DOJ and FBI records show corrections officer Tova Noel searched "latest on Epstein in jail" at 5:42 a.m. and again at 5:52 a.m. on Aug. 10, 2019 — roughly an hour before Jeffrey Epstein was found unconscious and later pronounced dead. Epstein’s death was ruled a suicide by hanging. Noel and fellow officer Michael Thomas were later charged with falsifying welfare-check logs, but the charges were dropped in 2021. Noel has denied remembering the searches or any involvement in Epstein’s death.
DOJ Records: Guard Googled “Latest On Epstein In Jail” About an Hour Before He Was Found Dead
Jeffrey Epstein in 2005Credit: Neil Rasmus/Patrick McMullan via Getty
Documents released by the Department of Justice show that a corrections officer assigned to Jeffrey Epstein searched the internet for information about him roughly an hour before Epstein was discovered unconscious in his cell at New York City’s Metropolitan Correctional Center on Aug. 10, 2019.
What the records say
FBI records of the officer’s internet activity, reviewed by media outlets, indicate that Tova Noel entered the query “latest on Epstein in jail” at 5:42 a.m. local time and repeated the same search at 5:52 a.m. Those two entries were the only searches highlighted in the file. The records also show unrelated browsing earlier that morning, including searches for furniture.
Metropolitan Correctional Center guard Tova Noel in 2019Credit: TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP via Getty
Timeline and investigation details
According to the released records, a call reporting that Epstein had been found hanged in his cell was placed at about 7:00 a.m. Guards discovered Epstein — who was awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges and was a convicted sex offender — unconscious and in cardiac arrest; he was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead. Epstein, 66 at the time, was officially ruled to have died by suicide by hanging.
In the months after Epstein’s death, Noel and another corrections officer assigned to Epstein, Michael Thomas, were detained and later indicted on allegations that they falsified logs about required welfare checks. Prosecutors alleged the officers failed to conduct mandated 30-minute rounds and instead napped and browsed online listings during the overnight period when Epstein died. The indictment said the relevant night spanned from 10:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m., and cited security-camera footage showing no one entered the housing unit where Epstein was alone in his cell during that interval. Those criminal charges were ultimately dropped in 2021.
Jeffrey Epstein in 2004Credit: Rick Friedman/Rick Friedman Photography/Corbis via Getty
On the record: In a sworn 2021 statement to the DOJ, Noel denied any role in Epstein’s death and told investigators she did not recall searching for him online. “I don’t remember doing that,” she said, adding, “I don’t recall looking him up.”
Files released under transparency law
The newly released documents are part of a larger disclosure tied to the Epstein investigation following passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act by Congress in November 2025, which mandated broader public release of records related to the probe. Agencies have provided documents in stages; some pages were heavily redacted.
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