Zorro Ranch; Jeffrey Epstein.Credit : BACKGRID; New York State Division of Criminal Justice/HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

NEED TO KNOW

Authorities launched a search on Jeffrey Epstein’s New Mexico ranch earlier this week
The investigation is linked to allegations uncovered in the Epstein Files about the deaths of two foreign girls
The search comes a month after New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez decided to reopen criminal investigations linked to the late sex offender

Authorities in New Mexico have initiated a search on the ranch which once belonged to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The search is based on accusations uncovered in the Epstein Files that the disgraced financier had the bodies of two foreign girls buried hills near his Zorro Ranch per Reuters.

The search, which began on Monday, March 9, is being conducted weeks after New Mexico’s attorney general reopened an investigation into alleged crimes committed on the ranch, which is located south of Santa Fe, Reuters reported in February.

“The New ​Mexico Department of Justice will continue to keep the public appropriately informed, support the survivors, ​and follow the facts wherever they lead,” New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez’s said in a statement, per the outlet.

Zorro Ranch was one of several properties owned by Epstein, including a Manhattan townhouse, Palm Beach estate and private island in the Caribbean Sea. While the other properties have been searched as part of investigations into the financier, allegations of wrongdoing at the ranch had never been thoroughly investigated, The New York Times reports.

Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial in a Manhattan jail cell on sex trafficking charges. His estate sold Zorro Ranch to Texas businessman Don Huffines in 2023, who has renamed the estate and is cooperating with the investigation, per Reuters.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go torainn.org.