Jeffrey Epstein’s jail record is continuing to produce new forensic questions as handwriting experts reviewed a note that was newly made public and compared it with writing authorities found after Epstein died. In a review arranged for The Associated Press, three forensic document examiners said the two notes share similar writing characteristics—including spacing, letter shapes, capitalization, punctuation and other traits—though none said they could conclusively identify Epstein as the writer.
The newly released note, which authorities had sealed in an unrelated case and which was described by Epstein’s former cellmate Nicholas Tartaglione as something he discovered in 2019, was compared with another jail note authorities found after Epstein killed himself. The experts said the pairing of the notes’ handwriting features—including the use of underlined text and consistent punctuation styling—made it likely they came from the same person.
Thomas Vastrick, president of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners, said the similarities were the kind of details that would suggest “we’re dealing with the same writer.” He also said “These are the kinds of things that would suggest that we’re dealing with the same writer,” and that the notes were “written by the same person.”
Bart Baggett, founder of Handwriting Experts Inc., went further, telling AP that “Both of those documents have the same author,” while emphasizing that the work they performed focused on document comparison rather than a definitive identification of Epstein. Grace Warmbier, who worked for a decade for the New York City Police Department performing document examinations and handwriting analysis, likewise said she reviewed the documents for authorship comparison.
Warmbier also reviewed handwriting samples from Tartaglione, including part of a note he sent to the New York Daily News in 2019 in which he denied any involvement in Epstein’s death. Warmbier ruled out Tartaglione as the author, finding “significant dissimilarities between his handwriting and the handwriting in question.” Vastrick, however, said Tartaglione’s writing samples showed “a wide range of variation from one to another” and that some similarities required further examination. “At this point, I certainly would not eliminate him as a potential writer,” Vastrick said. “I don’t at the same time want to suggest that he is the writer.”
Tartaglione said he discovered the newly released note in a book in his cell after Epstein’s first suspected jail suicide attempt on July 23, 2019. According to the AP report, Epstein was placed on suicide watch and moved to a different cell, and Tartaglione said he had no cellmate when Epstein died on Aug. 10, 2019. The two men shared a cell for about two weeks beginning soon after Epstein’s July 6 arrest on sex trafficking charges and ending with the suspected suicide attempt, with both men awaiting trials.
The Justice Department’s files include a chronology describing when Tartaglione told his lawyer about the note four days after the July 23 attempt, and the report says there is no indication that jail officials or Epstein’s representatives were alerted at the time. The note later became evidence in Tartaglione’s criminal case and remained under seal amid a dispute over his legal representation. The AP report said the note was not mentioned in government reports examining the circumstances of Epstein’s death and did not surface in the Justice Department’s files released recently.
The AP report said the newly released note contains a grim outlook before Epstein’s death and includes phrases Tartaglione had described as frustrations about confinement in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, where Epstein was held after living in luxury for decades. In the first note, made public this week, the writer states: “They investigated me for month — found nothing!!!” and refers to being able to choose the “time to say goodbye.” The other note, which has been public for years, is described as a list of grievances about jail conditions, including the showers, food and “Giant Bugs.”
Beyond handwriting analysis, AP reported that the examiners also noted phrasing that could connect the notes’ authorship. The note Tartaglione said he found includes the line: “Watcha want me to do — Bust out cryin!!,” and AP reported that Epstein previously referenced that line, mimicking dialogue from a 1931 “Little Rascals” film, in three emails included in Justice Department files. One of those emails, the report said, was sent to Epstein’s brother four months before Epstein went to jail.
For years, only a few people knew about Tartaglione’s note. The AP report said he discussed it last summer on writer Jessica Reed Kraus’ podcast, which prompted writers at The New York Times to pursue a court order releasing the note. Separately, the report said the other note—found after Epstein’s death—was shown on CBS’ “60 Minutes” in 2020 and is in Justice Department files, while the examiners said their inability to definitively say Epstein wrote the notes partly reflected the lack of confirmed handwriting samples of Epstein in the documents the Justice Department released.
If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org.