Prison guard Googled Jeffrey Epstein shortly before his body was found, documents reveal

Newly released records have revealed that a prison guard assigned to monitor Jeffrey Epstein searched the internet about him shortly before he was discovered dead in his cell. The documents, published by the U.S. Department of Justice, shed new light on the final hours before Epstein’s death at a federal detention center in New York.

Guard made two Google searches

According to FBI records, Tova Noel, a correctional officer working at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, searched Google for the phrase “latest on Epstein in jail” shortly before Epstein was found hanging in his cell.

The search history shows Noel conducted the search at 5:42 a.m. local time and repeated it again about 10 minutes later at 5:52 a.m. The FBI document highlighted this search as the only one of particular note. The development was first reported by the New York Post.

Online shopping before the search

Records also showed that Noel had been browsing furniture online before searching for information about Epstein.

According to FBI documents, the emergency call reporting that Epstein had been found hanging in his cell was made just over an hour later, at around 7:00 a.m.

Epstein found dead in his cell

Jeffrey Epstein, who was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges, was found unconscious in his cell on August 10, 2019, at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York. He was suffering from cardiac arrest and was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

The 66-year-old financier’s death was officially ruled a suicide by hanging.

Allegations of negligence

Following Epstein’s death, Tova Noel and another guard on duty, Michael Thomas, were investigated. Prosecutors alleged that the two officers failed to carry out required checks on Epstein every 30 minutes and falsified records about their activities.

Investigators said the guards were sleeping and browsing online shopping sites instead of conducting their rounds.

Security camera footage showed that no one entered the area where Epstein was being held alone during the time he died.

Charges later dropped

The criminal charges against Noel and Thomas were eventually dropped in 2021.

In a sworn statement given to the Department of Justice the same year, Noel denied having any role in Epstein’s death and said she did not remember searching for information about him online.

“I don’t remember doing that,” she said in the statement, adding that she did not recall looking Epstein up on the internet.

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