When Virginia Giuffre’s family announced her death by suicide Saturday, they said that the lifelong toll of the abuse she suffered, as the teenage victim of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation and of Prince Andrew’s alleged rape, had become “unbearable,” suggesting that her ongoing trauma was a factor in her death.
But the family’s assertion that Giuffre died by suicide has done little to silence questions swirling around the 41-year-old’s death at her farm in Western Australia. Those questions have come from her father and lawyer, who want a full police investigation, and from such MAGA world figures as Elon Musk, who joined Donald Trump Jr. over the weekend in stoking the theory that the American activist could have been murdered by those wishing to silence her, according to the Daily Beast.
On X on Saturday, Musk replied “yes” to Trump Jr. saying, “This is wild,” as he re-posted a social media comment that Giuffre made way back in 2019. At the time, Giuffre said in “no way, shape or form” was she suicidal and insisted that “too many evil people want to see me quieted.”
President Donald Trump listens as Elon Musk speaks in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
But it’s curious that the billionaire Tesla CEO would weigh in on at all Giuffre’s death. After all, she had reportedly received his assurance that the U.S. Justice Department, under President Trump, would release more documents related to its investigation into Epstein’s crimes. But then in February, she expressed anger and disappointment that neither Musk, as the head of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, nor the president had thus far made good on their vows with regard to the so-called “Epstein files.”
“In what is supposed to be a democratic society, where are our rights to freedom of information in MAGA America?” Giuffre posted on X on Feb. 28. “I truly believed that leaders like Trump and Musk aimed to “Drain The Swamp,’” she also said, “However my faith is waning.”
This March 28, 2017, photo provided by the New York State Sex Offender Registry shows Jeffrey Epstein.(New York State Sex Offender Registry/AP/File)
In the months before her death, Giuffre was pushing for Trump’s Justice Department to release previously withheld or redacted court documents that she and other Epstein sex trafficking victims believe could show that the late, well-connected financier had pimped out some of his teen “sex slaves” to his powerful friends in government, international politics, business, the media and academia.
Before the Nov. 5 election, Giuffre also specifically reached out to Musk for help in getting those files released, according to Giuffre’s friend, political journalist Tara Palmeri. Giuffre no doubt had seen how the world’s richest man had become one of Trump’s top advisers after donating more than a quarter billion dollars to his campaign.
“She did talk to Elon Musk before the election over X, and he said that he promised that there would be more (files released),” Palmeri said on CNN in late February.
Palmeri’s comments about Giuffre’s Musk outreach came after Giuffre and other Epstein survivors were were left disappointed by the binders of so-called “Epstein files” that Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi released with great fanfare on Feb. 28.
Bondi had invited prominent right-wing influencers to the White House to view the documents, given that they have become some of the biggest promoters of the belief that the U.S. government has been hiding things about Epstein’s operation, according to ABC News.
Several big names have already been linked to Epstein through media reports and previously released documents in criminal and civil court cases. There’s Prince Andrew, of course, who was publicly known to be Epstein’s good friend and who faced sexual assault allegations in a 2021 lawsuit Giuffre filed. She alleged that she was forced to have sex with King Charles III’s brother three times during trips in 2001.
Prince Andrew, Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell.(Florida Southern District Court)
Andrew settled Giuffre’s lawsuit for a reported $14 million but has denied her assault allegations and denied he ever met her through Epstein or through Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s girlfriend who is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted in Epstein’s sex trafficking operation. Other powerful men also have been revealed to have social or business ties to Epstein, including Trump himself, as well as former President Bill Clinton, the magician David Copperfield, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, actor Kevin Spacey, lawyer Alan Dershowitz, the late New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former Vice President Al Gore.
As Palmeri and other journalists familiar with the Epstein case reported, Bondi’s binders — with “Declassified” stamped across the top, ABC News reported — contained almost no information that hasn’t already been made public in previous civil and criminal proceedings.
On CNN, Palmeri said the documents released by Bondi are basically Giuffre’s court documents that were already made public. “It’s rehashing old material. It’s flight logs that we’ve already seen before. It’s, you know, the little black book. It’s a lot of information that’s already been in the public domain,” Palmeri said.
Giuffre told Palmeri she had been invited to FBI offices to review materials related to her allegations against Epstein, included photos and videos. Giuffre said those materials still needed to be released.
Palmeri said Giuffre and other survivors “want this in the public domain.” She also said, “They want the Epstein story to be told. They feel like a lot of people are out there basically skirting justice, really powerful people who have been allowed to get away with spending time with a pedophile and molesting young women.”
According to Palmeri, Giuffre said, “It’s not good enough. We want the untouchables.”
On X, Giuffre similarly blasted Bondi’s “dog and pony show turned political stunt.” She said, “True democracy should embody freedom, yet we continue to find ourselves trapped in a system that overlooks our struggles until it’s convenient for those in power.” Giuffre expressed hope that Trump — and Musk — would would prove her “wrong and that justice will finally be served for the hundreds of victims, including myself, who continue to suffer from the PTSD inflicted by those we are told to trust.”
It’s probably not surprising that Giuffre’s death has sparked theories about some kind of effort to silence her. Similar theories continue to swirl around Epstein’s 2019 death. He died in an apparent suicide, while being held in federal custody after being arrested on sex trafficking charges.
Born in Sacramento, Giuffre ended up living in Florida as a teenager, where she worked as a spa attendant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. That’s where she was recruited by Maxwell to work as a masseuse for Epstein, though Giuffre said that her massage therapy sessions with Epstein turned sexual.
Giuffre said she eventually escaped Epstein’s operation during a trip to Thailand. There, she met Robert Giuffre, an Australian martial arts trainer, married him, cut ties with Epstein and Maxwell, and settled in Australia to raise a family, according to the BBC.
But Giuffre’s final months were marred by other trauma, including a bitter divorce and custody battle with Robert Giuffre, her by-then-estranged husband. She also alleged he was abusive, though she reportedly had been denied contact with her children. In late May she also issued a confusing post about a car crash that she may have exaggerated on social media, while a new report in the Daily Mail said she may have suffered a painful and debilitating neck injury at one point.
Still, Giuffre continued to advocate for survivors of sexual violence, according to her brother Sky Roberts. On Tuesday, he released a screenshot of what he said was her final note and believes it was intended to be shared with sexual assault survivors participating a rally outside the White House Wednesday.
In the hand-written note, Giuffre told supporters: “We are not going to go away.”
“Mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers need to show the battlelines are drawn and we stand together to fight for the future of victims,” she continued. “Is protesting the answer — I don’t know, but we’ve got to start somewhere.”