SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — State investigators on Monday began searching a secluded ranch in New Mexico where financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein entertained guests that they say may have been used to sexually abuse and traffic young women.
The office of state Attorney General Raul Torres announced that the search was conducted with the cooperation of the current rancher.
Torrez reopened his investigation of the ranch last month. The first case in New Mexico was closed in 2019 at the request of federal prosecutors in New York, who now say “the content outlined in the previously sealed FBI documents warrants further review.”
In 1993, Epstein purchased the sprawling Zorro Ranch in Stanley, New Mexico, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Santa Fe from former Democratic Gov. Bruce King and built a hilltop mansion with a private runway.
The property was sold by Epstein’s estate to the family of Don Huffines in 2023, with the proceeds going to creditors. Don Huffins, a candidate for Texas comptroller, won the Republican primary last week.
“The New Mexico Department of Justice appreciates the cooperation of the current owners,” the agency said in a statement. Prosecutors “will continue to provide the public with appropriate information, support survivors, and follow the facts wherever they lead.”
Additionally, New Mexico lawmakers created a new commission to investigate past activities at the ranch.
Epstein committed suicide in 2019 in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial on charges of sexually abusing and trafficking dozens of underage girls.
Epstein was never charged in New Mexico, but the state attorney general’s office confirmed in 2019 that it had interviewed possible victims who visited Epstein’s ranch.