Virginia Giuffre, who accused the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his associates of sex trafficking, died on Friday by suicide at her farm in Western Australia. She was 41.
“Virginia was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking. She was the light that lifted so many survivors,” her family statement said in a statement. “Despite all the adversity she faced in her life, she shone so bright. She will be missed beyond measure.”
Giuffre was a vocal advocate for victims of sex trafficking after she became a central figure in the case against Epstein, who died by suicide while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Giuffre had accused Ghislaine Maxwell, who was later convicted of sex trafficking, of recruiting her while she was a teenage spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago to be a masseuse for Epstein.
However, that role she said turned into that of a sexual servant for both Epstein and many of his associates, including Prince Andrew, when she was 17 and 18.
Andrew has denied the allegations but settled with Giuffre in 2022 for an undisclosed sum as well as pledged to make a substantial donation to a charity supporting victims of sex trafficking.
As with Epstein’s death in jail, Giuffre’s suicide—despite police stating there is no evidence of foul play—has become fodder for conspiracy theorists who believe a larger cover-up of a major sex trafficking operation is at play.
“Virginia Giuffre did not kill herself!” declared one account on X.
Many of the skeptics pointed to two things in support of their belief: first, that in 2019, she tweeted “in no way, shape or form” was she suicidal; and second, that in late March, she was hospitalized after a school bus hit the car she was driving.
“Survived a bus crash—then ‘died by suicide’? Convenient,” wrote GlobalDiss. “She literally said she wasn’t suicidal. People believe this?” replied one commenter.”
“The same woman who warned the world she was not suicidal just ‘died by suicide’ — after exposing one of the most powerful trafficking networks on earth,” alleged one X account. “The coincidences aren’t coincidences. She was silenced permanently.”
In an old post on X, Guifre wrote, “I am making it publicy known that in no way, shape or form am I suicidal. I have made this known to my therapist and GP- If something happens to me- in the sake of my family do not let this go away and help me to protect them. Too many evil people want to see me quiteted.”
“This is crazy,” responded someone to the tweet.
Guifre’s response to the bus crash had already raised a number of eyebrows online.
“I don’t believe any of it,” echoed a commenter. “I wish I saved the photo taken of her about 10 days after it was posted she was hit by a bus. She I think was giving the finger and looked untouched by anything much less a bus. I hope she is in Witness Protection but maybe it is just wishful thinking in my part.”
After the accident, Guifre posted a photo from a hospital bed, saying she was near death.
“I’ve gone into kidney renal failure, they’ve given me four days to live,” she wrote. But her family said she didn’t mean to post the image, thinking she’d privately shared it.
Police in Australia said the crash was “minor” and reported no injuries from it. Which makes both the circumstances around the accident and her death all the more mysterious.
“We all know she didn’t kill herself,” concluded someone else.
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