Warning: This episode discusses suicide. Hours after Jeffrey Epstein arrived at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, an employee expressed concern over his distraught state, saying in an email to the jail staff, “just to be on the safe side and prevent any suicidal thoughts can someone from Psychology come and talk with him.” The reporter Charles Homans details The New York Times’s major new investigation, which tries to answer the question: Did the world’s most powerful and well-connected sex offender die by his own hand or by somebody else’s? If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources (http://speakingofsuicide.com/resources) for a list of additional resources. Guest: Charles Homans (https://www.nytimes.com/by/charles-homans) , a reporter covering national politics for The New York Times and The Times Magazine. Background reading: Congressional action made possible the fullest examination of Epstein’s death, and The New York Times set out (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/06/16/magazine/jeffrey-epstein-death-final-days.html) to do it. Photo: The New York Times For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily (http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily) . Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts (http://nytimes.com/podcasts) or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.