The FBI was warned that Jeffrey Epstein could have been destroying evidence in an incinerator after a ‘suspicious barn’ was built on his Zorro Ranch, where he allegedly buried ‘strangled girls’.

A former police officer who patrolled the area around the ranch for 15 years told the FBI he was worried that evidence was being destroyed, as seen in a document published by the US Department of Justice.

It comes amid swirling allegations about what role the hideaway in New Mexico played in sexual abuse or sex trafficking of underage girls and young women.

The disgraced financier’s ranch is now the subject of a new investigation after chilling claims about the bodies of two foreign girls being buried at the 7,600-acre property emerged.

The document, dated July 19, 2019, just days after Epstein’s arrest, was an FBI report log that included details of a call taken from a retired New Mexico State police officer, whose name has been redacted.

The former cop said he noticed the barn had a chimney and a ‘sally port’ – a secure entryway with multiple doors, set up so only one could be opened at a time.

A report of the call reads: ‘The property which is on Zorro Ranch Road, Stanley, NM, his recently had a large barn constructed.

‘The barn is suspicious as there is a garage door that appears to be a sally port, and there is a chimney.

‘[Redacted name] is concerned the property could potentially have an incinerator concealed within the barn.

‘An old 1970s mobile home was recently put right behind the barn, which believes does not follow Santa Fe County regulations.

‘[Redacted name] explained that there is a lot of security for the properties including cameras, sally ports, and other security measures.

‘[Redacted name] explained that the barn that was constructed doesn’t look like a barn you would use for ranching.

‘[Redacted name] wanted to report the information to the FBI because he is concerned evidence could be destroyed here.’

The ex-officer also told the FBI there had been ‘a lot of high-profile people seen frequently’ at the ranch.

According to the report, the retired policeman said he had heard ‘rumours’ about Epstein using the property for ‘recruited girls to visit’.

The ex-cop’s call to the FBI came just days after Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges on July 6, 2019, and weeks before his death on August 10.   

New Mexico’s attorney general has now reopened the investigation into Epstein´s former Zorro Ranch.

Attorney General Raúl Torrez’s office said Thursday that the decision was made after reviewing information recently released by the US Justice Department.

Although New Mexico´s initial case was closed in 2019 at the request of federal prosecutors in New York, state prosecutors say now that ‘revelations outlined in the previously sealed FBI files warrant further examination.’

The New Mexico Department of Justice said special agents and prosecutors at the agency will be seeking immediate access to the complete, unredacted federal case file and intend to work with other law enforcement partners, as well as a new truth commission established by state lawmakers to look into activities at the ranch.

‘As with any potential criminal matter, we will follow the facts wherever they lead, carefully evaluate jurisdictional considerations, and take appropriate investigative action, including the collection and preservation of any relevant evidence that remains available,’ the New Mexico Department of Justice said in a statement.

Attention on the ranch comes as disturbing allegations surfaced in the latest tranche of Epstein files released by the US Government on January 30. 

Epstein allegedly ordered the burial of two ‘foreign girls’ near his ranch after they were strangled to death during ‘rough, fetish sex’, according to an email.

The email, sent by a person claiming to have worked for Epstein, also includes links purporting to show the late paedophile engaging in sex with underage girls.

The correspondence, first sent to a man named Eddy Aragon on November 21, 2019, before being forwarded onto the FBI.

In the email, titled ‘Confidential: Jeffrey Epstein’, the person, whose name has been redacted, claimed to have ‘been there and seen it all, as a former staff at the Zorro.’

They alleged the girls were buried on the orders of Epstein and ‘Madam G’, believed to be Ghislaine Maxwell, at Zorro Ranch.

In the email, they wrote: ‘Edward. This is sensitive, so it will be the first and last email depending on your discretion.

‘You can choose to take it or trash it but this comes from a person that has been there and seen it all, as a former staff at the Zorro.

‘The material below was taken from Jeffrey Epstein home as my insurance in case of future litigation against Epstein. SORRY NO QUESTIONS.

They added: ‘What is damning about Jeffrey Epstein is yet to be written. Did you know somewhere in the hills outside the Zorro, two foreign girls were buried on orders of Jeffrey and Madam G? Both died by strangulation during rough, fetish sex.’

The sender also included links to videos which claimed to show Epstein having sex with minors, threesomes and sex with underage girls.

They then demanded a payment of one Bitcoin in return for the video and information.

The email was forwarded onto the FBI just three months after Epstein died while being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City.

Documents released as part of the Epstein files also show the paedophile financier intended to leave his Zorro estate to his Belarusian girlfriend Karyna Shuliak.

Epstein bought Zorro Ranch in 1993 from Bruce King, a former three-time New Mexico governor.

The 13 square miles of high desert include a 26,700-square foot luxury estate, guest lodges, staff dwellings and several outbuildings.

It also has a firehouse, horse stables, a seven-bay heated garage, a greenhouse to grow fresh produce, a cattle grazing operation and private air strip, a hangar and a helipad.

Epstein owned the property until his death. His estate listed it in 2021 for $27.5million.

That price was later dropped to $18 million and the ranch sold for an undisclosed price in 2023 to a limited liability corporation that renamed the property the San Rafael Ranch, but whose owner is shrouded in secrecy.

Epstein used Zorro Ranch as an isolated getaway and playground for VIP guests who were able to come and go more discreetly than they could even to Little St James, his private Caribbean island off St Thomas.

In 2019 after Epstein’s death, a woman identified as Jane Doe said in court that he had molested her at Zorro Ranch in 2004, when she was 15. 

The woman recalled feeling small and powerless, describing how he laid her on the floor so she was confronted by all the framed photographs on his dresser of him smiling with wealthy celebrities and politicians.

‘People deserve to know the truth about what happened on Epstein´s ranch and are looking to leaders for answers,’ Garcia Richard said in a statement.

Civil filings claim that the compound hosted the former Prince Andrew, who was accused by Virginia Giuffre of sexual abuse on three occasions, although not at the Zorro Ranch.

Andrew MOuntbatten-Windsor has always denied her claims.

However, civil findings produced photographs and written statements showing Giuffre visited the compound during the time she was trafficked as a teenager between 2000 and 2002.

Earlier Thursday, British police arrested the former Prince Andrew on suspicion of misconduct in public office related to his links to the late sex offender.

In Washington, D.C., members of Congress are still working to lift the veil with more testimony from powerful people.

By SOPHIE GABLE, US REPORTER

Published: 22:09 EST, 18 February 2026 | Updated: 22:38 EST, 18 February 2026

An Arizona gun store owner says an FBI agent asked him to review recent firearm purchases tied to a list of nearly two dozen people, as the search for Nancy Guthrie continues into a third week.

Phillip Martin, co-owner of Armor Bearer Arms in Tucson, told Fox News’ Amalia Roy that an FBI agent visited his store with three pages of approximately 18 to 24 individuals with corresponding photos and names.

The agent, Martin said, asked to check whether any of those people had purchased a firearm from his store within the past year.

“He actually had given me a list of paper, list of people that had pictures and names on it, and he wanted to know if I could help him pull up in my system if any of these people have purchased a gun in the last year,” Martin said.

Martin said he initially questioned the request but ultimately agreed to help out of concern for Guthrie’s family.

“I felt bad for the family. Anything that could help them find the person I was willing to help,” he said.

Martin said he entered each last name into his store’s electronic records system, which would display identifying information if the individual had made a purchase.

He said none of the names returned a match for firearm purchases within the past year.

According to Martin, the agent told him investigators planned to visit additional gun stores to determine whether anyone on the list had recently bought a weapon.

On Tuesday, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos disputed reports that authorities have narrowed the suspect pool to a few dozen individuals.

During an interview with Fox News’ Jonathan Hunt, Nanos denied that investigators had focused on a specific group.

“That’s not true,” Nanos said when asked whether authorities had identified around 40 people as potential suspects.

“We haven’t narrowed it down to anything other than we have pieces of evidence that we’re looking at to try to find this individual,” Nanos said.

Nancy Guthrie disappearance timeline:

Jan. 31, 2026

• Between 9:30–9:45 p.m. – Family drops Nancy off at home

• 9:50 p.m. – Garage door closes (per authorities)

Feb. 1, 202

• 1:47 a.m. – Doorbell camera disconnects

• 2:12 a.m. – Security camera detects motion

• 2:28 a.m. – Pacemaker disconnects from phone application

• 11:56 a.m. – Family checks on Nancy after she misses weekly church livestream gathering

• 12:03 p.m. — 911 called

• 12:15 p.m. — Sheriff’s deputies arrive at home

Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

By RACHEL BOWMAN, US SENIOR NEWS REPORTER and KATRINA SCHOLLENBERGER, US HEAD OF LIVE NEWS

Updated: 11:22 EST, 13 February 2026

The Arizona sheriff’s department leading the investigation into the disappearance of Today Show host Savannah Guthrie’s 84-year-old mother is blocking the FBI from gaining access to a glove and DNA found inside her home, a federal source has claimed. 

Investigators combing through the desert surrounding Nancy Guthrie’s $1 million home in the Catalina Foothills neighborhood of Tucson, Arizona found a black glove on Wednesday that looks similar to the one her abductor wore in the doorbell camera footage.

Federal officials have since reportedly asked Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos for the glove and DNA samples found inside Nancy’s home so they could be processed at the FBI’s national crime lab at Quantico, Virginia, a federal law enforcement official told Reuters. 

But Nanos has denied the request, instead sending the evidence for testing at a private lab in Florida, the source said.

‘It risks further slowing a case that grows more urgent by the minute,’ the official said, claiming that the Pima County Sheriff’s Department has already spent roughly $200,000 on sending evidence to the Florida lab, with which the department contracts.

He also derided the department for ‘earlier setbacks’ in the investigation, and criticized Nanos for not requesting FBI assistance earlier.

‘It’s clear the fastest path to answers is leveraging federal resources and technology,’ the official said. ‘Anything less only prolongs the Guthrie family’s grief and the community’s wait for justice.’ 

In the meantime, federal agents have revealed new information about the man who was caught on Nancy’s surveillance footage from the night she was taken in hopes that ‘this updated description will concentrate the public tips we are receiving.’

Federal agents said they Thursday more than 13,000 tips have been received since the mother-of-three went missing in the early morning hours of February 1. 

Chilling surveillance footage from that night showed a masked man wearing thick gloves as he tried to obscure a Nest doorbell camera on Nancy’s front porch.

Federal authorities now say the suspect is a male who is approximately five-foot-nine-inches to five-foot-ten-inches with an average build.

He was seen wearing a black, 25-liter Ozark Trail Hiker Pack backpack at the time.

‘We hope this updated description will concentrate the public tips we are receiving,’ the FBI said in a statement, noting that it has already received more than 13,000 tips since the mother-of-three went missing. 

Anyone who provides tips that lead to Guthrie’s location or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her abduction can now receive a $100,000 reward, an increase from the $50,000 reward the bureau was previously offering.

At the same time, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department is expanding its request for security video from Nancy’s neighbors in the Catalina Foothills, asking people to check for any video taken from 9pm to midnight on January 11 – nearly three weeks before Nancy went missing.

They have also requested footage from 9.30am to 11am on January 31, hours before Nancy’s abduction, saying a suspicious vehicle was spotted in the area around that time. 

On Thursday, four officers were seen arriving at Guthrie’s home in an unmarked black vehicle and carrying a bag into a tent set up at the property, while others brought in additional equipment.

The large tent, which blocked the entrance to Guthrie’s home and the front porch where investigators previously found blood that matched her DNA, was then taken down about an hour after being erected.

It now remains unclear what authorities were looking for, but forensic tents are typically erected when investigators want to conceal a body, weapon or other critical pieces of evidence.

Yet the front porch has been routinely trampled on by authorities and family members throughout the investigation. It was left exposed to outdoor elements, with the blood found splattered on the ground having been dried out by the sun.

One Pima County Sheriff’s source even told the Daily Mail: ‘This is amateur hour.’

Still, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department insists that it is combing through thousands of tips with hundreds of detectives and federal agents assisting in the investigation.

Some federal agents were seen on Wednesday carrying out an extensive search of the rugged scrubland around Guthrie’s home, while other investigators emerged from Guthrie’s eldest daughter’s home with a paper grocery stack and a white trash bag.

One, still wearing blue protective gloves, also took a stack of letters from Annie Guthrie and her husband, Tommaso Cioni’s, roadside mailbox. They then drove away without speaking to reporters. 

Annie and Cioni were the last people to see Nancy, who showed up at their house for dinner the night before. 

She was then reported missing the next day after she failed to show up to a friend’s house to watch virtual church services. 

Nancy has not been seen or heard from since as her children repeatedly pleaded with the public for any help finding their mother.

Her three children have repeatedly asked for the public’s help in finding their beloved mother ever since, and on Thursday, Savannah shared another heartbreaking video tribute to her mom.

‘Our lovely mom,’ the television host wrote. ‘We will never give up on her. Thank you for your prayers and hope.’

The Daily Mail has reached out to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department for comment.