Last week,  New Mexico lawmakers approved an investigation into alleged sex abuse at Zorro ranch – an isolated property owned by the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein – following its appearance in files recently released by the Justice Department.

On Wednesday, a day after the launch of the investigation, the state announced it was probing into an allegation that Epstein ordered the bodies of two girls to be buried outside the 7,600 acre property around 30 miles from Santa Fe, Reuters reported.

The allegations are based on a redacted email sent shortly after Epstein’s death by someone who claimed to be a former employee at Zorro ranch. He said two foreign girls who died “by strangulation during rough, fetish sex” had been buried near the property at Epstein’s direction, Reuters reported.

Lauren Rodriguez, spokesperson for New Mexico’s state Department of Justice, said it had requested an unredacted copy of the email and all other files pertaining to Zorro ranch.

State lawmakers say their state’s bipartisan Epstein Truth Commission – established by a unanimous vote of New Mexico legislators – is the first full investigation into the property, which Epstein bought in 1993.

The four-member committee will take testimony from survivors who say they were sexually abused at the ranch, aiming “to close gaps in New Mexico law that may have allowed Epstein to operate in the state,” according to Reuters. (A 2019 investigation was put on hold following a request from federal prosecutors.)  

Democratic state representative Andrea Romero, who co-sponsored the initiative creating the commission, told The Guardian by email that the commission will “do everything within our power to seek answers for the public about what occurred at Zorro ranch, and to pursue justice for every victim who was allegedly harmed there.” 

While Epstein’s properties in New York, Paris, Palm Beach and the Caribbean have all been searched at some point, state and local officials told The Guardian that they weren’t aware of any federal search at Zorro ranch, despite civil lawsuits and testimonies placing abuse there from survivors including Annie Farmer and the late Virginia Giuffre.

“Many of the survivors had experiences in New Mexico, and as we’ve learned, you know, there were local politicians and other people that were aware of what was happening in New Mexico,” said attorney Sigrid McCawley, whose firm has represented hundreds of Epstein victims.

Yesterday, the British Medical Journal published an opinion piece on the importance of prioritizing survivors in the case. Jocalyn Clark, an editor at the journal, noted that “Sexual exploitation and abuse have devastating physical and mental health harms that often last a lifetime. The harms are compounded by survivors’ experiences of being ignored or silenced.” 

In the case of Epstein’s abuse, Clark wrote, “women raised concerns about Epstein’s criminal behaviour in the 1990s but weren’t taken seriously by authorities.This is a common form of revictimization – extending trust and impunity to male perpetrators while dismissing or gaslighting girls and women when they seek help. It is also a serious failure of justice: if victims are not believed, future violence cannot be prevented.”