Jeffrey Epstein Autopsy Reveals Broken Neck Bones: Report

NEW YORK — An autopsy found broken bones in Jeffrey Epstein's neck that suggest the pedophile financier either hanged himself or was choked to death, a new report says.

Medical examiners determined Epstein had a broken hyoid bone following his death at Lower Manhattan's Metropolitan Correctional Center, The Washington Post reported early Thursday.

The injury can appear in people who have killed themselves by hanging but is more common in those who were fatally strangled, the paper reported, citing research and forensic experts.

The reported findings raise further questions about the cause of Epstein's death as he awaited trial in Manhattan on federal sex-trafficking charges. Officials have said he apparently took his own life, but the city's Office of Chief Medical Examiner has not ruled on the cause and manner of his death.

Chief Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson said the findings of the autopsy have to be taken together. Her office says it is still studying the cause of Epstein's death.

"In all forensic investigations, all information must be synthesized to determine the cause and manner of death," Sampson said in a statement. "Everything must be consistent; no single finding can be evaluated in a vacuum."

Federal prosecutors had accused Epstein, a Brooklyn native, of sexually abusing dozens of girls at his Upper East Side mansion and Palm Beach, Florida estate. He was not on suicide watch when he was found dead Saturday morning despite making a possible attempt on his own life fewer than three weeks prior.

Read The Washington Post's full report here.