A top New Mexico official is calling for an investigation into public land near Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch after a newly released email alleged that two foreign girls were buried there.
Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard said she requested an investigation after learning about a 2019 email included in recently released Epstein-related documents. The email, sent to a conservative radio host, claimed that two girls were buried on public land leased near the ranch. The act was allegedly done at the direction of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for sex trafficking.
“There was a very disturbing allegation that came out that could potentially be linked to state land,” Garcia Richard said. “Because I am the manager of that land. I’m the elected steward of that land and what occurs there and what the land is used for is of utmost interest and importance to us at the State Land Office.”
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She said, to her knowledge, neither the state land nor Zorro Ranch has ever been searched as part of a criminal investigation.
From reviewing historical documents, Garcia Richard said it appears the leased state land may have been used as a buffer around the ranch.
“It seems like the state land was used almost as a buffer, a shield to hide what activity was occurring on the ranch ... to insulate visibility to what was occurring there,” she said.
Garcia Richard said she is concerned the land could be a potential crime scene.
“If state land was used for criminal activity, that is definitely something New Mexicans need to know,” she said. “Those are answers that victims and survivors need to have.”
Garcia Richard said she has the authority to cancel leases on state land and confirmed that any party associated with Epstein was removed from the property. The lease was canceled in 2019 and has not been issued to anyone else.
However, she said the State Land Office does not have law enforcement authority.
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"We are looking to partner with other agencies that do have that capacity to investigate the land," Garcia Richard said.
Garcia Richard said technology exists in New Mexico to conduct searches for possible unmarked graves, including ground-penetrating radar and cadaver dogs.
The land in question is “fairly large,” she said, but investigators would likely focus first on a specific area referenced as the hills behind Zorro Ranch, which she said is state land.
Garcia Richard said she has asked the New Mexico Department of Justice and federal authorities to get involved and plans to pursue other state partnerships if necessary.
Garcia Richard also said she reached out to the attorney general’s office in 2019 seeking an investigation, but nothing was done at the time.
