Inside convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s cell and autopsy

Months after Jeffrey Epstein took his own life in jail, harrowing pictures from inside his cell and autopsy are raising questions.

It’s been almost six months since disgraced billionaire and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his jail cell and conspiracy theories about his passing have been rife since.

Epstein, 66, killed himself in his New York City prison cell in August after he was arrested on sex trafficking charges.

The wealthy financier had pleaded not guilty to sexually abusing girls as young as 14 and young women in New York and Florida in the early 2000s.

Despite Epstein’s autopsy concluding he took his own life in August, harrowing pictures from the night he died, released by the New York City medical examiner’s office, are raising questions.

Epstein’s jail cell. Picture: 60 Minutes/CBS

The bunks in Epstein’s cell. Picture: 60 Minutes/CBS

Released by the US current affairs program 60 Minutes, at least one forensic investigator claims the pictures only add to the mystery surrounding Epstein’s death.

Forensic pathologist Dr Michael Baden, who was hired by Epstein’s brother to investigate the death externally, was present during the autopsy.

Speaking to 60 Minutes, Dr Baden said there was one important thing missing from the investigation into Epstein's death — a photo showing the exact position he was in when he died.

The cell was a mess as guards worked to save Epstein’s life. Picture: 60 Minutes/CBS

Dr Baden also said the location of the ligature, made of a ripped-up prison bedsheet, wasn’t clear.

“At this length of time, (we) still don’t have that information,” Dr Baden said.

“So if this was called a suicide without all that information, it was a premature judgment.”

Epstein’s autopsy report, completed by New York City Chief Medical Examiner Dr Barbara Sampson, listed a number of injuries.

Among them were contusions on both wrists, an abrasion on his left forearm, and deep muscle haemorrhaging in his left shoulder muscle.

Pictures from the Epstein autopsy file. Picture: 60 Minutes/CBS

Dr Sampson ruled Epstein’s cause of death was suicide by hanging. But one small injury has left Dr Baden with questions.

While Dr Baden admitted he had found small bust blood vessels around Epstein's eyes, mouth and face — injuries that are often an indication of strangulation — it was something else that left him wondering.

Autopsy pictures, obtained by 60 Minutes, showed fractures on Epstein's left and right thyroid cartilage, which sits at the front of the neck.

The convicted sex offender also had a fracture on his left hyoid bone, a small bone that sits under the jaw and acts as an anchor for the tongue.

“I have never seen three fractures like this in a suicidal hanging,” Dr Baden told the program. “Going over a thousand jail hangings, suicides in the New York City state prisons over the past 40–50 years, no one had three fractures.”

Jeffrey Epstein died in a Manhattan prison in August last year. Picture: New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP)/

Other forensic pathologists however disagreed with Dr Baden’s theory.

Dr Kristin Roman, the medical examiner who did the autopsy observed by Dr Baden, initially listed Epstein’s cause of death as “pending”.

Days later, Dr Roman’s boss Dr Sampson said she had been given additional evidence and could now rule it a suicide.

Epstein had previously tried to take his own life in jail while awaiting trial for the sex trafficking charges.

There were also a number of nooses made from bedsheets in the jail cell at the time of Epstein’s death.

Sources told 60 Minutes that guards had used scissors to cut the sheets off Epstein’s neck.

But the noose in the autopsy file showed both ends were folded and uncut.

“It doesn’t look like anybody ever took scissors to it,” reporter Sharyn Alfonsi said. “So there is some question — is that the right noose?’

Epstein's broken hyoid bone. Picture: CBS/60 Minutes.

Despite the questions surrounding Epstein's death, Dr Sampson maintains she and her team are correct.

In October, she told the New York Times she stood “firmly” behind Epstein's cause of death.

“I stand firmly behind our determination of the cause and manner of death in this case,” she said.

“In general, fractures of the hyoid bone and the cartilage can be seen in suicides and homicides.”

Dr Baden previously worked as New York City’s chief medical examiner but was dismissed by the mayor a year later.