Imagine staring at grainy, newly reviewed surveillance footage from the night Jeffrey Epstein died—when suddenly, a mysterious orange-clad figure emerges from the shadows, deliberately heading up the dimly lit stairs toward his isolated cell block just after 10:40 p.m., the last recorded movement before his body was discovered hours later.T

In July 2025, the Department of Justice released what it called “full raw” surveillance footage from the Metropolitan Correctional Center’s Special Housing Unit, covering the final hours before Jeffrey Epstein’s death on August 10, 2019. The 11-hour video, meant to affirm the official suicide ruling, has instead ignited fresh controversy over a grainy, mysterious orange-clad figure captured moving toward Epstein’s cell tier late at night.

At approximately 10:40 p.m. on August 9, a shadowy orange shape appears on the stairs leading to Epstein’s L Tier—the last recorded movement in that direction before his body was discovered the next morning. Federal investigators, including the DOJ’s Office of Inspector General, dismissed it as a corrections officer carrying linens or inmate clothing. But independent forensic video experts reviewing the footage for CBS News strongly disagree.

“It’s more likely a person in an orange uniform,” said retired NYPD sergeant and video analyst Conor McCourt, suggesting the figure could be an inmate in a standard orange jumpsuit rather than a guard holding laundry. In federal prisons, inmates typically wear orange, while staff do not—making the official explanation strain credibility. Crucially, the low-quality footage shows the figure ascending but offers no clear view of it descending or returning, leaving its fate unexplained.

Compounding the mystery: the camera captures only a sliver of the staircase, with large blind spots in coverage. Epstein himself is seen approaching the stairs but not climbing them, meaning unauthorized access could evade detection. Additional anomalies, like metadata indicating post-production edits and a visible cursor, have raised tampering concerns.

While no evidence directly proves foul play, these discrepancies challenge assurances that “no one entered” Epstein’s area undetected. In a case riddled with jail failures—falsified logs, malfunctioning cameras, and neglected checks—the vanishing orange figure fuels enduring doubts. As experts and Epstein’s brother Mark demand fuller scrutiny, this spectral visitor reminds us why trust in the official narrative remains fractured.