EXCLUSIVE: Jeffrey Epstein's Terrified Butler Fears He's Next on 'Hit List' As He Declares There's 'No Way' Pedophile's Jail Death Was Suicide
Jeffrey Epstein's butler doesn't want to say too much for fear of losing his life.
Sept. 4 2025, Published 7:45 p.m. ET
Jeffrey Epstein's longtime ex-butler says he is haunted by fear he will be the next victim of a murder cover-up, insisting there is "no way" the disgraced financier took his own life, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Valdson Vieira Cotrin, 64, who worked as Epstein's manservant, chauffeur, and cook in Paris for nearly two decades, said he still cannot accept the official ruling of suicide.
Was It Suicide?
Epstein’s ex-butler, Valdson Vieira Cotrin, says he fears being the next victim of a cover-up.
Speaking publicly for the first time, Cotrin described Epstein as upbeat and planning for the future before his arrest and subsequent death in a New York jail in August 2019.
"I am like his brother (Mark Epstein.) I don't believe this was suicide. He loved life too much," Cotrin said.
The ex-servant, who managed Epstein's lavish townhouse on Avenue Foch, added he had last seen the financier just before he was detained.
"I drove him to Le Bourget. It was a Saturday, because on Monday he was supposed to appear before the judge regarding all these accusations," he said.
'He loved life too much for suicide,' claimed Epstein's ex-staffer.
Maria Gomes de Melo, 65, Cotrin's partner, also questioned the authorities' conclusions about Epstein's death. She recalled the pedophile told her before leaving Paris: "I'll be back next week."
"On the Saturday late, we got the news that he had hanged himself, and honestly, he loved life too much to float away like that," she said.
Epstein, who was 66 when he died, was arrested on July 6, 2019, after landing in New York.
He was facing charges of sex trafficking underage girls and was considered a flight risk.
Epstein was found dead in his Manhattan Metropolitan Correctional Center cell on August 10.
A Department of Justice review later confirmed suicide by hanging, but conspiracy theories have flourished ever since.
Epstein's Butler Claims The Sex Offender Was Innocent
Cortin has hinted at a cover-up but stays silent for safety.
Cotrin remains adamant his sex trafficking former employer was innocent of his crimes.
He said: "He trusted me completely. I was his chauffeur, his cook, his housekeeper. I did everything in Paris; I was his only full-time, paid-up employee and worked for him from 2001 until his death. If someone could have seen something, it's Valdson. There's no one else."
The butler claims Epstein confided in him about plans to secure bail and continue investing in his properties.
Cotrin recalled: "He was relaxed and had been talking about making more investments in his islands – he had discreetly bought a second – as well as spending more time in Paris."
He also repeated his doubts after seeing how Epstein's closest circle fared after his death. "And what about Virginia (Giuffre) Roberts?"
Cotrin said. "I'm scared because after what happened to them, poor Valdson… who knows?"
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Virginia Giuffre and Jean-Luc Brunel died mysteriously after Epstein's death.
Giuffre, who accused Prince Andrew of rape – a claim the duke denied before settling a civil case – died by suicide in Australia in April this year, aged 41.
Jean-Luc Brunel, 76, a modeling agent who had been accused of supplying girls to Epstein, was found hanged in his Paris prison cell in February 2022 while awaiting trial.
Cotrin said he remains silent on many details out of self-protection, but he repeated his central belief that Epstein did not take his life.
"I don't believe this was suicide," he said. "He loved life too much."
