A lawyer for Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, who her family said took her own life at her home in Australia, has expressed doubts over the cause of her tragic passing.
Trigger warning: human trafficking, self-harm. Karrie Louden claimed the mother of three had shown no sign she wanted to harm herself before she was found unresponsive at her farm an hour north of Perth last Friday (April 25).
Highlights
- Karrie Louden, a lawyer who had represented Virginia Giuffre since January, questioned the cause of her demise.
- The attorney said there were “big question marks” and claimed Giuffre had shown no signs of wanting to take her own life.
- Giuffre’s family said in a statement that the advocate took her own life at her farm in Western Australia.
“When I got the phone call, I was like, ‘Are you joking?’ Because there was no sign that that was something she was considering,” Louden said.
Virginia Giuffre's attorney raised questions about the cause of her passing
Image credits: Emily Michot/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service
Western Australia Police Force media liaison officer Shelby Brady told People magazine that emergency services responded to a residence in Neergabby on Friday night and found an unresponsive 41-year-old woman.
Emergency first-aid was administered, but the woman was declared deceased at the scene. According to authorities, "Early indications is the d*ath is not suspicious." Major Crime detectives are investigating the case.
Image credits: BBCPanorama
“She was in a lot of pain, but she was looking forward to things in the future. She wanted to renovate this house and all sorts of things like that,” added the attorney, who had reportedly represented Giuffre since January.
“We’ve got big question marks over it. There’s su*cide and then there’s misadventure.
“I didn’t see her in the room. I wasn’t in there. The family said what the family has said but I’m not going to speculate whether it was su*cide or accidental.”
Giuffre's family said the advocate took her own life at her farm in Australia
Image credits: virginiarobertsrising11
It could take up to two years until a coroner’s report is filed, as per The Sun.
In a statement, Giuffre’s family said the 41-year-old had taken her own life.
“Virginia was a fierce warrior in the fight against s*xual ab*se and s*x trafficking. She was the light that lifted so many survivors.
“In the end, the toll of ab*se is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight. We know that she is with the angels.
“Despite all the adversity she faced in her life, she shone so bright. She will be missed beyond measure.”
Image credits: virginiarobertsrising11
Following the tragic news, an old social media post allegedly written by Giuffre reemerged, casting doubt on her family’s statement.
In 2019, someone on X (formerly Twitter) wrote that the “F.B.I. will k*ll her to protect the ultra rich and well connected.”
The advocate replied: “I am making it publicly known that in no way, shape, or form am I su*cidal.
“I have made this known to my therapist and GP — if something happens to me — in the sake of my family do not let this go away and help me to protect them. Too many evil people want to see me [quieted].”
Karrie Louden claimed the mother of three, who filed a lawsuit against Prince Andrew in 2021, had shown "no sign" of taking her own life
Image credits: ddp images
Weeks before her demise, Giuffre had taken to Instagram to claim she had just “days to live” after allegedly being injured in a March 24 crash with a school bus.
“I’ve gone into kidney renal failure, they’ve given me four days to live,” she captioned a photo that showed her lying in a hospital bed, her face covered in bruises.
“I’m ready to go, just not until I see my babies one last time.”
Giuffre was reportedly discharged from the hospital one week after making the post. Australian police stated that a collision that matched her description was logged as a minor traffic incident and that no injuries were reported.
Image credits: virginiarobertsrising11
Giuffre was best known for being a prominent voice in the fight for justice for victims of s*x trafficking.
She met financier Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirator, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, while working as a spa attendant at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. Afterward, Maxwell recruited her as a masseuse.
She told the BBC in 2019 that she was “passed around like a platter of fruit” to Epstein’s friends and flown around the world on private jets.
Giuffre accused Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell of trafficking her to sleep with rich and powerful men
Image credits: Palm Beach County Sheriff's Department
In 2021, Giuffre filed a lawsuit against Prince Andrew, the younger brother of King Charles III, at Federal Court in New York.
She accused him of r*pe and alleged Epstein and Maxwell had trafficked her to London to have non-consensual encounters with the royal when she was 17.
According to a court filing, the then-teen was forced to engage in s*xual acts with Prince Andrew and “feared d*ath or physical injury to herself or another and other repercussions for disobeying” any of the three “due to their powerful connections, wealth, and authority.”
Though Prince Andrew said he had “no recollection” of meeting Giuffre, he was photographed with his arm around her waist in 2001 at Maxwell’s home in London.
Image credits: Emily Michot/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service
In 2022, the Duke of York and Giuffre settled the lawsuit out of court, reportedly for £12 million.
As part of the agreement, he agreed to make a “substantial donation” to Giuffre’s charity, now called Speak Out, Act, Reclaim.
Epstein hanged himself while awaiting trial for trafficking charges in 2019. Maxwell was found guilty of trafficking and other offenses in connection with Epstein and sentenced to twenty years in prison.
Weeks before the tragic news, the 41-year-old said she had four days left to live after being injured in a car crash
Image credits: virginiarobertsrising11
Giuffre was the first of Epstein’s victims to give up her anonymity and go public with her story.
She shared that the birth of her daughter in 2010 prompted her to speak publicly about the case.
The mother explained why she had agreed to work as a masseuse for Epstein and Maxwell and to provide s*xual services.
“They seemed like nice people, so I trusted them,” she said, adding that she had confided in the pair about people taking advantage of her in the past.
“That was the worst thing I could have told them, because now they knew how vulnerable I was.”
"Her family said she did. I believe them," one reader said of Louden's statement
