New Mexico's top prosecutor will push forward with a long-dormant investigation into alleged sexual abuse at Jeffrey Epstein's Zorro Ranch as survivors continue to demand accountability years after the financier's death.
Attorney General Raul Torrez said on Monday that his office is committed to pursuing new leads tied to the remote Santa Fe County property, where multiple women have alleged they were abused beginning in the late 1990s.
"We are going to do everything we can to get to the bottom of what happened there, follow every lead, no matter how uncomfortable it is or how long it takes, and most importantly, we need to center the voices of victims in this process," Torrez told NBC News.
The renewed push comes after the U.S. Department of Justice released millions of pages of investigative records earlier this year, prompting New Mexico officials to reopen a case that had been shelved in 2019 at the request of federal prosecutors in New York.
State authorities have since launched new investigative efforts, including a search of the sprawling ranch in March, marking the first known law enforcement action at the property despite years of allegations.
The secluded ranch has long been linked to claims that Epstein trafficked and abused underage girls and young women there, though it was never searched during earlier federal investigations into his activities.
Rachel Benavidez, now 52, said she was abused at the ranch more than two decades ago and is still waiting for justice.
"Until we are heard, until survivors are heard and believed, then I don't think there's ever going to be any justice," she said.
Benavidez added, "I don't think it's too late for the truth to come out about people that were involved and helped him [Epstein] and turned a blind eye to his crimes."
Epstein, a wealthy financier with ties to prominent political and business figures, pleaded guilty in Florida in 2008 to charges involving underage girls and served a controversial plea deal that drew widespread criticism.
He was arrested again in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges but died in a New York jail while awaiting trial.
His longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell was later convicted in federal court and is serving a lengthy prison sentence for her role in recruiting and grooming underage girls for abuse.
New Mexico officials say the latest investigation will focus not only on Epstein but also on potential co-conspirators and others who may have enabled or concealed criminal activity.
"I know that there's co-conspirators, and there's people even that I have not named, that I believe were involved and knew what was going on," Benavidez said. "So I hope that they find the truth, so those people can be brought to justice and prosecuted."
The state's effort now includes coordination with a newly established legislative "truth commission," which is tasked with examining the full scope of alleged abuse tied to the ranch and identifying any failures by authorities to act on earlier warnings.
Torrez has said investigators will seek access to unredacted federal case files and work with law enforcement partners to determine whether any charges can still be brought, even as the passage of time may complicate the search for physical evidence.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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