Epstein's Zorro Ranch searched by New Mexico investigators

How Epstein files coverage impacts trauma survivors

LiveNOW’s Shawna Khalafi is speaking with child abuse expert and survivor, Jodee Neil, as we learn more about how the public release of the Jeffrey Epstein files can impact trauma survivors. According to experts, while public outrage and political scrutiny play out in the media, survivors of similar traumas can oftentimes remember their own experiences. This comes as both former president Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are being deposed by the House Oversight Committee this week as part of a congressional investigation into Epstein. 

Investigators began searching the late Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch on Monday.

The ranch was one of the alleged locations where Epstein and his acquaintances sexually abused young women and girls, according to a Reuters report. 

Searching Zorro Ranch

FILE - In an aerial view, Jeffrey Epstein's Zorro Ranch is shown on March 8, 2026 outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico. (Photo by Roberto E. Rosales/Getty Images)

Dig deeper:

A search was initiated on March 9 and is part of a criminal investigation announced by the New Mexico Department of Justice on Feb. 19, according to a state justice department news release.

Local perspective:

Officials advised the public to stay away from the area and to refrain from flying drones above the investigation area.

What you can do:

Investigators asked anyone with information related to any events that occurred in the area that could assist with this particular case, to submit tips here. 

Epstein and Zorro Ranch

The backstory:

Attorney General Raúl Torrez last month reopened an investigation of the ranch. New Mexico’s initial case was closed in 2019 at the request of federal prosecutors in New York, and state prosecutors say now that "revelations outlined in the previously sealed FBI files warrant further examination."

Epstein purchased Zorro Ranch in Stanley, New Mexico, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Santa Fe, in 1993 from former Democratic Gov. Bruce King.

The property was sold by Epstein’s estate in 2023 — with proceeds going toward creditors — to the family of Don Huffines, a candidate in Texas for state comptroller who won the Republican primary last week.

Additionally, New Mexico state legislators have established a new commission to look into past activities at the ranch.

Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial in 2019 on charges that he sexually abused and trafficked dozens of underage girls.

Epstein never faced charges in New Mexico, but the state attorney general’s office in 2019 confirmed that it had interviewed possible victims who visited Epstein’s ranch.