Epstein case: Investigators search the financier's former property, the "Zorro" ranch in New Mexico

US investigators have begun searching Jeffrey Epstein's property in New Mexico, in connection with allegations that young girls and women were victims of the sex offender there, authorities announced Tuesday, March 10.

The operation comes after the reopening in this southwestern US state of investigations into the former financier's activities at this property, the "Zorro" ranch, whose name appears thousands of times in the declassified files of the case.

"The survivors Epstein's victims have waited far too long for justice, and New Mexico is leading the way in the search for truth," said Melanie Stansbury, the state's federal representative, on the social network X. "We are not ruling out any leads," she emphasized, adding that the New Mexico Department of Justice is "seeking credible information about crimes committed by Epstein and his associates" in the state. An email mentioning buried bodies: According to several American media outlets, local authorities requested an unredacted version of a 2019 email from the federal Department of Justice in February. This email, which appears to be part of the Epstein case file, alleges that the billionaire had the bodies of two young foreign girls buried "in the hills" near the "Zorro" ranch. Jeffrey Epstein was arrested and indicted in July 2019 for Sexual exploitation of minors and racketeering. He was found hanged in his cell on August 10, 2019, while awaiting trial. The autopsy concluded it was a suicide.

Already accused more than ten years earlier in Florida of using the services of underage prostitutes, he had been sentenced in 2008 to a 13-month suspended prison sentence, according to a secret agreement with a prosecutor allowing him to avoid federal prosecution.

After Jeffrey Epstein's death, a woman identified by the pseudonym "Jane Doe 15" told reporters that the criminal had raped her at the Zorro Ranch when she was 15 years old.