New DOJ Documents Reveal Prison Guard Searched Jeffrey Epstein Online Shortly Before He Was Found Dead

Prison guard Tova Noel searched “latest on Epstein in jail” on Google the same morning that Epstein’s body was found hanged in his cell, per an FBI record of her internet search history

Newly released documents from the United States Department of Justice have revealed a surprising detail connected to the final hours of Jeffrey Epstein. According to the records, one of the prison guards on duty reportedly searched Epstein’s name online not long before he was discovered dead in his cell.

Records show that shortly before Epstein was found hanged in his cell at New York City’s Metropolitan Correctional Center on Aug. 10, 2019, Tova Noel, a staff member assigned to guard the convicted sex offender, conducted a Google search for “latest on Epstein in jail” twice.

The correctional officer searched the term at 5:42 a.m. local time and then again just 10 minutes later, at 5:52 a.m., according to an FBI record of Noel’s internet search history viewed by PEOPLE. It was the only search highlighted in the document.

The New York Post was first to report the news.

Before searching for “latest on Epstein in jail,” Noel shopped for furniture, her search history further shows

A phone call reporting that Epstein had been found hanged was made just over an hour later, at around 7:00 a.m., per FBI records.

Guards found Epstein — who was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges at the time — unconscious in his jail cell in cardiac arrest and he was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His death at 66 was officially ruled a suicide by hanging.

In the wake of his death, Noel and Michael Thomas, who was also assigned to guard Epstein at the federal jail, were detained and charged with falsifying records about their activities when they were meant to check on him every 30 minutes, according to an indictment, The New York Times previously reported.

The criminal charge alleged that the two employees were napping and looking online at items for sale rather than conducting required rounds during the time that Epstein killed himself between 10:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. Security cameras showed that nobody entered the wing where Epstein was alone in his cell during this time.

The charges against both Noel and Thomas were ultimately dropped in 2021, according to the Post.

Jeffrey Epstein in 2004.

During her sworn statement to the DOJ in 2021, Noel said she did not have any part in Epstein’s death, and denied Googling the late sex offender, the Post reported.

“I don’t remember doing that,” she claimed at the time, according to a transcript obtained by the Post. In her statement, she also said of Epstein, “I don’t recall looking him up.”

The DOJ has released a trove of files relating to the Epstein probe since Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act — mandating the release of the investigation materials — in November 2025.

However, files were released in a slow trickle, with some documents heavily redacted of identifying information.

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