kill him,” one responding officer wrote in a memo, newly reported by CBS News.
The cellmate, in turn, claimed Epstein had attempted to hang himself.
He also denied the allegation through his attorney, calling it “not true.”
Who Was the Cellmate?
Though not named in the CBS report, the cellmate at the time of the incident was Nicholas Tartaglione, a former police officer awaiting trial on multiple murder charges.
Tartaglione had been arrested in 2016 in connection with a quadruple homicide in upstate New York.
After Epstein was found on the floor, he was placed on suicide watch, though only for a day—despite the high-profile nature of his case and his claims that his cellmate had either tried to kill or extort him.
Epstein Changes His Story
The next day, Epstein walked back the accusation.
He reportedly told investigators that he couldn’t remember how he got the injuries.
According to the Justice Department’s 2023 report, he said he remembered waking up at 1 a.m., and the next thing he recalled was jail staff rushing into his cell about 30 minutes later.
The DOJ report also stated that Epstein had expressed concerns about his cellmate the day before the incident.
He had told a corrections officer that his cellmate had referenced a New York Daily News article that estimated Epstein’s wealth, something Epstein found unsettling.
A Strange Request
Despite his initial claims of attempted murder or extortion, Epstein later asked to return to the same cell with the same cellmate after being taken off suicide watch, the DOJ report revealed.
This request raised eyebrows, especially given the events of July 23. But jail staff approved it.
Why It Still Matters
On August 10, 2019, Epstein was found dead in his cell.
The official ruling was suicide by hanging. But the circumstances—missing surveillance footage, asleep guards, and Epstein’s high-profile connections—sparked widespread conspiracy theories and public mistrust.
The July 23 incident adds another layer of confusion and contradiction.
This article is made and published by Camilla Jessen, which may have used AI in the preparation
