EXCLUSIVE: Epstein 'Suicide' Noose Likely Never Had DNA Taken to Investigate Potential Homicide

As far as he knows "they never did anything with it," forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden—who observed Epstein's autopsy—reveals to us about DNA never being tested on nooses found in Epstein cell

As ongoing demands for justice for the victims of Jeffrey Epstein, and accountability for his co-conspirators, continues to anger—and potentially threaten—President Trump, there hasn’t been much political and media attention paid to a major component of the Epstein saga.

How did he actually die, and if he didn’t actually take his own life, who did, who ordered it—and most importantly, what were they trying to cover up?

“I believe President Trump authorized his murder,” Mark Epstein, the younger brother of Jeffrey, wrote in a 2023 tip to the FBI, adding that he thought his brother was murdered because he was about to “name names.”

Since Epstein's death over six years ago, another figure, with far more expertise, has agreed that the disgraced sexual predator didn’t commit suicide—renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, who’s conducted over 20,000 autopsies over his 50-year career.

Baden, at the request of Marc Epstein, sat in to observe Epstein’s autopsy. And now, in a wide-ranging exclusive interview with Status Coup, Baden provided crucial insight—and shocking revelations, that casts further doubt on the official “suicide” story.

“They never did anything with it even though fingerprints and DNA could be very important in that examination of the ligature,” Dr. Baden told Status Coup regarding, to his knowledge, DNA samples having never been taken on the nooses found in Epstein’s cell at the time of his death (ligatures Trump’s first term Department of Justice claimed were used by Epstein to hang himself).

Baden concluded this after reading an interview, recently released as part of the Epstein files, between investigators and NYC Medical Examiner Dr. Kristin Roman, who conducted Epstein’s autopsy. In it, Roman revealed she didn’t take DNA samples from the nooses Epstein supposedly used to hang himself—and was “not sure what happened to it.”

“I didn't swab it or anything,” Roman testified. She added: “I am not sure what happened to it after I bagged it up” and handed it over to law enforcement. “They decide whether or not to do DNA testing.”

Status Coup reached out to NYC’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner multiple times to ask if the DNA samples were ever taken on the ligatures Epstein allegedly used to hang himself and, if so, what were the results?

At the time of publishing this story, the Medical Examiners office has not responded.

Baden stressed the importance of sampling a ligature found next to a dead body to find if another person’s DNA is present—indicating a potential homicide.

“Fingerprints and DNA could be very important in that examination of the ligature,” Baden said.

Dr. Baden also responded to revelations that Roman was prohibited from inspecting Epstein’s cell—the scene of the alleged suicide—or from speaking to the prison guards who found his dead body.

“The autopsy starts at the scene and normally medical examiners go to the scene and interview whoever is at the scene that’s of value and examine the body,” Baden told Status Coup. “That’s normally what happens…a lot of information is obtained from the scene by the forensic pathologists.”

Baden is one of the world’s go-to forensic pathologists; over a 50-year career, he served as NYC Chief Medical Examiner; Chair of the Forensic Pathology Congressional panel that re-investigated the deaths of President Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.; conducted an independent autopsy on George Floyd; served as an expert for the investigations into the deaths of Medgar Evers, John Belushi, O.J. Simpson, Yankee Manager Billy Martin, Marlon Brando’s son Christian Brando, Kobe Bryant, Robert Blake, and Las Vegas hotel owner Ted Binion; and hosted the HBO show “Autopsy.”

[Below is the full interview between Dr. Michel Baden and your humble author, lightly edited for clarity]

Chariton: As far as the autopsy, why would the medical examiner not be allowed to speak with the prison guards or look inside Epstein’s cell?

Baden: You’d have to ask them. The autopsy starts at the scene and normally medical examiners go to the scene and interview whoever is at the scene that’s of value and examine the body. That’s normally what happens. However, this was not a normal place. This was a federal institution and they have less custodial deaths than the normal course of forensic pathology. So there may have been some federal guidelines that are not usually in play. However, normally a lot of information is obtained from the scene by the forensic pathologists.

Chariton: And the medical examiner said, according to her, the hyoid bone was fractured on the tip where it would have pressed up against the spine.

Baden: I saw the same thing she saw; my opinion was this was evidence of strangulation more than a hanging. We saw the same thing, I may describe it a little differently, but our opinions are obviously different.

Chariton: You have 40-50 years of experience in forensic pathology. You’ve said you’ve never seen those injuries [on Epstein] from a suicide?

Baden: I’ve never seen three fractures in the larynx and hyoid bone in a suicidal hanging.

Chariton: And the medical examiner also said that she wasn’t given the multiple nooses found on the floor of Epstein’s cell—but she was provided photos of some of them.

[Editor’s note: When Epstein’s body arrived at Medical Examiner Kristin Roman’s office for her to conduct the autopsy, a single noose, purportedly found by guards in Epstein’s cell, came with him. Dr. Baden told Business Insider he didn’t see this noose when he observed the autopsy—but later saw photos of it in addition to photos of other nooses that were found on Epstein’s cell floor. During Roman’s interview with investigators, she revealed she was not physically provided the multiple nooses found on Epstein’s cell floor at the time she conducted his autopsy—but instead was shown photos of “two possible nooses made from torn bedsheets and found in Epstein’s cell that could have been used for the hanging,” Business Insider reported.]

Chariton: Would it be common to be able to determine—by a photo—if a certain noose could have been used for strangulation?

Baden: No, it’s much better to see the actual ligature than a photograph— period.

Chariton: So to you, is that thorough enough?

Baden: My opinion from the photographs of the noose and the ligature on the neck is they don’t match.

Chariton: As far as, you know, because you had told Fox in 2019 that you were not aware at that point, did the medical examiner take DNA samples on the ligature. Were you ever provided that information, or was the brother ever provided that information?

Baden: No, the brother wasn’t provided that information. He had requested it. And I didn’t have that information. I learned for the first time, from reading the testimony of Dr. Roman, she says she had placed the ligature in a bag and gave it over to some law enforcement person and doesn’t know what happened to it—and it doesn’t make any difference to her. And as far as she knew, she never got a report back. I gather from everything else that they never did anything with it even though fingerprints and DNA could be very important in that examination of the ligature.

It doesn’t necessarily make a difference as to cause of death but everything we give out for further information, like toxicology and DNA and microscopic examination of slides are all important in the autopsy report. And the information from the DNA will be important in the investigation of who might have been involved in a death.

Chariton: And if it might be a homicide?

Baden: And if it might be a homicide, yes. If there’s somebody else’s DNA on it that shouldn’t be there, for example, that might be important in evaluating whether it’s suicide or homicide or accident.

Chariton: And in New York State in particular would it be the medical examiner’s office who conducts the DNA sampling?

Baden: You know, it varies. Remember, in New York State, we have 64 counties. About 12 of them are medical examiners and the rest are coroner. And a third one [that handles the DNA] was federal [Epstein died in a federal prison]. The FBI has tremendous DNA expertise. Many of the larger medical examiners’ offices do their own DNA—New York City has a very good DNA unit. And often a place like New York City would do its own DNA and send out the material to the FBI also. So the DNA can be processed both locally and by the FBI depending on the county; these are all county offices.

Chariton: And to this day you have not seen any information, or the brother has not seen any information, if DNA was even taken on those [ligatures]?

Baden: That’s correct. Although I gather from Doctor Roman, from what I read in her testimony, that none was reported back to her, therefore one can assume that [DNA] wasn’t done.

Chariton: Based on the injuries you saw to Epstein, is there a small possibility that it could have been strangulation or suicide—or you’ve never seen these kinds of injuries in a suicide?

Baden: Or in the literature, I mean there’s a lot of the literature about this too. I can’t find anything in the literature about three fractures [in the hyoid bone and thyroid cartilage]—not only in suicidal hanging but even less common when he’s partially seated. So what happens is the fracture may occur from the weight of the body. The body weight and minus 10 pounds for the head. When there’s a hanging the ligature slides up to right underneath the jaw bone. That’s never fractured in a hanging. Underneath that is the hyoid bone and that’s mainly, perhaps 10 percent, might be for a single fracture—depending on the width of the ligature. The Adam’s apple is the thyroid cartridge—which is fractured in two places here— and that’s would be less than, you know, a couple of percent. But having all three of them [fractured] together is very unusual. That doesn’t mean, you know, the unicorn, that you could have a complete outlier sometimes.

You can go around investigating a lot of potential murderers and then, the one you don’t think anything about, ten years later, turns out to be the right one. And so a forensic pathologist can never say never because you get all kinds of things.

However, I’ve never seen it, and it’s extremely rare. It would be extremely rare, especially if somebody is seated, to have enough pressure, the amount of pressure on the bone, there’s not enough pressure to cause these fractures. When one squeezes with a hand or, you know, puts a ligature around somebody and squeezes very tightly, you get hundreds of pounds of pressure. And that can cause a fracture. But it’s the pressure of the ligature is not enough, or wide enough, to get under the chin and [cause those fractures].

In 800-900 suicide hangings in prisons and lockups in jails in New York State, in the 50 years I was on that commission [NY state prison deaths investigative commission], we didn’t have a single three fracture [suicide]. I can’t even remember two fractures in a suicidal hanging. It’s just extremely unusual in this situation. The autopsy findings alone are rather typical for homicidal strangulation—and very atypical for suicidal hanging.

Chariton: What about state of mind? From what I’ve read, the prison psychologist said he wasn’t suicidal shortly before his death. He was looking forward to his bail hearing. Is that usually taken into account by the medical examiner?

Baden: Sure. The medical examiner always has to take into account, what kind of history, whether the person’s depressed, whether they attempted suicide in the past. Yes. That always has to be taken into account. Is there any evidence of depression? Most people, 80 percent of people who commit suicide, by any means—by hanging, jumping out of window or, drug overdose— have some kind of depression, are going to see a psychiatrist, complaining to neighbors or friends; the great majority of people indicate red flags about suicide before they commit suicide. Here, the only red flag a week or two earlier the episode that happened in the other cell [18 days before his death, Epstein claimed his cellmate Nicholas Tartaglione—who would later be convicted of murder—tried to kill him; Tartaglione claimed he found Epstein unresponsive and tried to revive him].

The jail addressed that properly by putting [Epstein] on suicide watch. Somebody who seeks to commit suicide in custody, there always always put on long term suicide watch—putting him in a cell with somebody else, putting him in a cell that can be observed by the officer at the desk, putting him in a in a special ward for people who might commit suicide. And in this situation, they initially put him on suicide watch but within a couple of days, the [prison] psychiatrist took him off saying he wasn’t suicidal.

This was addressed by Attorney General Bill Bar and the Justice Department report saying that a nurse told them that they always took them off suicide prevention because the inmates don’t like it and it may make them more suicidal. That’s absolutely not true. That’s absolutely not true. If somebody is attempt suicide, they’re put on long term suicide watch. And so if they him off suicide watch they really didn’t think that was a real suicide attempt.