Far from the glittering elite circles of Manhattan, a discarded copy of Jeffrey Epstein’s infamous “little black book”—a 1997 address book brimming with hundreds of powerful contacts—took an improbable journey to rural Vermont, captivating investigators and fueling endless speculation.
The story begins in the mid-1990s when a woman, later identified as Denise Ondayko, spotted the leather-bound book lying on a Fifth Avenue sidewalk in New York City amid scattered debris. Intrigued by the famous names inside but unaware of its owner, she pocketed it as a quirky souvenir. For decades, it gathered dust in storage until Epstein’s 2019 arrest prompted her to recognize its significance. She listed it on eBay, where it sold for a few hundred dollars.
The buyer was Christopher Helali, a Vershire resident, Dartmouth graduate student, and self-described communist activist fascinated by Epstein’s web of influence. Helali, handling the package with gloves to preserve it, contacted journalists. In 2021, Business Insider authenticated the book through forensic analysis, revealing 349 entries—including financiers, celebrities, and politicians—many predating Epstein’s better-known 2004 black book published by Gawker.
This earlier version offered fresh insights into Epstein’s rising network, with over 200 unique names not in the later edition. Helali viewed it as a window into global power structures, planning to safeguard it for researchers.
Though not found in a Vermont field—the discovery was urban, the arrival rural—the book’s odyssey from discarded trash to a quiet New England farm underscores Epstein’s enduring enigma. As 2025 document releases continue exposing his ties, this artifact reminds us how fragments of the past surface unexpectedly, raising questions about connections long buried.
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