A former CIA intelligence officer has claimed that Jeffrey Epstein may still be alive after building a full-scale replica of his prison cell to investigate his death. Andrew Bustamante, who worked as a CIA spy, examined the case for his Discovery+ series, Conspiracies and Coverups, and said there were "too many inconsistencies, too many gaps, too many questions" in the authorities' investigations.
Epstein, a high-profile financier and convicted paedophile with links to the rich and famous and secretive financial networks, died by suicide in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York on August 10, 2019, while awaiting trial for sex trafficking. The official cause of death has done little to quell conspiracy theories seven years on.
The replica experiment
In episode five of the series, Bustamante liaises with experts and builds a replica of Epstein's cell to examine the circumstances of his death. He told EverydaySpy on YouTube that, after reviewing the evidence compiled from the experiment, "there is far more evidence that points to him being killed rather than him killing himself", further pointing to what he described as "inconsistencies".
He continued: "There are just too many inconsistencies on the side of, 'Oh, he killed himself', and there are too many consistencies on the side that he was killed. But in reality, I think what bothers all of us is that neither one of those outcomes really sits well with us."
A 'third option' emerges
Bustamante explained that once he made contact with people in his "network" and recreated the cell for the show, a "third option" presented itself – the "idea that maybe he's not actually dead". He added: "And in the actual course of our recreation of the cell, I was shocked to find out that there is actually a way that he could have been hidden and a body double inserted and that he may actually still be alive."
He said: "It seems ludicrous to say it out loud. It certainly seemed ludicrous to me when I first heard it, but then after actually recreating the circumstances of his death, whether it's a 2% probability or a 25% probability, the fact that there's any probability that he actually is still alive is amazing, right?"
Cell dimensions and a 'gap'
Bustamante confirmed that his recreation was based on photos of the scene, not official prison schematics, but suggested there may have been a "vent" within the cell that was not on any of the schematics. He also brought in a former inmate, who reportedly told them it felt like "home", despite the paint being too bright and the floor being too clean.
He continued: "When I compared the actual dimensions of what we built against the schematics created by the Department of Prisons, there was a difference. There was a gap, an inconsistency." He suggested the gap could offer 80 cubic feet of space, while on the other side of his cell was a "stairwell and freedom". Bustamante then questioned why Epstein, of all people, had access to such a cell.
He added: "Does that mean he's alive? No. But what the f**k man? In terms of opportunity, possibility, probability, inconsistencies, investigative gaps and faux pas, it just exacerbates a giant sore in our existing trust of government."
