Jeffrey Epstein's secluded 'Zorro Ranch' searched

State investigators have begun searching a secluded ranch in New Mexico where financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein once entertained guests, amid allegations the property was used for sexual abuse and the trafficking of young women.

The office of state Attorney General Raúl Torrez announced that the search was being done with the co-operation of the current ranch owners.

Torrez last month reopened an investigation of the ranch. New Mexico's initial case was closed in 2019 at the request of federal prosecutors in New York, and state prosecutors say now that "revelations outlined in the previously sealed FBI files warrant further examination".

Epstein purchased the sprawling Zorro Ranch in Stanley, New Mexico, about 50km south of Santa Fe, in 1993 from former Democratic Governor Bruce King and built a hilltop mansion with a private runway.

The property was sold by Epstein's estate in 2023 to the family of Don Huffines, a candidate in Texas for state comptroller who won the Republican primary last week.

"The New Mexico Department of Justice appreciates the co-operation of the current property owners," the agency said in a statement on Monday.

Prosecutors "will continue to keep the public appropriately informed, support the survivors, and follow the facts wherever they lead".

The brothers of Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre protested outside the ranch on Sunday demanding the Trump administration release unredacted documents with the identities of men who sexually abused their sister at the New Mexico property.

Giuffre, who took her own life in April, said she was abused at Zorro ranch.

Additionally, New Mexico state legislators have established a new commission to look into past activities at the ranch.

Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial in 2019 on charges that he sexually abused and trafficked dozens of underage girls.

Epstein never faced charges in New Mexico, but the state attorney general's office in 2019 confirmed that it had interviewed possible victims who visited Epstein's ranch.

Lifeline 13 11 14

beyondblue 1300 22 4636

1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)

National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028