"She Couldn't Even Finish the Story": An Epstein Victim's Interrupted FBI Interview — and the 'Political Influences' That Buried It
An FBI FD-302 places Ghislaine Maxwell at the center of a minor's assault at Zorro Ranch. The document existed in 2006. The ranch was never searched.
This is a part of the 49 Zorro Ranch Road Series
Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five
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The Document
There’s an FBI file buried in the Epstein release that most people have walked right past. It’s an FD-302 — that’s the form FBI agents fill out after an interview. This one is dated November 15, 2006. The interview took place in Austin, Texas. The victim who was being interviewed was just a teenage girl from Phoenix. She was a minor.
She describes something that happened to her at the infamous Zorro Ranch near Stanley, New Mexico — about 30 miles south of Santa Fe.
Here’s what stopped me when I read it — the document doesn’t place Ghislaine Maxwell on the sidelines, it places her smack dab in the center of the entire thing. The document is EFTA00162543 through EFTA00162546. It came out under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed into law November 19, 2025. You can click the link there and look yourself.
How She Got There
She was just a junior in high school when she met Jeffrey Epstein. Her older sister was already working for him in New York city. Over the Christmas break, Epstein flew her to New York. He showed her and her sister his Manhattan townhouse and he gave them champagne, she says. He took them to see Phantom of the Opera in a limousine and he asked about her college applications. He pushed UCLA to her, and he talked about a volunteer program in Thailand through something called Global Routes. He offered to pay for it for her. She left New York thinking he was going to sponsor her education and her future. Then, between that trip and the following spring, Ghislaine Maxwell called the girl’s mother directly. The purpose — arrange a separate trip to Zorro Ranch. Epstein and Maxwell wanted to meet the girl they said — talk about her summer in Thailand, catch up.
The victim’s sister was supposed to come but she cancelled at the last minute. Epstein or Maxwell made that happen she says.
So, she ended up fling alone from Phoenix, AZ to Santa Fe, NM. Again, she was a teenager, a child. A ranch manager picked her up at the airport — white male, 30s or 40s, dark hair, dressed like a cowboy. Other EFTA documents confirm his name: Brice Gordon. The New Zealand-born, former military ranch manager that ran the property for Epstein for years. He is thoroughly written about in our other series parts listed at the top of this post.
During this trip, she claims she was the only guest on the property besides staff.
What the FBI Filed
The FD-302 is detailed. It’s written in that flat, bureaucratic language the FBI uses — and the language doesn’t soften anything. Epstein and Maxwell took her shopping, ought food, hair products, random stuff — and a pair of cowboy boots that cost over a 100 dollars she says. They went horseback riding and Maxwell helped her with a term paper. The chef at the ranch made dinner for the three of them. Then, during the evening, Epstein asked if she would give him a foot massage — she was caught off guard, but Maxwell volunteered to demonstrate.
Here’s how the document puts it: Maxwell was rubbing one foot, then the other. Eventually Maxwell finished her demonstration and the girl was doing it alone. Small talk continued between the 3 of them and Epstein asked if she had ever had a massage herself. She replied no.
Maxwell stood up and said she would give her one.
Maxwell led her to a room with a massage table. There were oils set up already, and Maxwell told her to take her clothes off. The girl was uncomfortable but she undressed partway, leaving her underwear on, and wrapped herself in a sheet. She lay down on the table.
Maxwell began massaging the victim and then she told the girl to roll over. Maxwell pulled down the sheet, exposing her. Epstein was nearby. He kept talking to her the whole time and the document says she was very self conscious and uncomfortable with Epstein looking at her exposed body. Maxwell finished the massage by rubbing her upper body, including her chest.
No further sexual activity happened right then and she got dressed.
FBI Form FD-302, November 15, 2006. The agent wrote: “At this point... she became visibly disturbed and was unable to recall the remainder of events.” EFTA00162546
The Next Morning
The following morning Epstein came into the victims room. He got into bed with her — she was wearing pajamas and he was in sweatpants and a t-shirt. He got under the covers and told her he “felt like cuddling.” The document says he spent time hugging her, spooning her, and talking about what they were going to do that day. Maxwell walked in and saw Epstein in the bed, under the covers, with the girl. That night, Epstein came into her room again. He sat on the bed, stroked her hair and old her how “beautiful and pretty” she was.
Then the FBI transcript just stops.
“At this point in the interview, [she] became visibly disturbed and was unable to recall the remainder of events for that evening at the ranch.”
The document doesn’t guess what happened next — it just records that she couldn’t go on and that the FBI agents didn’t push her further.
That blank space — what she couldn’t say — is the last thing in the file about that night.
What This Document Proves
This FD-302 went into the FBI’s case file in November 2006 and he federal investigation into Epstein was already eight months old by then. Agents had interviewed victims across multiple states, they had flight logs and phone records.
Then came this line, from an internal FBI memo dated December 6, 2006:
“Due to the media coverage, unknown status of the state investigation, vulnerability of the young female victims, and political influences, the AUSAs and Case Agents have a target date of January 2007 for indictment.”
Read that again. “Political influences.” The FBI had a target date — January 2007.
The indictment never came.
Instead, in 2008, Alex Acosta — then the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida — signed the Non-Prosecution Agreement. A DOJ watchdog later called it a product of poor judgment. Epstein pleaded guilty to two state charges and he registered as a sex offender in Florida but not in New Mexico. The state kept leasing him land after his conviction.
Zorro Ranch — the specific place described in this interview — was never searched by federal investigators. Not in 2007, not in 2008. Not after Epstein’s re-arrest in 2019. Not after he died that August either.
Two weeks after Epstein’s death, an internal FBI email said agents lacked probable cause to search the New Mexico property. They had interviewed, the email noted, “one victim who may have been raped at the NM residence.”
The FD-302 was in their file — the account of the massage, the exposure, the bed — all of it was in their file. The place where she stopped talking was in their file and the December 6 memo had a target date — Political influences.
The ranch wasn’t searched until recently, March 9, 2026. That was the New Mexico Department of Justice, not the FBI by the way. It happened because the Epstein files finally went public.
"Due to... political influences, the AUSAs and Case Agents have a target date of January 2007 for indictment." — FBI memo, December 6, 2006. The indictment never came. Source: EFTA00162551
Annie Farmer
The girl in the FD-302 is not Annie Farmer. But their stories are nearly identical.
Farmer was 16 in 1996 — ten years before this interview. She was also invited to Zorro Ranch after her older sister started working for Epstein and she was also told the trip was “educational.” Maxwell also gave her a massage and Maxwell also pulled down the sheet and exposed her breasts near Epstein, and he also got into her bed.
That’s sworn testimony from the Maxwell trial in 2021.
Farmer testified at Ghislaine Maxwell’s federal sex trafficking trial and she used her real name. She’s kept speaking publicly — she described the massage, the exposure, the bed. She said she wanted the weekend to be over and she said she felt like they had “a very different interest” in her.
She reported what happened to the FBI in 1996 and her complaint is documented in the EFTA files. The FBI took no meaningful action and the ranch of horrors where it happened stayed untouched for thirty years.
The Ranch Manager
The FBI document describes the man who picked her up from the airport but doesn’t name him — other EFTA documents do. His name is Brice Gordon. New Zealand national and former military.
Gordon was formally interviewed by FBI agents at 49 Zorro Ranch Road on February 8, 2007. He told them Epstein flew in guests and masseuses and he said Epstein hired local massage therapists through Ten Thousand Waves, a spa in Santa Fe. That is our part 5 linked above.
Epstein’s will — signed two days before he died — left Gordon money, conditional on him staying on with the estate. After Epstein died, Gordon disappeared from public view. New Mexico state legislators have named him a person of interest but his whereabouts are not publicly confirmed.
What New Mexico Is Doing Now
On February 19, 2026, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez reopened a criminal investigation into Zorro Ranch. He cited the newly released FBI files.
On February 16, 2026, the New Mexico House voted 62 to 0 — unanimous — to create a bipartisan Truth Commission. It has subpoena power and a $2 million budget. Its job is to investigate what happened at the ranch and issue a final report by the end of 2026. There’s also an anonymous email from 2019. An Albuquerque radio host named Eddy Aragon received it and forwarded it to the FBI. The sender claimed to be a former ranch employee and they claim two foreign girls were buried on the property on the orders of Epstein and “Madam G.” They said they had seven videos from Epstein’s home, including footage of sex with minors. The FBI received the email, filed it, and did nothing. It sat in the EFTA documents until the January 2026 release forced it into public view.
New Mexico investigators started the first physical search of the property on March 9, 2026. What they found hasn’t been made public yet. The investigation is active.
The FBI document doesn’t guess what happened after the girl stopped talking. It doesn’t have to.
What’s already there is enough — A teenage girl, alone on a private ranch in the desert. Two adults who spent a weekend systematically erasing every boundary she had. Maxwell wasn’t passive. She made the call to arrange the trip and she gave the massage to the minor. She pulled down the sheet, she walked into the room the next morning and saw Epstein under the covers with a teenager. The FBI wrote all of this down in 2006.
Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking in December 2021. She’s currently serving 20 years — she has never spoken publicly about Zorro Ranch.
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Sources
FBI FD-302 Interview, case 31E-MM-108062, November 15, 2006, Austin TX: EFTA00162543–EFTA00162546
FBI Case Opening Memo, July 24, 2006: EFTA00162520–EFTA00162521
FBI December 2006 Multi-Jurisdiction Lead Memo: EFTA00162551–EFTA00162555
FBI FD-302, Larry Visoski interview, November 27, 2006: EFTA00162547–EFTA00162550
FBI transmission memo confirming Brice Gordon interview, February 8, 2007: EFTA00269597
New Mexico AG Torrez reopens Zorro Ranch criminal investigation, February 19, 2026: Santa Fe New Mexican
New Mexico House votes 62–0 to establish Truth Commission, February 16, 2026: NBC News
New Mexico DOJ initiates first-ever Zorro Ranch search, March 9, 2026: PBS NewsHour
Annie Farmer testimony at Maxwell trial, December 10, 2021: CBS News
Annie Farmer interview — On Point with WBUR, November 6, 2025: WBUR OnPoint
Brice Gordon named person of interest by NM legislators, FBI interview confirmed: Centrist NZ
FBI declined to search ranch two weeks after Epstein’s death: Santa Fe New Mexican
New Mexico DOJ active investigation tip page: nmdoj.gov
Virginia Giuffre photographs at Zorro Ranch — court filing: TIME
NBC News — How Epstein lured girls to Zorro Ranch: NBC News
AND Alex Acosta says there was no evidence of trafficking across state lines. 🙄
Well, New Mexico is one big scandal after another. Richardson’s Department of Public Safety never made him register after his first conviction. The ranch was purchased in 1993, the island 1998, and Big St James in 2016. (How come no one knows this👆)
The oldest property yet everyone was screaming about an island which Brice Gordon worked; in addition to managing the ranch. AG Torres was the DA in Albuquerque before he became AG. So please spare me the nonsense. All this started with a RANCH. Which no one thought to look into? The estate had people living on that ranch after Epstein’s death until it sold in 2023. Kahn indicated in his deposition that they inventoried every property and removed everything. What do you THINK IS LEFT? 2023-2019 =4 years. Which BTW overlapped with strict COVID LOCKDOWNS in New Mexico. Keep your eyes wide shut folks.