New Mexico attorney general investigating Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch

March 10 (UPI) — Authorities in New Mexico began an investigation this week into the Zorro Ranch, a property near Santa Fe that was once owned by late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The investigation was launched at the direction of state Attorney General Raúl Torrez.

“The New Mexico Department of Justice appreciates the cooperation of the current property owners in granting access for the search and extends its thanks to the ranch staff for their professionalism,” the New Mexico Department of Justice said in a statement.

In the most recent tranche of Epstein files released in mid-February by the U.S. Department of Justice, some documents prompted Torrez to reopen the investigation, The Hill reported.

In that group of files was a 2019 email from an anonymous sender that alleged that two foreign girls who died “by strangulation during rough, fetish sex” were buried in the hills near the ranch. The email was sent to a New Mexico radio show host not long after Epstein died in jail by suicide.

Eddy Aragon, the radio host, previously told CNN that he believed the email was sent by someone who worked on the ranch, but wouldn’t say who he thought the person was.

“This office will pursue this investigation with rigor, respect and compassion. We will share what we can, when we can, while recognizing that an active criminal investigation sometimes requires us to withhold details we would otherwise make public,” Torrez wrote in the Santa Fe New Mexican on Saturday.

“To the survivors: Your voices and your stories matter. What you choose to share and entrust with law enforcement in New Mexico will directly aid in this investigation, and we want to hear directly from you over the weeks and months ahead,” he said.

The property is now owned by former Texas state Sen. Don Huffines, a Republican. He bought it in 2023 and said he plans to turn it into a Christian retreat. The proceeds from that sale reportedly went to Epstein’s victims.