Investigation called for Epstein's Zorro Ranch after email alleges two girls bodies were buried nearby

The New Mexico State Land Commissioner has called on federal and state justice departments to do a thorough investigation of a New Mexico ranch formerly owned by Jeffrey Epstein after an email alleged that two girls bodies are buried in hills near the property.

On Tuesday, Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard sent a letter to State Attorney General Raúl Torrez and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison to request that law enforcement investigate Zorro Ranch after the anonymous email — first sent to a local radio host in November 2019 — was mentioned in the latest release of the Epstein files.

"We are trying to put it in the hands of people who do have the authority, who do have the capabilities to follow up," Garcia Richard said. "That was the intent behind sending the letter. We learned of the allegation, we hadn't known about it previously, and it seemed disturbing enough that we reached out to law enforcement to follow up."

The anonymous sender, who claimed in the email to be a former staff member at Zorro Ranch, alleged to radio host and station owner Eddy Aragon that two foreign girls were buried in the hills on the Zorro Ranch property on the orders of Epstein and "Madame G", possibly referring to Ghislaine Maxwell. 

Maxwell invoked the Fifth Amendment right to remain silent during her Monday deposition with the House Oversight Committee and said she would only provide comment if she were given clemency. 

Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M, sent out a statement the same day and said Maxwell was sending a message that her silence could be bought and stated that President Donald Trump was mentioned 38,000 times in the batch of Epstein files that were released two weeks ago.

"While we are not able to speak to the specifics of what was said within the deposition until the deposition record is made public, it is very clear that she used this opportunity to not only campaign for clemency as she has been doing, but also to send a direct message… that her silence can be bought through clemency," Stansbury said.

As for the recent allegations regarding Zorro Ranch, the anonymous sender said in the email to Aragon that the girls had died "by strangulation during rough fetish sex." 

The writer claimed to have seven video links that allegedly contained videos of Epstein raping minors, along with one audio file titled "Girl from Bay area suicide attempt confession to Madam G" and said a USB with the videos would be sent after receiving payment of 1 Bitcoin.

Chief Deputy Attorney General James Grayson said on Tuesday that the department took the allegations seriously, especially when it came to the potential misuse of state trust lands. 

However, Grayson said the limitations of current information made it difficult to prove whether the allegations were substantiated or not and emails made it difficult to prove the "reliability, authenticity and credibility of the claims," the letter states.

"As we understand it, the allegations appear to be unsubstantiated and stem from an anonymous individual referencing events that purportedly occurred more than six years ago," Grayson wrote in response. 

"We will work to obtain the original, unredacted emails and any underlying files, as access to complete and authentic materials is critical to our assessment and planning.  Notwithstanding those concerns, we are prepared to review and assess any verifiable information should it be provided through appropriate and lawful means."

The New Mexico State Land Office (NMSLO) would be responsible for granting law enforcement access to any of the surrounding state land for an investigation, along with ensuring that, per the constitution and statutory mandates, the land is being used for "its intended purposes and that there is no nefarious or criminal activity occurring on it," she said. 

Zorro Ranch was sold in 2023, but surrounding state land, including the parcel where the girls are allegedly buried, has not been occupied since 2019, Garcia Richard said. According to a map provided by NMSLO, the alleged burial site resides directly west of Zorro Ranch.

As of Monday, Zorro's Ranch has been mentioned in the Epstein files over 4,200 times, with emails ranging between 2012 and 2018. Many of the emails have Zorro Ranch as a sender or receiver of emails, have the ranch mentioned in email signatures as "Zorro Management LLC" or listed in the subject lines of emails. 

Epstein’s company, Cypress Inc., held two leases for state land near the ranch from 1993 to 2019 after purchasing it from former New Mexico Democratic Gov. Bruce King, but the lease was terminated by Garcia Richard. Her department provided the NMDOJ with records relating to the lease and requested notifications if an investigation had yielded any evidence of criminal activity. 

Garcia Richard said her department lacks the capability and manpower to look into the allegations, but she would contract an outside agency in the future if needed because she feels "strongly that we need to determine whether or not there's something there."

The letter comes just days after a resolution that would create a bipartisan House committee dedicated to investigating the alleged criminal activity that took place at Epstein's ranch passed its second assigned committee of the legislative session on Saturday.

The resolution, which was filed during the opening week of the Legislature, is awaiting a final House vote that will potentially be voted on later in the week. If approved, the resolution would take effect and the "truth-finding" commission would then be tasked with releasing a final report with findings and recommendations to all House members by the end of this year.

"I feel strongly about partnering with the commission," Garcia Richard said. "I've told them even since the beginning, since they had the idea to pass this resolution, I have told them we stand ready to partner with them, to grant access both to the land and to any documentation that we have that could help."

Nakayla McClelland covers crime and breaking news. Reach her at nmcclelland@abqjournal.com or at 505-823-3857. Journal Capitol Bureau Chief Dan Boyd contributed to this story.