The FBI initially believed a mystery orange shape spotted near Jeffrey Epstein’s jail cell the night before he died was possibly an “inmate,” newly released records show.
The feds offered up the description as it reviewed surveillance video from inside the Metropolitan Correctional Center in the hours before the convicted pedophile was found hanged in his cell in the early hours of Aug. 10, 2019.
The logs, which were included in the latest trove of Epstein files released by the Justice Department, specifically noted that “a flash of orange” could be seen heading up a stairwell close to Epstein’s cell at 10:39pm the night before his death.
“A flash of orange looks to be going up the L Tier stairs — could possibly be an inmate escorted up to that Tier,” the observation log stated.
A separate review of the footage by the Office of Inspector General also noted the orange object but those investigators said that inmates were on lockdown at the time, adding that it was “possible someone is carrying inmate linen or bedding up the stairs.”
The FBI’s initial analysis wasn’t included in the final report made public by the Inspector General in 2023.
Instead, the review into Epstein’s death said the orange blob seen on the surveillance video was an “unidentified CO.”