Epstein survivor says it's not too late to expose what happened at his New Mexico ranch [View all]

Source: NBC News

April 20, 2026, 5:00 AM EDT


STANLEY, N.M. — More than two decades after she was sexually abused at Jeffrey Epstein’s New Mexico ranch, Rachel Benavidez is still waiting for someone to be held responsible for crimes there.

She is among at least 10 girls and young women who have alleged they were groomed or assaulted at Zorro Ranch, Epstein’s gated compound, beginning in the late 1990s. Benavidez and others said they were lured by promises of money or career help, then found themselves trapped, surrounded by miles of dry grassland with no neighbors in sight. They said they were groped, forced into nude massages, assaulted with sex toys, raped. They overcame paralyzing fear to share their ordeals again and again. And yet authorities have never fully investigated what happened at the ranch.

“Until we are heard, until survivors are heard and believed, then I don’t think there’s ever going to be any justice,” Benavidez, 52, said in a recent interview, her first since the Justice Department in January released millions of documents that brought renewed attention to Epstein’s activities at the ranch, and missed opportunities to investigate them.

The disclosures, including an unsubstantiated anonymous claim that two “foreign girls” died during sex and were secretly buried on the property, prompted state authorities to launch new investigations this year — a criminal case led by the New Mexico Department of Justice and a “truth commission” led by the state Legislature.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/epstein-files-zorro-ranch-new-mexico-survivor-alleged-sexual-abuse-rcna266917