An orange-colored shape moved up the staircase toward Jeffrey Epstein's isolated, locked jail tier at approximately 10:39 p.m. on the night before he was found dead. That detail — captured on the only known functioning surveillance camera at the Metropolitan Correctional Center — now sits at the center of a widening gap between what investigators observed and what the public was told.

Newly released Department of Justice documents reveal that both the FBI and the DOJ Office of Inspector General reviewed this footage and reached different conclusions about what the shape was, CBS News reported. Neither conclusion matches the official narrative that no one entered Epstein's housing tier that night.

The documents emerged as part of a massive disclosure — over 3 million pages, 2,000 videos, and 180,000 images released on January 30, 2026. And buried inside them is a story that refuses to stay buried.

What the Camera Captured

The FBI's own observation log describes the moment plainly:

"A flash of orange looks to be going up the L Tier stairs — could possibly be an inmate escorted up to that Tier."

The DOJ Inspector General's office offered a different read on the same footage:

"it is possible someone is carrying inmate linen or bedding up the stairs."

The Inspector General's 2023 final report settled on yet another characterization — identifying the figure as "an unidentified CO" who "appeared to walk up the L Tier stairway, and then reappeared within view of the camera at 10:41 p.m." So the FBI thought it might be an inmate. The Inspector General thought it might be a corrections officer carrying bedding. Both agencies reviewed the same footage. Neither could say definitively who was walking toward the cell of the most high-profile inmate in federal custody.

Meanwhile, later pronouncements from authorities — including then-Attorney General Bill Barr — maintained that no one entered Epstein's housing tier the night of his death. The footage tells a different story, or at the very least, a more complicated one.

The Officers Who Can't Remember

Three corrections officers were assigned to or near Epstein's Special Housing Unit that night: Tova Noel, Ghitto Bonhomme, and Michael Thomas. Their accounts, now available through released interview transcripts, are remarkable for what they don't contain.

Bonhomme — a materials handler who had not previously been publicly identified — told investigators he did not remember the period between 10 p.m. and midnight. He had no recollection of anyone walking up the stairs toward Epstein's tier around 10:30 p.m. According to Noel's account, Bonhomme had been working multiple consecutive shifts and slept while on duty during that exact window. He added that a jail employee entering a tier alone would have violated policy. Bonhomme was interviewed twice in September 2019, in sessions conducted in lieu of a grand jury subpoena. He declined to comment when contacted by CBS News.

Noel was direct about one thing — linen was not her responsibility:

"I never gave out linen. Ever."

"Because that's done on the shift prior."

That matters because a separate internal presentation included in the document release described a corrections officer, believed by investigators to be Noel, carrying linen or inmate clothing up to the tier. The 2023 Inspector General report, however, did not identify Noel as the figure seen in the footage. So investigators suspected it was her. She denied the activity. The IG declined to confirm. And the FBI thought it might have been an inmate entirely.

Thomas, who replaced Bonhomme at midnight and discovered Epstein's body shortly after 6:30 a.m., offered his own fog of non-recollection. His interview — conducted a full two years after Epstein's death — contained what investigators described as significant gaps. When asked about the ligature, Thomas told investigators:

"I don't recall taking the noose off. I really don't."

"I don't recall taking the thing from around his neck."

He said he "ripped" Epstein down from the hanging position. He described Epstein as shirtless. Yet evidence records indicate a shirt believed to have been cut from Epstein's body was returned from the hospital. No one has explained the discrepancy.

Counts That Didn't Count

Between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. on the night Epstein died, the recorded number of inmates in the SHU dropped from 73 to 72. When investigators pressed Noel on the discrepancy, she said she was "probably" mistaken. That's it. No further explanation has surfaced.

Thomas and Noel failed to complete mandatory inmate counts at both 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. They also skipped the required 30-minute wellness checks on Epstein, the highest-profile prisoner in the federal system. Noel was working her second consecutive eight-hour shift. Both were charged with falsifying records certifying the counts had been completed. Federal prosecutors later dropped those charges in exchange for cooperation agreements that included interviews.

The cooperation produced the transcripts, now making headlines. Whether it produced accountability is another question entirely.

The Noose That Wasn't

Perhaps the most striking detail in the new documents is what's missing from the scene itself. The noose allegedly used in Epstein's death has never been definitively identified. A noose collected at the scene was later determined not to be the ligature used. Thomas says he doesn't recall removing one. Noel told investigators she remained standing at the cell entrance when Thomas discovered Epstein and did not see a noose around his neck.

Forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, retained by Epstein's brother, previously told CBS News that Epstein had likely been dead for several hours before discovery — but because the body had been moved, determining the time of death was impossible. No official time of death was ever established by the medical examiner's office.

Six days after Epstein's death, the NYC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner reviewed the jail surveillance footage and concluded the video was too blurry to identify individuals. Hours later, the office publicly ruled the death a suicide. The speed of that sequence deserves its own scrutiny.

What Officials Said — and When They Said It

Last summer, then-deputy FBI director Dan Bongino addressed the footage directly on "Fox & Friends":

"There's video clear as day, he's the only person in there and the only person coming out. You can see it."

The newly released documents suggest the picture is considerably less clear than anyone in authority has admitted. Two federal agencies couldn't agree on what they were looking at. The camera that captured the staircase was the only one known to have been recording that night, positioned in a way that partially obscured the approach to Epstein's tier. The angle made it impossible to rule out an unrecorded entry from other directions.

Noel's attorney captured the posture of nearly everyone involved when contacted by CBS News:

"Ms. Noel will not be making any statements [or] attempts to clarify any aspect of this situation."

The Pattern That Won't Break

Every institution that touched this case moved in the same direction — toward closure, away from clarity. The medical examiner ruled before the footage could be properly analyzed. The charges against the officers who falsified records were dropped. The interview with the officer who found the body didn't happen for two years. The materials handler who was asleep during the critical window was never publicly identified until now. And the American public was assured, repeatedly, that no one entered Epstein's tier that night.

Three million pages of documents are now public. The questions they raise aren't conspiracy theories. They're the straightforward product of reading what federal investigators themselves wrote down — and comparing it to what officials said out loud.

An unidentified figure walked toward the cell of a man who knew the secrets of the most powerful people in the world. The FBI saw it. The Inspector General saw it. And for six years, the public was told it didn't happen.

The documents are out now. The silence of the people in them speaks louder than anything on the footage.