Pathologist casts fresh doubt over Epstein death

THE body of disgraced billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who was found dead in his Manhattan prison cell in August, bore telltale signs of homicide despite an official suicide ruling, a former New York City medical examiner has claimed.

The bombshell claim by Dr Michael Baden is certain to reignite suspicions that surfaced immediately after Epstein, who was awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges involving underage girls, was discovered dead in his cell on August 10.

Dr Baden, a pioneering forensic pathologist, was hired by Epstein’s brother to observe the autopsy,

Fox News reported.

He said the findings of the autopsy were more consistent with homicidal strangulation than suicidal hanging.

Epstein, 66, had two fractures on the left and right sides of his Adam’s apple, as well as one fracture above the Adam’s apple, said Dr Baden, who has examined more than 20,000 bodies.

“Those three fractures are extremely unusual in suicidal hangings and could occur much more commonly in homicidal strangulation,” he said, adding that the three fractures were “rare”.

Dr Baden, who probed cases involving O.J. Simpson, President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and record producer Phil Spector in his career, said: “I’ve not seen in 50 years where that occurred in a suicidal hanging case.”

New York City Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson ruled Epstein’s cause of death to be a suicide by hanging.