Zorro Ranch - The Forgotten Compound in the Highlands of New Mexico

Jeffrey Epstein’s most remote property was not located on an island in the Caribbean, but in the dry highlands south of Santa Fe. 30,000 square meters of living space on a hilltop, surrounded by thousands of acres of grassland, cacti and dried riverbeds. For miles there were hardly any neighbors, hardly any visibility. He called the area Zorro Ranch. Today it bears a different name. But the questions remain. At least that is how the State of New Mexico has viewed it so far - and one name that has lingered for years like a dark echo in the room: Jeffrey Epstein.

Multiple victims have testified that they were taken there. Prominent visitors are said to have come and gone. According to witnesses, Epstein even spoke about turning the property into a center for genetic experiments. Yet there has never been a comprehensive investigation there. While Little St. James, New York, Miami and Paris were in focus, New Mexico remained largely overlooked. “Not just overshadowed, completely ignored,” says radio host Eddy Aragon from Albuquerque, who has been trying for years to draw attention to the property.

In 2019, the year of Epstein’s death, investigations began at the state level. The New Mexico Attorney General’s Office questioned witnesses. Then the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York intervened and asked authorities to stop their work and transmit all findings. Former Attorney General Hector Balderas recalls that the argument was that the case would be stronger if handled centrally. A year later, Balderas wrote to New York requesting the seizure of the ranch. The letter states that it was believed the property had been used to facilitate and conceal the trafficking of children. He never received a response.

In released records, there is an anonymous tip from an alleged former employee. He claimed that two abused girls had been buried in the hills outside the ranch. It remains unclear to this day whether the FBI pursued that tip. There is no evidence beyond that statement. It is equally unclear whether the property was ever fully searched. As late as December 2019, correspondence between Epstein’s attorneys and federal investigators suggested that no search had taken place. Zorro Ranch had everything needed for isolation: a private airstrip, a helicopter landing pad, a hangar for Epstein’s jet, high fences topped with barbed wire, cameras at entrances and exits. At night, the property glowed far into the surrounding landscape. Many local residents did not know who owned it. “We leave people alone out here,” says former County Commissioner Mike Anaya from Galisteo. That is precisely what made the place attractive to the wealthy.

Epstein purchased the property in 1993 from the family of three time governor Bruce King. Later, Bill Richardson, also a former governor of New Mexico, U.N. ambassador and energy secretary, was among his influential contacts in the state. There were also legal particularities: New Mexico had comparatively lenient sex offender registration rules, which meant that after his plea in Florida, Epstein did not have to appear on the registry. In addition, he leased around 1,200 acres of public land adjacent to the ranch. Officially for cattle grazing. In reality, this created additional distance from the outside world. The then Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard terminated those contracts in 2019.

Only last month did political leaders in Santa Fe respond. The New Mexico Legislature unanimously established a bipartisan four-member truth commission with subpoena power. Its mandate is to determine what occurred on the property and why there was no effective oversight for decades. Andrea Romero, a state representative from Santa Fe who chairs the commission, said the state must understand how someone was able to operate for so long without accountability. Time, however, may be working against investigators. The estate was sold in 2023. Its new owner is Don Huffines, a Dallas real estate developer and former Texas state senator. He is currently running for Texas comptroller, the state’s chief financial officer. Huffines has said he would cooperate if law enforcement seeks access to the property. He plans to convert the site into a Christian retreat. It has been renamed San Rafael Ranch, after the patron saint of healing. Above the future entrance gate, he intends to inscribe the words: “Blessed are those who come in the name of the Lord.”

While construction work proceeds at the entrance in the highlands, the central question remains unanswered: Were evidence and records secured when it was still possible? Or has what happened behind the fences of Zorro Ranch vanished forever into the dust of the desert?