A survivor of Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse has described her time at the pedophile’s infamous Zorro Ranch in New Mexico, describing it as “cold”, “dark,” and having an “eerie feeling.”
Appearing on a BBC Newsnight special with five other survivors on Wednesday, Chauntae Davies said of the property: “That’s where the majority of the assaults happened. I have my darkest memories from Zorro Ranch.”
She added that she felt “trapped” there. “It had a cold, dark, eerie feeling in there.
Davies said that the legacy of her ordeal at Epstein’s hands had continued to impact her throughout her adult life, ruining her marriage and leaving her paranoid about her daughter’s interactions with men.
She described triple-locking her garage door to stop intruders, checking for car bombs, and experiencing other “weird, strange fears.”
“I don’t think there’s an aspect of my life that hasn’t been affected by it,” she said.
Another woman, who appeared anonymously on the show in silhouette and under the pseudonym “Nicky,” told host Victoria Derbyshire she was drugged and raped by the late financier at his mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, when she was 19.
Nicky said she preferred to maintain her anonymity rather than see her family suffer “collateral damage” or face “undue harm.”
Like the other survivors, Nicky said she had been first introduced to Epstein by a friend and had agreed to give him a massage as a way to make money, which is precisely what transpired on their first encounter.
Nicky meanwhile, spoke about an occasion in which the billionaire wore no underwear and was covered only by a towel. Rolling over on the table, Nicky said Epstein told her to take her top off.
“So I took my top off just like last time, started at his feet, worked my way up, and when I got to his upper thigh and went on to his chest, he pulled at my jeans, like, almost to unbutton them,” she recalled.
Hoping to discourage his advances, she lied to Epstein that she was on her period. He attempted to goad her into sex anyway, boasting of his own prowess.
When she continued to refuse, the massage continued until Epstein removed his towel and began to masturbate in front of her, leaving her “completely grossed out” and telling herself to “get the hell out of here.”
Epstein then urged her to drink from a bottle of Fiji Water, saying it was important to stay hydrated, after which, she said, “I took some water and I have no recollection of anything for a minimum of 12 hours after that.”
Nicky said she woke up feeling sick and “sluggish and heavy,” immediately realising she had been raped while unconscious.
At a subsequent third massage, Epstein propositioned her again and she again told him she was menstruating.
“You don’t have to lie to me,” he responded, which, she said, later led her to realize that the rape had definitely happened because otherwise he could not have known the truth.
He raped her again on that occasion, an event she told Newsnight, she did not recall until summer 2019, when she reported her allegations to the FBI following Epstein’s second arrest and subsequently suffered a panic attack.
“I have done various psychotherapies to try to remember, to try and have a glimpse of something, and it’s black, I have no idea,” she told the BBC.
“But I can logically make a variety of assumptions that I think would be very accurate.”
Another survivor, Jena-Lisa Jones, told Derbyshire: “It led me down a very dark path for quite some years and from that moment on, I like, learned how to use my body for money.
“I think it’s hard to keep going over it all the time and seeing nothing come out of it. I think this is more retraumatizing than the actual abuse, I think a lot of us say that.”
Joanna Harrison, a victim who had not previously come forward, said: “You can’t get away from it. It’s hard to heal when it’s something you see everyday. I was on a first date and somebody brought it up to me, not knowing my involvement.
“There are certain things you can’t prepare yourself for and it makes it really hard to heal when you’re stuck in the same place and seeing that person’s name everyday and hearing that person’s name everyday.”
All of the participants became emotional at the end of the show when asked to hold up photographs of their younger selves, taken around the time of the abuse.
“I was a lot more innocent then,” Harrison commented poignantly. “I don’t smile the same way anymore.”
